STUFF

Georgia Power proposing to include 210Mw of solar into mix by '15. State has no RPS, so this is voluntary. GA in top 10 states for suitable sunlight.

N England, Wales recovering from worst Sept flooding in 3 decades.

GE, Hitachi joint venture approved for plant to enrich U using classified laser tech.

Sudan, S Sudan signed accord, but several issues unresolved. Oil may flow again soon. We shall see.

Cal Gov signed bill creating Office of Planning and Research as energy liaison between state, DOD.

'11 drought cost TX > 300M trees.

Fat at bottom of Arctic lake indicated its water temp warmest in 1,800 years.

Australia issued 1st round of carbon permits.

Ex-Im Bank of US authorized $5B loan to joint venture of Dow, Saudi Aramco. To build $20B chem park in US. '16 completion. 18K jobs. So, > $1M per job creation if my math is right. But they are 50-year jobs. At least.

WTO to decide on US anti-subsidy duties affecting $7.3B of Chinese products, including solar panels, wind turbine towers.

European Investment Bank approved $257M loan to support refurb, upgrade of 22 hydropower facilities in Ukraine. 980Mw total cap when done, 10% more than now. Co-financed by European Bank for Reconstruction & Development which also announced funding for 2 small hydro projects in Albania recently.

USDA touting benefits of napiergrass as dedicated energy crop in GA. Fairly drought tolerant, grows well on marginal land, filters nutrients out of runoff in riparian areas. Riparian - banks of river, pond, lake. Yep, looked it up.

Brit Airways to start construction of their 1st waste-to-biofuels plant by year end. Cost competitive with fossil fuels by '15.

Bangchak Petrol (Thai) announced plans for 2nd cellulosic ethanol plant. 300K liters capacity to double present cap at site. Completion summer '14.

Sharp plans to end production of solar cells, modules in US, Europe by March. Also plans to sell 3 solar manufacturing plants in Japan and consolidate production at 1 Japanese plant.

Mercedes released new EV. Replaced SLS AMG 6.2 liter V8 with 4 synchronous el motors, 1 per wheel, for 740bhp, 738 ft-lb torque, more than petrol version. Motors powered by 60Kwh lith-ion batt.

UK's clean E capacity up 42% over '11, total 14.2Gw. Now 9.6% of E mix, up from 9% last year.

Ohio up to 14th among states for solar installs this year from 18th last year. Nationally, solar mart up 115% this year over last.

Pub Service OK plans to spend up to $350M in settlement over enviro regs to remove coal from its elgen fleet by '26. PSO a unit of AEP. Could raise customer rates 11% starting in '16. NG replacement from Calpine.