CleanTech OC Daily - 10/29/12

CPUC Decides on Solar Farms and Nuclear Power Plants

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted unanimously to launch a formal investigation of the nearly nine-month outage at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Units Two and Three. At the same meeting, there was an unanimous vote to approve revised power purchase agreements (PPAs) between BrightSource Energy and Southern California Edison for the electricity generated by BSE’s 500-megawatt Rio Mesa solar power tower project and a 250-megawatt unit of its Sonoran West power tower project.

U.S. Wind Industry Continues To Expand

A new report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) found that the U.S. wind industry is experiencing its strongest year in history. AWEA’s Third Quarter 2012 Market Report indicated that U.S. wind power capacity was up 40 percent over 2011 and wind capacity installations increased to 51,630 MW. While Texas leads the U.S. in new wind capacity with 1,291 MW added, California was among the leaders at 1,022 MW added.

Should We Target Energy Efficiency or Energy Supply?

A new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change shows that twice as much effort is directed towards developing supply technologies than is being directed towards improving the efficiency of end-use technologies. The study assessed energy technology innovation and quantified the relative emphasis placed on energy supply technology versus the technologies that are using the energy supplied.