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Green Notes - 24 Oct 08

By Chinthana ⋅ October 24, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

• Drax Group, the owner of Britain’s most carbon-intensive power station, is turning green with a £2bn plan to build the country’s first large-scale biomass plants which burn plant-based materials. Bio-mass power plants generate electricity by burning a range of fuels including energy crops, wood chips and other material from renewable sources, the company said. One power station will be built at Immingham, Lincolnshire, and another in Hull, Yorkshire, with the third at a site yet to be decided. However, this is most likely to be at Drax’s existing site at Selby, Yorkshire. The three plants will supply 15pc of the UK’s renewable power and up to 10pc of total UK electricity. Together the stations will produce 900 megawatts of power, enough serve a small city a current usage levels.
• On September 16 2008 at General Motors’ 100th birthday celebrations, company Chairman and CEO Chevrolet Volt GM handout photo shows the production Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle. AFP More Pictures Rick Wagoner unveiled the production version of its ambitious electric vehicle project, the Chevrolet Volt. Global production Chief Bob Lutz even drove the car on to the stage. Though the choice was between two firms, reports suggest that General Motors chose LG Chem to supply lithium-ion batteries for the highly anticipated 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Reuters reports that “The 400-pound battery pack designed for the the Volt is also expected to be the most expensive element of the rechargeable car and its single most important component. The Volt is on track to become the first mass-market, plug- in hybrid when it is launched in 2010. It has also become a symbol of GM’s effort to reinvent itself at a time when its sales are slumping and its ability to survive the downturn has come under scrutiny.“
• Now that solar startup Solyndra has come out into the sun, we’re slowly getting more details on the company’s technology and business. Today Solyndra announced that it has signed a sales deal with German solar integrator GeckoLogic GmbH valued at $250 million. This deal is part of the $1.2 billion in contracts Solyndra unveiled in its coming out announcement. The company says it’s already delivering product and is focused in the short-term of ramping up production. Solyndra currently operates a fabrication line at its headquarters in Fremont, Calif., and has a new manufacturing facility planned in nearby Milpitas.