Thursday, September 8, 2011

20110908 1001 Renewable Energy Related News.

FIRST SOLAR TO SUPPLY PRODUCTS TO INDIA'S RELIANCE POWER
Sept 6 (Reuters) - First Solar Inc , the world's largest solar company by market value, said it will supply 100 megawatts (MW) of solar modules to India's Reliance Power  in what it called the biggest supply deal in the fast-growing market.
Because of India's abundant solar resource and significant energy demand, the country's market is expected to be one of the fastest growing in the world, although most solar product makers have had difficulties getting significant deals there.

U.S. SOLAR FIRM SOLYNDRA FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY
WILMINGTON, Del., Sept 6 (Reuters) - Solyndra LLC, a solar panel maker that received $535 million in federal loan guarantees, filed for bankruptcy, the third U.S. solar firm to succumb to pressure from Chinese rivals in recent weeks.
Solyndra, which also received more than $700 million in venture capital funding, said it will try to find a buyer quickly to avoid a firesale liquidation.

SPAIN HYDRO, IRRIGATION RESERVES ABOVE AVERAGE
MADRID, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Spanish water stocks which gauge the extent of the country's hefty reliance on gas and grain imports have ebbed since last week but are still comfortably above average, the latest official data showed on Tuesday.
Reservoirs supplying hydropower plants held enough water to generate 12,355 gigawatt-hours, down 234 GWh on the week , the Ministry for the Environment and Rural Affairs said.

ENEL GREEN POWER ADDS 18 MW WIND CAPACITY IN FRANCE
MILAN, Sept 5  (Reuters) - Italy's biggest renewable energy group, Enel Green Power (EGP) , has started up an 18 megawatt wind farm in France as it aims to expand in the growing green energy market there, the company said on Monday.
The new plant in the Rhone Alpes region raises EGP's total installed wind power capacity in France to 166 MW. The plant will generate 50 million kilowatt-hours of power a year, enough to meet demand of 15,000 households, EGP said in a statement.

EUROPE SOLAR POWER TO BE COMPETITIVE BY 2020 -EPIA
BERLIN, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Power generated from solar modules in Europe may take until the end of the decade to be competitive vis-à-vis conventional forms of energy, the world's biggest solar association said on Monday, adding that point could be reached sooner in some regions.
Based on a study looking at five major solar markets -- Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Britain -- Brussels-based European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) said competitiveness could be reached by 2020.

U.S. SOLAR COMPANY PLANS $600 MLN MISSISSIPPI PLANT
LOS ANGELES, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A California solar company said on Friday it plans to build a $600 million silicon factory in Mississippi that will be backed by $75 million in incentives from the state.
Calisolar will produce 16,000 metric tons of silicon at a factory in Columbus, Mississippi. The silicon will be sold to customers in the solar industry around the world, the company said in a statement.

UK RENEWABLES COSTS EXCEED GAS BY OVER 100 BLN POUNDS
LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The cost of investing in renewable energy in Britain is 105 billion pounds ($170 billion) higher than building the same capacity using gas-fired power plants, an economics professor said in a report published on Friday.
The extra investment cost of building power plants such as offshore wind farms is equivalent to nearly 10 percent of overall British business investment in the next 10 years,  Gordon Hughes of the University of Edinburgh said in his study "The Myth of Green Jobs."

SOLARWORLD SHUTS PRODUCTION AT U.S. PLANT
BERLIN, SEPT 2 (Reuters) - SolarWorld , Germany's No.2 solar company by sales, will shut down production at one of its U.S.-based solar module plants, looking to cut costs in response to falling prices, demand and tougher competition that squeeze margins.
The company said on Friday that while it would retain and further strengthen sales and distribution at its site in Camarillo, California, production would be pooled at its plant in Hillsboro, Oregon.

MARUBENI TO TIE UP WITH DANISH WIND POWER CO-NIKKEI
Sept 1 (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp  will invest about 200 million pounds ($323.2 million) in a British offshore wind farm run by Danish energy company Dong Energy A/S, business daily Nikkei reported.
Marubeni will acquire a 49.9 percent stake in Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm, owned by Dong, by next month, Nikkei said.

GERMANY MAY SPOIL OUTLOOK FOR EU RAPESEED SOWINGS
HAMBURG, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Rain in Germany may spoil an otherwise positive picture for European Union rapeseed sowings for the 2012 harvest after bad weather caused a huge drop in the 2011 German crop, traders and analysts said on Thursday.
"It looks like the problem with German rain threatening EU rapeseed supplies will not end with this year's terrible German rapeseed crop. Unless the weather really dries up fast, smaller German sowings could also threaten the EU's 2012 crop," one trader said.

FIRST SOLAR'S MODULES FROM GERMAN PLANT TO GET PREMIUM IN ITALY
Sept 1 (Reuters) - First Solar Inc  said modules produced at its factory in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, have satisfied requirements for a 10 percent premium over the normal incentive paid in Italy -- the No. 2 solar market in the world.
Under Italy's feed-in tariffs program, solar energy producers are typically paid a set, above-market rate, which is differentiated based on the technology used and size of the installation.

MANILA BOURSE EASES RULES FOR OIL,RENEWABLE ENERGY FIRMS
MANILA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The Philippines' securities regulator has approved the stock exchange's relaxed listing rules for petroleum and renewable energy firms, as the Southeast Asian country seeks to perk up investor interest in the oil and energy sectors.
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the smallest amongst major Southeast Asian markets, said on Thursday the amendments to its listing rules would take effect on Sept. 8.

US SOLAR COMPANY THAT OBAMA VISITED WILL SHUT DOWN
LOS ANGELES, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. solar start-up Solyndra LLC, succumbing to pressure from lower-cost Chinese rivals, said it has suspended operations and plans to file for bankruptcy, 15 months after President Barack Obama visited a company factory that was to be expanded with the help of a federal loan guarantee.
The Chapter 11 filing, expected next week, will make Solyndra the third U.S. solar company to seek bankruptcy protection in the last month. Former Wall Street high flyer Evergreen Solar Inc  filed for Chapter 11 two weeks ago, followed four days later by SpectraWatt Inc, a private company that was backed by Intel Corp .

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