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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is providing $125 million for electrical parts and other supplies to help repair crews in Ukraine keep up with Russian strikes pounding the country’s electrical system, the U.S. international development aid chief said Wednesday.The U.S. Agency for International Development plans to use the money to procure backup power for Kyiv’s water and district-heating systems. The funding also will help replenish supplies of gas turbines, transformers and other vital power equipment.

An overview of the substation attack in Moore County, North Carolina in December 2022. ---- This event highlights the need for making critical substations more secure and also making the grid more robust so that someone can’t rob tens of thousands of people of their lights, heat, comfort, and livelihood for four days with just a few well-placed bullets.

(ATLANTA, Ga.) — Governor Brian Kemp announced today that Qcells, one of the largest and most-recognizable renewable energy operations, will spend over $2.5 billion to expand solar manufacturing in Georgia. It will build a new facility in Cartersville, and add a third facility to its existing campus in Dalton. Over 2,500 jobs will be created for North Georgia, and the completed facilities will bring Qcells’ total solar panel production capacity to 8.4 gigawatts by 2024.

In a recently published science paper, Dr. Wallace Manheimer said it would be the end of modern civilisation. Writing about wind and solar power he argued it would be especially tragic “when not only will this new infrastructure fail, but will cost trillions, trash large portions of the environment, and be entirely unnecessary”. The stakes, he added, “are enormous”. Dr. Manheimer holds a physics PhD from MIT and has had a 50-year career in nuclear research, including work at the Plasma Physics Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He has published over 150 science papers. In his view, there...

Almost two years ago, the Texas energy grid came within minutes of total system failure, leaving 4.5 million Texas homes and businesses without power at its peak. After the storm, it was painfully clear that the makeup of the Texas energy grid must be rebalanced, with an emphasis on electricity generated from cheap, plentiful and reliable natural gas and ensuring the natural gas energy supply chain was better weatherized to ensure operation during extreme weather conditions.

TACOMA, Wash. — Two Puyallup men have been charged in attacks at four Pierce County power substations that left thousands in the dark on Christmas. Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, are charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm, according to U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Nick Brown. The men were arrested on Saturday following an investigation by the FBI. The four substations that were vandalized were the Graham and Elk Plain substations operated by Tacoma Power and the Kapowsin and Hemlock substations operated by Puget Sound Energy. Power was...

Two men were arrested on New Year’s Eve for allegedly shutting down four Washington state power substations in late December that led to power outages for thousands across Pierce County. Matthew Greenwood and Jeremy Crahan have been charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and Greenwood faces a separate charge of possessing illegal short-barreled rifles. According to court documents, Greenwood, 32, and Crahan, 40, plotted to knock out power from four substations. While power was out in the first two facilities, the pair broke into a local business to steal from the cash register, Greenwood allegedly told investigators after his...

Rolling blackouts during the recent cold wave has raised concern about the reliability of our electricity grid, but the growing possibility of deliberate sabotage may be a bigger threat. The first sign America’s electricity grid might have become a target occurred in 2013, when a marksman disabled an electricity substation south of San Jose with more than a hundred long-range shots reportedly from a .50-caliber rifle. This was no casual prank or random act of vandalism. It was clearly planned, and the damage required nearly a month to repair. At the time the FBI downplayed the incident, saying publicly that...

The NFL pushed back the start time of Sunday's Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans game in Nashville one hour due to rolling blackouts in the area caused by bitterly cold weather that strained the electrical grid. Kickoff for Texans-Titans is now scheduled for 2:02 p.m. ET. "Due to the extreme weather and power outages affecting our region, kickoff for today's game has been postponed one hour to 1 p.m. CT," the Titans said in a statement Saturday. "This decision was made in partnership with the NFL, Office of Emergency Management, Nashville Electric Service and the Mayor's Office in an abundance...

With the current power issues in the country here's an idea to help. If you voted for the dims turn your power off. The rest of us will stay warm.

Power outages across Wisconsin affect thousands of residents after heavy snowfallOutages could last into Friday morning in northern parts of the stateBy Rich KremerPublished: Thursday, December 15, 2022, 11:25amShare: Tens of thousands of residents in northern Wisconsin were without power Thursday morning after a winter storm dropped more than a foot of heavy, wet snow in some areas.Xcel Energy reported more than 30,000 customers were without power in northwestern Wisconsin as of 8 a.m.Xcell spokesperson Chris Oullette said the snow caused extensive damage to trees, poles and power lines — with the biggest outages near Rice Lake and Hayward. The...

AFP — Ukraine worked to restore power on Tuesday after Russia’s latest wave of missile strikes caused power disruptions across the country, right as winter frost builds and temperatures plunge. Out of the 70 missiles launched by Moscow, “most” were shot down, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, but the barrage still hit Ukraine’s already battered infrastructure. Fresh power cuts were announced in all regions “due to the consequences of shelling,” national electricity provider Ukrenergo said on Telegram.

Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to criticise the mayor of Kyiv for failing to provide enough emergency shelters for residents during his regular speech to the nation. Following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, Ukraine has established thousands of so-called “invincibility centres” where people can access heat, water, internet and mobile phone links. More than 4,000 centres have been set up so far in Ukraine. In an evening address, Mr Zelensky indicated that “more work needed to be done” in some areas such as Kyiv, where Vitali Klitschko is the mayor. "Unfortunately, local authorities have not performed well in all cities. In particular,...

Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo has suffered over UAH 70 billion ($1.9 bil-lion) in losses as a result of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during a Cabinet meeting on Nov. 22.70 repair crews, totaling over 1,000 workers, are currently working to restore the grids, the PM added. Widespread power outages across the country will continue as the work goes on, he noted.Read also: Total blackout unlikely in Ukraine, DTEK says Shmyhal also explained why some cities in Ukraine may get more outages than others.“To put it plainly, there are substations and power transmission...

Technology capable of collecting solar power in space and beaming it to Earth to provide a global supply of clean and affordable energy was once considered science fiction. Now it is moving closer to reality. Through the Space-based Solar Power Project (SSPP), a team of California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers is working to deploy a constellation of modular spacecraft that collect sunlight, transform it into electricity, then wirelessly transmit that electricity wherever it is needed. They could even send it to places that currently have no access to reliable power. “This is an extraordinary and unprecedented project,” says Harry...

Actor and Director Rob Reiner said Friday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that Republicans are willing to “literally kill” to get power. Anchor Joy Reid said, “I think about the things the Republicans are willing to say things you would think would make them impossible for them to win. Mike Lee going in bragging to a bunch of donors he wanted to pull up security root and branch and get rid of it. He got some applause for it. You have a guy in North Carolina who wants to have rape panels where women have to go before they can get...

Facing reverses on the frontline, Russian forces are intensifying strategic strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, with a renewed bombardment of Kyiv (Kiev) cutting off power and water in the capital. Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight boxing champion who serves as the capital city’s mayor, said an energy facility powering “about 350,000 apartments in Kyiv” had been rocked by five explosions in the early hours of Monday morning.

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant occupied by Russian troops has been reconnected to 750 kV line. This was announced by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, informs Censor.NЕТ referring to Interfax-Ukraine. "ZNPP has restored the connection to the last operating 750 kV transmission line after it was lost for the third time in ten days," Grossi said. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that now both the main and reserve lines are available for communication with the power system of Ukraine, but intensive shelling of infrastructure across the country has delayed the restoration of the second backup external...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Thursday that the COVID-19 public health emergency will continue through Jan. 11 as officials brace for a spike in cases this winter. The decision comes as the pandemic has faded from the forefront of many people’s minds. Daily deaths and infections are dropping and people — many of them maskless — are returning to schools, work and grocery stores as normal. The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 and renewed every 90 days since, has dramatically changed how health services are delivered. The declaration enabled the emergency authorization of COVID vaccines,...

Linemen have reportedly restored power for roughly two million customers in Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian last week, the governor said on Sunday. The powerful storm rocked Florida’s west coast as a Category 4 storm, moving its way across central Florida and exiting off the east coast. It strengthened back to a hurricane after being downgraded to a tropical storm and smashed the South Carolina coast last week, making a second U.S. landfall. Prior to the storm, DeSantis assured that tens of thousands of linemen were ready to restore power when the inevitable occurred...