FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Wisconsin State Journal:The developer of a proposed solar farm in Iowa County is planning a second solar farm in Kenosha County that could feature the first utility-scale battery storage in Wisconsin. Chicago-based Invenergy last week submitted an engineering plan for a 200-megawatt solar farm with a 50-megawatt battery component.That’s larger than any battery currently deployed on the nation’s power grid and the first in the state of Wisconsin, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Invenergy has installed 31.5-megawatt batteries in Illinois and West Virginia, which account for most of the capacity in the company’s advanced storage portfolio.Batteries enable renewable energy sources like wind and solar to deliver power on demand, similar to traditional fossil fuel generators. They can also contribute to grid stability and provide reserve capacity to meet peaks in demand.“With batteries, it can compete in the marketplace in multiple ways,” said Andy Olsen, a senior policy advocate with the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Madison. “Not only on the power but when we get the power, which matters quite a bit.”Invenergy says it plans to submit a permit application to the Public Service Commission in April. Company spokeswoman Beth Conley said the Paris solar farm is being proposed as a developer-owned project but the company is in talks with potential utility buyers.As of December, there were 119 utility-scale batteries with a combined capacity of 845 megawatts deployed nationwide, according to the EIA. Only two dozen of those are larger than 10 megawatts.More: Proposed Kenosha County solar farm could feature Wisconsin’s first utility-scale battery Developer Invenergy proposes large solar-plus-storage project in Wisconsin
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Coal bearing the brunt of global decline in electricity demand
Coal bearing the brunt of global decline in electricity demand FacebookTwitterLinkedInEmailPrint分享Bloomberg:As silent factories and deserted offices hobble demand for electricity worldwide, the biggest loser is coal.In the U.S., coal’s share of power generation has dropped more than 5 percentage points since February on the nation’s biggest grid while output from natural gas plants and wind farms held steady. In Europe, it’s down 2 points. Even in China and India, where coal still dominates, it’s losing market share during the pandemic.It comes down to cost. Coal power is more expensive than gas and renewables in many places and, hence, is the first fuel priced out of the market when demand falls. Its plunging use amid the lockdowns is a boon for efforts to fight climate change, hastening a shift that was already underway to weed out the dirtiest fossil fuel.In the U.S., coal is now supplying just 14% of power on the grid serving 65 million people from Illinois to New Jersey. That’s down from almost 20% in February, according to a Bloomberg analysis of data from the grid operator, PJM Interconnection LLC. It’s the only major fuel to slump.In Europe, coal’s share of power generation has dipped to 12%, from 14% a year ago, according to data from Wartsila Oyj, the Finnish energy technology company. The decline is particularly sharp in Germany, where electricity from hard coal and lignite, sometimes called brown coal, plunged to 18% of net generation in the first two weeks April. One year ago, they accounted for 35%.In India, coal’s share of the power mix slipped to 65% from 71% in the month since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced lockdowns to contain the outbreak. The country’s coal imports for power plants in March fell 28% from a year earlier. The share from renewables, nuclear and hydropower rose. And in China, thermal power output, which is mostly from coal, slumped 8.2% in the first quarter while solar and wind gained.[Will Wade, Chris Martin and Mathew Carr]More: In global electricity slump, coal is the big loser
Colombia: Multinational operation seizes 2.7 tons of cocaine
BOGOTÁ, Colombia – Three Colombians and two Hondurans were arrested aboard an unflagged vessel suspected of transporting 2.7 tons of cocaine near the Colombian island of San Andrés, officials said. The arrests and seizure, which were carried out during Operation Daga, were the result of a joint effort among the coast guards of Colombia, the United States, France, Honduras and Nicaragua, according to the website El Colombiano.com. Since the five detainees were intercepted by French authorities aboard an unflagged vessel in international waters, they were subsequently taken, along with the drugs, to the French island of Martinique and handed over to local authorities, according to La Prensa.com. Mexico: Drug war has displaced 230,000 Dominican Republic: Alleged drug smuggler extradited to U.S. By Dialogo March 31, 2011 Bolivia: Cocaine seized near border with Peru MEXICO CITY – The country’s fight against narcotics has displaced about 230,000 people, with about 50% of them seeking refuge in the United States, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. The institution’s report was based on studies by Mexican researchers, as the Mexican government doesn’t maintain official figures related to the displacement of its people. “Independent surveys put their number at around 230,000,” the report said, according to The Associated Press. “An estimated half of those displaced crossed the border into the United States, which would leave about 115,000 internally displaced, most likely in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila and Veracruz.” Despite the lack of official figures relating to displacement, the 2010 census carried out by the government found that hundreds of thousands of homes were left vacant in violence-plagued areas, including the dangerous border city Ciudad Juárez, where 111,103 of 488,785 houses had been abandoned. 
LA PAZ, Bolivia – One hundred ninety-four kilograms (427 pounds) of cocaine hidden in a camouflaged truck were confiscated near Bolivia’s border with Peru on March 26, Col. Juan Luis Torrelio, the head of the Bolivian Special Forces Against Drug Trafficking (FELCN), said. Torrelio said the truck crossed the border near Yunguyo, Peru, and was bound for the Bolivian province of Santa Cruz, according to FmBolivia.net. The cocaine was divided among 189 packages stashed beneath a false bottom in the truck. The driver, whose name was not released, was arrested, officials said. A day earlier, law enforcement officials found 26 kilograms (57 pounds) of cocaine in another vehicle in the same area, Torrelio said. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Dominican authorities have turned over an alleged narcotics drug trafficker so he can stand trial in Puerto Rico on charges of smuggling at least five kilograms (11 pounds) of cocaine and one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin to the island. Miguel Ángel Martínez, also known as Miguel Ángel Santana Martínez, and “Nani,” was extradited to Puerto Rico last week, according to the Dominican Republic-based website Listín Diario.com. Martínez, 41, also is expected to be tried in a U.S. District Court, where he’ll face charges of criminal possession with the intent to distribute the narcotics, the Dominican National Drug Control Office said in a statement. U.S. authorities requested Martínez’s extradition in November 2010, the office said. BOGOTÁ, Colombia – At least three police officers were killed and three others wounded in an attack by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on the outskirts of Miranda, a town in the southwestern department of Cauca, officials said. The FARC is one of the region’s largest terrorist and narcotics trafficking organizations. The guerrillas surprised the police officers as they traveled along a road that leads from Miranda to the town of Florida, located in the neighboring department of Valle del Cauca, on March 27. Colombia: Three police officers killed in FARC attack 
Financial considerations as rates plummet and coronavirus concerns escalate
continue reading » We are working daily with many institutions on strategic thinking and financial modeling focused on the pandemic and the economy. In this article, we address some general talking points we thought you would find helpful and some specific ideas being considered/tested, a number of which may need to be decided on quickly.1. Mindset—You Can Make A DifferenceTimes of great uncertainty present opportunities for your institution to contribute in a meaningful way to the well-being of your members, employees, and community. Approach these issues with a determination to make a real difference. ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr
Searching ‘racist’ on Twitter brings up Trump as top result
Greg Sterling, a contributing editor at the website Search Engine Land, said the result suggests that “so many people are using the words ‘racist’ or ‘racism’ to respond to or describe Donald Trump, or there’s a concerted effort to associate Trump’s account with those terms.”Evidently, it is also possible that a large number of supporters defending Trump from charges of racism would also use the word ‘racist’ in their replies. Sterling said Twitter’s ranking algorithm for individual tweets “uses a variety of signals, including how recently the tweet was published, its relevance (personalization), user engagement with the tweet, the presence of rich media (such as video or images) and several other variables.”The analyst noted however that in 2007, a concerted effort known as “Google bombing” was able to manipulate search results for then-president George W. Bush to associate him with the term “miserable failure” on the search engine until the flaw was corrected.Kjerstin Thorson, a Michigan State University politics and social media professor, said it would require a detailed analysis to understand the reasons for the association of Trump and racism.But Thorson said “it’s not unlikely this could be an accurate representation of what people are saying” on Twitter and that bias is probably not a factor.”The platforms have gone out of their way to avoid any appearance of bias,” she said. Analysts said the news suggests Trump opponents, more than critics of any other Twitter account, have been labeling him as racist, although the social media giant itself did not confirm this was the case.Trump has been facing heightened criticism for his comments during protests over police brutality but has always dismissed suggestions that he is racist. Twitter offered little in the way of explanation, pointing out only that its search algorithms may reflect what is happening on the platform.Trump, in the midst of a heated war with social media over what he claims is bias, recently signed an executive order calling for more oversight of internet platforms, a move which could prove difficult to enforce. US President Donald Trump appears as the first result of suggested accounts when users type “racist” into Twitter’s people search, it emerged Wednesday. The result, reported by the British news outlet The Independent and verified by AFP, highlights the intense discord around the president.Trump has more than 80 million followers, although there is much dispute about how many of them are genuine, active human Twitter users.
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S&P develops assessment for pension funds involved in direct lending
However, because this creates an exposure to the fund’s risk of failure, other participating investors are needing assurances of its creditworthiness.Burnett noted that S&P previously designed an assessment framework for the larger public sector asset owners, while some of the Canadian schemes were also rated entities.The latest project evaluates the risks posed by defined benefit (DB) schemes with a single corporate sponsor.He told IPE: “Regular UK, Australian or Dutch pension schemes, they are not an entity that even has the ability to issue debt, never mind being interested in a rating, so we’ve never had a methodology to assess them.”He said the assessment examined the strength of the corporate sponsor, as many schemes are in “structural deficit”, and that the funds usually end up with a rating on par, or one below, their sponsors.“The ultimate risk is on the underlying corporate sponsor, as opposed to the fund itself,” he said, explaining that the approach is similar to a covenant assessment conducted by some DB funds.The approach “steps around the issue of the structure, the regulation, the liquidity”, Burnett said.The process will ultimately increase the transparency of any construction projects – either infrastructure or real estate – that attract funding from such single-sponsor DB funds.Burnett said S&P would not stop at simply evaluating single-sponsor DB funds.“Whilst at the moment this criteria only deals with single-sponsor defined benefit schemes, in the future, we hope to expand that thinking and extend it to other types of schemes.” Standard & Poor’s is to begin rating pension schemes involved in the funding of construction projects on back on increasing interest in direct lending.The ratings agency said developing the assessment method was partially driven by a change in the way pension investors are providing project finance, with the past two years seeing a gradual shift away from the full sum being provided in advance.Instead, said Robin Burnett, the company’s senior director of infrastructure finance ratings, schemes are increasingly opting for a quarterly or monthly drawdown of financing.“For transaction sponsors, as well as for those procuring the project, these more flexible structures remove the negative carry and improve the economics of the project,” he said.
ESMA predicts cost, speed benefits from increased use of ledgers
It said it understood the use of DLT could bring benefits to the market but that it wished to understand fully any detriment that could arise through reliance on such ledgers.The supervisor predicted the clearing and settlements markets could see significant benefits, as the use of DLT could cut back on the number of intermediaries needed in any transaction.“Certain proponents of the DLT believe the clearing and settlement of transactions could effectively combine into a single step, which would be (almost) instantaneous,” the discussion paper adds.“This could create a number of additional benefits, including reduced counterparty risk and less need to post collateral.”ESMA also predicted the use of DLT could reduce costs for providers, as certain back-office functions – including reporting and monitoring of transactions – could be automated.“Also, the use of distributed ledgers could reduce or even eliminate maintenance costs of individual ledgers at company level and reduce the need for costly business continuity plans,” the paper states.“In addition, by reducing the need for multiple intermediaries, the DLT could also reduce transactions costs.”ESMA has asked for feedback from the industry by 2 September.,WebsitesWe are not responsible for the content of external sitesLink to ESMA discussion paper The European securities supervisor has launched a consultation on the use of ledgers to verify clearinghouse and other transactions, predicting its use could reduce the need for collateral.According to the discussion paper by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) – one example of which is blockchain, used to validate transactions of virtual currency Bitcoin – could see significant benefits for the clearing and settlement markets and reduce counterparty risk.Saying it was “mindful” of issues raised by the use of Bitcoin, ESMA nevertheless stressed its research on DLT would be limited to how the technology could be used within the securities markets.It noted that any regulation of payments of virtual currencies would be for the European Central Bank or the European Banking Authority to consider.
Democracy, migration, crime, and human rights are the great hemispheric issues, says OAS secretary general
NewsRegional Democracy, migration, crime, and human rights are the great hemispheric issues, says OAS secretary general by: – September 9, 2011 Sharing is caring! Share Share Tweet
12 Views no discussions Share Jose Miguel Insulza. Photo credit: oas.orgWASHINGTON, USA — The secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, said on Thursday during the XV Annual CAF Conference being held in Washington, DC, that there are issues of hemispheric scope such as migration, organized crime, and human rights that the OAS can face with greater breadth and depth than any other institution, while he recognized that there are other tasks that can be developed jointly with sub-regional forums.Insulza referred to the importance of the Inter-American Democratic Charter as an instrument that strengthens democratic institutions in the region and recalled that “there is not a single piece of American international law that is not deposited at the OAS and that does not respond to the Organization of American States; the Inter-American Democratic Charter is the OAS’s, as well as the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights, the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, and the Convention for the Defense of Women’s Rights.” He underlined, nevertheless, that he believes “in regional organizations such as Unasur, the Andean Community, and Mercosur,” and held that issues such as electoral observation, crises response, and human rights can be addressed also by other organizations. “I am in favour of that,” he said.On Latin American integration, Insulza clarified that “the OAS is not a mechanism for integration,” and identified the two biggest problems of the region in this context: “the absolute inability to forge supranational organizations for integration, a goal that has not yet been reached by any of the sub-regional organizations”; and the need to recognize that there is great inequality among the countries of Latin America. “Therefore, there must be a willingness on the part of the bigger and richer countries to compensate in some way the process of integration, as Germany and France did with the European Union,” he added.Regarding the process of integrated being led by Unasur, Insulza indicated that “it is good to begin with South America, but at some point we have to ask ourselves if our objective of hemispheric integration is still relevant,” since, in his own words, this is “a gigantic aspiration.”The functions and limitations of the OAS and Unasur were the central issues of the discussion during the closing session of the CAF event. Titled, “Changing Dynamics of Hemispheric Relations,” at the session Secretary General Insulza was accompanied by the Secretary General of Unasur, María Emma Mejía, in a dialogue moderated by the CNN en español journalist Patricia Janiot.In the context of the event, Insulza paid homage to the recently deceased Chilean former senator and foreign minister Gabriel Valdés, recalling his political legacy and his contribution to Chilean democracy.Caribbean News Now
‘Wall That Heals’ makes Milan stop for the weekend
Milan, In. — The replica is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. Visitors experience The Wall rising above them as they walk towards the apex, a key feature of the design of The Wall in D.C.Like the original Memorial, The Wall That Heals is erected in a chevron-shape and visitors can do name rubbings of individual service member’s names on The Wall. The replica is constructed of Avonite, a synthetic granite, and its 140 numbered panels are supported by an aluminum frame. Machine engraving of the more than 58,000 names along with modern LED lighting provide readability of The Wall day and night.As on The Wall, the names on The Wall That Heals are listed by day of casualty. Beginning at the center/apex, the names start on the East Wall (right-hand side) working their way out to the end of that wing, picking up again at the far end of the West Wall (left-hand side) and working their way back in to the center/apex, joining the beginning and end of the conflict at the center.There is more information online here.Special thanks to Paul Gentrup for the names and locations on the wall of Southeastern Indiana Veterans lost in the Vietnam War:Last name, First name, Wall Panel, Line Ariens, Ricky Michael 2W 43Brandenberg, Verlin Richard 19E 49Brinegar, Barry Lynn 5W 86Brown, Donald Wayne 35W 24Burkett, William Omer 27W 93Chase, Michael Lyn 9W 12Combs, Lee Roy 28W 58Denning, Thomas George 16E 1Diefenbach, Larry Arthur 33E 46Dixon, Gale William 65E 13Farmer, Neil Phillip 27W 55Fleek, Charles Clinton 24W 116Fogle, Lary Dale 4E 30Fox, Charles Nathan 1E 118Gray, Harey Duncan 55E 13Hammons, Philip 20W 36Hemphill, David Wayne 38W 43Henry, Donald Ray 26E 10Herald, Clabe Jr. 12E 42Hoff, Ronald Alvin 20W 6Hutchinson Jr., Richard “Dickie” 16E 68Jacobs, John Charles 8E 17Kirkendall, Joseph Keith 46W 42Lassiter, David Steven 48W 33Lozier, Kenneth Wayne 24E 33Metcalf, Harold 44E 29Mink, Boyd Carl “Carly” 51E 31Meyers, David Lee 24E 8Myers, William Henry 19E 100Montgomery, Ronald Wayne 17W 28Raglin, Ronda Lee 9E 70Razo, Frank Andrew Jr. 7E 131Reed, William Clemon 6W 55Reid, Roger Glen 4W 97Richter, Mervin Ralph 29W 83Sanders, Richard Wayne 42W 59Schnebel, Robert Fred 36W 54Schneider, David Alan 32W 61Schuck, Donald Philip 64W 15Steuer, Fred Martin 1E 5Stevens, Gary Lynn 19E 113Treadway, William Michael 19W 26Tunny, Nicholas Randle 6W 41Wells, Orville D. 9E 64Williamson, Robert Joe 36E 43Winters, Gene Talbert 12E 31Start at the top of each panel and count down 10 lines and then there will be a dot on the left at each 10th line—–10-20-30-40 etc. so you can count down and find the line.
Thies goes fastest in Raceway Park Modified main
By Bob ConeyJEFFERSON, S.D. (Aug. 11) – It was “Go Fast or Go Home” in racing action Sunday night at Raceway Park. In the Jebro, Inc. IMCA Modified feature, Jim Thies moved into the top spot when the first and second place cars tangled on a restart with three laps remaining. Thies went on to take the victory. Jason Schneiders and Greg Taylor rounded out the top three. Jason Ward moved back into victory lane taking the feature win in the Casey’s General Stores IMCA Stock Car division. After having his win streak broken more than a month ago, Ward moved to the front in the early laps and took the checkers over Todd Gereau and Jim Hall.Todd Boulware strengthened his division point lead in the Skyline Casino IMCA Northern SportMods, passing early leader Aaron Plum for the win. Rounding out the top three was Rusty Montange. In the MOPAR IMCA Hobby Stock feature, Craig Clift took the victory pulling away from the field. Dave Riley was the best of the rest, followed by John Cain.Defending champion Cody Thompson continued to inch his way back up in the points standings with another feature win in the KISS 107 FM IMCA Sport Compacts. Behind Thompson, Drew Johnson and Mark Holmes, Jr. rounded out the top three.