Edison gets approval for solar plants
The California Public Utilities Commission approved the 20-year contract between Rosemead-based Edison and eSolar Inc., a Pasadena-based renewable energy start-up financed by Google.org, Idealab and Oak Investment Partners. The contract calls for Edison to purchase up to 245 megawatts of electricity from solar power plants built by eSolar in the northern Antelope Valley.
The power plants will use mirrors to focus sunlight on towers containing water. The water is heated and turned into steam, which powers turbines and generates electricity.
The first of these solar power plants is set to come online in early 2012.
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Global CO2 emissions 'flatlined' in 2019, says IEA
LONDON - Despite widespread expectations of another increase, global energy-related CO2 emissions stopped growing in 2019, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) data released today. After two years of growth, global emissions were unchanged at 33 gigatonnes in 2019 even as the world economy expanded by 2.9%.
This was primarily due to declining emissions from electricity generation in advanced economies, thanks to the expanding role of renewable sources (mainly wind and solar), fuel switching from coal to natural gas, and higher nuclear power generation, the Paris-based organisation says in the report.
"We now need to work hard to make sure that 2019…