Renewable Energy News

Over the course of its terrestrial history, solar industry growth has primarily relied on incentives and subsidies for growth and as a mark of success, instead of healthy margins and profits. For most of the industry's history buyers of technology (cells and modules) have enjoyed price control. The primary reasons that buyers have controlled the price function for most of the PV industry's history are: a) The industry requires incentives/subsidies for its growth b) Without subsidies there is not pull for the technology c) There are many substitutes, both renewable and conventional d) all substitutes enjoy some degree of subsidies themselves e) the task of educating consumers that owning the means of electricity production offers more control than continuing to rent electricity is daunting and f) the industry continues to promise prices so low that continued investment in high quality technology and R&D is almost impossible.

Whether you welcome it with enthusiasm or pretend it's not happening, the holiday season is upon us. This year, all of us here at RenewableEnergyWorld would like to highlight organizations that uphold the spirit of giving, charity and work for the greater good. Below you will find some of the many organizations with goals to promote and establish renewable energy worldwide.

Saudi Arabia's newly announced commitment to introducing solar-powered desalination plants marks a welcome and significant step in advancing the technology. In October 2012, Abdul Rahman Al-Ibrahim, governor of the country's Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), which procures the majority of its extensive municipal desalination assets, announced plans to establish three new solar-powered desalination plants in Haqel, Dhuba and Farasan. SWCC is the biggest producer of desalinated water worldwide, accounting for 18% of global output.

One of the key issues occupying much of the debate in Doha as climate talks rage against a looming deadline is the UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF), a proposed $100 billion global fund that would be paid by richer nations and used to assist developing countries in their efforts to combat climate change.

Back in February, we announced that Renewable Energy World Conference and Expo, North America would be co-locating with Power-Gen International at the end of the year. PGI is the largest trade show for the power generation industry, attracting more than 20,000 executives from around the world to hear the latest information about the politics, economics and advances in the production and supply of power to communities. The show officially starts tomorrow but tech tours and workshops have already begun.

You can say one thing about the Koch brothers: They don't let the facts get in their way. Of course I'm talking about Charles G. and David H. Koch, the billionaire owners of Koch Industries, the oil, coal and natural gas conglomerate that's been dubbed the "kingpin of climate science denial."

Called the "Robin Hood of public relations" by The National Journal, and named "one of the 100 most influential PR people of the 20th Century" by PR Week, David Fenton has for over three decades worked to create public relations campaigns for the environment, public health, international development, and human rights. His firm, FENTON, now has 80 employees, all working to accelerate progress through powerful issue campaigns.

About 1,900 dairy farms dot the landscape in California, with millions of cows producing both milk and manure. The California Energy Commission wants to help milk that manure for all the power it can provide! In fact biodigesters, which produce gas from manure, offer a number of potential benefits: They generate energy, decrease greenhouse gases, reduce odors, improve water and air quality, and provide additional financial security for dairy farmers.

Advanced lighting has brought us not only energy savings, but also a slew of new screw-in-a-light bulb jokes. For LEDs, it usually goes something like this: How many people does it take to screw in a LED light? One. And a roomful of deep wallets to pay for it. To be fair, the cost of LEDs (light-emitting diodes) has been falling dramatically and is

NRG Energy, Inc. has announced the completion of its "The Sun Lights the Way" project in the Boucan Carre region of Haiti. The program entailed the installation of solar electric systems at 20 schools, a fish farm and a drip irrigation system supporting agricultural production throughout Haiti's Central Plateau region, through collaboration with th

There're quite a few news bits coming from the solar sector today, with more downbeat news from struggling LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) even as 2 western panel makers make important new inroads to the China market. Meantime, Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) is also getting some good news in the form of new financing from a major western commercial lender for

European energy companies are considering participating in U.S. offshore wind-farm auctions, a sign of increasing confidence in the viability of marine-based wind power off U.S. shores, according to Arcadia Windpower Ltd. President Peter Mandelstam.

The new head of Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) expects the fund, set up by the ruling Labor government to invest A$10 billion (US$10.4 billion) in renewable energy, energy efficiency and low emissions technologies, to make its first investment in July 2013.

Liberation reports that for the second time in a little more than a year the cost of a new reactor under construction at Flamanville, France has risen dramatically.

During September and October 2012, the Chinese government announced intensive Distributed PV Power Generation policies that are likely to expand the market share of the building-mount PV segment in China. An installation target of 5 GW distributed PV power generation yearly is expected to be achieved by the end of 2016.

This past summer Italy not only adopted new feed-in tariffs for solar, but also radically revised its program for wind and other renewables. The complex new Italian policies go into effect at the beginning of the new year.

On November 28, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced 66 transformational or breakthrough technology projects to receive a total $130 million in a new round of funding through the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) "OPEN 2012" program. An award for $2,648,074 will be negotiated for a Yale University project with geothermal aspects that could help lower costs for low-temperature development.

Norway put development of its first planned offshore wind farm on hold until further notice, with the company involved citing a lack of political support, a setback in European efforts to boost renewable energy production.

Obama's reelection did not bring on a new bull market for clean energy stocks, as some had hoped. My clean energy model portfolio was flat (+0.4%) for the month, while the widely held Powershares Wilderhill clean energy ETF (PBW) fell 1.6%. In contrast, the broad market, as measured by the Russell 2000 ETF, (IWM) rose 1.1%.

India released a draft policy with the goal of building 9,000 megawatts of grid-connected solar plants by 2017, more than eight times its current capacity.