ROMANIA SAYS MUST SHUT AGING POWER PLANTS- REPORT
BUCHAREST, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Romania will have to shut down outdated power plants generating some 30 percent of its electricity capacity by 2020 and replace them with new units, an economy ministry official was quoted on Tuesday as saying.
The European Union state needs to replace more than half its power plants by 2035, said Alexandru Sandulescu, the head of the ministry's energy policies department.
UK HYDRO POWER PERMITS TO TREBLE IN 2011 -AGENCY
LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Britain's Environment Agency expects to treble the number of environmental permits it issues for hydro power plants this year due to new public subsidies, the project manager involved in the process said.
"Our forecast is about 200 formal applications and another 200 pre-applications," said agency Project Manager Gerard Morris.
GERMAN GOVT PLANS TO MOVE FORWARD SOLAR CUTS-SOURCES
BERLIN, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The German government is planning to move forward the next scheduled reductions in solar power feed-in tariffs of up to 12 percentage points by six months to July 1, 2011, government and coalition sources said on Monday.
The information was included in the draft of a new law being prepared in the Environment Ministry, obtained by Reuters.
GROUPS LAUNCH WIND POWER PRODUCT LABEL- "WINDMADE"
LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Groups and companies including WWF and Danish wind turbine maker Vestas on Monday supported the launch of "WindMade" as a label for products made using wind power, aiming to attract green consumers.
To use the label, producers would have to pass a test confirming their use of wind power, and in return they can benefit from a possible price premium similar to that organic food has over conventional produce.
FRANCE'S DIRECT ENERGIE EYES HYDRO-POWER BIDDING
PARIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - French private energy firm Direct Energie, working with Swiss utility group Axpo, aims to win a hydro-power station concession when France opens up competition in the sector, its head said on Monday.
The French government plans to launch bidding rounds between 2011 and 2013 to renew existing concessions for 10 hydro-power stations, which account for around 5,000 megawatts (MW) or the equivalent of five small nuclear reactors.
SPECIAL REPORT-IS A SOLAR TRADE WAR ABOUT TO FLARE?
EBERSWALDE, Germany, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Germany's fifth-biggest solar power park emerges as a smudge on the horizon long before you reach it on the outskirts of the small, sleepy village of Eberswalde, an hour's drive north of Berlin. "In the far distance, you can see it," Peter Kobbe says, pointing through heavy December snowfall as he steers his Citroen van along an icy road.
Kobbe, 64, works at Finow airport, where a local investment firm built the 58 million euro ($77 million) solar park in 2009. Finow itself was built by the Nazis before World War Two and later became one of the Soviet Union's main Cold War hubs.
CONSERVATION GROUP SUES TO STOP CALIFORNIA SOLAR PLANT
LOS ANGELES, Jan 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. conversation group has sued the federal government over its approval of a major solar power plant in the California desert, the latest in a string of challenges to the nation's renewable energy goals from the environmental community.
According to court papers, the non-profit Western Watersheds Project alleged U.S. regulators approved Brightsource Energy's 370-megawatt Ivanpah solar energy plant without conducting adequate environmental reviews, and asked the court to order the defendants to withdraw their approvals.
SOUTH CHINA PROVINCES TO FACE 6 GW POWER SHORTFALL
BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Southern Chinese provinces served by China Southern Power Grid Corp may face a power shortage of more than 6 gigawatts (GW) when hydropower output falls to its seasonal low this year, the grid operator said on the weekend.
Shortages will be experienced mostly in Guangdong, China's export hub, because of insufficient generating capacity, the grid operator said in a report on its website ( www.csg.cn ).
CROATIA ANNOUNCES TENDER FOR NEW HYDRO PLANT
ZAGREB, Jan 14 (Reuters) - State power board HEP announced on Friday a tender for a hydropower plant in southern Croatia that is seen as the start of a major drive to cut energy imports while generating more power to fuel faster economic growth.
The 130 million euro ($175 million) project, near the historic resort city of Dubrovnik, is being financed by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
UK OFFSHORE WIND FARMS STARTS POWER EXPORTS
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The first turbines of two new British offshore wind farms started exporting their first power over the past two weeks, the respective developers said on Friday.
The first turbine at the Dong Energy and SSE's 367.2 megawatt (MW) Walney offshore wind farm, located off the coast of Cumbria, started generating electricity on Thursday.
ENEL GREEN POWER TO BUILD 90 MW WIND FARM IN ITALY
MILAN, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest renewable energy company, Enel Green Power (EGP) , said it had received authorisation to build a 90 megawatt wind farm on the island of Sardinia.
EGP plans to build the farm, which will consist of 39 Siemens wind turbines each with 2.3 MW capacity, this year, the company controlled by Italy's biggest utility Enel said in a statement on Friday.
CANADIAN SOLAR SUPPLIES PV MODULES TO ITALY PLANT
Jan 13 (Reuters) - Chinese solar firm Canadian Solar Inc said it supplied modules to Europe's largest capacity photovoltaic solar power plant, in Italy, built by MEMC Electronic's unit SunEdison.
Canadian Solar, whose operations are largely based in China, said the plant is expected to power more than 16,500 homes in the first year of operation.
CHINA HAS HIGHEST WIND POWER CAPACITY - XINHUA
BEIJING, Jan 13 (Reuters) - China has the world's highest wind power capacity after adding 62 percent or 16 gigawatts (GW) in new capacity last year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
The country's total installed wind power capacity reached 41.8 GW at the end of last year, the report said, citing Li Junfeng, secretary general of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association.
SOLAR STOCKS FACE ANOTHER TOUGH YEAR IN 2011
LOS ANGELES, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Investors hoping that 2011 will mark the return of off-the-charts growth in solar stocks will be sorely disappointed, though the industry's battered share prices make for good bargains in the meantime.
In 2010 the fast-growing industry logged its biggest sales year ever, yet shares of solar panel makers lagged the broader market significantly.
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