Renewable Energy News

Several solar panel companies are in the headlines once again, led by an news that bankrupt former superstar Suntech (NYSE: STP) is nearing a reorganization that will cost its stockholders most of their money. While that may sound bad, I personally don’t have much sympathy for anyone who continued to hold Suntech stock after the company started exp

It's been a busy summer for me and my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013 model portfolio. While I delayed my monthly update, the companies in the model portfolio have been very busy reporting (and restating) earnings. Overall, the portfolio was flat for July and August, with 1.2 percent of dividends offsetting a 1.1 percent decline in stock prices. This put it further behind my benchmarks, the iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) for the broad market, and the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy Index (PBW) for clean energy stocks. These each notched up 2 percent over the last two months. For the year to August 30th, my model portfolio is up 10.6 percent, compared to 22.5 percent and 37.9 percent for IWM and PBW, respectively.

By 2025, wind and solar electric generation could be cost-competitive with new natural gas-fired electric generation without federal subsidies in the Western U.S., according to a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). That’s if renewable energy development occurs in the most productive locations and the report takes into c

In 2012 renewable energy — largely wind and solar — accounted for nearly 50 percent of all new electric generation put on the U.S. grid. According to a new Ernst & Young report, United States renewable energy attractiveness indices, 13.1 gigawatts of wind were added to the grid last year, as was 3.3 gigawatts of photovoltaics (PV). “While overall U

The solar PV industry has experienced phenomenal growth and widespread popularity as an alternative source for creating electricity. Government policies and incentives have proven to be important enablers to industry growth. However, incentives can’t continue forever and the industry needs to continue to drive down total costs in order to remain competitive to alternative energy sources and open new markets. As industries and products mature they learn how to drive down costs through ever greater application of “plug-n-play.”

The rupee’s biggest plunge in 20 years is endangering the recovery of India’s $1.6 billion wind power industry as higher finance and import costs negate benefits from a government subsidy restored last month.

LDK Solar’s delay in paying debt and Suntech Power Holdings’ attempts to renegotiate obligations are prompting investors to gird for losses as US$8.4 billion comes due by the end of next year.

A key development in linking the two offshore wind farms Nordsee Ost and Meerwind to the German mainland has been completed according to Siemens, which says it has installed the HelWin1 offshore platform in the North Sea.

For the first time, Texas is connecting most of its wind farms to its largest cities. That’s bringing cheap electricity into the service area of Energy Future Holdings Corp., bad news to holders of $32 billion of the power company’s debt from the biggest-ever leveraged buyout.

Utility scale wind turbines have become so technologically advanced that they have improved the cost of energy (COE) of wind enough to compete with today’s conventional energy sources. The ensuing reduction in COE has been the result of two governing forces: public policy and technological innovation. The technological trends which have emerged thus far and what might be in store for the future direction of wind turbine technology are explored here. Policy and governmental R&D support will continue to be essential, and barriers to wind technology commercialization must be further broken down.

Solar-powered catamaran PlanetSolar has crossed the Atlantic from Canada to Belgium, a journey of 4598 km.

In honor of Labor Day in the U.S., here's an update on where clean energy jobs are popping up. More than 38,000 U.S. jobs will result from five dozen "clean" energy and transportation projects announced from April-June of this year, spanning energy generation, manufacturing, transmission/smart grid, energy efficiency, and public transportation, according to a report by nonprofit group Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). That's up slightly from the same period a year ago (37,400), and triple the job announcements from the first three months of this year (12,000).

"You never miss the water till the well runs dry" is an old idiom that is becoming a harsh reality for the Middle East and North Africa region and globally. Water scarcity is now this century's imminent greatest problem, a clear and present danger. This is no surprise considering 85 percent of the world’s population lives in the driest half of the planet. The United Nations estimates that, already, 6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases, with a child dying from a water-related illness every 21 seconds. In developing countries, unsafe water causes 80 percent of all illness and disease, and kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. The situation is set to worsen. Water availability is expected to decrease in most regions, while future global agricultural water consumption is estimated to increase by 19 percent by 2050.

We recently covered the launch of IBM's weather + wind forecasting and modeling system, dubbed HyRef, touting the ability to predict incoming weather patterns and calculate wind turbine performance from 15-minute intervals up to 30 days in advance, with 90+ percent accuracy, and with a stamp of approval from customer Chinese State Grid Corp.

Being part of the Renewable Energy World community often feels like just that… that you’re part of a special group that’s interested in making a difference to the world and its people by changing things for the better and fostering a transition to cleaner energy sources. Of course the foundations of change are education, knowledge and experience, a

It's probably the toughest question to answer because there is a significant lack of accurate and objective comparative information. Besides wattage and price, solar panels really do look and perform pretty much the same. A commodity wrapped in a pretty package obscured by a bundle of techie features and TLAs. Makes you wonder how those bottled water marketing managers differentiate their products.

Installations of solar PV in the UK have slumped by almost half on a quarter by quarter basis in the immediate aftermath of the recent reforms to the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) solar incentive scheme, which was enacted in April 2013.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., the Chinese solar manufacturer whose main unit was pulled into bankruptcy earlier this year, said three directors including the former chairwoman quit saying the company had no business plan.

Kenya plans to significantly scale up its wind power programme as part of an effort to increase the use of renewable energy in the country on a large scale.

Expanding Germany’s transmission grid in order to accommodate increasing amounts of renewable energy will be a crucial element of the nation’s effort to meet its 2020 climate targets. But new analysis suggests that even if grid updates are heavily delayed, the nation could still successfully add large amounts of renewables, albeit with slightly higher costs.