February 15 NEC Energy News
¶ “Spending Watchdog Launches Investigation Into Sellafield” • Britain’s public spending watchdog launched an investigation into risks and costs at Sellafield, the UK’s biggest nuclear waste dump. The National Audit Office, scrutinises use of public funds. It announced it will examine whether the site is managing and prioritising the risks effectively. [The Guardian]
¶ “Vogtle Unit 4 Reaches First Criticality” • Operators have started the nuclear reaction at Vogtle Unit 4, an announcement from Georgia Power said. This step, known as initial criticality, is when the nuclear fission reaction becomes self-sustaining so it can generate enough heat to produce electricity. The step will be followed by testing. [Power Engineering]
¶ “Permanent Magnet Motor Market Surges Amidst EV And Renewable Energy Boom” • In a world racing towards a cleaner and more sustainable future, the permanent magnet motor market is seeing an unprecedented boom. With the increasing popularity of EVs and renewable energy sources, the demand for these motors is soaring. [BNN Breaking]
¶ “Only Asia On Track To Triple Renewable Energy Capacity By 2030, Fuelled By Growth In India And China: Report” • Driven by growth in India and China, Asia is at this time the largest contributor to additional global renewable energy capacity needed to triple production by 2030, report from global think tank Climate Analytics said. [Swarajya]
¶ “First February Tornadoes In Wisconsin Caused $2.4 Million In Damages” • The first tornadoes ever recorded in Wisconsin in the usually frigid month of February caused damage of over $2.4 million, officials said. They struck Rock County on February 8. They hit thirty homes, killed some cattle, and damaged farming equipment and buildings. [ABC News]
¶ “Why Ice Did Not Form In The Great Lakes This Winter” • This is the winter that wasn’t in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions. The ice cover has just kept melting away since last week’s Great Lakes ice analysis showed that it was only 5.9%. With climate change, the Great Lakes are among the fastest-warming lakes in the world. [ABC News]
¶ “Texas Shatters Own Solar Power Record, Weird Political Situation Or Not” • Texas has emerged as the renewable energy pace-setter in the US, despite top public officials who don’t have very nice things to say about clean power. The big dollars are flowing into clean energy, and Texas now gets more electricity from the sun than from coal. [CleanTechnica]
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