DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Solar panels and home batteries have soared in popularity because they allow consumers to generate and store their own carbon-free power and save on their electricity bills. When used this way, they are called virtual power plants, or VPPs. "Virtual power plants are at the center of that." U.S. solar companies including Sunrun Inc (RUN.O) and SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) have pooled some of their customers' systems into virtual power plants in California, Hawaii and New England. Sunrun last year, for example, operated a virtual power plant with thousands of homes in New England that provided 1.8 gigawatt-hours to the grid during June through August.

☆ U.S. approves design for NuScale small modular nuclear reactor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Nuscale Power Corp FollowWASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. nuclear power regulator has certified the design for the NuScale Power Corp's (SMR.N) small modular reactor, the first such approval in the country for the next generation technology. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval, published in the Federal Register late on Thursday, clears a hurdle for NuScale. The company plans to build a demonstration small modular reactor (SMR) power plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. The U.S. Department of Energy has provided more than $600 million since 2014 to support the design, licensing and siting of NuScale's power plant and other small modular reactors. "SMRs are no longer an abstract concept," said Kathryn Huff, assistant secretary for nuclear energy at the Energy Department.

Despite layoff announcements and signs of a slowdown elsewhere in the economy, the labor market for clean energy jobs remains tight. said Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group. The Biden Administration has repeatedly promised that new green energy jobs would be well-paying union jobs. Some solar companies have tried to recruit veterans, saying the skills learned in military life translate well to the industry. Utility scale solar developer SOLV Energy, SunPower and Nextracker last year teamed up with nonprofit Solar Energy International to fund a women-only training program for solar installers.

☆ Cramer's lightning round: I'm very concerned about Veru
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Loading chart...Veru Inc : "I'm very concerned about it." I think we're going to have to take a major league pass." Suburban Propane Partners LP : "[The] propane market is historically, let's say, too volatile and erratic for me." Loading chart...Axon Enterprise Inc : "It's a terrific law enforcement package that I think is really good for everybody. Loading chart...Nuscale Power Corp : "If you want small, nuclear modular reactors, I'm going to have to say, the Constellation Energy group.

☆ California to vote on hotly debated change in rooftop solar policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Nichola Groom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Solar installers from Baker Electric place solar panels on the roof of a residential home in Scripps Ranch, San Diego, California, U.S. October 14, 2016. For decades, Californians with rooftop panels have been credited for excess power at or near the full retail electricity rate. Solar companies counter that the changes would slow new installations and threaten California's clean energy and climate change goals. California's three investor-owned utilities are Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG.N), Southern California Edison (EIX.N) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE.N). Customers installing solar with a battery, for example, would save about $136 a month under the plan, compared with $100 a month with just solar.

☆ Philippine leader hopes court will reconsider Manila power deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The court allowed South Premiere Power Corp., a unit of San Miguel Corp (SMC.PS) to suspend a power supply agreement with Manila Electric Company (Meralco) (MER.PS) after the companies were prevented from raising tariffs by the regulator. "We hope that the CA (Court of Appeals) will reconsider and include in their deliberations the extremely deleterious effect this will have on power prices for ordinary Filipinos," Marcos was quoted as saying, describing the decision as "unfortunate". South Premiere and Meralco had sought to raise prices amid higher costs of coal, which the Energy Regulatory Commission rejected in September citing fixed prices set under power supply agreements. Marcos, who began his six-year term in June, has promised lower electricity rates, which are among the highest in Asia. Higher electricity prices would put further pressure on Philippine inflation, which hit the fastest pace in nearly 14 years last month.

SEOUL, Nov 17 (Reuters) - South Korean and Saudi Arabian leaders pledged stronger ties on Thursday in the fields of energy, defence industry and building projects, as the oil-rich kingdom signed investment agreements worth $30 billion with South Korean companies. "In particular, he said he would like to drastically strengthen cooperation with South Korea in the areas of defence industry, infrastructure and construction," Yoon's office said. Saudi-based Asharq TV quoted the kingdom's investment minister as saying deals signed on Thursday were worth $30 billion. "The (South Korean) government will actively support the successful implementation of cooperative projects which apply Korea's state-of-the-art architecture ... in NEOM," said South Korea's trade minister, Lee Chang-yang. Shares in Lotte Fine Chemical (004000.KS), which signed an agreement for chemical industry cooperation with the Saudi Ministry of Investment, rose 2.1%.

In a 250-page proposed decision, regulators outlined reforms to the so-called "net energy metering", a state policy that issues credits to solar energy customers for generating excess electricity and feeding it back to the grid. The proposal will not affect current home solar owners and will maintain their current compensation, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said. Shares of rooftop solar system providers, including Sunrun Inc (RUN.O), SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) and Sunnova Energy International Inc (NOVA.N), closed 20% to 27% higher on Thursday. "This has been an overhang for rooftop solar stocks that would be alleviated if passed similar to today's proposal," said Morningstar analyst Brett Castelli. "The CPUC's new proposed decision would really hurt.

☆ California's incentive proposal for rooftop solar targets low-income households
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OAKLAND, Nov 10 (Reuters) - California regulators on Thursday made a new proposal for incentivizing rooftop solar systems, a contentious matter as the state tries to expand renewable energy and respond to critics who want more equitable distribution of incentives. Shares of rooftop solar system providers, including Sunrun Inc (RUN.O), SunPower Corp (SPWR.O) and Solaredge Technologies Inc (SEDG.O), were up between 12% and 26% in afternoon trading. The new policy proposals outlined by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) include an additional $900 million to support battery and solar systems, mostly for low-income customers. The proposal will not affect current home solar owners and will maintain their current compensation, the CPUC said. Reporting by Peter Henderson, Nichola Groom and Ruhi Soni; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Asia's energy supply looks secure — even as Europe scrambles
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Su-Lin Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

On Tuesday, the EU steered away from a proposed price cap on Russian gas as it laid out new measures to tackle high energy prices. Overall LNG imports fell 7% year-on-year. Overall LNG imports fell 7% year-on-year. The decrease in LNG imports for Japan, Pakistan and India were 17%, 73% and 22% respectively, the IEA said. However, there is a clear increase month on month of coal power generation," IEEFA energy finance analyst Ghee Peh said.

☆ GM takes on Tesla in home and commercial energy storage, management
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Paul Lienert | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File PhotoDETROIT, Oct 11 (Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) is expanding beyond car making, with plans to offer energy storage and management services to residential and commercial customers through its new GM Energy unit in a move that puts it in even greater competition with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O). "We're getting into the entire ecosystem of energy management," GM executive Travis Hester said in an interview. Hester said GM sees a total addressable market of $120 billion to $150 billion in energy storage and management. He declined to provide a revenue projection for GM Energy. GM's commercial service will offer similar capability to businesses, through larger stationary storage units as well as microgrids connected to hydrogen fuel cells developed by the automaker.

☆ Duke Energy is one of the top leakers of a gas that is 25,000 times more polluting than carbon dioxide, EPA records show
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Phil Mckenna | Inside Climate News | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +22 min

The emissions were equal to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of more than 59,000 automobiles, according to the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalency calculator. Under such a scenario Duke Energy would likely have years of low emissions punctuated by a single year of high emissions. While other utilities have participated for decades in a voluntary program with the EPA to reduce SF6 emissions to next to nothing, Duke Energy has not. Brooks said Duke Energy is also targeting its most leaky equipment for faster replacement. The figure is roughly half of 1% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, far smaller than yearly emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary driver of climate change.

REUTERS/Steve Marcus - RC28BE9D5MZ7HONG KONG, Sept 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Seoul's foot-dragging on climate change is holding back Korea Inc. Last week the country's top conglomerate, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), unveiled an underwhelming net-zero carbon emissions target. Most of that is probably from electricity for factories in South Korea, where renewable power is scarce. Yet President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration plans to lower its renewable-energy target for 2030, favouring nuclear power instead. The company has also joined RE100, a group of global corporations including Apple, Intel and TSMC that are committed to using 100% renewable energy across their own operations. Renewable energy will account for 21.5% of generation capacity by 2030, down from the previous target of 30.2%.

Search resuls for: "Power Corp"

13 mentions found