Renewable Energy News

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is working to bring more power that includes renewable energy and better transmission to the people of Kenya. JICA’s program aims to strengthen the power supply capacity of Kenya through support of power plants and domestic transmission lines. It also intends to strengthen international transmission lines to realize the Power Pooling Initiative in East Africa.

President Obama followed up in June of this year on the promise of his second inaugural address by announcing the President’s Climate Action Plan. Obama’s June address received much well-deserved attention, particularly since it was the first major presidential speech devoted entirely to the issue of climate change. Obama is to be applauded for finally using his bully pulpit to bring attention to this crucial issue in a major way.

A report from the African Development Bank (AfDB) said that wind power is expected to increase by a factor of 10 over the next few years. The study showed wind power in the country currently makes up just 1 percent of the energy mix — at just 1 GW — but with 10.5 GW of wind power projects in the pipeline, that number will skyrocket.

The US $7.6 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF) gave the go-ahead to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia to proceed with an updated version of a sweeping plan to bring an unprecedented 1120 megawatts (MW) of energy from concentrated solar power (CSP) to the region. The plan will receive US $660 million from the CIF’s Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and is expected to leverage nearly US $5 billion from other donors and private financing.

Grist’s David Roberts recently finished a 9-part deep dive on America’s utilities and the future of our electricity grid. I didn’t agree with everything in it, but it’s absolutely required summer reading because (1) so few of us really understand how utilities operate and their financial incentives, and (2) because we’re way past due for something better (cleaner, more efficient, more affordable) than last century’s grid. Best of all, Roberts managed to make a bunch of wonky stuff actually feel like summer reading, perfect for sitting by the pool with a koozy-wrapped beer.

In late April, concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) manufacturer and solar project developer Soitec announced that it had finalised a bond that will be used to finance a portion of its 44 MWp CPV plant in Touwsrivier, South Africa. The bond, worth some ZAR1 billion (approximately US$85 million) is the first publicly-listed project development bond ever issued to finance a CPV solar power plant, and only the third bond issued to finance any type of solar installation worldwide.

Norwegian energy company Statoil has announced that it will put its 12 MW, US $120 million Hywind Maine floating offshore wind project, planned for construction off the coast of Maine in the U.S., on indefinite hold.

British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday officially opened London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind farm.

India’s Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) trading fell by 87 percent in May, according to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), with sellers outnumbering buyers for the first time. Total trading volume fell to 19,212 compared to 153,130 in May 2012, IEX said in a statement.

RWE npower has pulled the plug on its UK biomass plant at Tilbury – the largest 100 percent biomass plant in the world.

At first glance the conclusion drawn by a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) sounds like an impossibly tall order. The report argues that, while biomass is an important part of the renewable energy mix, more should be done to ensure that the maximum amount of energy is extracted from the same material input, while avoiding any ne

On June 21st, Finavera Wind Energy (TSXV:FVR, OTC:FNVRF) announced the ratification of the sale of its Tumbler Ridge and Meikle wind energy projects to Pattern Energy with 99.63 percent of votes cast in favor (a two-thirds majority was needed).

Two major manufacturers are looking to capitalize on the bur- geoning South African solar market by opening production centers in the country.

The Chinese government has attached much importance to energy efficient industrial development in recent years through heavy investment and a series of policies and measures. However, problems still hobble the development of its energy efficiency industry, including the generally small size of companies in China and difficulties in paying for implementation of any policy under the current financing system.

It’s the time of year when quarterly results are anticipated (or dreaded) and bad news is magically turned upside down under the heading: losses were lower than expected. Of course…losses are not good news and in any case, Q1 results are not great indicators of what the scope of the year will bring.

Another week, another prediction on Europe’s ability to meet its 2020 renewable energy targets. This time the forecast comes from the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). Following last week’s EU Sustainable Energy Week, the Council’s Keep On Track! project has published its EU Tracking Roadmap, a publication which it says will be produced again in 2014 and 2015 in order to measure where Europe stands in relation to its climate goals.

Providing auxiliary hydrogen power to docked or anchored ships may soon be added to the list of ways in which hydrogen fuel cells can provide efficient, emissions-free energy.

Last week, I wrote about a missed opportunity for great solar guerrilla marketing, and people shared that post 71 times on Facebook alone. Why? Because the idea was fun, creative, surprising, and effective. But specifically, what is solar guerrilla marketing? The short answer is that solar guerrilla marketing is a courageous, creative, positive, an

Europe’s Parliament voted today to implement a short-term solution to the oversupply in its carbon market, which has been dragging down its troubled Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Solar inverter maker SMA Solar Technology has clarified its plans for cutting back its workforce in Germany, a little over a month after acknowledging that tough market conditions would make such a move necessary — and the cutbacks are nearly as deep as feared.