Renewable Energy News

Across the U.S., large and small-scale solar power development is booming, yet many projects still face the threat of permitting and construction obstacles.

Five years ago it seemed possible that solar water and space heating would break through into the mass market. Oil and gas prices were rising quickly and collector manufacturers had invested in larger production lines. But the successes of 2008 have not continued since. According to the latest projections by BDH, the German heating industry association, German plumbers installed 1.2 million square meters of solar collectors in 2012. This is 5 percent less than in 2011 and 40 percent less than in the boom year of 2008.

eSolar was a high-profile startup five years ago when concentrating solar power (CSP) or concentrating solar thermal power, drew huge interest from U.S. utilities and the company touted a design that aimed to build power plants efficiently. Then it became fairly quiet in the past two years.

After a long period of quiescence, Maine's state legislature has again taken up feed-in tariffs. Legislative document 1085 to establish the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff was introduced 19 March 2013 and referred to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology.

U.K. renewable power generation surged 20 percent last year, boosted by new offshore wind farms, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.

Viewing the solar industry (and all of its technologies) from the outside an observer would be confronted by two distinct views. View number one: THIS IS THE GREATEST TIME IN THE WORLD FOR SOLAR. GROWTH IS OFF OF THE CHARTS. THIS IS THE BEST YEAR YET. View number two: This is the worst time for manufacturers of photovoltaic technology. Enter at your own risk and consider failure the likely outcome.

Bulgaria may suspend as much as 40 percent of wind and solar power capacity as part of its effort to stem oversupply and stabilize electricity generation

What began as a group of neighbors hoping to reduce their impact on global warming has since become a major force for solar advocacy in Washington, DC. The Mount Pleasant Solar Cooperative was started by two teenage boys who wanted to make solar power convenient and affordable through a bulk-purchase program. Along the way, the cooperatives new mem

Ladakh, a remote district of India's northernmost state, is currently benefiting from the largest off-grid renewable energy project in the world. The Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is spending INR473 billion (US$88.8 million) on decentralized solar and hydro technologies to bring energy security to this remote mountain region. Why Ladakh?

News that Germany plans to launch a €50 million solar storage incentive is the latest indicator that solar storage's time has come.

All eyes are zeroed in on East Africa geothermal development these days as various governments unveil capacity goals and project plans. The most recent announcement comes from Rwanda – it is set to start drilling three exploratory wells near the Karisimbi volcano. The $27 million venture is scheduled to commence April 15th and last six weeks, according to local reports. If the testing is successful, the project is expected to have a capacity of up to 10 MW.

First Solar completed over 500 megawatts (MW) of solar PV projects in 2012, nabbing the top spot among worldwide solar PV integrator/EPC firms (engineering, procurement and construction), according to IHS/IMS Research, which tracks more than 600 EPC firms and nearly 10,000 projects.

U.K. measures to curb carbon emissions may raise power and gas bills for the biggest corporate consumers by as much as 36 percent by 2020, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.

Most of the attention in the solar sector these last few weeks has been focused on Suntech (NYSE: STP), the former high-flyer that was forced into bankruptcy earlier this month after it defaulted on more than $500 million worth of bonds. But now the similarly struggling LDK (NYSE: LDK) has made it back into the headlines as well, with word that the

Mascoma Corp., a closely held biofuel company backed by billionaire Vinod Khosla, withdrew its registration for a planned initial public offering to raise as much as $100 million.

In response to a statutory review, The Australian Government's Climate Change Authority has committed to maintaining its renewable energy target (RET) of 20 percent of the nation's electricity (roughly 41,000 GWh) coming from renewable sources by 2020. The Government also emphasizes that 20 percent is only a minimum target, and leaves "the way open for improvements in energy efficiency to deliver a higher share of renewable energy."

In the 1990 Golden Globe winning film "Green Card," Frenchman (and recent Russian resident) Gerard Depardieu and American Andie McDowell enter into a farcical marriage of convenience so he can become a U.S. resident and she can qualify for a beautiful co-op in New York City. While this romantic comedy is purely fictional (one hopes), it does portray one of the better known, real life residency programs offered by the U.S. Citizen and Immigrations Services (USCIS). Unbeknownst to many, however, is another USCIS residency program that is spurring foreign investment into renewable energy projects in the United States: The Employment-Based 5th Preference (EB-5) visa.

Proposals for reforms to Germany's renewable energy support policy have been tabled by the country's conservative federal environment minister Peter Altmaier.

The good news is the Department of Energy (DoE) FY 2013 budget request of $2,337 million for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs (EERE) shows a 29 percent increase from the enacted FY 2012 budget. The bad news is the FY 2013 has not been approved by Congress, as of this writing, see Table 1 below.  Table 1: FY 2013 DoE Budget Request  

For now Suntech is still going about its business after the company's major debt default and restructuring. But a major concern is already playing out: customers concerned about product warranties are already exploring different supplier options. "For any developer, it's pretty impossible to put that technology in a project now because lenders are going to want to see a financially stable entity standing behind the warranty," said Recurrent Energy president Arno Harris.