Quote:

If you want to truly understand what’s happening in the energy industry, the best thing to do is to travel deep into the heart of American coal country, to Carbon County, Wyoming (yes, that’s a real place). The state produces most coal in the US, and Carbon County has long been known (and was named) for its extensive coal deposits. But the state’s mines have been shuttering over the past few years, causing hundreds of people to lose their jobs in 2016 alone. Now, these coal miners are finding hope, offered from an unlikely place: a Chinese wind-turbine maker wants to retrain these American workers to become wind-farm technicians. It’s the perfect metaphor for the massive shift happening in the global energy markets. The news comes from an energy conference in Wyoming, where the American arm of Goldwind, a Chinese wind-turbine manufacturer, announced the free training program. More than a century ago, Carbon County was home to the first coal mine in Wyoming. Soon, it will be the site of a new wind farm with hundreds of Goldwind-supplied turbines.

https://qz.com/990192/a-chinese-company-wants-to-retrain-wyoming-coal-miners-to-become-wind-farmers/

As well as wind cheap gas from the huge fracking effort will prevent coal from regaining primacy and that is good. Coal is too polluting in too many ways.

Let us hope YouLiar doesn’t read this, the troll’s heart probably would give out at this sign the “windymills” are supplanting coal  :D

And in other news -

"Three thousand solar panels sit unused on a concrete pad after the pioneering Kogan Creek Solar Boost project was shelved due to rusting pipes and "rapidly moving clouds".

Now the site's manager alleges the Commonwealth and Queensland governments breached their contractual requirements by never inspecting the doomed $105 million project.

Run by French nuclear group Areva for Queensland state-owned power utility CS Energy, the project was designed to increase efficiency and reduce carbon emissions at the coal-fired Kogan Creek power station near Chinchilla.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/fastmoving-clouds-how-cs-energys-kogan-creek-solar-boost-project-failed-20170516-gw5p2u.html

Cheap solar panels for someone when site cleanup begins?

lee wrote on May 26^th, 2017 at 11:35am:

And in other news - "Three thousand solar panels sit unused on a concrete pad after the pioneering Kogan Creek Solar Boost project was shelved due to rusting pipes and "rapidly moving clouds". Now the site's manager alleges the Commonwealth and Queensland governments breached their contractual requirements by never inspecting the doomed $105 million project. Run by French nuclear group Areva for Queensland state-owned power utility CS Energy, the project was designed to increase efficiency and reduce carbon emissions at the coal-fired Kogan Creek power station near Chinchilla. http://www.smh.com.au/business/fastmoving-clouds-how-cs-energys-kogan-creek-solar-boost-project-failed-20170516-gw5p2u.html Cheap solar panels for someone when site cleanup begins?

Lee again demonstrates his incompetence at comprehension. This process concentrates solar energy to generate steam.

Back to school Lee.

Unforgiven wrote on May 26^th, 2017 at 11:46am:

Lee again demonstrates his incompetence at comprehension. This process concentrates solar energy to generate steam.

Yes. A solar mirror system. So tell us how this failed to come to fruition. If fast moving clouds can kill the project, why didn't the feasibility study find this? They did do a feasibility study didn't they?

But don't worry, it is only taxpayers money. ::)

Sorry about the solar panels. They can't sell them. They may find a use for the mirrors in distorted mirror house. But it was the reporter who wrote bout solar panels.

Or did you miss that bit? ;)

Sounds like a conspiracy to me  :o :o

TheFunPolice wrote on May 27^th, 2017 at 12:16pm:

Sounds like a conspiracy to me

Maybe they relied on climate science instead of actual observations. ::)

There are records for sun hours, for just about every square centimeter of Australia.

So unless there has been some monumental change that information would have been available.

lee wrote on May 26^th, 2017 at 11:35am:

Cheap solar panels for someone when site cleanup begins?

No, once again lee gets it wrong. They are actually solar reflectors.

Of course if lee had bothered to read the full article he would have realised that the failure of this project was due to management and bureaucratic incompetence rather than any failure of the concept. 


Quote:

In a report to ARENA last September explaining why the project was cancelled, CS Energy pointed to steam pipes that rusted in the Queensland climate and "rapidly moving clouds". "That's rubbish," says Ian Canham, who managed the site for Areva Solar from 2011 to 2013. "That just means [the clouds are] going to get out the way and the sun's going to come out again. Solar works extremely well when the sun's out." A veteran project manager with 30 years' experience, Mr Canham detailed a litany of planning, management and communication failures, compounded by the "aggressive" management style of Areva Solar's US-based executives. Mr Canham said pipes had rusted when they were left uncollected at the Port of Brisbane during the 2011 floods because of a dispute between Areva and shipping company DHL. As a result only 20 per cent of them were useable.

The_Barnacle wrote on May 28^th, 2017 at 11:10am:

lee wrote on May 26th, 2017 at 9:35am: Cheap solar panels for someone when site cleanup begins? No, once again lee gets it wrong. They are actually solar reflectors.

And once again you couldn't read to the end before jumping in.


lee wrote on May 26^th, 2017 at 1:06pm:

Yes. A solar mirror system.

lee wrote on May 26^th, 2017 at 11:35am:

Three thousand solar panels

The_Barnacle wrote on May 28^th, 2017 at 11:10am:

Of course if lee had bothered to read the full article he would have realised that the failure of this project was due to management and bureaucratic incompetence rather than any failure of the concept.

And of course being paid for by taxpayer dollars they couldn't re-order more?  ::)

If the project is so good that shouldn't be too hard.

"However, a significant technical issue, relevant to the integration of the solar thermal addition materialised post that risk assessment, being the impact on the Kogan steam turbine from a sudden reduction in solar steam flow caused by rapidly moving clouds. The emergence of this issue heightened CS Energy’s concerns regarding the risks associated with integrating the solar boost addition with the power station. "

https://arena.gov.au/assets/2016/09/Kogan-Creek-Solar-Boost-Final-Report.pdf

ARENA - Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Gas forcing coal power plants to shut in US:


Quote:

“Stay strong, Gillette,” reads a sign in Gillette, Wyoming. The small city of 30,000 people calls itself the energy capital of the nation. There are enough mines around the city to produce more than a third of all the coal burnt in the US. The boom town is going through a bust. The city of coal miners lost thousands of jobs in the last few years. So when Trump promised to “end the war on coal” and bring back coal jobs, Gillette voted for him. Trump’s coal magic has worked but not in the way Gillette had hoped. In April, US coal production was up 17% compared to a year ago. At the same time, however, coal mining jobs were down 8% (about 6,000 jobs). This year alone eight coal power plants have announced closures. Many are shutting decades before their expiry date. The closures total 9.4 GW of lost electricity generating capacity, which is more than what all of Qatar can produce today. Name of power station      Capacity (MW)      Closing Stuart Generating Station      2441      2018 Navajo Generating Station      2250      2019 San Juan Generating Station      1800      2017 St. Johns River Power Park      1358      2018 Killen Generating Station      666      2018 North Valmy Generating Station      522      2025 Elmer Smith Power Plant      285      2023 Rocky Mount Electric Power Plant      115      2020 Some other power companies haven’t announced closures, but are moving in that direction. For instance, DTE Energy, Michigan’s biggest power supplier, announced last week that it will retire all its coal-fired plants by 2050, moving to natural gas and wind. The most common reason for an early closure is that the plants are no longer economically viable. The shale gas boom has made natural gas very cheap—cleaner and more efficient fossil fuel. The rate per kilowatt-hour offered by coal power plants is increasingly being beaten by natural gas or even renewables like wind and solar. Take the Navajo Generating Station, the country’s seventh most polluting power station by emissions. Central Arizona Project, one of the main purchasers of power from Navajo, said it was able to save $38.5 million in 2016 by purchasing power at market prices, rather than from Navajo. It’s not just the US, coal power plants are being shut or plans to build new ones are being across the world, even in power hungry developing countries like India and China. So it seems that market forces are likely to ensure that Trump won’t be able to keep his promise either.

https://qz.com/988271/donald-trumps-coal-promise-us-coal-fired-plants-forced-to-announce-closures-in-2017-alone-could-power-all-of-qatar/

It sounds like economic decisions are affecting the mines, possibly due to green tape, Doesn't seem to be emissions based.

As was predicted, economic reasons—the cheap and abundant gas due to a huge fracking effort over the the last few years has made coal uneconomic.

This has reduced emissions.

Solar, nuclear and wind are adding to the shift away from coal, further reducing emissions.

Another example of this:


Quote:

Tennesseans might not be too worried about climate change, but they sure love electric cars The amount of heat-trapping pollution that’s released every time Bill Williams drives his electric sedan a mile down a road here has fallen by about a quarter in the three years since he bought it. Williams’ car hasn’t changed, but the electricity that powers it has. In Tennessee, power once generated overwhelmingly by coal has given way to more nuclear and natural gas power. With the rising number of plug-in models available in the U.S., many at increasingly affordable prices, and with electricity getting greener, the climate benefits of electric cars are growing.

http://grist.org/article/tennesseans-might-not-be-too-worried-about-climate-change-but-they-sure-love-electric-cars/

lee wrote on May 27^th, 2017 at 12:31pm:

TheFunPolice wrote on May 27th, 2017 at 12:16pm: Sounds like a conspiracy to me Maybe they relied on climate science instead of actual observations. ::)

You don't even know what you're talking about  :D!!!

lee wrote on May 28^th, 2017 at 9:27pm:

It sounds like economic decisions are affecting the mines, possibly due to green tape, Doesn't seem to be emissions based.

Talk about nomenclature  ::)

Jovial Monk wrote on May 29^th, 2017 at 5:35am:

As was predicted, economic reasons—the cheap and abundant gas due to a huge fracking effort over the the last few years has made coal uneconomic. This has reduced emissions. Solar, nuclear and wind are adding to the shift away from coal, further reducing emissions.

gas has. Solar and wind are producing little.  Which new nuclear.

Latest Dubai police cars are all electric:

https://t.co/8WTu4v8TpW

Jovial Monk wrote on May 29^th, 2017 at 5:47pm:

Latest Dubai police cars are all electric: https://t.co/8WTu4v8TpW

From your link -

"But high-speed chases will be left to the Bugatti and Porsche vehicles already used by the police. "