Citi moves closer to reaching its 100% renewable energy operations goal

The New York-based American multinational investment bank is cleaning up its operations in Texas.

Citi has entered into a new agreement that will see it run clean renewable energy operations in Texas. The multi-year term clean energy agreement adds to the financial institution’s existing renewable supply and will help the bank to reach its green energy targets.

Citi is aiming to supply 100% renewable energy to power its facilities across the globe by 2020.

Citi announced its 100% renewable energy commitment in 2017, which is part of the bank’s Sustainable Progress Strategy. This strategy outlines specific targets for environmental finance, environmental and social risk management and operations and supply chain, according to a Citi press release.

In regard to its new agreement in Texas, Citi will obtain the power and renewable energy credits from the 163-megawatt Midway Wind Project that is located in the state’s San Patricio County. The bank will acquire 63% of the clean power credits generated by the project, which it will use to run its renewable energy operations at its Texas facilities.

The Midway Wind Project, which is being developed by Sammons Renewable Energy, is expected to achieve commercial operation in the first half of this year.

Citi’s renewable energy operations goal meets the requirement of RE100.

The bank’s latest renewable energy transaction in Texas not only helps to secure its 100% clean power delivery in North America starting in 2020, but also meets the requirement of RE100. This is a global initiative of more than 100 businesses that have renewable energy goals.

“This unique partnership and transaction is reflective of our commitment to help accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy,” said Jagdish Rao, Head of Citi Enterprise Infrastructure in the PR. “These types of investments are good for the environment and pave the way for a sustainable future.”

Citi’s recent agreement to supply 100% renewable energy operations to its Texas facilities contributed to its $100 Billion Environmental Finance Goal. This goal is the company’s commitment to finance and facilitate a total of $100 billion over the course of 10 years to be put toward activities that lower the impacts of climate change and create environmental solutions that benefit people and the communities in which they live.

UK government extends airports’ drone-restriction zone

New UK legislation will enter effect next month which will extend the restrictions on drone use in the vicinity of airports, putting in place a ban on flights within 5km of runway ends.

The exclusion zone will be introduced on 13 March, the government states, in the wake of the serious drone-related disruption to London Gatwick operations last December.

Also Read : We’ve been warned about drones but can we prevent another Gatwick?

It says the change will “better protect” the country’s airports from operators who misuse the unmanned aerial vehicles.

The government adds that it intends to supplement this restriction with extended police powers, to stop and search people suspected of breaching the restrictions, with a new piece of legislation to be introduced “in due course”.

Police would also be able to access, with a warrant, electronic data stored on a drone.

“The law is clear that flying a drone near an airport is a serious criminal act,” says UK transport secretary Chris Grayling.

“We’re now going even further and extending the no-fly zone to help keep our airports secure and our skies safe.”

The previous operating restriction, introduced in July last year, restricted drone flights above 400ft and within 1km of an airport boundary. But this left open the possibility of conflict with aircraft on final approach.

UK cockpit union BALPA, which has been calling for an extension of the drone exclusion zone, describes the new rule as a “significant improvement” to air safety around airports.

French giant Safran to set up ₹323 crore aircraft unit in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: French defence and aerospace giant Safran has decided to set up a facility to manufacture parts of LEAP turbofan engine of aircraft at Hyderabad, next to its electrical wiring facility in the special economic zone of GMR at Hyderabad international airport.

The new manufacturing facility, its first in India for LEAP turbofan engines, will involve an investment of around €40 million (approximately ₹323.3 crore) with a capacity of around 20,000 units a year, said its global chief executive Philippe Petitcolin.

Addressing the media in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Philippe said the new facility, aimed at helping the French defence and aerospace giant in its transition from CFM engines to LEAP turbofan engines, will commence operations by early 2020. Safran currently has an electrical wirings facility at Hyderabad set up at an investment of around €10 million, apart from a training services unit for CFM engines.

The proposed engine parts facility at Hyderabad is primarily aimed at promoting competition among global suppliers of Safran, given the high commitment to execute orders on hand of around 15,000 engines to be delivered over the next 7-8 years, said Philippe. Safran is looking at achieving a capacity of at least 2,000 LEAP engines a year, he said.

Terming LEAP as the fastest-selling engine in the history of aviation, he said the new-generation LEAP entered service in 2016 and has now passed the mark of 3 million flight hours. It already powers more than 700 Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX commercial airliners, including 54 operated by Indian airlines.

Safran will look at setting up more manufacturing facilities in India for components of LEAP turbofan engines after assessing the progress of the proposed facility at Hyderabad, said Philippe.

Conservative group urges Wisconsin lawmakers to embrace renewable energy

As the cost of wind and solar power continues to fall, a new organization is pushing the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature to embrace renewable energy and begin working on policies to address a rapidly-changing marketplace.

“Clean energy may very well now be the cheapest source of energy,” Scott Coenen, executive director of the Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum, told a handful of lawmakers this week at a briefing at the state Capital.

Over the past decade, the costs of wind and solar technologies have fallen dramatically.

Even without subsidies, the total cost to build and operate utility-scale wind and solar power plants is now cheaper on average than any other type of plant, even natural gas, according to the financial advisory firm Lazard. In some cases it can be less expensive than it is to run an existing coal plant.

Coenen said that’s a challenging reality for some of those on the right, who have railed against government subsidies and mandates that helped get renewables off the ground.

“I spent 10 years arguing against renewables,” Coenen, a former legislative aide and Republican campaign manager, told lawmakers Tuesday. “Those arguments have been true … They’re not true anymore.”

Launched in late 2017 as part of a national network, the Wisconsin Conservative Energy Forum promotes an “all of the above” energy strategy to policymakers on the right. Unlike most clean energy groups, WCEF supports nuclear and natural gas as well as traditional renewables like wind, solar and biomass.

Clean energy also represents an opportunity for Wisconsin, which has no significant fossil fuel resources, to develop home-grown energy.

“We’re a net energy importer, which means we’re a net money exporter,” said Maria Redmond, director of the state’s Office of Energy Innovation, which is charged with securing the state’s energy needs while improving the economy and environment. “How can we keep the money here in the state?”

One of the casualties of the falling cost of wind and solar has been biomass digesters, which convert cow manure — one of the dairy state’s largest resources and liabilities — into energy.

Lawmakers heard from Jessica Niekrasz, chief administrative officer of Clean Fuel Partners, which operates two digesters — including one in Dane County, which in 2017 generated about 11,600 megawatt-hours of electricity for Alliant Energy.

The contract with Alliant ends in 2020, and with access to far cheaper sources of renewable energy, utilities are dialing back the rates paid to encourage digesters. Without that premium rate, the generators aren’t profitable.

Niekrasz hopes CFP will be able to find new markets for methane from biomass, though she said more research and development is needed to come up with better uses for the leftover fiber, which is now a liability.

Coenen urged lawmakers to begin working on policies to address issues such as:

• How to pay for trillions of dollars of investments in coal-fired plants, many of which are now money-losers.
• Making sure Wisconsin is training workers to fill some of the fastest-growing occupations: solar installers and wind technicians.
• Supporting the establishment of more electric vehicle charging stations.
• Addressing third-party financing of rooftop solar panels, a brewing battle between utilities and solar developers who want to be able to lease equipment to home and business owners.

“There’s a lot of big questions that are going to come up in the next couple of decades,” he said.

French giant Safran to set up ₹323 crore aircraft unit in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: French defence and aerospace giant Safran has decided to set up a facility to manufacture parts of LEAP turbofan engine of aircraft at Hyderabad, next to its electrical wiring facility in the special economic zone of GMR at Hyderabad international airport. The new manufacturing facility, its first in India for LEAP turbofan engines, will […]

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Conservative group urges Wisconsin lawmakers to embrace renewable energy

We are Social; All our social media connects eligible for discounts      Tweet         As the cost of wind and solar power continues to fall, a new organization is pushing the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature to embrace renewable energy and begin working on policies to address a rapidly-changing marketplace. “Clean energy may […]

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Boeing sees Indian airlines focusing on profit over growth

Boeing says that airlines in India are beginning to better balance capacity with demand, and are seeing better yields. “Air fares in the last 30 days have gone up and growth (in capacity) has actually come down by 2%,” says Dinesh Keskar, Boeing’s senior vice-president, Asia-Pacific and India sales. One key contributor to that trend […]

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