On The Blogs: Japan To Propose Offshore Wind Development Rules
On The Blogs: Japan To Propose Offshore Wind Development Rules FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Offshore Wind Biz:The Japanese government will submit a bill on offshore wind development to the National Diet on 22 January, according to Japan Times. Given that Japan does not have unified rules for offshore wind operations, the bill would bring more clarity within the industry as it specifies the rules.If the bill gets Diet approval, it would see that the government first composes a basic policy, followed by the industry and transport ministries identifying areas for promoting offshore wind, after which the government would invite and select candidates to use the locations.According to the media, due to the current lack of rules, interested developers are obstructed to achieve an agreement with stakeholders, as well as the shipping and fisheries industries, therefore the bill is expected to define the required procedures.A report, released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) in March last year, showed that Japanese offshore wind resources have been largely overlooked, but have tremendous potential and can viably contribute to the country’s baseload power in the post-nuclear era.The current aims of the government are to increase the share of renewable energy to 22-24% of all electricity sources by 2030, which equaled 15% in fiscal 2016.More: https://www.offshorewind.biz/2018/01/12/japanese-govt-to-set-out-offshore-wind-rules/
Greenko to build massive hybrid renewable project in India FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享PV Magazine India:Greenko Energies will set up India’s largest Integrated Renewable Energy Project (IREP) in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of INR 150 billion (US$2.2 billion). Recently approved by the Andhra Pradesh government, the project will comprise 1,000 MW of solar energy, 550 MW of wind energy and 1,200 MW of standalone pumped storage capacities. It is expected to provide employment to 15,000 people during construction and 3,000 people after construction.Recognised as a mega industrial project, the Greenko wind-solar hybrid project has been allotted around 4,766 acres of land. However, the company must complete the project within a period of four years, failing which the entire land will be handed back to the government of Andhra Pradesh.The power generated from this wind-solar hybrid, along with standalone pumped storage, will be connected to the power grid substation and delivered outside the State, with no obligation for [distribution companies] to purchase power. However, they will have the first right of refusal.The Government of Andhra Pradesh aims to achieve 18,000 MW of renewable energy capacity by the year 2021-22, comprising 10,000 MW of solar power and 8,000 MW of wind power, which is 10% of the national target. The share of renewable power in the state’s total power consumption has reached 18% during the year 2017-18. Further, the state government has announced the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Policy 2015-20 to encourage large-scale investments in the State.Greenko, backed by Singapore’s GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, was recently in the news for acquiring the solar and wind portfolio of New Delhi-headquartered Orange Renewables. The acquisition added 1 GW to Greenko’s operational capacity, to raise its portfolio to 4.2 GW, just shy of the capacity held by ReNew Power Ventures, the country’s largest renewable energy company.More: Greenko’s 2.75 GW solar, wind, storage project approved in Andhra Pradesh
Just when you thought it was safe to go outside, here comes a classic mid-Atlantic March storm to put the brakes on spring once again. It feels like every time winter appears to be over, it rears its wet, heavy head in the form of an epic snow dump, and this week is no exception. The good news is it bought regional ski resorts a couple more weekends of open slopes; something the industry desperately needed following a slow start to the winter season. With enough snow, March can be the perfect time to hit the slopes. It’s one last hurrah; a salute to Jack Frost in the form of skiing corn in shorts and t-shirts. Nothing is cooler than a warm breeze on your face as you shred melting snow beneath your skis.Sunday marks St. Patrick’s Day, an excuse to party if there ever was one and there is no party as rowdy as a ski resort party weekend. We could be looking at the perfect party storm – which happened to be my nickname in high school – at Timberline Resort this weekend. They are hosting their annual Snowy Luau Festival and when you combine Hawaii attitude with St. Patrick’s Day aggressiveness, literally anything can happen.Head up to the resort on Saturday for a Rail Jam, Pig Roast, and late night dance party. Stay for Sunday’s Slopestyle competition, costume parade, and basic St. Patrick’s day revelry like pinching strangers and eating potatoes. Wait…not sure about that last one.View Larger Map
Blair Crimmins is unabashedly old school. Really old school; 1920s Prohibition Era America old school. Crimmins, along with his band – The Hookers – are leading a Dixieland Jazz and ragtime revival. Creating a cacophony of sound with banjo, horns, keys, and – during select live performances – flapper dancers, Blair Crimmins & The Hookers take listeners on a time altering journey, back to an era of speakeasies and bootleggers.Blair Crimmins & The Hookers are set to release their new record, Sing-a-longs, on September 10th.Trail Mix recently caught up with Blair to chat about his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, long one of BRO’s favorite southern music towns. (Ed. – you can vote for Atlanta as the Southeast’s best music town in our 2013 Best Mountain Towns reader poll)TM – Best post show hangout?BC – I like to hit my neighborhood bar in Cabbagetown called 97 Estoria. It has a late night crowd and I can always get up to the bar for a drink. If the night is still young I usually go there. Since it’s in the neighborhood I can walk or stagger home safely. My other favorite after show hangout is my porch. I’ll have some friends over to party on the porch or I’ll just chill in my rocking chair and hang out with my dogs. I don’t always need an “after show party.” The party is on stage for me. After that I usually like to chill.TM – Must see spot for a visiting out of towner?BC – The Clermont Lounge is the Atlanta Hipster Board of Tourism’s first suggestion for out of towners. It’s definitely a one of a kind joint. It’s a dive bar, a strip club, and a dance club all in one. At the end of my video for “It’s All Over Now” you hear a reference to one of the famous dancing ladies of the Clermont Lounge named Blondie. She has a special talent for crushing beer cans between her tits. It’s a must see.TM – Favorite local venue to see or play a show?BC – Star Bar and The Earl are my favorite live venues in town. I’ve had lot of great times playing at those joints and I always go see local bands there. There are always good local and touring acts coming through those two venues.TM – Favorite local outdoor adventure?BC – You can always go to Stone Mountain for a big hike up the rock or float down the ‘Hooch on a hot day. Also, the Oakland Cemetery is a cool historic place to walk through. I go strolling through there with my dogs. Not sure if I’m supposed to, but I do. It’s a gorgeous place with lots of big oaks and really ornate headstones and mausoleums. Margaret Mitchell is buried there, as is Bobby Jones; there are lots of golf balls lying around Bobby’s headstone. They have events there, too. We played a great music festival this summer called Tunes From The Tombs.TM – Favorite local record shop?BC – We love Decatur CD. They have a beautiful store with a great selection of vinyl and CDs. No surly record store attitudes either. A good music loving staff. We’re playing an in-store performance there on September 10th for the release of our new album, Sing-a-longs.———————————————————————————————Blair and his band of hookers have a whole slew of dates in September as they push the release of Sing-a-longs. The band will be in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina between now and the end of the month. For more specific dates and venue information, be sure to surf over to wwww.blaircrimminsandthehookers.com.Be sure to check out “It’s All Over Now” on this month’s Trail Mix. And if you would like to get your hands on the band’s new record, take a shot at the trivia question below. Shoot an email to dave@blueridgeoutdoors.com. A winner of a new – maybe even signed – copy of Sing-a-longs will be chosen from all correct answers received by noon on Thursday, September 7th.Good luck!!Question – Blair provided the musical score for what independent film in 2012? Hint . . . . . check out the PRESS page on his website . . . . .
Photo Courtesy of South WingsLast Thursday Duke Energy pleaded guilty in a criminal court to nine violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The charges came after a lengthy investigation that was spurred by Duke’s accidental discharge of tons of coal ash into the Dan River in February of 2014. The spill was caused by the failure of a storm water pipe under an unlined ash pit and ultimately coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic, gray sludge.Duke is now ordered to pay $102 million in fines and environmental restoration fees for its illegal discharge of coal ash at not only the Dan River site but at four separate coal burning facilities in North Carolina. $68 million of that sum amounts to fines alone, while the remaining $34 is slated for river and wetland projects in North Carolina and Virginia. Among other things, the investigation found that Duke knowingly directed coal ash seeps from a pit in Asheville into the French Broad River and failed to take action for two years after employees at the Moncure plant informed supervisors of a leaking riser pipe in 2011.In the wake of these charges, Duke has announced plans to retire it’s Lake Julian plant in Asheville, a major source of coal ash pollution in Western North Carolina. According to Duke officials, the Lake Julian plant, which has been used to refine coal since the early 1960s, will be shuttered in four to five years and replaced with a 650-megawatt natural-gas facility with a solar installation. The switch represents a $1.1 billion investment for the country’s largest utility and will include the construction of a $323 million substation in Campabello, South Carolina.“We’ve developed an innovative plan that’s a ‘win-win-win’ for consumers, the environment and the economy,” said Lloyd Yates, Duke Energy executive vice president of market solutions and president of the Carolinas region. “With the availability and near record low cost of natural gas, this comprehensive project will transform the energy system in the region to meet the growing needs of our customers and significantly reduce emissions and water use. We’re eager to move ahead quickly on these projects and complete the key components of the plan by the end of 2019.”Duke says this combination of natural-gas and solar would be one of the first facilities of its kind, but some North Carolina activists, such as Mountain True and the Southern Environmental Law Center, aren’t satisfied. They say that, while the new plant represents a step in the right direction, it will still be a massive source of pollution.“While we applaud Duke’s decision to retire the Asheville plant, Duke failed to hear what people wanted in its place. Folks want a bright future that supports clean energy, not a giant gas plant polluting Asheville for another 30 years,” reads a joint statement from MountainTrue, Sierra Club, and the Southern Environmental Law Center. “North Carolina has the opportunity to be a leader in clean energy generation through aggressive investments in solar power and energy efficiency, and Duke Energy must be a partner in that effort – but moves like this deeply undermine the ability to bring online clean, reliable 21st century energy options that will create good jobs right here at home.”
In a world where every music festival is starting to look the same, Lockn’ has found its niche. Now in its 6th year, the Lockn’ festival focuses their energy on world-class music, a safe and friendly atmosphere, local vendors and community engagement. The 4-day festival takes place right in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is everything an old-fashion east coast festival should be. 
The thing that makes Lockn’ so unique is that despite having an extensive lineup – there is essentially only one stage. When one band finishes their final song, the stage literally rotates around and the next band begins to play. Lockn’ even got its name because of these interlocking sets. Aside from eliminating downtime between sets this also offers a great opportunity for two bands to blend their first and last song together with another band. It’s really fun to watch. There is a secondary stage where each night a band plays a late night set after the headliner. There is also a much smaller stage in Garcias Forest. This wooded area near the campground offers early morning and late night sets for those who wish to keep the party going. 
While Lockn’ does have some diversity in its lineup, it is primarily a Grateful Dead influenced jam festival. This year Dead & Co chose Lockn’ to host the conclusion of their summer tour. While we were busy manning our both we watched as people lined up to get a good spot as early as twelve hours before the show. The weekend was full of collaborations between bands and offered a unique opportunity to see some incredible music that you wouldn’t have been able to see anywhere else. 
The weather was as expected – fairly hot and humid. However, after the sun went down we were treated to some of that crisp and cool Blue Ridge air that reminded us that Fall is just around the corner.The festival community is small and the vendor community is ever smaller. With this being our first festival back in the Blue Ridge Territory, it was great to catch up with some old friends and make some plans for the future. While life on the road isn’t perfect – it does offer a sense of community where ever you travel. 
Next up we’re headed to the Gauley! Gauley Festis American Whitewater’s largest event. It takes places in Summersville, West Virginia and coincides with the dam releases that the whitewater community waits for every year. See you there!There is one way for this tour to be a reality, our sponsors! Sending a thank you shout out to our title sponsor Nite Ize, and all of our other awesome sponsors that make this happen: Crazy Creek, National Geographic, Sea to Summit, Mountain House, Lowe Alpine, Old Town, Leki, HydraPak, UCO Gear and Wenzel. If you like the gear that keeps us groovin’ click here to enter for a chance to win
Alligators freeze with noses above water in North Carolina swampAmerican alligators at The Swamp Park in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. have turned themselves into ice statues to survive the cold weather. Eighteen alligators at the park have poked their noses through the ice and then frozen in place, entering a state of brumation, similar to hibernation. When in their frozen state, the alligators do not react when disturbed. A park employee says the animals seem to sense when a cold snap is coming and poke their noses above the water at just the right time. Last January, alligators at the same park made headlines when they froze with their noses above water for the first time. Those alligators thawed out a few days later with no observable impacts to their health. (More information on these clever gators to come to our website!) Virginia panel approves bill to halt construction of fossil fuel power plants after 2020Virginia’s House Commerce and Labor Committee narrowly approved a bill that will halt the construction of power plants that use fossil fuels and pipelines that carry the fuels after 2020. The bill also requires Virginia to develop a plan to rely totally on renewable energy for generating electricity by 2036, including all electricity sold by public utilities. The sponsor of the bill, Del. Sam Rosoul, D-Roanoke, says that there are more than 97,000 jobs in renewable energy industries in Virginia and the bill will create more jobs and boost the economy while also helping mitigate climate change. Opponents of the bill argue that the timetable to switch from fossil fuels to renewables is unrealistic. The bill must now pass the full House of Delegates, where it faces an uphill battle. 
By Dialogo December 06, 2010 Haiti is one of the biggest problems of the world, since not even they can understand that is how the Haitians are The head of the UN mission in Haiti, Edmond Mulet, affirmed to AFP on 2 December that the international community “is going to withdraw” if “the popular will is not respected,” at a time when tension reigns and various candidates are asking that the elections held on 28 November be annulled. “If the will of the people is respected and acknowledged by the Haitian electoral council, there won’t be any problem; the international community is going to commit to helping the new government to confront enormous challenges,” Mulet promised. “But if the popular will is not respected, the UN and the international community are going to withdraw, and the country will not receive the benefits of political support and foreign resources for its rebuilding,” he warned. Haiti is awaiting the publication of results — expected to take place on 7 December — from the first round of last Sunday’s presidential election, in which incidents took place that left two dead and ten injured and led to annulment of the votes cast in 56 out of the 1,500 polling places. Various presidential candidates are calling for the annulment of the balloting and have claimed fraud in favor of the ruling party’s candidate, Jude Célestin.
By Dialogo August 26, 2011 Authorities rounded up nearly 120 people in Trinidad and Tobago after imposing emergency rule on the oil-rich Caribbean nation this week to halt a spike in violent crime. Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs said 117 criminal suspects were detained, including at least 56 purported gang members on charges ranging from drug possession and trafficking to illegal weapons possession. They were arrested under the limited state of emergency announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, which gave the police and military broad powers to conduct search and seizure operations and make arrests. The provisional suspension of some constitutional guarantees came in response to a spate of murders blamed on the drug trade and turf wars over smuggling routes through Trinidad and Tobago, which is a trans-shipment point for South American cocaine headed to Europe and the United States. The twin-island southern Caribbean country, which is a leading supplier of liquefied natural gas to the United States, has faced a growing threat from heavily armed street gangs. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan urged gang members to lay down their arms and get on the right side of the law. Despite potential reprisals, he suggested they help police uncover drug and weapons caches. “If you share with us, information on a gang, not only will you be able to come out of that gang but we can snuff out the lifeblood and very existence of gangs so that you can be able to have a life of your own,” Ramlogan told a news conference on August 24. Authorities last imposed a state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago in July 1990 when members of a local extremist Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, attempted a coup.
By Dialogo January 23, 2012 The Colombian government has submitted a new request to Venezuela for the extradition of Guillermo Enrique Torres, alias ‘Juan Conrado,’ known as the ‘singer-songwriter’ of the communist guerrilla group FARC, Colombian authorities confirmed on January 19. “On December 27, Torres’s extradition was requested for the second time,” a spokesperson for the Colombian Attorney-General’s Office told AFP. The Attorney-General’s Office filed the request through the Ministry of Foreign Relations, which submitted it to the Venezuelan authorities, a source at that agency indicated. The first extradition request for Torres, who was arrested in Venezuela in May 2011, was sent to Caracas in September and did not receive a positive response, the source at the Attorney-General’s Office explained. Guillermo Torres was prominent within the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America’s oldest guerrilla group, as the chief composer and performer of the group’s revolutionary songs and anthems. He was also one of the delegates to the failed peace talks between the FARC and former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana’s administration (1998-2002). The Attorney-General’s Office indicated that the new request seeks Torres’s extradition on charges of aggravated homicide, torture, kidnapping for purposes of extortion, and forced disappearance, while the first request charged him with illicit recruitment and forced disappearance. In April 2011, Venezuela deported Joaquín Pérez – considered responsible for the Anncol website, which is tied to the FARC – to Colombia. That decision was controversial among the supporters of President Hugo Chávez’s administration and led to a request for explanations by Sweden. Pérez, who was born in Colombia and was arrested at the Caracas airport upon arriving from Frankfurt, resided in Sweden and had adopted Swedish nationality in 2000. With 47 years of armed struggle, the FARC is Colombia’s chief guerrilla group and currently has between 8,000 and 9,000 fighters, according to the Defense Ministry.