Thursday, October 20, 2011

20111020 0959 Renewable Energy Related News.

TEXAS SETS WIND POWER RECORD AS COASTAL WIND GROWS
HOUSTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Texas set a new record for wind-power output earlier this month as coastal wind farms start to play a bigger role in supplying electricity to the state, the grid operator said in a report.
The amount of electricity produced from wind on the afternoon of Oct. 7 set a record at 7,400 megawatts, more than 78 percent of the 9,400 MW of installed wind capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

CHINA SEPT POWER OUTPUT SUSTAINS DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH
BEIJING, Oct 18 (Reuters) - China's power generation increased 11.5 percent from a year earlier to 386.1 billion kilowatt-hours in September, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
It is the eighth consecutive month that electricity output has expanded at a double-digit pace after sinking into single digits late last year when Beijing launched a campaign to cap energy use.

SUNTECH SEES STRONGER U.S. SOLAR GROWTH
DALLAS, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd  expects U.S. solar installations to reach a record 2 gigawatts this year, even as demand from the German market stumbles, a Suntech executive said on Monday.
Solar companies have been betting that the United States could become the world's largest market in the next few years, replacing Germany in the top spot as Berlin trims subsidies there.

RAM POWER EXPECTS NICARAGUA PLANT'S COMMERCIAL OPS IN DEC
Oct 17 (Reuters) - Canada's Ram Power Corp  said commissioning for Phase I expansion of its geothermal power plant at San Jacinto-Tizate, Nicaragua, has begun, and the unit is expected to start commercial operation in December.
The San Jacinto-Tizate project had earlier encountered construction delays and was also facing higher material and labor costs.

CHINA OFFICIALS PROPOSE SEASONAL SURCHARGE TO EASE POWER SHORTAGE
BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) - China should impose seasonal power price surcharges on big industrial users and subsidise power generating firms to ease power shortages, government officials said in remarks published in China Energy News on Monday.
Speeding up reform and unleashing market forces in price-setting is the fundamental cure for power shortages, the officials told the industry newspaper run by the People's Daily.

RENEWABLE ENERGY GEN SAYS WIND CAPACITY TO RISE
LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Renewable Energy Generation (REG)  is looking to grow its operational wind capacity by more than 35 percent in 2012 on the back of continued government support, the wind farm developer's chief executive said.
"At the very least, our operational wind capacity will rise from 41.15 megawatts (MW) to about 56-57 MW next year," Andrew Whalley told Reuters on Monday.

CHINA SEPT HYDROPOWER AND WATER STOCKS SLUMP -NDRC
BEIJING, Oct 15 (Reuters) - China's hydropower output slumped in September as water stocks dwindled, government data showed, suggesting regions relying on it may have to struggle for supplies as winter approaches.
National hydropower output in September fell 24.5 percent from a year earlier to 56.87 billion kilowatt hours, while water stocks used by key hydro stations declined 18.5 percent to 104.9 billion cubic metres at the end of last month, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

BLAME THE WEATHER FOR YOUR ENERGY BILL
LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Greater reliance on solar, wind and hydro power means that utilities can now blame extreme weather for high electricity and gas bills, a meteorologist at global forecaster WSI told Reuters.
Drought, freezing weather and heavy clouds can all hit household budgets as they restrict output from renewable energy plants.

WINTER TO SEE LOW WIND, HYDRO POWER IN N.EUROPE
LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Europe faces a colder, dry winter in the north with milder, windy and wet weather in the south thanks to the effects of the dominant weather pattern, a leading energy weather forecaster told Reuters.
A negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) will continue to dominate the continent's winter weather patterns, World Climate Service's senior meteorologist Richard James said in an interview.

GENERAL ELECTRIC PICKS COLO. FOR SOLAR PANEL PLANT
Oct 13 (Reuters) - General Electric Co  on Thursday said it has selected Colorado as the location for a solar panel factory that will create 355 jobs in that state.
The 400-megawatt plant is part of a $600 million investment GE said it would make in its solar business earlier this year.

NTT UNIT TO OFFER REPAIRS FOR BIG SOLAR PLANTS- NIKKEI
Oct 14 (Reuters) - NTT Facilities Inc, a unit of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp , plans to start service offering to monitor and maintain mega solar plants, the Nikkei business daily reported.  
The service, scheduled for next spring, will prevent the deterioration in performance that can reduce power output of a solar plant by about 15 percent over about a 17-year life, the paper said.

DEEPWATER TO BUILD FIRST U.S. OFFSHORE WIND FARM
Oct 12 (Reuters) - Deepwater Wind is racing to build the first U.S. offshore wind farm off Rhode Island and hopes to parlay that into a string of East Coast farms that could partially replace embattled nuclear power plants.
The privately held U.S. wind power developer plans to begin construction of the $205 million, 30-megawatt Block Island project in 2013 or 2014, ahead of a farm proposed by Cape Wind which had been expected to be the nation's first offshore facility, according to Deepwater's CEO.

JEFFERIES STARTS GT ADVANCED WITH UNDERPERFORM
Oct 12 (Reuters) - A weakness in demand for solar energy products and competition from low-cost Asian competitors will weigh on GT Advanced Technologies , Jefferies said, and initiated coverage on the solar equipment maker with an "underperform" rating.  
Shares of the company fell 8 percent in early trading to $7.11 on Wednesday on Nasdaq.

DEEPWATER PICKS SIEMENS WIND TURBINES FOR BLOCK ISLAND
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Privately held U.S. offshore wind power developer Deepwater Wind agreed to buy 6-megawatt wind turbines from German multinational Siemens  for its Block Island wind farm off Rhode Island.
The 30-MW Block Island wind farm remains on track to be the nation's first offshore wind farm, the Providence, Rhode Island Deepwater said.

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