India Unveils Renewable Energy Trade Rules

online.wsj.com
JANUARY 19, 2010

MUMBAI - - India's federal electricity regulator announced a policy for regulating tradable energy instruments in the country, a step that will help open up its multibillion-dollar carbon markets as it attempts to balance a rapidly expanding economy with low-carbon growth. The instruments--called renewable energy certificates--will help boost power generation from water, wind, solar and other such clean energy sources in the country. The policy will create a national-level market for buying and selling such certificates, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission said in a statement late Monday.

A utility or power producer that exceeds its renewable energy targets will be able to sell surplus certificates to utilities that fail to meet their goals. The targets are to be fixed by state-level regulators. Under the policy, a federal-level agency will be created for issuing certificates to renewable energy generators, it said. The value of a certificate will be equivalent to one MW of electricity injected into the grid from renewable sources. These certificates can be traded only in the power exchanges approved by the regulator and within a price range determined by it from time to time, the commission said. "Apart from carbon credits, which are subject to a lot of international protocols and timelines, this [policy] will provide internal support for renewable energy projects within the country," said Vinod Kala, managing director of Emergent Ventures India, an environment consulting company.

India, which currently has an installed generation capacity of about 156 GWs, plans to add about 13 GWs of capacity annually over the next few years to meet the demands of its growing economy. The power sector is the largest contributor to carbon emissions in India, the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, as a majority of the electricity is generated from fossil fuels such as coal. The country's Environment and Power ministries have a roadmap for increasing the proportion of power from renewable sources in an effort to work toward low-carbon growth. "However, renewable energy sources are not evenly spread across different parts of the country," CERC said.

While a higher renewable purchase obligation can be introduced in some states, it isn't possible in states with lesser potential for renewable sources. renewable energy certificates are expected to address this mismatch between the availability of renewable sources and the requirement of the utilities to meet their renewable targets, CERC said. However, Mr. Kala at Emergent Ventures India said certain pending issues must be addressed--including clarity on what kind of penalties will be implemented if distribution companies don't meet their renewable energy targets--in order for the overall policy to be effective.

Energy sector feels the wind in its sails

Weekend Australian
Saturday 16/1/2010 Page: 7

THIS decade, Australia's windfarm industry expects to increase its employment almost 500% as the national renewable energy target, legislated last year, drives rapid development. The escalation of wind energy is one of three waves of change in electricity supply predicted by the Australian Energy Market Operator as it seeks to model national high-voltage transmission needs.

According to AEMO, the renewable target will drive a 450% increase in wind energy while the gas generators simultaneously will enter a golden period. The target scheme runs out of puff in 2020 it has a cap of 45,000 GW hours a year but combined cycle gas plants will become the preferred technology for meeting Australian power demand in the next two decades. Combined cycle gas turbine baseload generation is predicted to increase 10-fold in two decades.

The AEMO model suggests it will be about 2024 before the third technology wave makes its mark with large-scale geothermal development and carbon capture and sequestration processes enabling the coal generators to arrest their decline in Australian power supply. Meanwhile, the ball is with wind developers. Miles George, managing director of Infigen Energy, builders of the first largescale windfarm in NSW, recently told a Senate committee he expects 800 MWs of wind energy to be established each year of this decade.

George, whose Capital windfarm near Bungendore is contracted to sell its output to Sydney Water for the desalination plant due to be commissioned this summer, says a reasonable target long term for the wind sector would be to meet 15 to 20% of national electricity demand. Meanwhile, the Rudd government's RET should drive the wind sector's employment from 1600 people today to 7600 by the end of the decade, according to Clean Energy Council estimates. Overall, the council predicts the renewable energy industry will increase its employment in Australia from 10,370 people today to more than 24,000 in 2020.

The CEC says support for desalination projects by putting zero-emission power into the eastern seaboard grid to offset use of fossil fuels will be an important early factor for the wind industry. Apart from the 141MW committed by Infigen Energy to support Sydney Water, AGLis developing 524 MW of wind farms at Oaklands Hill in Victoria and Hallett in South Australia between now and 2012 for the SA water scheme.

Australia now has 49 wind farms carrying 962 turbines with a capacity of 1668MW. The CEC says there are 6000MW of wind energy projects proposed across Australia. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics sees an even more optimistic outlook for wind energy. In its latest review of electricity generation, ABARE records 10,672MW of wind farms undergoing feasibility studies in addition to 734MW of developments being built.

ABARE has 71 wind farms in its "less advanced projects" category. Fourteen are proposed for NSW, including the giant Silverton project near Broken Hill with a planned capacity of 1000MW, and 30 for Victoria. A further 17 are proposed for SA. Infigen Energy's George foresees a technology change further boosting Australia's wind rush. He told the Senate committee on fuel and energy that a typical windfarm turbine today has a capacity of 2MW and, while 3MW units are being brought in to operation, there are 6MW prototypes being tested. This will enable another substantial decrease in wind energy costs.

Cove gets wind power

Hobart Mercury
Friday 15/1/2010 Page: 13

THE Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal has rejected an appeal by the Hobart City Council against a wind turbine development approved by the Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority. The council appealed against the authority's decision to approve installation of four 12-kW 11-metre high wind turbines on the roof of the Marine Board Building.

The council claimed the development was out of scale with neighbouring buildings and the general character of the cove, it interfered with the views and vistas within and beyond the cove and the turbines would be individually prominent in contrast with neighbouring buildings. The tribunal found no likely impact could be demonstrated on views and vistas, found the turbines would be in keeping with the character of the cove and said they were not out of scale with neighbouring buildings. Hobart Lord Mayor Rob Valentine said the council had a win when the developer of wind turbines proposed for the ANZ Centre in Elizabeth St Hobart appealed.

The two parties reached an agreement at mediation on redesigned wind turbines. Ald Valentine said their height was reduced from 16.7m to 11m and the design changed. "We got a better outcome for the city, it pays for the council to look at these things critically." The final result was the ANZ building developer substantially modified the proposal so the turbines conformed with the City of Hobart Planning Scheme. Ald Valentine said the council had wanted to make sure its feelings were known about the Marine Board wind turbine proposal.

Where the wind blows

Independent Weekly
Friday 15/1/2010 Page: 8
Opinion

It is interesting, and ironic, that much of the wind energy we currently have in SA owes its existence to the coal-fired power station at Port Augusta. Australian governments like to talk about all they are doing to reduce Australia's reliance on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions yet they have never built a major power transmission line to allow development of a sustainable energy resource, whether it be wind, solar or geothermal.

They have built major lines for mining (Olympic Dam) and for coal-fired power stations (Port Augusta). If the high-capacity Port Augusta to Adelaide power lines did not pass through the mid-north, with its high quality wind resources, we would not have the Hallett, Clements Gap, Snowtown, and (under construction) Waterloo Windfarms. No further windfarm development can take place on Eyre or Yorke Peninsulas, where there is a very high-quality wind resource, because of the lack of suitable power transmission lines.

David Clarke, Clare

Wind farm in Antarctica

www.evwind.es
January 17, 2010

On Saturday, the $7.4-million Ross Island Wind Farm in Antarctica began feeding electricity at full power for the very first time. The windfarm's three 333-kW Enercon E33 wind turbines will provide roughly 11% of the power for the two bases in Antarctica. The largest wind energy plant in Antarctica, able to provide electricity to 500 homes, was inaugurated today in the frozen continent thanks to a joint United States and New Zealand.

Its three huge wind turbines will supply 11% of the energy demand of all scientific research projects of both countries in the Ross Sea coast, said diplomatic sources in New Zealand. The wind energy plant will significantly reduce the emission of gaseous pollutants and, by not using fossil fuel, there will be less risk of potential spills that damage the environment. The wind energy project has cost eleven million dollars and was opened this morning but the turbines are fully operational for a month. Chaired the event New Zealand Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, who said that initiatives like this are necessary to protect "one of the most untouched ecosystems but also more fragile the planet."

The wind energy plant has a capacity of 1 MW, can cut the use of 460 thousand liters of diesel fuel and emit 370 thousand tons less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to the New Zealand company Meridian Energy, which has installed wind turbines. Since the work began in November 2008, the intense cold and winds forced the workers to use water to freeze the concrete foundation of each mill, which can withstand winds up to 200 kilometers per hour. The world's southernmost windfarm it is located on Crater Hill, Ross Island, Antarctica. The construction and development of this windfarm will be unique and challenging.

21-Megawatt Solar Power Plant Opens in California

www.naturalnews.com
January 17, 2010

(NaturalNews) California-based solar panel producer FirstSolar has opened a 21-MW power plant in Blythe, making it the largest photovoltaic solar energy plant in the country. Utilizing thin film solar cells made out of cadmium telluride, the plant will be able to generate power for about 17,000 southern California homes.

A project that took only three months to construct, the Blythe solar plant is already set to be replicated across the state. In order to spur California to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals that were put in place by Governor Schwarzenegger, Southern California Edison, a local power company, has agreed to purchase solar energy from FirstSolar's Blythe plant for 20 years.

The thin cell technology used by FirstSolar to produce its panels is the most cost effective in the industry. The technology is so reliable and effective that FirstSolar has been able to sign deals with municipalities around the world to build utility-scale energy plants. Though not as efficient as silicon-based solar panels, the cadmium telluride cells are much more cost effective and seem to hold the most potential for large-scale use.

The company has also increased its MW production over 600% between 2007 and 2008, representing a positive trend towards increased use of solar energy generation at the utility-scale level. The company has been dubbed the "Google" of solar energy production because it has pioneered utility-scale solar energy production and has continued to see steady growth despite economic turmoil.

Plans are already in the works to build several more southern California power stations, one with 250 MW capacity and another other with 300. A 48-MW plant in Nevada was also recently approved. FirstSolar has also signed an agreement with a city in China to build a massive 2,000 MW facility. Half of it is set to be completed and operating by 2014, generating 1,000 MWs of clean, solar energy to its residents.

As far as California is concerned, the state plans to convert at least 33% of its production to renewable energy by 2020. Although solar panels have been around for years, the cost of production was typically very high and efficiency was very low, making them a largely ineffective power source. Companies like FirstSolar are helping to make renewable energy production more viable through advanced solar technology.

Other renewable energy sources being pursued include wind energy and agricultural biomass production.

Micron teams with Australian solar power company

www.kivitv.com
January 19, 2010

BOISE, Idaho - - Micron Technology Inc, has signed a deal with an Australian company to build solar components using new technology that could significantly lower the cost of solar panels. Micron on Thursday announced it had signed the deal with Origin Energy, which also generates and retails energy to about three million customers. The Idaho Statesman reports the two companies signed the agreement in December. Origin Energy has already produced commercial solar panels using a silicon wafer called "sliver" technology in Australia. Origin Energy says the sliver panels are built from cells thinner than most solar cells but are highly efficient.

German Solar Industry Could Face Subsidy Cuts Close To 30% Sources

www.nasdaq.com
Jan 15, 2010

FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Germany's photovoltaic-solar energy industry faces a reduction in state subsidies that could be close to 30%, people familiar with the matter said Thursday. Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen next week plans to present a proposal that foresees cutting solar subsidies by a double-digit%age, the people within the industry told Dow Chemical Jones newsletter Energy Daily. The cuts could take effect as early as April, or July at the latest, they said.

There could be further cuts from the beginning of next year if installations of new photovoltaic facilities in 2010 exceed last year's expansion, the people added. Combined with annual cuts for photovoltaic-solar facilities of between 8% and 10% that already have been agree to under existing legislation, the additional cuts could amount to a reduction of 20% to nearly 30%, the people said. Germany subsidizes photovoltaic-solar energy facilities--such as rooftop installations--with so-called feed-in rates that guarantee minimum prices for the electricity they generate.

Market observers estimate that a total photovoltaic-power-generation capacity of up to 3 GWs will be newly installed in 2009. However, final figures for last year's new installations haven't yet been published. In 2008, new photovoltaic installations in Germany added a generation capacity of around 1.5 GW. German economic research institute RWI last year projected that the costs of solar subsidies could reach EUR77 billion by 2013, up to EUR11 billion more than originally expected. The German government has pledged to cut the subsidies to contain the costs.

City's new seat of power

Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday 14/1/2010 Page: 7

Sydney Town Hall has been brought into the era of carbon emissions and climate change, with the City of Sydney converting the 121-year-old building into the largest photovoltaic installation in the central business district. The council was yesterday installing 240 cutting-edge solar panels on the roof, capable of producing up to 48 kW hours of energy. That is enough to supply the Town Hall, the council chambers and the council offices next door. "The solar panels demonstrate that new green technology can be incorporated into heritage buildings," the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, said.

In order to avoid damaging the slate roof of the historic building, the council was forced to install special fixtures first and then use cranes to hoist materials into place. The panels are the first of their kind to be installed in Australia, and feature high efficiency cells that can be manufactured at lower cost. Our plan is to provide 25% of our energy needs from renewable sources and reduce growing demand for power from coal-fired power stations," Cr Moore said.

"Across all our properties we are investing $18 million to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions through solar hot water, solar panels, sensor lighting and intelligent control systems that manage energy use as it is needed. Our target is a minimum of 48% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from our properties by 2012." With the installation of the panels Sydney Town Hall joins other municipal headquarters around the world, including in Barcelona, the US state of Oregon and the Hammersmith district of London. solar panels were installed on the roof of Melbourne Town Hall in 2003.

Decision Promised Soon on Cape Cod Wind Farm

www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2010

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration moved a step closer on Wednesday to ending the nearly decade-long conflict over a major wind energy installation off Cape Cod, Mass. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, after meeting with virtually all of the parties to the dispute, said that he intended to decide whether to approve the wind turbine project no later than April. "What I want everyone to understand is that we will bring this process to a conclusion," Mr. Salazar said at a news briefing. He said the drawn-out controversy and repeated challenges were "bad for everyone involved."

The project, known as Cape Wind, is shaping up as a signal test of the Obama administration's commitment to renewable energy projects on public lands and off the nation's shorelines. Cape Wind, first proposed in 2001, would be the country's first major offshore wind energy project, although wind energy developers in Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island hope to follow soon.

A coalition of state and local politicians, American Indian tribes, preservationists and Cape Cod business operators oppose the project, saying the 130 wind turbines rising 440 feet above the surface of Nantucket Sound would spoil the ocean view and disrupt submerged Indian burial grounds. Mr. Salazar said he was trying to balance two of his most important missions at the Interior Department: to promote development of renewable energy to address global warming and to preserve the nation's public lands and historic heritage.

Although he gave no explicit clue to his intentions on Cape Wind at Wednesday's briefing, he did say that pushing renewable energy was one of President Obama's top priorities. And his sense of urgency on reaching a decision on Cape Wind appeared to be a sign that he was leaning toward approving it. Mr. Obama has not publicly taken sides in the dispute. The late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose family compound in Hyannis Port looks out on the proposed windfarm site, was one of the project's most outspoken opponents.

In a meeting, the coalition opposing the windfarm asked Mr. Salazar on Wednesday to consider relocating the project to a less intrusive part of the sound. State officials who support the project, including Gov. Deval Patrick, rejected the proposed compromise, saying the alternate site has already been considered. Mr. Salazar appeared to support the state officials' position, saying that relocating the project would require a new multiyear permitting process. He said that some of the objections of the tribes and other opponents could be addressed within the existing application.

Opponents said Mr. Salazar could approve the alternate site because it had already been considered in federal permits. Audra Parker, president of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the principal opposition group, said that the alternate site would produce as much clean energy and have far less impact on tribal and historic sites than the current proposed site.

The project appeared to suffer a major setback last week when the National Park Service declared that Nantucket Sound was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The decision came in response to a petition from two Massachusetts Indian tribes who said the soaring turbines would thwart their spiritual ritual of greeting the sunrise. But Mr. Salazar can still approve the project after consulting with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, an independent body.

A coalition of New England environmental groups urged Mr. Salazar to give a green light to Cape Wind. "This project will show the country and the world that we can meet the twin objectives of delivering clean, renewable energy while preserving the nation's historical, cultural and natural resources," the groups said in a statement.

Hunt on for carbon storage

The Australian
Tuesday 12/1/2010 Page: 18

CLIMATE: The federal and Victorian governments will start looking for greenhouse gas storage basins in Bass Strait next month, kick-starting up to $6 billion worth of appraisal and development expenditure over the next 15 years. Victoria's Department of Primary Industries plans a seismic survey in February and March of potential storage areas south of the big producing fields in Bass Strait's Gippsland Basin. Seismic surveys involve shooting energy pulses at the sea floor and analysing the returning waves to guess the geology below.

In a report released last month, the Rudd government's Carbon Storage Taskforce identified the Gippsland Basin as the most important of the nation's potential storage areas. The basin is near Victoria's Latrobe Valley home of the nation's dirtiest coal-fired power plants and could also be used to store NSW greenhouse gases. The government wants new storage locations for greenhouse gases, rather than using Bass Strait's depleted oil and gas reservoirs or storage space below them.

Exxon-Mobil does not want to inject carbon dioxide into space below its Bass Strait fields in case it contaminates the oil and gasfields above. The taskforee has estimated the southern Bass Strait fields could take 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year for 25 years. If exploration started this year, storage could be ready by 2022, the taskforce chaired by former Woodside Petroleum executive Keith Spence claims.

Private companies are expected to spend most of the $6bn the taskforce says could be spent nationwide on developing a greenhouse gas storage industry between now and 2025. About $2bn each could be spent on exploration, appraisal and development. The taskforee has recommended governments spend $254 million on a "precompetitive" exploration program, such as the one planned by Victoria's Primary Industries Department, which will cost $5m.

Wind energy's employment boom for S-E tourism hotspot

Adelaide Advertiser
Thursday 14/1/2010 Page: 17

ONE of South Australia's coastal tourism hot spots will be transformed into a hub for wind energy generation within the next two years, resulting in jobs and an economic boom for the region. Two major windfarm developers have locked in key agreements with landowners in and near Robe for billion-dollar projects that will create more than 1000 MW of wind-generated energy, expected to power more than 400,000 homes.

District Council of Robe chief executive Bill Hender said there was potential "for a huge boom to the economy". "It's very early days. It will be 18 months to two years before onsite work begins leading to hundreds of jobs in construction phase and 30-40 permanent jobs," Mr Hender said. Renewables sector investor Macquarie Capital last month agreed to back Robe Wind Pty Ltd's $1 billion, 600 MW project along the WoakWine range between Beachport and Mt. Benson. Robe Wind - a company owned by the 35 farmers on whose land the proposed windfarm is to be constructed - described the support as an important milestone in the delivery of the project.

Infigen Energy also confirmed it had landowner agreements in place for its 400-500MW WoakWine Wind Farm project from Cape Jaffa to Beachport. Infigen Energy has a strong track record of windfarm development in the Limestone Coast region with the Lake Bonney windfarm, which comprises Lake Bonney 1 (80.5MW), Lake Bonney 2 (159MW), and Lake Bonney 3 (39MW). Together, the new projects would potentially rival Australia's largest windfarm development near Broken Hill in NSW, being built by Epuron at a cost of about $2 billion. South Australia currently has the nation's highest installed capacity of wind generation, with nine operating wind farms and 5000MW of proposed projects.

A new wave power plant will be built in the United Kingdom

www.evwind.es
12/01/2010

A joint-venture has been established between Swedish-based Vattenfall and Scottish-based Pelamis Wave Power for the construction of wave energy facilities. Under the first project a 20 MW plant will be built by 2014 off the Shetland Islands. Swedish-based Vattenfall and Scottish-based Pelamis Wave Power announced that they have created a joint-venture (named Aegir) for the construction of wave energy plants. The first project is expected to start operations in 2014 in the eastern Atlantic, off the coast of the Shetlands, with a 20 MW capacity.

The launch of the joint-venture, called Aegir, was announced the same day that Vattenfall's new office in Edinburgh, and the first in Scotland, was officially opened by the First Minister, the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MP, MSP. Aegir has been set up to explore wave power development opportunities in Scottish waters and plans to deploy Pelamis Wave Power's second generation 'P-2' wave energy convertor on the developed site. Aegir is keen to identify and confirm a potential site off the Shetland Islands' west coast and make progress towards installing a project up to 20 MWs in scale. This would make the project a potential candidate for the Saltire Prize, the Scottish Government's marine power innovation award.

Dr Helmar Rendez, the Head of Group Function Strategies at Vattenfall, which incorporates the research and development arm of the European energy company, said: "Vattenfall intends to make electricity clean by 2050 and halve its carbon emissions by 2030; this means we must invest in the green energy technologies of today and tomorrow. "The partnership with Pelamis Wave Power allows us to work on developing a site that will prove very productive when we make wave power a commercial reality. We are pleased to tie-up with Pelamis Wave Power and take this project forward as we have big hopes for the future of wave power and see Scotland as a good place to do this."

Neels Kriek, the new Pelamis Wave Power Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted to be working with Vattenfall on this ground breaking project which we hope will be one of many for our Scottish built P-2 Pelamis Wave Power machine. We also anticipate this project being a leading candidate for the Scottish Government's Saltire Prize for commercially proven wave power technology."

Aegir is working towards installing a first phase, multi-machine array, with an installed capacity of up to 20 MWs (MW). Vattenfall's ambition is for wave power projects to grow to the scale of offshore wind projects and the Aegir project is seen as a key stepping stone to that ambition and the opportunity that exists in the Shetland Isles. The plant will use "Pelamis Wave Power P2" buoys, consisting of semi-submerged cylinders connected by hydraulic rams which generate power when resisting the wave action. Each machine consists of several sections, has a 4-metre diameter and is 150-180 metres long, with a capacity of 750 kW.

Ulf Tisell, manager of Vattenfall's Ocean Energy Program, said that the ocean west of Shetland has very close to ideal conditions that will enable us to extract energy from the waves effectively». Also, following the construction of this first plant using the Pelamis Wave Power technology, other technologies will be considered for further projects «to be developed after 2014 for large-scale capacity». Pelamis Wave Power is headquartered in Leith, Edinburgh. Established in 1998, the company employs ~70 staff and is one of the UK's largest renewable energy technology manufacturing companies.

The company was the first to generate electricity into the UK grid from offshore wave energy in 2004, the first to secure an order for a multiple machine project and the first to operate a wave farm anywhere in the world, in 2008. It is currently building its next generation machine, the P-2, which will be deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre in 2010. Deployed as multiple units in 'wave farms', each Pelamis Wave Power machine can produce sufficient electricity each year to meet the equivalent annual average electricity demand of ~500 UK households.

Magma Energy Reports Successful Soda Lake Geothermal Well Flow Test

www.renewableenergyworld.com
January 12, 2010

Magma Energy Corp, reported this week that is has successfully completed flow testing of its Soda Lake geothermal production well 45A-33, which will have the capacity to produce 3 MWs (MW) of net power once a turbine system is installed at the site. The well was drilled in June 2009 and, following a field optimization program, the flow test was completed in December. The recent test demonstrated the well to be capable of 1,200 gallons of sustained flow per minute at 385°F.

The well is in the process of being connected to the Soda Lake facility which was successfully refurbished in September and October, 2009 in preparation for additional production from the well field. The refurbishment program contributed an additional 1 MW of net output to the site. The facility has a nameplate capacity of 23 MW and steady base load power production at 90-95% availability.

"We are extremely pleased with this result from our field optimization program which incorporated an established oil and gas stimulation technique known as deflagration. To the best of our knowledge, this well stimulation technology has never been used before in the geothermal industry. We have now confirmed half of our planned Phase 1 program to increase Soda Lake's gross power capacity from 11 MW to 23 MW and we expect to confirm the remaining capacity by the end of March, 2010," said Andrea Zaradic, Magma's vice president of corporate development.

Experts split on significance of China’s new green energy law

www.environmental-finance.com/
08 January 2010

Renewable energy specialists in China have questioned the significance of a recent amendment to the country's 2006 Renewable Energy Law, saying it will have little, if any, effect on renewable energy companies on the ground. However, others contend that the amendment provides an important framework to help address several issues plaguing the fast-growing sector, and sets the stage for a long-awaited stimulus policy and funding package.

A senior official quoted by state news agency Xinhua on 28 December trumpeted the amendment, passed by China's highest legislative body 26 December, as a contribution to the "global fight against climate change". The Xinhua story emphasised that the amendment requires state-owned grid companies to purchase power from renewable energy producers, but failed to mention that the original 2006 law required the same thing. "I think it's an excellent publicity stunt," said Peter Corne, a Shanghai-based managing director at global law firm Eversheds. "It reminds me of some pop icons that get a second hit years later with the same song."

But Corne added that, beyond PR value, the amendment does contain some substantive changes meant to correct imbalances that have emerged in China's rapidly growing renewables sector. These include inadequacies of the power grid, whereas much as a third of China's 20GW of wind turbines spin unconnected to transmission lines, and the failure of some grid companies to purchase renewable power or provide grid connection as required by the original law. "The main message of this new amendment is that the government is more serious in addressing the problems facing the expansion of renewables," he said.

The amendment, first reviewed last August (see Environmental Finance, September 2009, page 12), is intended to bolster central government oversight, regulation and enforcement of the proportion of renewable energy produced and purchased. Ma Lingjuan, deputy general manager of Beijing-based China Renewable Energy Industries Association (CREIA), said the amendment links renewable energy purchasing targets for grid companies, which already exist in disparate regulations, with fines mentioned in the original law. Those fines have been doubled and subsidies offered to further incentivise compliance.

The amendment also requires grid companies to expand the range of power grids to better transmit electricity from solar and wind resource-rich regions in the northwest to the industrial east coast. Xinhua also touted the amendment's mention of the importance of 'smart grids' in facilitating a larger role for renewables in China's energy structure – quoting a researcher at China's foremost research institute as saying smart grids and renewables should be like "twin brothers".

However, Charles Yonts, Hong-Kong based head solar analyst with brokerage, analysis and advisory services firm CLSA, said that, behind the rhetoric, there is little substance: "They talk about the smart grid, but there's little concrete there. I think, if anything, the amendment is a shot across the bow of the grid companies, a little push to remind them that the law [requiring off-take] is there."

But Changhua Wu, Beijing-based head of Greater China for the Climate Group, an NGO, said that Chinese laws at this level are often vague, offering only a framework to be fleshed out with future regulations. Wu added that a long-awaited policy and funding package, known previously as Beijing's Green Stimulus Package, would be released soon.

"This amendment sets the foundation for the New Energy Development Plan – which is focused much more on the size of the market and investments." said Wu. "But if you don't address the barriers to growth – the infrastructure of the sector – as this amendment does, it doesn't matter how much power you make."

Originally expected as early as last May, the New Energy Development Plan, which Wu said would include plans for nuclear energy, is reported to include amended capacity targets for renewable sectors. "The major content of the plan is to review the targets for renewables – wind, solar, hydro. The exact numbers we don't know, but it's clear that the targets will be increased," added CREIA's Ma.

SA wave energy project still on stream

www.news.com.au
January 11, 2010

Carnegie Corporation's proposed $400 million wave-energy project at Port MacDonnell near Mt Gambier has not lost ground as a result of receiving funds for its West Australian project, the company says. Carnegie Corporation received the first tranche of a $12.5 million grant from the WA Government last week for its Garden Island project. The grant will be used to support the building of a large commercial prototype for its CETO technology, which uses the movement of buoys anchored on the ocean floor to drive onshore turbines. Chief operating officer Greg Allen said the advancement of the WA project did not kill interest in its South Australian plans.

"The plan has always been based around delivering the West Australian project first, so it hasn't changed,'' he said. "We are in the process of negotiating a specialist to undertake project feasibility work at the site as part of an environmental constraints review. That will then feed into the design side of the project to start looking at the scope and the detailed costings.'' The State Government leased a 17,000ha stretch of seabed to the company for an initial three-year period in February last year to allow it to test the appropriateness of the site for a wave-energy project. Carnegie Corporation has a further three-year option over the site and may be granted a project lease at any time it agrees to proceed.

Renewable energy 'critical for boosting power supply'

www.northerngasheating.com
11/01/2010

Investing in renewable energy on a large scale will help to boost the jobs market, as well as ensuring increasing demand for power is met, one sector commentator has claimed. A recent announcement from the Crown Estate revealed several UK firms have been awarded contracts for developing offshore wind farms. Commenting on the news, Angela Gallacher, spokesperson from The Renewable Energy Centre, said wind and wave power will be vital in meeting ongoing increases in demand for energy.

She added: "It is critical that new and renewable technologies are implemented and up and running simultaneously in order to reduce dependency on fossil fuels." Britons can reduce their own use of finite resources by boosting their central heating systems through the use of solar panels to meet their hot water needs. A further benefit of this investment in household renewable energy was announced in the pre-Budget report, when the chancellor of the exchequer asserted Britons who direct any excess power they generate will receive an annual tax-free sum of £900.

Solar energy, LEDs brighten up Sejong

www.koreaherald.co.kr
January 13, 2010

Massive investments by large conglomerates are expected to help Sejong City, to be built from scratch, turn into a high-tech production and research base, government and industry officials said yesterday. Samsung Group, Hanwha Group, Woongjin Group and Lotte Group plan to pour a combined 4.4 trillion won into the city to build manufacturing and research facilities.

The government yesterday announced plans to make Sejong City, located about 150 kilometers south of Seoul, an "international science and business belt" with 17 trillion won of new investments in the next 20 years. Samsung, the country's biggest business group, said it will spend close to $2 billion by 2015 on "green energy and health care," which include solar cells, light-emitting diodes and medical equipment. Five Samsung affiliates will take part, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDI and Samsung LED.

"Samsung Group has explored new business areas since we set up a business team in December 2007. And we picked green energy and health care as next-generation businesses," Kim Soon-taek, Samsung's vice chairman in charge of the company's new business team, said at a press conference yesterday.

Samsung Electronics, the flagship unit of Samsung Group is the world's top maker of memory chips, liquid crystal display panels and LCD TVs. It is the world's No. 2 handset maker. Samsung Electronics CEO Choi Gee-sung last year vowed to develop "health, environment, and life care" as Samsung Electronics' two major businesses along with "infotainment" in 10 years. Kim denied speculation that Samsung declined to participate in the government-led Sejong City project in exchange for Seoul's recent pardon of Samsung Group's biggest shareholder and ex-chief, Lee Kun-hee.

Kim said Samsung's latest investment decision was made because "investment conditions were favorable." Of the total investment, 1.1 trillion won will go to solar cells, rechargeable batteries and LEDs, while 330 billion won will be spent on cutting-edge medical equipment, he said. Samsung's investment is expected to create 15,800 jobs, Samsung said. Hanwha Group plans to invest a combined 1.3 trillion won on solar cell and military businesses over the next decade.

Hanwha Chemical is eyeing investments of 1 trillion won for a solar energy R&D center, and solar cell and module manufacturing plants by 2020. Including Hanwha Chemical, four Hanwha affiliates will invest in Sejong City. Hanwha Corp, plans to build a research center on future defense technology. With the investment, Hanwha is expected to create 3,000 new jobs.

Woongjin Group, whose business portfolio ranges from publishing to water purifiers, plans to invest 900 billion won in, aiming to create 2,700 jobs. Woojin Engergy plans to build a manufacturing plant for solar ingots and wafers. Woongjing Group has been long rumored to be planning Sejong City investments because of the group's close ties to the Chungcheong region.

Lotte Group, a retail and beverage conglomerate, plans to spend 100 billion won to set up a food biotechnology research center by 2020. The project is expected to create 1,000 jobs. SSF of Austria, a manufacturer of solar energy cell modules, plans to spend 138 billion won on a Sejong City venture, making it the sole foreign investor so far.

Poor climate for real action

Canberra Times
Monday 11/1/2010 Page: 9
Opinion - Jim Douglas

Voters know that switching to the Opposition would replace a policy of futility with one of stupidity.

The Copenhagen circus has folded its tent, leaving disappointed those who - naively, perhaps - had begun to think that enough national leaders might have become sufficiently worried about global warming to venture a global rather than parochial vote on this issue. Among the realists, argument will continue as to whether the glass is now half-full (any multilateral start on the road to emissions reduction is good) or half-empty (lowered expectations have now been locked in).

In Australia, it is likely that significant numbers of those people who are seriously concerned about climate change will have been appalled by the performance of both the Government and the Opposition on this issue. The Rudd Government was content to sit by for months prior to the Copenhagen conference, allowing the opposition to wedge itself on the issue of the carbon pollution reduction scheme (a tactic which, ironically, revealed an Opposition politician, Malcolm Turnbull, as possessing genuine political courage).

The effect of the Government's strange lassitude has been that debate on the nature of the CPRS in the Opposition ranks has reverted to questioning of the fundamental reality of climate change itself. This has allowed the unscientific nonsense being peddled by climate change denialists to gain access to a political and public audience that they probably could not have dreamed of reaching a year ago.

So here we are, two-thirds of the way through the Government's first term and after all the money spent on policy reviews from Garnaut onwards, and yet genuine understanding of the nature of the CPRS remains at a low ebb amongst the general public in Australia. This is not helped by the fact that the Government has heavily compromised the potential efficacy of the cap-and-trade system through massive subsidies to offset financial hardship amongst the heaviest polluters, increasing public suspicion that the whole CPRS proposal is a hoax. Just try opening a conversation on the climate issue at any normal social gathering, and see what happens.

Initially, there will be genuine statements of concern about climate change. However, these will soon be displaced by expressions of frustration at the impenetrably ambiguous stance of the Government, and concern - building in many cases to anger - about what is taken to be the likely ineffectiveness of the CPRS itself. When the Government does bother to talk to the public about how emissions reduction will work in Australia, it inevitably mentions clean coal technology, but anyone following this matter will know that this is many years away from implementation, and likely even then to be fiendishly expensive to operate.

Has the Government even asked itself the question of how to reduce - now-the amount of coal-fired power that is used to serve peak period demand in Australia? This is demand that could be met (and is, to a minor extent) by lower emission gas-fired plants and by the range of renewable options, including wind and sun.

Think where we might be if the enormous amount of money the Government intends to lavish on the high emitters (compared to the tokenistic levels of funding being provided for renewable energy development) was directed instead to competitive grants aimed at replacing coal-fired energy during peak demand periods. At least this would look like a start, rather than the present unseemly reverse. The reality that dares not speak its name in the corridors of Parliament House is that significant progress towards emissions reduction in Australia must include de-commissioning some coal fired power plants - permanently, and soon - rather than waiting around for some sort of technological miracle to solve the problem.

The retreaded Opposition under its new leader is even less likely than the Government to address any of this. Tony Abbott's only strategy is to milk the negative sentiment which has built around the climate issue during the long absence of the Government from the scene. His stated approach, of directly funding low emission technologies without any other market mechanisms to change incentives, is economic nonsense - as he must know (and as his climate spokesman, Greg Hunt, certainly knows very well). Combine this with the steady drumbeat on doubts about the realities of climate change emanating from the denialist heartland of its ranks, and the Opposition's approach to the climate issue is revealed as shameful and cynical populism, nothing more.

Both sides refuse to discuss the counterfactual to an adequate response to climate change - that is, what it will cost us not to act on this now. It seems we are being asked to forget whatever Lord Stern, Professor Garnaut and others have had to say about paying an affordable price for climate change mitigation now, or facing ruinous costs in the not-too-distant future: costs which will make the "great big tax" Abbott imagines will be the price we pay for climate change mitigation look like the tiniest of imposts.

There is another more immediate political counterfactual possibility which is also being ignored by the Government at present: many moderate Australian voters who supported Labor last time around remain genuinely concerned about global warming, and see themselves now as having nowhere to go: being offered a choice between a Government that will do almost nothing about climate change and an Opposition that will do even less. Obviously, these people would see transferring their vote to the Opposition as simply replacing an act of futility with one of stupidity, and no doubt the Government knows this.

However, what would happen if a sizeable proportion of these people voted informal, thus withholding their vote from the Government and from minor parties whose preferences would flow largely to the Government? This could be an effective threat if the Government knew in advance of their intentions (through polling or direct advice) and perceived that there seemed to be enough people considering this to pose a real electoral problem. The loss of some marginal seats might not cost Labor government but would certainly make its life - and that of Rudd in particular - much more difficult in the next term.

The Government might at least be forced to consider whether to take this risk or to modify its CPRS stance. People who are really concerned about Australia's response to climate change will probably not consider a strategic informal vote a terribly attractive option, but some of them may conclude it could be the best on offer right now.

Jim Douglas has worked with the World Bank, UN agencies and international environmental organisations on forests and natural resources, and is now a consultant on rainforest and forest carbon issues.

Panax Geothermal recommences mobilisation of drilling rig

www.proactiveinvestors.com.au
January 11, 2010

Geothermal company Panax Geothermal (ASX: PAX) has recommenced mobilisation of the Weatherford International rig from the Cooper Basin to the Salamander-1 drilling site at Penola in South Australia. As previously advised, the mobilization process was delayed on 21 December 2009 as a result of adverse weather conditions in the proximity of the Paralana drilling site, where the WDI Lightning Rig # 828 is currently being de-mobilised.

Managing Director Bertus de Graaf said the adverse weather conditions rendered the roads impassable to transport trucks for a period of approximately 20 days, resulting in the inability of both Panax Geothermal and WDI to transport critical components of the rig away from the Paralana site. "These adverse weather conditions have now passed and road conditions have been restored to allow transportation to re-commence," Mr de Graaf said.

He said Panax Geothermal formally advised WDI of the cessation of the Force Majeure event, which was invoked to minimize the company's exposure to any unforeseen costs, with effect from 6.00 am this morning. "Panax Geothermal and WDI have continued to work together in a mutually co-operative way during the period of the Force Majeure event to ensure that as many activities as possible were able to be completed during this period," he said. "Panax Geothermal looks forward to the spudding of our Salamander-1 well later this month."

China build at least 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar thermal power plants

www.evwind.es
January 11, 2010

eSolar and Penglai Electric announced a master licensing agreement to build at least 2 GWs of solar thermal power plants in China over the next 10 years.

eSolar, a global provider of reliable and cost-effective concentrating solar energy (CSP) plants, and Penglai Electric, a privately owned Chinese electrical power equipment manufacturer, announced a master licensing agreement to build at least 2 GWs of solar thermal power plants in China over the next 10 years. As China moves rapidly to become the world's leader in wind energy and photovoltaic solar panels, China is taking tentative steps to master another alternative energy industry: using mirrors to capture sunlight, produce steam and generate electricity.

So-called concentrating solar energy uses hundreds of thousands of mirrors to turn water into steam. The steam turns a conventional turbine similar to those in coal-fired power plants. The technology, which is potentially cheaper than most types of renewable power, has captivated many engineers and financiers in the last two years, with an abrupt surge in new patents and plans for large power operations in Europe and the United States.

This year may be China's turn. China is starting to build its own concentrating solar energy plants, a technology more associated with California deserts than China's countryside. And Chinese manufacturers are starting to think about exports, part of China's effort to become the world's main provider of alternative energy power equipment. The deal was signed in the Chinese State Council building with government officials in attendance and represents the country's largest CSP project. Groundbreaking of the first 92 MWs will take place in 2010.

Penglai Electric plans to develop 2 GW of power plants by 2021 using eSolar's proven solar thermal technology. The solar thermal power plants will be co-located with biomass electricity generation facilities. Penglai Electric will leverage local manufacturing to source some of the equipment. In total, the plants will eliminate 15 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

"Using the power of the sun, eSolar's technology minimizes the environmental impact on manufacturing and deployment while maximizing land and cost efficiency," said Liu Guangyu, chairman and CEO of Penglai Electric. "We are extremely grateful to the Chinese government for playing a major role in promoting zero-carbon renewable energy." "With Penglai as our partner and with the strong support of the Chinese government, eSolar is proud to be the first company to deliver the benefits of cost-effective solar thermal power to China," said Bill Gross, founder and chairman of eSolar.

China Huadian Engineering Co, will lead the construction process. At completion, China Shaanxi Yulin Huayang New Energy Co, will own and operate the first 92 MW plant. "To date, eSolar offers the only CSP tower technology that has demonstrated commercial maturity and economic feasibility," added Zhao Weikang, chairman and president of Shaanxi Yulin Huayang New Energy Co. "We're excited to build our initial hybrid plant as part of the 170-square kilometer Yulin Alternative Energy Park, the first large scale alternative energy park in China. Our work is aligned with the government's continuing policy to curb carbon emissions and combat climate change."

China is currently the market leader in the PV manufacturing industry. The deal represents the country's first major move into concentrating solar thermal power. The Chinese government recently announced its aggressive plans to increase the country's renewable power generation capacity to 15% by 2020.

eSolar is an Idealab company founded in 2007 to develop modular and scalable solar thermal power plant technology. In the summer of 2009, eSolar unveiled the 5 MW Sierra SunTower Plant, the only commercial CSP tower facility in North America. The eSolar solution marries a low-impact, pre-fabricated form factor with advanced computer software engineering to meet the demand for reliable and cost-competitive solar energy. eSolar's proprietary solution resolves issues of price, scalability, speed of deployment, and grid impact that have historically stymied solar thermal adoption, thus affording dramatic reductions in the cost of solar thermal energy. eSolar is based in Pasadena, California.

China Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd was founded in 1987 as the preferred vendor for the state-owned Chinese Power Complete Equipment Co., Ltd (CPCEC) and the Chinese Academy of Electric Power Design (ChinaPower.com.cn). Penglai Electric is one of the many independently owned and operated enterprises conceived as a result of the Chinese economic reform. With its own core team of about 1,000 employees, its main line of business includes manufacturing auxiliary and energy-saving components for 200MW, 300MW, and 600MW to 1,000MW fire-powered electrical power plants.

Since 2001, Penglai Electric Power has been granted ISO9001 quality assurance and self import and export privileges. By synergistically combining its technical expertise, manufacturing capability, and trading know-how, Penglai Electric offers comprehensive solutions in research and development, technical consultation, auxiliary component introduction and manufacturing, installation, and tuning for more than 60% of the major fire-powered electrical plants in China. Penglai Electric is based in Penglai, Shandong, China.

Google’s green energy project

www.biofuelswatch.com
11.01.2010

"Google Energy" is the new endeavour by the search engine giant, which is a new step into the green industry. As per the Delaware state records, on 16th December 2009, the company formed Google Energy as a subsidiary for their parent company Google. In the view of this, the application towards this proposal was referred to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which is the regulatory agency which deals in power grid sector on Tuesday. According to Niki Fenwick, a Google representative, this step would prove to be an essential move towards the company in achieving its corporate goal of carbon neutrality. The company also wants to be able to buy affordable renewable energy of highest standards wherever they could use their resources.

Currently, Google's headquarters based in Mountain View, California houses a capacious 1.6 MW solar installation. To compensate the energy requirement by its operation, their ability to buy and sell energy the way utilities do will help them towards further adaptability. Fenwick was also quoted saying that the company did not have any accurate plans, however he did mention that if it meant buying and selling of electricity in their portfolio they could be capable of doing so. Google wants to meet its objective of being a carbon-neutral company by working on its operations performance and competency, including their data centers.

Google has also planned on purchase of "high quality" carbon offsets keeping in mind about their funds being invested in many renewable energy productions firm via their parent company Google.org. This company has also invested into many areas of technological advancements like start-up solar, enhanced geothermal and wind. A while ago, they launched a web-based home electricity application called, "PowerMeter." Google has been working their way up aggressively towards their ambitious plan of clean energy and productive use of resources. Google's Director of energy and climate initiatives, Dan Reicher was recently quoted saying that in the future Google might invest their funds towards large-scale renewable energy projects.

China Tries a New Tack to Go Solar

www.nytimes.com
January 8, 2010

HONG KONG - As it moves rapidly to become the world's leader in nuclear energy, wind energy and photovoltaic solar panels, China is taking tentative steps to master another alternative energy industry: using mirrors to capture sunlight, produce steam and generate electricity.

So-called concentrating solar energy uses hundreds of thousands of mirrors to turn water into steam. The steam turns a conventional turbine similar to those in coal-fired power plants. The technology, which is potentially cheaper than most types of renewable power, has captivated many engineers and financiers in the last two years, with an abrupt surge in new patents and plans for large power operations in Europe and the United States.

This year may be China's turn. China is starting to build its own concentrating solar energy plants, a technology more associated with California deserts than China's countryside. And Chinese manufacturers are starting to think about exports, part of China's effort to become the world's main provider of alternative energy power equipment. Yet concentrating solar energy still faces formidable obstacles here, including government officials who are skeptical that the technology will be useful on a large scale in China.

Much of the country is cloudy or smoggy. Water is scarce. The sunniest places left for solar energy are deserts deep in the interior, far from the energy-hungry coastal provinces that consume most of China's electricity. Provinces deep in the interior have few skilled workers or engineers to maintain the automated gear that keeps mirrors focused on towers that transfer the heat from sunbeams into fluids. Concentrating solar energy "is not very suitable for China," wrote Li Junfeng, a senior government energy policy maker, in a detailed e-mail reply to questions this week. Yet the private sector in China is racing to embrace the technology anyway.

A California solar technology company and a Chinese power equipment manufacturer plan to sign a deal on Saturday for the construction of up to 2,000 MWs of power plants using concentrating solar energy over the next decade, executives from both companies said this week. That is equivalent to the output of a couple of nuclear energy plants. They will start with a 92-MW plant in Yulin, a town in a semi-desert area of Shaanxi Province in central China.

The Chinese equipment manufacturer, Penglai Electric, hopes to work with other Chinese manufacturers to drive production costs down precipitously, clearing the way for exports, although these would require further approval from the California licensor of the technology, eSolar. Eric Wang, the senior vice president for international business development at Penglai Electric, said that manufacturing mirrors, turbines, towers and other equipment in China instead of the United States could cut costs by at least half. That could make concentrating solar energy more competitive with other forms of power generation around the world.

China's Ministry of Science, the Beijing municipal government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are already building Asia's first concentrating solar energy plant on the outskirts of Beijing, although it is only a pilot operation to generate 1.5 MWs. Preparations are also under way for the construction of a 50-MW concentrating solar energy plant in Gansu Province in northwestern China, said Min Deqing, a renewable energy consultant in Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu.

But while nuclear energy, wind energy and photovoltaic solar panels have strong backing from China's political leaders and enormous financing by government-owned banks, concentrating solar energy still faces deep-rooted skepticism in senior ranks of the government. Unlike in the United States, the roots of that skepticism do not lie in concerns about disrupting the habitat of rare species in sunny, desert areas - a worry that may block some attempts to build concentrating solar energy plants in the Mojave Desert.

Mr. Li wrote that concentrating solar energy works best when cheap water, cheap land and lots of sun are available in the same place - a rare combination in China. Mr. Li also expressed concern that concentrating solar energy would prove more expensive per kW-hour generated than photovoltaic solar energy, a technology in which China is already the world's low-cost supplier.

Mr. Li has a lot of influence on these issues. He is a deputy director general for energy research at the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency in China. And he is the secretary general of the government-backed Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, which helps oversee these industries' operations in China. But Mr. Li did say that he saw a limited role for concentrating solar energy, particularly in places where it could be combined with other power plants, or where it could be combined with a way to store power overnight. Penglai and eSolar hope to do both.

Water consumption, mainly to condense the steam after it has been used to generate electricity, is another potential weakness of the technology. Water tends to be scarce in deserts, of course. Penglai and eSolar are leaning toward air cooling instead of water cooling, at the price of cutting the efficiency of their plant. Mr. Gross said the eSolar technology could also be used to create extra heat during the day, with the heat being stored and used to generate power at night - a form of the electricity storage sought by Mr. Li.

Despite the government's skepticism, renewable energy investors remain enthusiastic about the potential for concentrating solar energy projects in China. K. K. Chan, the chief executive of Nature Elements Capital, a renewable energy investment fund in Beijing, said that he had been looking at such deals in recent months after concluding that the valuations for photovoltaic solar projects were unreasonably high, possibly because that technology had such strong government backing.

Mr. Min in Lanzhou said that while there was little data yet on the cost of concentrating solar energy, the price tag was likely to fall in China. "Eventually, when 100% domestically produced mirrors are used," he said, "the cost will be lower than solar panel power plants."

Carnegie ready to deliver

www.heraldsun.com.au
January 09, 2010

Carnegie Wave Energy is on track to begin generating electricity next year, the listed ocean energy developer said yesterday after revealing it had received the first tranche of a grant from the Western Australian Government. In November, the company was overlooked, along with three other Australian ocean energy companies, for Federal Government grants in favour of an American developer, Ocean Power Technologies.

At the time energy analysts criticised the choice given that a foreign-owned company would be receiving Australian taxpayers' money and it had partnered with Leighton Holdings Contractors, which was not acknowledged as an experienced deep sea energy engineering company.

But Carnegie chief executive Michael Ottaviano told BusinessDaily yesterday that while he was disappointed at having missed out on the Renewable Energy Demonstration Program, he wished OPT well. "I sincerely hope this US company delivers because it is important for the sector as a whole to prove ocean technologies are viable for creating electricity," Mr Ottaviano said.

In 2002, OPT abandoned an installation at Portland when part of the structure snapped as it was being assembled. The $66.5 million that OPT will receive in federal funds will also go to a project in Portland. Carnegie's state government grant is worth $12.5 million and the company has a pilot plant operating off Fremantle. It has already begun drilling the moorings for its new 5MW plant near Perth, west of Garden Island, which will use the unique CETO technology.

CETO differs from other ocean energy systems by being anchored out of sight and using submerged buoys attached to pumps to drive water under high pressure through a pipe to shore where it powers a turbine. "By the time OPT get their plant up and running, we will have delivered Garden Island and moved on to other parts of the world," Mr Ottaviano said.

"We will continue to look at sites in Australia, but the reality is power prices here are too low to support a large project." He said that in Europe, it was easier to find backers for ocean projects because electricity tariffs were greater. "We have been working with one of the world's largest energy companies, EDF, in countries where power prices are so high we won't need a grant." Last month, Carnegie announced a licensing deal with French giant EDF Energies Nouvelles.

Clean Tech Investment Plummets 33% in 2009

www.environmentalleader.com
January 7, 2010

Venture capital investments in green technology companies declined by 33% from $8.5 billion in 2008 to $5.6 billion in 2009, despite a flurry of government subsidies for renewable energy, according to a preliminary report by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte, reports the New York Times' Green Inc, blog. However, the overall amount of venture capital was much worse, retreating to 2003 levels, according to the report, compared to clean technology investments that were on track to match 2007 levels, reports the Green Inc, blog.

Wind energy, which was the sector most heavily invested in by U.S, utilities in 2008, continued to be a significant investment sector for utilities in 2009, followed by investments in solar thermal and PV, according to the report. In addition to utilities, the report finds that among Fortune Global 500 companies, energy and consumer and industrial products companies made significant investments in the cleantech sector

The biggest investment sector was solar, which accounted for 21% of total clean technology investments, followed by transportation at 20% and energy efficiency at 18%, according to the report. However, solar investment in 2009 was down 64% from 2008, while investment in transportation and energy efficiency reached record levels in 2009, according to Cleantech.

The report also indicates that deals in the clean tech sector declined slightly to 557 in 2009, compared to 567 deals in 2008. The survey also finds that there were an estimated 505 clean technology mergers and acquisition transactions last year, totaling $31.8 billion, reports Reuters, compared to 394 transactions in 2008, but at a higher transaction value of $32.7 billion. The survey also ranked the top six most active green venture investors in 2009, ranking Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, SAIL Venture Partners and RockPort Capital Partners, as the top three leaders, reports Reuters.

The report also finds that North America's share of worldwide venture capital funding fell to 62% in 2009 from 72% in 2008, reports the Green Inc, blog. China's share of venture investing in clean technologies remained stable at $331 million, while North American venture funding fell by 42% to $3.5 billion, reports the Green Inc, blog.

The three leading states for investments are California ($2.1 billion invested in 116 deals), followed by Massachusetts ($356 million invested in 27 deals), and Texas ($170 million invested in 19 deals), according to the report. A recent report from Guardian and Cleantech Group shows that the U.S, accounts for 55 companies in Global Cleantech 100 Ranking.