QUICK NEWS, September 19: People Will Pay To Fight Climate Change; Wind To Keep Getting Cheaper; Tesla Batteries To Ease Aliso Cyn-Caused Power Shortfalls

People Will Pay To Fight Climate Change More are willing to pay to fight climate change, survey says

Bill Loveless, September 18, 2016 (USA Today)

“…[A new survey] found that 65% of Americans think climate change is a problem that the government needs to address, including 84% of Democrats and 43% of Republicans…57% of those polled said they would pay at least $1 more on their monthly electric bill for climate action, including 29% who would pay $20 a month, an amount comparable to federal government estimates of damages from climate change per household…[20%] indicated they would pay $50…[R]esistance to footing a higher electric bill is considerable, too, with 42% of the respondents saying they were unwilling to pay even $1 for such policies…[Only 1% of participants] didn’t respond…Party affiliation is the main determinant of how much cost people would bear, not education, income or geographic location, with Democrats consistently willing to pay more than Republicans, [according to authors of the survey by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The] findings indicate more public support for paying for climate policies such as a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade plan or other regulation than may have been evident before…” click here for more

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Wind To Keep Getting Cheaper Wind energy costs set to continue to decline, according to Berkeley Lab

Joshua Hill, 19 September 2016 (Clean Technica)

“…[E]xperts anticipate wind energy cost reductions of at least 24% to 30% by 2030, and 35% to 41% by 2050 due to larger and more efficient wind turbines, lower capital and operating costs, and other advancements, [according to a new survey from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Typical] onshore projects are expected to remain considerably less expensive than its offshore brethren, while fixed-bottom offshore will be less expensive than floating offshore…[T]here are greater absolute reductions, as well as more uncertainty, in the levelized cost of energy for offshore wind as compared with onshore wind…[The experts also] predicted that there could even be a 10% chance that reductions will be more than 40% by 2030, and more than 50% by 2050…[The five key drivers for wind cost reductions are expected to be] up-front capital cost (CapEx), ongoing operating costs (OpEx), cost of financing (WACC), performance (capacity factor), and project design life…” click here for more

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Tesla Batteries To Ease Aliso Cyn-Caused Power Shortfalls Tesla Wins Massive Contract to Help Power the California Grid; It's the latest response to a fossil-fuel disaster.

Tom Randall, September 15, 2016 (Bloomberg News)

“Tesla just won a bid to supply grid-scale power in Southern California to help prevent electricity shortages following the biggest natural gas leak in U.S. history. The Powerpacks, worth tens of millions of dollars, will be operational in record time—by the end of this year…[They] will supply 20 megawatts (80 megawatt-hours) of energy storage to Southern California Edison as part of a wider effort to prevent blackouts by replacing fossil-fuel electricity generation with lithium-ion batteries. Tesla's contribution is enough to power about 2,500 homes for a full day…But the real significance of the deal is the speed with which lithium-ion battery packs are being deployed…The deal fits into Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's long-term vision of transforming Tesla from an electric car company to a clean-energy company. That's the same motivation behind his pending deal to acquire SolarCity…In total megawatt hours, the Tesla batteries will make up the biggest lithium-ion battery project in the world, though it will soon be surpassed by others…In August, California regulators approved two contracts for AES Corp. to build 37 megawatts of grid-scale energy storage systems to address anticipated power shortfalls stemming from the Aliso Canyon leak…’ click here for more

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