| 104 | 100% | total |
| 4 | 3% | newdown |
| 17 | 16% | newlow |
| 6 | 5% | newtop |
| 16 | 15% | down |
| 32 | 30% | low |
| 72 | 69% | top |
Newly down since 23 Feb 2013 on 6 March 2013
Newly down since 23 Feb 2013 on 6 March 2013:
FitzPatrick,
Indian Point 3,
Brunswick 2,
Monticello.
Category Archives: Nuclear
Already: Solar grid parity without subsidies in India and Italy
Solar power is going so well worldwide that Deutsche Bank has just increased its projections for global demand, noting that India and Italy have already in 2013 reached grid parity without subsidies with other sources of energy, and it expects the rest of the world to follow as early as 2014. The big winner is rooftop solar. Is Georgia paying attention?
Becky Beetz wrote for Global PV 26 February 2013, Deutsche Bank: Sustainable solar market expected in 2014,
Buoyed by bullish demand forecasts, and increasing utilization rates and pricing, Deutsche Bank forecasts a solar market transition from subsidized to sustainable in 2014. Italy REC solar photovoltaic plant
The German bank has raised its 2013 global solar demand forecast to 30 GW — representing a 20% year-on-year increase — on the back of suggestions of strong demand in markets including India, the U.S., China (around 7 to 10 GW), the U.K. (around 1 to 2 GW), Germany and Italy (around 2 GW).
Rooftop installations are, in particular, expected to be a main focus, says Deutsche Bank. A trend for projects being planned with either “minimal/no incentives” has also been observed, despite the belief that solar policy outlooks are improving, particularly in the U.S., China and India, and “other emerging markets”.
More analysis by Jeff Spross in ThinkProgress 3 March 2013, Solar Report Stunner: Unsubsidized ‘Grid Parity Has Been Reached In India’, Italy–With More Countries Coming in 2014.
Continue readingAs Renew Economy also points out, this is the third report in the past month
Levy Co. FL nuke likely not to be built
Cost already sunk Kewaunee, Calvert Cliffs, Crystal River, and are gnawing away at San Onofre: now it looks like new owner Duke is not likely to build Progress Energy's Levy County, Florida reactor. All that plus even in Georgia, even against all-powerful Georgia Power, there's a reaction against the cost of the always-later always-more-expensive new nukes at Plant Vogtle on the Savannah River. A reaction that's getting written up in the Valdosta Daily Times.
In the VDT today from AP, Some leaders souring on nuclear power costs. I'm quoting from the abcNews version because it includes the author's name, Ray Henry, and the original date, 3 March 2013. I added all the links and images.
As the cost of building a new nuclear plant soars, there are signs of buyer's remorse.
The second-guessing from officials in Georgia and Florida is a sign that maybe the nation is not quite ready for a nuclear renaissance. On top of construction costs running much higher than expected, the price of natural gas has plummeted, making it tough for nuclear plants to compete in the energy market.
In Georgia last week, Southern Co. told regulators it needed to raise its construction budget for Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia by $737 million to $6.85 billion. At about the same time, a Georgia lawmaker sought to penalize the company for going over budget, announcing a proposal to cut into Southern Co.'s profits by trimming some of the money its subsidiary Georgia Power makes.
And Southern Company and Georgia Power slipped the Plant Vogtle schedule still more, from 15 to 19 months late.
The legislation has a coalition of tea party, conservative and consumer advocacy groups behind it, but faces a tough sale in the Republican-controlled General Assembly. GOP Rep. Jeff Chapman found just a single co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Karla Drenner.
That's
HB 267: Financing costs; construction of nuclear generating plant.
And AP failed to mention
Georgia Sierra Club's support for HB 267.
As a regulated monopoly, Georgia Power currently earns about 11 percent in profits when it invests its own money into power projects. Chapman's legislation would reduce those profits if the nuclear project is over budget, as is the current projection.
In Florida, there's a move to completely eliminate Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) such as is being used in Georgia to pre-fund the new Plant Vogtle nukes.
In Florida, lawmakers want to end the practice of utilities collecting fees from customers before any electricity is produced.
Florida only recently got CWIP, but Progress Energy has been quick to profit by it:
Continue readingHB 267 Would Limit Georgia Power’s Profits on Vogtle’s Cost Overruns —GA Sierra Club
There’s still time to contact your state legislators about stopping Georgia Power profitting from cost overruns on the new nukes at Plant Vogtle. Georgia Sierra Club spells out why.
Georgia Power’s expansion at Plant Vogtle will bring us power that is dangerous, expensive and unnecessary.
You may remember a controversial bill the Georgia Legislature approved in 2009, SB 31, the Nuclear Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) bill, which forces Georgia Power ratepayers to pay the financing costs during construction, rather than over the life of the plant. Large users of electricity are exempt from the charge, but residential and mom and pop businesses have been paying for two years.
Even after that sweetheart deal, the Public Service Commissioners scrapped their staff proposal to stop the company from profiting on cost overruns for the project after they top $300 million.
The most recent reports from the independent monitor established by the PSC says
that the project is months behind and as of December, $88 million over budget. Georgia Power gets to earn 11.15% return on all expenses approved by the PSC, so the more they have to spend, the more they get to make and the more ratepayers get to pay!Putting the profit issue aside for the moment, if the Georgia PSC ever decided to disapprove cost overruns, Georgia Power could take a page from the Mississippi Power playbook and just get the Legislature to let them issue bonds to pay for the work.
HB 267 by freshman Rep. Jeff Chapman excludes the collection of any profits on cost overruns beyond the $6.4 billion the Public Service Commission has approved. The bill is co-sponsored by Avondale Estates Democrat Karla Drenner, who is a member of the Utilities Committee, to which the bill was assigned. Passage of this bill would provide an incentive for Georgia Power to keep expenses down at Vogtle, something that SB 31 failed to do.
It isn’t fair for Georgia Power to profit to the tune of over 11% on delays, overruns and mismanagement, so ask your State Representative to support HB 267.
-jsq
Nuclear is over —Jeremy Rifkin
Economist, author, and advisor to governments
Jeremy Rifkin
told an agent of the world's largest uranium field operator
at a conference of global investors that there's no business
future in nuclear power.
Jeremy Rifkin answered a question at the Wermuth Asset Management 5th Annual Investors Event 26 September 2012, Nuclear Power is Dead,
I don't spend much time on nuclear technology, unless somebody asks
me about it, because frankly from a business perspective, I think it's over….
Here's the video, followed by more transcript and discussion.
Continue readingNuclear power was pretty well dead in the water in the 1980s after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. It had a comeback. The comeback was the industry said "we are part of the solution for climate change because we don't emit CO2 with nuclear; it's polluting, but there's no CO2".
Here's the issue though,
From 15 to 19 months late: Plant Vogtle nukes
Surprise! The already-billing but not-built new nukes at Plant Vogtle are going to be even later and cost even more. In December they were to be 15 months late; now it’s 19 months late, and the cost overrun expected is $740 million. History is repeating itself from the last time Southern Company and Georgia Power built nukes on the Savannah River. How about we pass HB 267 to stop Georgia Power from charging that cost overrun to customers?
Kristi Swartz wrote for the AJC yesterday, Vogtle nuclear project to take longer, cost more,
Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project will take about 19 months longer to complete than originally expected and cost about $740 million more than originally thought, the company said Thursday.
Georgia Power said its share of the estimated $14 billion project will rise to $6.85 billion, up from $6.11 billion, because of increased capital costs and additional financing costs. Customers, who have been paying the financing costs since 2011, now will pay them for a longer period of time.
And the amount Georgia Power customers have to pay for Construction Work in Progress (CWIP) keeps ratchetting up:
Continue readingInternet and Energy at the Bird Supper
Dear Bird Supper attendees,
Two things could greatly help south Georgia: better Internet access and solar power. You could help stop two telecommunications bills and help pass two energy bills for jobs and education in south Georgia.
Internet Access: help stop two telecommunications bills
The local Industrial Authority, Chamber of Commerce, Valdosta City Council, and Lowndes County Commission have recently realized that fast Internet access is essential to attract businesses, for their employees to work at home, for applicants to apply for jobs, for students to submit assignments, and for general quality of life.
-
HB 282 against muni broadband
This bill would prohibit local governments from providing Internet access if any local census block has 1.5Mbps access. Localities may or may not want to do it themselves, but they shouldn't be prohibited from using this option now that it is obvious to everyone that the commercial incumbents are not doing the job. Legislators please vote this bill down. -
HB 176 for higher cell towers with less local government oversight
This really bad bill would let cell telephone companies build towers wherever they want to at any height, taking away local government power to regulate that. It could even let private companies exercise eminent domain. Legislators please vote this bill down.
Energy: help pass two energy bills
Solar power can be a distributed source of jobs in south Georgia. Antique laws and a subsidized nuclear boondoggle are hobbling solar power.-
GA SB 51, The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act
Senator Buddy Carter has introduced a Senate bill for the current session of the legislature, SB 51, "The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act of 2001". It attempts to fix Georgia's special solar financing problem, the antique 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act, which says you can only sell power you generate to your one and only pre-determined electric utility, at whatever rate that utility sets. -
HB 267 Financing costs; construction of nuclear generating plant
Stop Georgia Power from charging customers for cost overruns for Plant Vogtle, already 15 months behind schedule and a billion dollars overbudget for power that nobody has received, yet Georgia Power has already billed customers about $1.7 billion. Bipartisan cosponsors are Jeff Chapman (R—Brunswick) District 167 and Karla Drenner (D—Avondale Estates) District 85. This boondoggle on the Savannah River is what Georgia Power and Southern Company are doing instead of deploying solar inland and wind off the coast.
-jsq
Low and Down Recent NRC Reactor Status
Twenty seven of 104 NRC status reactors are below 100%, and 15 are at zero power. What happened to supposedly 24/7 nuclear power?
Fifteen are at zero power: Calvert Cliffs 2, Crystal River 3, Diablo Canyon 2, Fort Calhoun, Hatch 1, Hatch 2, La Salle 2, McGuire 1, River Bend 1, San Onofre 2, San Onofre 3, South Texas 2, Turkey Point 3, Turkey Point 4, and Wolf Creek 1. (Seventeen if you count never-started Vogtle 3 and Vogtle 4.)
Sure some of these are down for good (Crystal River 3) and others have been down for a year or more (San Onofre 2 and 3). But
Continue readingLet the Sun Shine: Fact versus Fiction —Michael G. Noll
LTE in the VDT today. I’ve added a few links. -jsq
Continue reading
Fox News recently claimed that “solar won’t work in America because it’s not as sunny as Germany”. Such statements are common for a network that has long lost its credibility. Unfortunately too many take such gibberish at face value. Thus columns like “environmentalism or obstructionism?” are not surprising, but in the end it’s the facts that matter:
- Global warming is real. For years we have been experiencing record heat waves, droughts, wild fires, etc., and while seawater levels are rising, storms like hurricane Sandy become major threats to low lying areas along coast lines.
- The main culprit for global warming are greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, resulting from the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal and oil.
- While China overall emits more than we do, the US leads in per capita emissions. The average US citizen produces three times more carbon dioxide than the average Chinese citizen.
Want to finance solar? Call GA Sen. Jack Murphy today about SB 51
A Georgia Senate committee needs to take it up
a bill that would greatly ease financing
solar power for your housetop or business roof.
Sen. Jack Murphy is the chair, and you can contact him today.
GA SB 51, The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act, was read to the Senate 16 January 2013 and referred to the Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities. Here’s contact information for the Chair of that Committee:
Continue reading