Renewable Energy News

"Efforts must be especially made in creating certainty for investors, reducing the administrative burden and increasing clarity in planning," said the European Commission in opening its consultation on a European climate and energy framework for 2030. We asked readers how such a framework should be structured to address their sector's current concerns, and which concerns are most important for promoting the sector's future development.

New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) on May 29 approved Public Service Electric and Gas Company’s (PSE&G’s) solar expansion proposals. Under the approval PSEG&G — the state’s largest utility — will allocate a significant amount of the $447 million it plans to spend on solar to support $193 million in distributed generation (smaller) project

Yesterday Google unveiled the winners of its Global Impact Challenge, in which four UK-based non-profits each received £500,000 (US$766,000) for their work in "using tech to tackle the world's toughest problems". Charity SolarAid was one of the four winners with its African pico-solar sales and distribution programme, SunnyMoney.

Solar industry colleagues may be interested to learn more about solar technical due diligence, especially in the wake of the recent New York Times’ story Solar Industry Anxious Over Defective Panels (May 29, 2013).  I was interviewed by the author of this article.  As the CEO of a solar technical due diligence firm, I am fortunate to have a unique

The European Commission has formally ruled to impose antidumping duties on Chinese solar panels, cells, and wafers, but is offering a short grace period of lower duties in the hopes of finding a resolution in broader trade relations.

Off-shore wind energy generation isn't new in places like Europe, but it presents a new frontier in the United States. The U.S. Department of Interior announced Tuesday that it will hold the first-ever competitive lease sale for renewable energy development on the outer continental shelf.

Fuelled by generous incentives, growth in the Italian renewable energy industry – especially solar PV – has been astonishing. But as the debt crisis ripples through the economy, will investment trends maintain historical levels while shifting to other renewable energies or flow away from Italy to emerging markets?

Great ideas abound for new feedstocks and novel infrastructure. We admire so many of them: jatropha, carinata, switchgrass, sweet sorghum, blender pumps, systems-at-sea, and so much more.

Viewing the progress of clean tech in the U.S. through the lens of national politics can get pretty depressing. Continual gridlock on Capitol Hill, the federal budget sequester, key leadership positions (like administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency) being held hostage by partisan politics – it all makes fertile ground for breeding cynicism and despondency.

The trend for U.S. solar PV projects in the mid-size range (100 kW to 2 MW) has been changing considerably, from individual installations (on municipal or school buildings, for example) to multi-site projects. As opposed to previous single-site developments, project master plans now embrace the bigger picture, outlining the needs of an entire town, county, or school district. Typically, contracts cover everything from development to operations and maintenance of the system for up to 25 years, often with no cost to the host for installation.

Two years after the tsunami and subsequent Fukishima nuclear disaster Japan is still recovering. Now, as part of the recovery efforts, Habitat for Humanity Japan is installing its first solar array on a home there. It’s also the first non-profit there to help individual households harness benefits of the country’s new solar feed-in-tariff. Last Fri

A quiet revolution is taking place across the northeast, as heating with wood finds broad new acceptance in applications from residential wood pellet stoves and boilers, to institutional and industrial pellet and chip heating of schools and factories, to district heating of downtown centers and college campuses.

Europe's role as the main driver for the global solar photovoltaics (PV) market is coming to an end, concludes the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) in its latest report.

America's power system is too vulnerable to meet modern challenges — a harsh reality underscored by Hurricane Sandy, which left 8.1 million people in the dark for extended periods. Yet, widespread outages should no longer come as a surprise. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country's electrical infrastructure a "D" grade in 2008. Ye

Lignocellulosic waste such as sawdust or straw can be used to produce biofuel — but only if the long cellulose and xylan chains can be successfully broken down into smaller sugar molecules. To do this, fungi are used which, by means of a specific chemical signal, can be made to produce the necessary enzymes.

The world has made “steady but modest progress” in improving global access to electricity and safe cooking fuels, increasing energy efficiency and adding renewable sources to the world’s energy mix, said Vivien Foster, energy unit sector manager at the World Bank’s sustainable energy department, at a recent briefing in London.

If you follow the renewable energy industry and haven’t been sleeping, then you’ve probably heard about one of the few pieces of federal legislation purported to help clean energy that’s actually moving: expanding Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) to cover wind and solar energy. (H.R.1696)

After securing a US$41.4 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank in March, Spanish project developer Solarpack began construction on its 25.5 MW Pozo Almonte solar plant in Chile's Atacama desert. The plant will sell its power to the Dona Ines de Collahuasi mining company, accounting for 13 percent of the mine's energy use.

Deep Earth Energy Production Corp., a closely help developer, is planning Canada’s first geothermal power plant that will tap into heat resources underneath oil and natural gas fields in Saskatchewan, according to Chief Executive Officer Kirsten Marcia.

Today marks a milestone for offshore wind energy in the U.S. with the official launch of a prototype floating turbine off the Maine coast, the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine deployed off the coast of North America. The 1/8-scale prototype VolturnUS, a 65-foot-high 20-kW turbine, will spend the summer being "de-risked" off the coast near Castine. Maine Senator Susan M. Collins did the honors, with a (scored) bottle of Madeira.