Kerang, Victoria, getting two solar farms in 2013
Another 30 MW Solar Farm For Victoria http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3530, 27 Dec 12, Gannawarra Shire Council last week approved plans for another 30MW solar farm to be constructed near Kerang, Victoria. The latest 30MW PV solar project will be situated on 36 hectares south of the town and is expected to produce 52 gigawatt hours of clean electricity annually; enough to power 14,300 homes and avoid 62,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
“Construction of the $38 million solar farm is expected to commence in mid 2013, with an expected construction timeframe of around 14 months. The project is likely to provide significant employment and service opportunities for Kerang,” Manager Economic Development Roger Griffiths said.
Gannawarra Shire Council Mayor Cr Neville Goulding said Council is actively encouraging utility scale renewables in the area.
“The development follows strategic work by Council’s Economic Development unit to facilitate and promote the option of large scale solar projects within the Shire, to Australian and overseas companies seeking to invest in the Australian green energy market. Council looks forward to further developments in the renewable energy sector.”
Albury based ECO for LIFE will be developing the project.
Another 30MW solar farm is already under construction in the Kerang region after being approved in August. The facility is being developed by AKK Consulting Group and is located off the Loddon Valley Highway, 4 kilometres south of the town centre.
Kerang is situated 279 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. In addition to substantial solar radiation resources, the town has access to a large capacity sub-station, a 220kV transmission line that runs from Bendigo to Broken Hill in NSW, two 66kV sub transmission lines running directly to Swan Hill and one 66kV sub transmission line to Cohuna.
Jobs and cheap electricity as China connects solar homes to the grid
First Home Solar Array Connected To China’s State Grid http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3531 27 Dec 12 For a nation that leads the world in solar panel production, China has been a little slow off the mark with grid connection in relation to home solar power – but that will change dramatically soon. China Daily reports the first residential solar power system has been connected to China’s State electricity grid in Qingdao, Shandong province. While grid connection is taken for granted in countries such as Australia, this first installation proved to be quite a task; taking 19 days to complete. However, we can expect grid connected residential solar to bypass Australia’s tally very soon. State Grid 
Corporation of China, the largest electricity utility in the world, only started allowing small-scale solar power systems to connect to the national grid in November.
The Qingdao installation will be the first of many millions as new policies mean the work needed to connect privately owned systems below 5 megawatts capacity to the grid will be carried out free of charge. State Grid will also purchase surplus electricity generated by these systems.
The scale of State Grid Corporation of China is staggering. It has over 1.5 million employees and in 2011, generated revenue to the tune of US$ 259.14 billion. Its service area represents 88% of the country and provides electricity to over one billion people.
There will be no shortage of work for those employees. According to RenewEconomy’s Giles Parkinson, rumour has it that China will boost their solar target to 40GW by 2015; which is an entirely achievable goal considering more than 5GW capacity has been installed in this year alone. While China’s love affair with solar is set to continue, its rapid ascent in solar manufacturing hasn’t been without its casualties; with numerous manufacturers falling by the wayside due to competition and external forces. China’s government recently announced it would carry out reforms to the industry; including promoting mergers and acquisitions and reducing government support for manufacturers.
China is often criticised; but something we can all be thankful for is the nation brought affordable solar to the world.
China puts the brakes on its nuclear power programme
deciding not to build any inland nuclear power plants through 2015
Although China has not announced new nuclear power installed capacity targets for 2020, it is expected that targets will be adjusted downward from previous expectations. ….
China moves to strengthen nuclear safety standards and moderate the pace of its nuclear power development, Switchboard, Alvin Lin This post was co-written with my colleagues Jingjing Li, Jason Portner and Christine Xu, 23 Dec 12, .”……….. Before the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, China had been undertaking the world’s largest nuclear power plant construction program, with plans to expand its then approximately 11.5 GW of nuclear power to as much as 80 GW of nuclear capacity by 2020. (Given that current reactors are about 1 GW in size, this would be equivalent to building nearly 70 reactors over a decade.)
Following Fukushima, however, Beijing immediately suspended approval of all new nuclear power projects while it undertook a comprehensive safety review of existing and under-construction nuclear power plants, as well as research reactors and fuel cycle facilities, and developed its Twelfth Five Year Plan for Nuclear Safety……
The report concluded that operating reactors “basically fulfill” China’s nuclear safety laws and regulations and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s most recent standards, that they have the capacity to respond to design-basis accidents and severe accidents, and that safety risks are under control.
However, in spite of these conclusions, the inspection report and nuclear safety plan also identified areas for improvement. In particular, the nuclear safety plan lays out short- (by the end of 2012), mid- (by the end of 2013) and long-term (by 2015) tasks to strengthen safety for operating and under-construction plants, research reactors and fuel cycle facilities…..
In addition to the measures to improve the safety of nuclear power plant facilities, the nuclear safety plan also discusses changes needed to improve the regulation of nuclear power safety in China…… Continue reading
Uranium mining’s radioactive pollution of groundwater
A Decades-Old Deal With Uranium Miners Is Causing Trouble For The EPA Abrahm 
Lustgarten, ProPublica | Dec. 26, 2012, GILLETTE, Wyo. — On a lonely stretch at the edge of the Great Plains, rolling grassland presses up against a crowning escarpment called the Pumpkin Buttes. The land appears bountiful, but it is stingy, straining to produce enough sustenance for the herds of cattle and sheep on its arid prairies.
“It’s a tough way to make a living,” said John Christensen, whose family has worked this private expanse, called Christensen Ranch, for more than a century.
Christensen has made ends meet by allowing prospectors to tap into minerals and oil and gas beneath his bucolic hills. But from the start, it has been a Faustian bargain.
As dry as this land may be, underground, vast reservoirs hold billions of gallons of water suitable for drinking, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Yet every day injection wells pump more than 200,000 gallons of toxic and radioactive waste from uranium mining into Christensen’s aquifers. Continue reading
1 This month
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