(source)

Sacramento;

A power surge left thousands without power in Stockton on Monday after smart meters on their homes exploded. The explosions started at around 8:30 a.m. after a truck crashed into a utility pole, causing a surge.

h/t peterj

Australia;

In a sign that the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time is about to collapse, Pac Hydro – an outfit renowned for its “social conscience” (see our post here) – has just clocked up one of the largest single corporate losses ever seen in Australian corporate history: Pac Hydro’s books apparently record an annual loss of $685 million – the Australian Financial Review says “$700 million” – but with losses of that magnitude a lazy $15 million is probably just a rounding error (see our post here). From what STT can glean, around half of that whopping figure is attributable to losses incurred by Pac Hydro’s wind farm operations in Australia. Pac Hydro has announced it will sack around 25% of its staff, starting from the top down: directors Garry Weaven and Brett Himbury were the first to go; and community “favourite”, Lane Crockett has been given the ‘pink-slip’, too.
The fact that ALL of Pac Hydro’s corporate pain and woe is being suffered at a point when the subsidy ‘rules’ have not been altered at all, gives a pretty fair hint as to what’s on the cards for the entire wind industry when the subsidies inevitably get cut or scrapped.

Friends of Maine’s Mountains;

Business reporter Darren Fishell at the Bangor Daily News wrote earlier today that, “The corporate subsidy watchdog agency Good Jobs First found Central Maine Power Co. parent company Iberdrola topped the list of all recipients of federal grants and tax credits, primarily in tax credits for its renewable energy developments.” Here’s a link to the FULL STORY.
Why does that matter to you, the Maine electricity ratepayer and taxpayer? Iberdrola is a Spanish company. Now that you know, we present you with this “executive summary” of what blowing up the tops of Maine’s scenic mountains to build industrial wind factories is all about.

The UK's preposterously expensive fleet of wind turbines is lying virtually idle at the moment. http://t.co/RaIJViPL7L

— Bishop Hill (@aDissentient) March 17, 2015

The solar photo-voltaic (PV) industry has another victim: Q-CELLS plant in Thalheim, Germany. As of March 1, 2015, the plant will cease production altogether and will only be selling PV panels made in Malaysia, 550 of its previous workforce of 800 will be laid off. Not that long ago, in 2007, the company had a workforce of 1700 and claimed to be the world’s largest producer of PV panels. (h/t Adrian)

Genetic Literacy Project;

To use land and derivative natural resources as sustainably as possible requires using the least input to produce the most food. So, how does organic farming stack up?

Despite billions spent in investments over decades, solar energy will only make up 0.6 percent of total electricity generation in the United States, according to a report released by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA).
“In spite of government’s best efforts to encourage innovation by solar energy companies and encourage Americans to rely more heavily on solar electricity, solar power continues to be a losing proposition,” the report said. “American taxpayers spent an average of $39 billion a year over the past 5 years financing grants, subsidizing tax credits, guaranteeing loans, bailing out failed solar energy boondoggles and otherwise underwriting every idea under the sun to make solar energy cheaper and more popular. But none of it has worked.”

But, you already knew that.

“Investment”. They keep using that word…

Australia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target.
Some 44 Australian windfarm projects, about half overseas-funded, have been shelved since a new conservative government said it wanted to cut state support for the industry a year ago, with investors and operators saying they are considering either downscaling or leaving the country altogether if it succeeds.
[…]
Wind power in Australia is not the only renewable energy sector to be affected by uncertainty over government subsidies or actual cuts. In Europe, Germany has scaled back support for solar power over the past few years, leading to a flood of insolvency filings by solar firms and a shrunken market.
Italy’s plans to cut subsidies for solar power firms have prompted an investor exodus. Retroactive solar subsidy cuts have also happened in Spain, Greece, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic over the past couple of years, putting off new investors as governments try to rein in energy costs and cut debt.

h/t Davers6

Wind goes AWOL;

UK electricity demand hit its highest level this winter on Monday – while wind turbines generated their lowest output, official figures show.
Cold weather saw UK demand hit 52.54 gigawatts (GW) between 5pm and 5.30pm, according to National Grid.
At the same time, low wind speeds meant the UK’s wind turbines were producing just 573 megawatts of power, enough to meet only one per cent of demand – the lowest of any peak period this winter, Telegraph analysis of official data shows.
Earlier on Monday wind output had dropped even lower, generating just 354 megawatts at 2pm, or 0.75 per cent of Britain’s needs – the lowest seen during any period this winter.

The news has finally reached the information highway’s last, lonely outpost;

Western governments have made a wrong turn in energy policy by supporting the large-scale conversion of plants into fuel and should reconsider that strategy, according to a new report from a prominent environmental think tank.
Turning plant matter into liquid fuel or electricity is so inefficient that the approach is unlikely ever to supply a substantial fraction of global energy demand, the report found. It added that continuing to pursue this strategy — which has already led to billions of dollars of investment — is likely to use up vast tracts of fertile land that could be devoted to helping feed the world’s growing population.

BRAZIL: Investigations are ongoing at utility Eletrobras’s 46MW Cerro Chato IV-VI wind complex in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul following the collapse of eight Impsa turbines.

Ontario: Saving the planet through homeless sequestration.