STUFF

TOP STUFF

Enviro groups and API formally protesting DOI plan for oil shale R&D on ~677K acres of fed lands in CO, WY, UT.

7 states announced plan to sue EPA over failure to directly address methane emissions from oil/gas industry.

TX landowner won court victory and temp restraining order to stop build of section of Keystone XL pipeline on his land.

EIA/Bloomberg sees cellulosic ethanol production in US hitting 9.6M gal in '13, up 20x. RFS, tho, has mandated 1B gal. (Just a little short, A?)

$18B market for EV inverters predicted for '23.

WV NG pipeline explosion destroyed homes, parts of interstate.

OTHER STUFF

Sempra Energy subsid completed 1st phase - 92Mw - of solar PV project outside Vegas. Phase 2 -58Mw- completion in '15. Sempra also developed another 58Mw solar project nearby.

DOE to invest $29M in PV solar R&D. $21M to design quicker, cheaper installs. $8M for 2 projects to help utilities, grid operators better forecast elgen from solar power plants. Working with NOAA.

Solar City (SCTY) cut price of IPO to $8 from $13-15, increased offering to 11.4M shares from 10.1M. Comp booked $95M loss in 12 months thru Sept. Leases solar panels, installs them, charges below-market rates for the el generated.

SEIA says 684Mw solar installed in US Q3. 44% above year ago. 1st 3 Q's 1.99Gw added vs. 885Mw all of '11. Total now 5.9Gw installed, 6.4 Gw with concentrated solar added. System prices for utilities now $2.40/w, down 30% from year ago. Residential down to $5.21/w from $5.45, commercial fell 13 cents to $4.18/w.

Hawaii enviros sued governor over solar tax credit changes.

Jordan introducing FITs for clean/renewable techs. Shelving nukes. 2nd Arab Renewable Energy Congress in Ammon next week. Jordan subsidizes over half the cost of el for consumers. Target of 7% clean/ren elgen by '15, 10% by '20.

In '13, Great Brit, Italy will move from RPS to FITs. ~90 FIT programs now worldwide, 60 RPS programs.

India signed deal to help Iran develop clean/renewable sector. Iran has potential for 6.5Gw of power from solar, wind.

2 EV buses coming to Stockton, Cal in spring. $2.5M state grant. All 120 buses in fleet to be replaced with hybrids by end of '13. SC comp build the EV buses, just got $23M VC funding. 10-minute charge gives EV bus 2 hrs runtime. 17-29mpg equivalent. Each EV bus should save $300K over 12-year life. Fiberglass shell melded with balsa wood.

Indy shifting to alt fuels for city fleet.

Biomax (India) to jointly invest with local Saud comp to develop $40M biodiesel plant, Saud's 1st. Used cooking oil feedstock. Up to 2.5M metric tons/yr of oil will be available. Can also use acid oil, crude palm oil, sunflower oil.

Oil and gas has contaminated groundwater in 17% of 2,078 spills or slow releases that comps reported to Colo regulators last 5 yrs. In Weld County, 40% of spills reach groundwater. Most spills happening less than 30 ft underground. 49,236 active wells in state, up 31% since '08.

Sauds cut oil output to lowest level in year. Probably reason oil up today.

Exxon, Austria's OMV Petrom launching 3-D seismic study of Romania's deepwater Black Sea sector. At least 2 yrs before 1st well drilled.