Geothermal News
Hearing Panelists Assess Grid Reliability Challenges Posed by Nat. Gas, Renewables
Panelists at a House hearing today refuted varied claims concerning if and how increased natural gas and renewables generation pose widespread challenges to the reliability of the electric grid. Some pointed to ineffective rules in the restructured wholesale power market and the failure of conventional power plants as being more of a threat to grid reliability....
Report: Global Renewable Investments in 2012 Tumble 11% as Market Shifts from West to East
Public and private investment in solar, wind, and other renewables worldwide declined 11% in 2012 from an adjusted 2011 record of $302 billion, a new survey from Pew Charitable Trusts shows. Yet the global renewable sector still registered a record 88 GW of new nameplate capacity last year, and China reclaimed the lead in global renewables investments from the U.S., it says....
Lawmakers Push for Financing Parity for Renewable Projects
Bipartisan legislation introduced on Wednesday by a bicameral group of lawmakers seeks to give renewable energy project investors access to an existing corporate structure whose tax benefits are now only available to investors in fossil fuel–based energy projects....
Two Geothermal Energy Bills Reintroduced in Senate
Two bills seeking to rapidly expand geothermal energy resources in the U.S. were reintroduced in the Senate last week....
Report: U.S. Has Lost Edge in Global Renewables Race
Once a world leader in innovation and manufacturing of clean energy technologies, the U.S. now faces significant competitive challenges from Europe and Asia, and it lags behind other nations on measures that include renewables deployment, manufacturing, and innovation, a new report suggests....
FERC Proposes Reforms to Diminish Barriers to Small Generator Interconnection
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday proposed four reforms intended to reduce the time and cost to process transmission interconnection requests from generating facilities of 20 MW or smaller. The reforms would boost reliability by increasing energy supply and remove hurdles in the development of new renewable power sources, FERC said....

