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U.S. wind concerns ease as Trump cabinet calls on Denmark to help boost offshore output
The United States signed a deal with Denmark on Thursday to expand cooperation on offshore wind power, giving a boost Europe’s biggest green energy players. “We see some positive initiatives coming out of the administration in Washington,” the head of DONG’s U.S. business, Thomas Brostroem, told Reuters. He pointed to measures being taken on a federal level to streamline and speed up the process to obtain permits to build offshore wind farms. “Something that is important for the new administration is jobs, jobs, jobs and that is something that will come from the supply chain around the turbines,” Adam Thomsen, head of U.S. growth implementation at MHI Vestas, told Reuters, but declined to quantify any numbers. [ read more … ]
‘No sacred cows’ for energy in reform talks
Brady said yesterday he is in discussions with Ways and Means top Democrat Richard Neal of Massachusetts over the format of the markup, signaling he wants to provide Democrats with the opportunity to offer their ideas. And there’s bipartisan backing for renewables and clean energy breaks. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a backer of biofuels and wind energy, made clear this month that he expects the production tax credit to remain on the books until it expires in 2020. [ read more … ]
What a confirmation mess!
Sen. Jim Inhofe’s hold on Democratic FERC nominee Richard Glick may end up indefinitely delaying the confirmations of a whole bundle of Energy, Interior and FERC nominees his party supports [ read more … ]
New England’s unlikely ally on wind energy? Red states
New England Democrats trying to protect the region’s renewable energy industry from a Trump administration push to cut government subsidies have found some unlikely allies in Congress: Republicans. During Scott Pruitt’s speech last week declaring the end of the “war against coal,” the Environmental Protection Agency chief came out against federal tax credits for wind and solar power. That boosted speculation that Republicans will try to ax the clean energy subsidies in their tax overhaul. [ read more … ]
Inslee visits colleges to urge climate action
“These are the students who are going to hold the jobs we’re creating in our clean-energy economy, and these are the students who are going to work in the solar industry, in the wind-turbine industry and in the electric-car industry,” Inslee said. “They are going to help our state defeat climate change.” Inslee’s message to college students: Climate change policy is under attack at the federal level, making state and local action more urgent and important than ever. [ read more … ]
Tesla has built a solar farm to power a storm-damaged children’s hospital in Puerto Rico
Tesla Inc. said it has assembled a solar panel installation and battery storage project at hurricane-battered children’s hospital in Puerto Rico in a humanitarian effort that also illustrates the company’s ability to deliver power quickly. The Palo Alto electric carmaker and solar energy company tweeted photos of the project showing rows of solar panels being installed in what appears to be a parking lot adjacent to the Hospital del Niño in San Juan. [ read more … ]
Project would double Delaware’s solar energy capacity
A Connecticut commodities company is formalizing plans to build a solar-panel array large enough to double the state’s capacity to generate power from the sun. Freepoint Commodities, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, has a contract to lease or purchase more than 400 acres that are mostly farmland in southern New Castle County. It wants to turn that land into the state’s largest array of solar panels.
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BLM advances large-scale project left for dead last year
The Bureau of Land Management, in a rare move under the Trump administration, is advancing a commercial-scale solar power project in Southern California that appeared dead last year after its Spain-based developer went bankrupt. BLM is scheduled to publish a draft supplemental environmental impact statement analyzing the Palen Solar Power Project. The photovoltaic solar plant is proposed to be built on about 4,200 acres of federal land in Riverside County, according to an advance notice in today’s Federal Register. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.