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A government agency in Russia has published a draft plan for the expansion of nuclear power in the country that calls for construction of as many as 34 new reactors […]
The post Russia Plan Calls for 34 New Nuclear Reactors by 2042 appeared first on POWER Magazine.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) is urging the development of more diverse solar PV supply chains, suggesting the sector’s heavy reliance on China has led to imbalances that pose risks to its future growth.
A dedicated study of the world’s solar PV supply chain issued by the Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization on July 7 acknowledges that government policies in China have contributed to a cost decline for solar PV of more than 80% through economies of scale and continuous innovation. But because global manufacturing capacity for solar panels has increasingly moved out of Europe, Japan, and the U.S. and into China over the past decade, China’s share in all key solar panel manufacturing stages now exceeds 80%. For key elements, including polysilicon and wafers, China’s share “is set to rise to more than 95% in the coming years, based on current manufacturing capacity under construction,” the agency said.
However, this concentration of PV supply chains poses specific vulnerability and risks to the industry that the world is banking on to achieve substantial decarbonization, it said.…
France, already a world leader in nuclear power generation, plans to build at least six new reactors, with President Emmanuel Macron on Feb. 10 saying the country will consider building an additional eight on top of that as it also moves forward with developing small modular reactors (SMR).
Macron, who is up for re-election in April, made the comments during an appearance Thursday at GE Steam Power’s manufacturing site at Belfort in eastern France. He said nuclear power is critical to the country’s efforts to increase its output of carbon-free electricity as it moves away from coal and natural gas. Macron also said his country would add more renewable energy, including as many as 50 offshore wind installations that would enable France to have 40 GW of offshore wind generation capacity in service by 2050.
French officials recently said the country would allow its last two operational coal-fired power plants to operate far more than usually permitted through at least the end of February due to about a dozen of France’s 56 existing reactors being offline for maintenance.…
California’s power grid continues to evolve and will look much different by 2040, according to a 20-year draft transmission plan released by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The plan calls for significant additional renewable energy resources, along with a $ 30.5-billion build-out of the transmission grid.
The outlook, developed by the grid operator along with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC), provides details about how the state will meet increased demand for electricity. The plan said the state will need about 120 GW of new power generation resources added to the CAISO system by 2040, including energy storage, utility-scale solar, offshore wind, and imports of clean energy from other states.
“There is a critical need for more proactive, long-term transmission planning and coordination,” said Elliot Mainzer, CAISO president and CEO, in a statement released Feb. 1. “In developing the 20-year Outlook, we have worked closely with the California Energy Commission (CEC), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and a diverse group of stakeholders to begin delineating the long-term architecture of the California grid and better align power and transmission planning, resource procurement and interconnection queuing.…
India, a nation heavily reliant on coal power, will set out to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2070, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged in a surprise declaration at the ongoing COP 26 climate summit on Nov. 1.
While India’s central government has yet to issue a detailed plan to achieve the necessary carbon reductions, the nation will kick off its climate ambitions by issuing five aggressive near-term targets.
“First, India will increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030,” Modi said in a 12-minute speech (in Hindi) on the first day of the conference in Glasgow, Scotland. “Second, India will fulfill 50% of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources by 2030,” he said. “Third, between now and 2030, India will reduce its total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tons. Fourth, by 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45%. And fifth, by 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions.”…