Bangor Daily News: State to Study New Way to Reimburse Small-Scale Solar-Power Generators

Lawmakers on Tuesday directed state utilities regulators to study and create a new way to reimburse homeowners or businesses that generate a portion of their own electricity.

LD 1263 picked up the two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate Tuesday afternoon to override a veto from Gov. Paul LePage, who blocked the bill alongside a batch of others he said the legislature passed too hastily.

Pacific Business News: Hawaii Coal Plant Owner Proposes Battery Storage Project

The operator of Hawaii's only coal-fired power plant -- the largest generating plant on Oahu -- is proposing to develop a large energy storage facility, according to public documents.

AES Hawaii, an intervenor in the case before the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission involving NextEra Energy’s proposed $4.3 billion purchase of Hawaiian Electric Co., said in public filings that it has responded to HECO's request for proposals for up to 200 megawatts of energy storage on Oahu.

Guardian: Brazil Announces Massive Reforestation and Renewable Energy Plan With U.S.

Barack Obama and Dilma Rousseff put climate change at the top of their agenda at their bilateral meeting on Tuesday, with the U.S. and Brazil agreeing to obtain up to 20% of their electricity from renewable power by 2030.

Brazil also committed to restoring up to 12 million hectares of forest -- an area about the size of England or Pennsylvania -- in another attempt to reduce the carbon pollution that causes climate change.

The White House said the initiatives were part of a new U.S.-Brazil climate partnership, loosely modeled on the historic U.S.-China agreement reached during Obama’s visit to Beijing last November, intended to build momentum for a global deal to fight climate change in Paris at the end of the year.

Reuters: French Nuclear Waste Will Triple After Decommissioning

The amount of nuclear waste stored in France will triple once all its nuclear installations have been decommissioned, which will boost the need for storage facilities, French nuclear waste agency Andra said.

In a report released on Wednesday, Andra estimated that final nuclear waste volumes will eventually reach 4.3 million cubic meters, up from 1.46 million at the end of 2013 and an estimated 2.5 million in 2030.

That is based on an average lifespan of 50 years for utility EDF's 58 nuclear reactors and including a new reactor under construction in Flamanville.

Climate Wire: From Opposite Directions, France and Germany Converge on Climate Change

Across the Rhine, Europe's two largest economies regard each other with a raised eyebrow as they take their energy systems in different directions, ostensibly to reach the same goal.

The biggest difference is nuclear power, to which the French said "bien sûr" and the Germans said "nein danke."

But with an overlapping electrical grid and a shared currency, the two nations' energy systems are inexorably linked and must work together if they hope to make meaningful progress to address climate change. In the process, France and Germany will serve as important case studies for countries like the United States that are embarking on their own energy transitions.

Climate Central: Water Use Declining as Natural Gas Grows

Between 2005 and 2012, coal’s share of electricity generation fell to 37 percent from 50 percent. Natural gas rose to 30 percent from 19 percent. Total electricity generation stayed roughly constant.

That shift has translated into big changes in the amount of water being withdrawn from lakes and rivers to cool power plants. And it’s an important shift, as nationally, 38 percent of all water withdrawn is for power plants.