The Guardian: 'This is Possible. We Did it': The Week Portugal Ran on Renewables
For four and a half days in May the country ran entirely on electricity from renewable sources: wind, hydro and solar power.
Despite fears of a blackout, the lights stayed on for a record 107 hours between 6:45 a.m. on Saturday, May 7 and 5:45 p.m. the following Wednesday.
Francisco Ferreira, president of the Portuguese environmental NGO Zero, got wind of what was going on when a friend called that weekend. “He said, ‘I’ve been looking at the graphs and for the past two days we’ve been 100% renewable on electricity production.’ After that, we looked at the data and arrived at 107 hours. We confirmed it with the national energy network, who said we’d had 4.5 days.
“It was great to see that the system was working, to see that we could manage all these renewables even though the circumstances were quite challenging.”
The AWEA Blog: Top 6 Wind Power Trends of 2016
As we close the book on 2016, let’s take stock of where wind power stands and reflect on some of the year’s biggest trends.
Here’s what really stuck out to us here at AWEA.
1. Wind turbine technician became by far America’s fastest-growing job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the occupation will grow by 108 percent over the next decade. That blows past the second fastest-growing job, occupational therapy assistant, projected to grow by 42 percent in the same time frame. Overall, wind power supported 88,000 well-paying jobs at the start of 2016 in all 50 states; 21,000 of these are manufacturing jobs at more than 500 factories that build wind turbines and parts for them.
The Atlantic: Donald Trump and the Triumph of Climate-Change Denial
The science of man-made global warming has only grown more conclusive. So why have Republicans become less convinced it’s real over the past decade and a half?
Denial of the broad scientific consensus that human activity is the primary cause of global warming could become a guiding principle of Donald Trump’s presidential administration. Though it’s difficult to pin down exactly what Trump thinks about climate change, he has a well-established track record of skepticism and denial. He has called global warming a “hoax,” insisted while campaigning for the Republican nomination that he’s “not a big believer in man-made climate change,” and recently suggested that “nobody really knows” if climate change exists. Trump also plans to nominate Republicans to lead the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department who have expressed skepticism toward the scientific agreement on human-caused global warming.
Energy Matters: Solar Road Trial Inaugurated In Normandy
One kilometer of solar panel road surface was officially unveiled in France last week, consisting of 2,880 Wattway solar panels.
The trial, situated in the le Gué-à-Pont locality, was inaugurated by Ségolène Royal, France’s environment minister.
Expected annual electricity production of the stretch of road is around 280 MWh. On average, estimated output will reach 767 kWh per day, with peaks up to 1,500 kWh per day in summer.