SPAIN'S GAMESA SIGNS NEW WIND ORDERS IN CHINA
MADRID, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Spanish renewable energy Gamesa said on Wednesday it has signed new contracts to produce 600 megawatts of wind power in China.
WIND-POWERED CAR SUCCEEDS IN HARD AUSTRALIAN VOYAGE
SYDNEY, Feb 16 (Reuters Life!) - A car powered primarily by wind and kites has made it across a vast swathe of Australia, enduring searing heat and freezing cold along the way -- and all for roughly $10 Australian.
The more than 5,000 km (3,100 mile) journey of the "Wind Explorer" was the first major test for the prototype car, which its German inventors hoped would show that the technology already exists to power cars with renewable energy even through tough trips like this one.
MAGMA SAYS GEOTHERMAL INDUSTRY GROWTH LIMITED
VANCOUVER, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Magma Energy Corp is looking for investments outside the geothermal energy sector, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday, lamenting the geothermal's limited scope for growth.
Ross Beaty, CEO of Magma, one of the world's biggest developers of geothermal energy resources, also said he is disappointed by the lack of "real return" to investors in the sector over the past few years.
FINAVERA, GE UNIT TO PARTNER ON CANADA WIND FARM
VANCOUVER, Feb 15 (Reuters) - A unit of General Electric Co plans to invest C$40 million ($40.4 million) in a wind energy project being developed in the Canadian province of British Columbia by Finavera Wind Energy Inc , the small developer said on Tuesday.
GE Energy Financial Services has agreed to the indicative terms of an equity investment in a 77-megawatt Wildmare project that Finavera plans to build in northeastern British Columbia, Finavera said.
ITALY SOLAR CAPACITY SURGED OVER 160% IN 2010 -GSE
MILAN, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Installed photovoltaic capacity in Italy, a major solar market in Europe, surged more than 160 percent last year, state energy services agency GSE said on Tuesday, citing preliminary estimates.
Wind power generation capacity jumped about 20 percent in 2010, while total installed renewable energy capacity rose above 30 gigawatts at the end of last year, GSE Chairman Emilio Cremona said in a statement referring to "first estimates".
WIND, SOLAR PRICE FALLS TO USHER SPEEDIER ADOPTION
LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Rapid recent solar and wind price falls are likely to bring new markets and mass adoption a step closer over the next decade and raise the prospects of mergers.
The financial crisis coupled with a ramp-up in China, which now leads the world wind and solar manufacturing, have led to over-capacity and pressured prices in the past three years.
BRAZIL'S SAO MARTINHO Q3 NET JUMPS 133 PERCENT
SAO PAULO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Brazilian sugar and ethanol group Sao Martinho reported a 133 percent surge in quarterly net income on Monday as financial expenses fell and revenue jumped due to soaring sugar and ethanol prices.
Sao Martinho earned 53.8 million reais ($32 million) for the three months to Dec. 31, compared with 23.1 million reais in the same period of 2009, according to a securities filing.
INNERGEX BULKS UP WITH CANADA HYDRO-POWER BUY
VANCOUVER, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Innergex Renewable Energy Inc said on Monday it will buy privately owned Cloudworks Energy Inc for C$185 million ($187 million), expanding its hydroelectric power assets in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The acquisition will help diversify the assets of Innergex, a small Canadian clean energy producer, which operates run-of-river hydroelectric projects and wind farms mostly in its home province of Quebec.
ONTARIO ELECTION SOWS GREEN ENERGY UNCERTAINTY
VANCOUVER/OTTAWA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The outcome of an autumn election in Ontario could stunt a budding renewable energy industry in the Canadian province just as it is becoming one of the world's hot investment destinations.
If the opposition Progressive Conservatives win power on Oct. 6, the party has promised to scrap generous rates for renewable energy producers just two years after their launch by the Liberal government.
GLOBAL SOLAR POWER GROWTH DOUBLED IN 2010-STUDY
LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The world added about 16 gigawatts of new solar photovoltaic (PV) power in 2010, double the growth seen a year earlier, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association told Reuters on Monday.
Uncertainty about Italian figures made a precise figure difficult, after an end-of-year rush to qualify for a higher solar power price premium, called a feed-in tariff.
OBAMA 2012 BUDGET PROVIDES $8 BLN FOR CLEAN ENERGY
WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama proposed on Monday boosting funds for clean energy research and deployment in his 2012 budget by slashing subsidies for fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.
The budget provides the Department of Energy $29.5 billion for fiscal year 2012, up 4.2 percent from the proposed 2011 budget, and up 12 percent from the enacted 2010 budget. Some $8 billion would support research in clean energy like wind, solar and advanced batteries.
SERBIA, ITALY SIGN A $1.1 BLN HYDRO ENERGY DEAL
BELGRADE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Serbia and Italy signed a deal on Friday to boost a share of renewables in their energy output and alleviate shortages by building three hydro-power plants in the Serbian west worth 819 million euros ($1.11 billion).
Under the deal Serbia's state-run utility EPS and Italy's company Seci Energia will build the plants with a combined capacity of 365 megawatts on the Drina river bordering Serbia and Bosnia, Serbia's Energy Minister Petar Skundric said.
VESTAS SAYS IN TALKS ON SWEDISH 200 MW PROJECT
COPENHAGEN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Danish wind turbine manufactuer Vestas is in talks with Swedish company Arise Windpower to supply turbines for a 200-megawatt project, Vestas said on Friday.
Arise Windpower said earlier on Friday it had concluded an "agreement in principle" with Vestas for delivery of the turbines, but Vestas said the order was not yet firm.
CHINA JAN POWER USE GROWTH SEEN UP FROM DEC -REPORT
BEIJING, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Power consumption in areas served by State Grid Corp of China (SGCC) may have increased by an average of 9.4 percent in January from a year earlier, up from a nationwide 5.4 percent rise in December, an industry report showed on Friday.
Electricity consumption in areas covered by the Northwest Grid, one of SGCC's five regional units, rose 14.01 percent year on year to 30.9 billion kilowatt-hours last month, according to the report posted on www.cpnn.com.cn, a website overseen by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
NORTHLAND TO DEVELOP WIND FARM WITH NATIVE COMPANY
OTTAWA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Clean energy developers Northland Power Inc and privately-held Skypower Ltd said on Thursday they will work with aboriginal groups in Ontario to develop wind and solar power projects.
Northland Power will develop a 60-megawatt wind farm in northern Ontario in a joint venture with aboriginal company Mnidoo Mnising Power.
COSTLY CHILE POWER MAY JOLT RENEWABLE ENERGY
OVALLE, Chile, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A long drought has dried up hydroelectric power production in Chile, sending electricity costs soaring and making renewable power sources like wind, solar and geothermal more attractive, particularly to energy-hungry miners reaping a copper windfall.
"Renewable energies require a greater investment but they have low production costs," said Mabel Weber, an energy analyst with Banchile Investments. "The more prices rise, the more viable alternative energies look."
INDONESIA TO REQUIRE UTILITY PLN TO BUY GEOTHERMAL POWER
JAKARTA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Indonesia's energy ministry said on Thursday it will issue a decree ordering state-owned utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to buy electricity generated from geothermal power plants at a ceiling price of 9.7 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour.
The regulation is expected to pave the way for 31 geothermal power projects that have been hampered, because PLN has previously not signed power purchasing agreements with geothermal developers, saying it is still waiting for a legal basis to buy the electricity.
FIRST SOLAR TO BUILD 250 MW PLANT IN NEVADA
LOS ANGELES, Feb 9 (Reuters) - U.S. solar company First Solar Inc said on Wednesday it will build a 250-megawatt plant in Nevada that will supply enough electricity to power about 80,000 homes.
California utility Southern California Edison will purchase the plant's output, the companies said.
DONG NEAR DECISION ON GERMAN OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT
ESSEN, Germany, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Denmark's Dong is to take a decision on a German offshore wind project in the spring of 2011, its Chief Executive Anders Eldrup said on Wednesday.
The state-controlled oil and gas group, which is the world leader in wind energy, is studying whether to go ahead and build a 380 megawatts (MW) project in Germany's North Sea, called Borkum Riffgrund 1, Eldrup said in an interview.
EARLY UK SOLAR TARIFF CUT COULD DAMAGE SECTOR
LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Britain's plans to cut financial support for large solar power projects may stunt the nascent sector's growth, push investors abroad and prevent the country from meeting its renewable energy targets.
The British energy ministry said on Monday it may soon slash the premium paid for power produced by large-scale solar plants -- called feed in tariffs (FITs) -- in a bid to prevent a small number of big projects from absorbing money meant to be shared with household and community solar projects.
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