Panorama Begins Work on Geothermal Project in Saint Lucia
The Panorama team, including Laurie Hietter and Susanne Heim, recently returned from their first round of fieldwork for a geothermal project in Saint Lucia, West Indies. Panorama is assisting the Government of Saint Lucia with stakeholder engagement, environmental baseline data collection, and preparing the Environmental and Social Impact Analysis for geothermal exploration wells. The project […]
California Gears Up to Set Ambitious Energy and Emissions Goals
Earlier this month, the California legislature pushed forward the agenda to mitigate climate change with clean energy and reduced emissions goals by passing several bills through their houses of origin. The following bills will next undergo scrutiny in the opposite house: Assembly Bill 645 (Williams & Rendon) increases the current renewable energy standard of 33% […]
The latest on KenGen: Laurie Hietter visits Kenya’s geothermal power plants
Laurie Hietter, Panorama Principal, attended the Kenya Electricity Generating Company’s (KenGen) Geothermal Board of Consultants meeting in Naivasha this March. The members of the Board toured the Olkaria geothermal field, the Eburru power plant, as well as their wellhead generators. KenGen has now added 280 MW of geothermal power to the national grid with Olkaria IV providing 140 […]
Increasing Geothermal Energy Generation in Kenya
Energy generation from geothermal plants owned by the Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited (KenGen) is going strong. The 2010 expansion of the Olkaria II Geothermal Plant included construction of a third generator, increasing generation at the facility by 35 megawatts. The increase in generation contributes approximately 276 gigawatt-hours annually to Kenya’s national grid and reduces the […]
Solar Power Going Strong In California
February was an important month for solar energy in California. The largest solar power plant in the world, Desert Sunlight, opened in Riverside County. The 550 megawatt solar farm will provide power to 160,000 homes and 400,000 people. The project was funded by a $1.5 billion federal loan guarantee, and it helped propel the momentum […]
California to introduce new renewable energy legislation
The California legislature has taken the words from Jerry Brown’s inauguration very seriously. Governor Jerry Brown called for an expansion of California’s renewable energy goals in his inaugural address (check out our blog post on the topic) and proposed the following goals: Increasing electricity derived from renewable sources from one third to 50 percent Reducing today’s petroleum use in […]
Renewable Energy: Powering U.S. Sports Stadiums One at a Time
Wind energy from the Salt River Project (SRP) will power the Super Bowl on February 1. The energy sponsorship from the non-profit municipal utility sparked much controversy when the deal was struck back in 2013. The deal includes a $1 million sponsorship of the Super Bowl. SRP will provide $500,000 cash, $450,000 of in-kind services, […]
Offshore Wind: Creating More Jobs than Offshore Drilling?
A recently published report from the international organization Oceana, titled Offshore Energy by the Numbers: An Economic Analysis of Offshore Drilling and Wind Energy in the Atlantic, has found that the oil and gas industry has greatly over exaggerated their claims that offshore drilling would stimulate job creation. As an alternative to offshore drilling, the report […]
Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment for 2014
According to a study performed by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (Bloomberg), total global investments in renewable energy rose for the first time in three years in 2014. Despite falling oil prices and falling investments in renewables over the past few years due to sharp declines in the price of solar systems and policy uncertainly in many […]
Geothermal Energy to Lower Electricity Cost in Kenya by 30 Percent
Adding Geothermal Energy to the National Grid in Kenya The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) will reduce the costs of electricity by 30 percent with the recent addition of 140 megawatts of geothermal power to the national grid from 14 mobile geothermal generating wells at the Olkaria site in Naivasha. Panorama has been working closely with KenGen […]