Renewable Energy News

The Roen Financial Report closely covers the universe of almost 30 alternative energy Mutual Funds (MFs) and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). We use a proprietary ranking method to pick the best funds, looking at measures that include fees, risk, tax liability, and the financial health of individual holdings within each fund. In the latest round of rankings, all top rated funds retain their premier slots.

Green Infra Ltd., an Indian wind-farm developer backed by IDFC Private Equity, is in talks with at least two investors to raise $150 million.

While public support for climate change aid is growing, U.S. negotiators once again offered no binding agreements on emissions reductions at the most recent United Nations climate talks – a stance that is becoming all too familiar to nations that see U.S. participation as crucial. Meanwhile a divided Congress has held off regulating carbon emissions, and some experts doubt that the nation will mandate protection of the climate via legislative act in the foreseeable future. Given hesitancy at the top, it was an act of leadership when California introduced Assembly Bill 32, the mandate to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the state to 1990 levels by 2020.

Right at the end of last year, on 29 December, wind power in France covered a record 10% of the country’s electricity demand, the French blog “habitat durable” reported. France’s wind power fleet reached a power production equivalent to 5,982 MW – the same level as six nuclear reactors. During the month of December in general, wind energy met 4% of

First Solar is arguably the leader in thin-film solar photovoltaics (PV). It's relentlessly inched up conversion efficiencies of its cadmium-telluride (CdTe) technology, while chipping away at manufacturing costs (now at $0.67, reported in November).

The US is by far the world's greatest user of energy per capita in the world. Each American uses about 87,000 kilowatt-hours per year – that is twice as much as the European Union (EU), the next closest consumer! Understanding energy trends in this country is extremely important for investors who want to understand how the energy landscape will look 10, 20 or 30 years from now.

Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd., an Indian waste management company, plans to raise $200 million in the nation's first initial share sale to finance a power plant fueled by urban refuse.

France has doubled its target for new solar projects to at least 1,000 megawatts in 2013, helping spur use of European equipment, Energy Minister Delphine Batho said.

Flexing its billion-dollar muscles once again in the renewable energy space, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (famously backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.) is buying two co-located solar projects in California from SunPower, billed as the world's largest permitted solar PV power development. The deal for Antelope Valley Solar Projects (AVSP), totaling approximately 579 megawatts (AC) combined generation capacity, is for an unspecified amount between $2-$2.5 billion.

As the US Presidential Election is now behind us and 2013 is beginning, it is critical that our country begin to focus on solving problems. As one of this generation's most pressing problems is related to energy and sustainability, my sincere hope is that the debate on this topic leads us forward in a way that benefits our economy, environment, and security. Good debate, based on facts and reality, will lead us to a better place. Poor debate, based on fiction and myths, will lead us nowhere. And going nowhere on one of the most important challenges of this generation is unacceptable.

Last year I wrote an article on the consumerization of energy in which I predicted that “Distributed energy technologies… will soon be able to provide electricity at costs and reliability levels that are competitive with grid power. For the first time in 100 years these technologies will enable consumers to bypass their local electric utility compa

In late June, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, two decades after its predecessor, the 1992 Earth Summit, was held to advance sustainable development through international cooperation. The "Rio+20? event drew the attendance of more than 100 Heads of State, and the top-level negotiated result from the conference was captured in a 53-page document called "The Future We Want."

Algae.Tec Ltd., an Australian producer of algal oils used in clean fuel, plans to sell $200 million of bonds in Europe to fund expansion in the Americas.

Several weeks ago, we wrote on the potential implications of the “fiscal cliff” for the U.S. solar industry if Congress and the President failed to reach an agreement to prevent dramatic tax increases and spending cuts, which would have taken effect January 1, 2013.  Sequestration would have led to a reduction in the value of 1603 cash grants by 7.

This is one of those questions that you really need a crystal ball to answer. Hydropower is a dynamic industry that is constantly growing and changing. So what is on the horizon for this industry as we ring in 2013? The below list is by no means comprehensive and is just a snapshot of anticipated global hydro industry activity.

Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, delivered a powerful message to some 3,000 people attending the keynote session last month at POWER-GEN International in Orlando, Fla. His message to the nation’s power sector was essentially a warning for power generators to adapt to a world of greater efficiency and meager con

Within a decade, more than 35 million buildings may be generating their own solar electricity (without subsidies) at prices lower than their utility offers, sufficient to power almost 10% of the country.   That’s the powerful headline from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s latest report, Commercial Rooftop Revolution.  Despite the opportunity

Geothermal development in the Philippines looks to continue strong in 2013, and if its government, including the DoE's geothermal energy management division, has its way the Philippines will be the largest producer of geothermal energy in just a few years. Currently only the United States produces more geothermal energy than the Pacific nation.

The Obama administration is gauging interest in wind power development off the coast of New York, after a state agency proposed an offshore project 11 nautical miles south of Long Beach.

A few of the latest headlines reflect a cooling appetite by foreign banks for funding solar energy related projects, creating a worrisome vacuum that Beijing may need to fill as it seeks to stop struggling sector from sinking further still. Two of the latest such headlines look like particular cause for worry, with Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) tak