20110902 1105 Renewable Energy Related News.

UK FARMERS TURN TO RENEWABLES FOR PROFIT
LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - More than one third of UK farmers want to install renewable energy projects on their farmland, most of them within the next year, and hope to generate average returns of 25,000 pounds ($40,565) per year, UK bank Barclays  said.
The bank's business arm on Tuesday launched a 100-million pound fund to help farmers finance renewable energy projects, including solar panels, wind farms, hydro plants and organic waste power as a growing number of agricultural businesses seek to benefit from government support tariffs.

SPAIN HYDRO, IRRIGATION RESERVES DIP BUT ABOVE AVG
MADRID, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Spanish water reserves, which are crucial to determining the extent of the country's hefty dependence on gas and grain imports, fell last week but are still above average, the latest official data showed on Tuesday.
Reservoirs set aside for hydropower plants held enough water to produce 12,589 gigawatt-hours of electricity, the Ministry for the Environment and Rural Affairs said .

NEXTERA ENERGY UNIT SECURES $935 MLN FINANCING
Aug 29 (Reuters) - A unit of NextEra Energy Inc , the largest U.S. renewable energy operator, said it secured $935 million in construction and term financing to build a 250-megawatt solar thermal power generating facility in California.
The financing consists of $702 million in project bonds, a $150 million project term loan facility and an $83 million project letter of credit facility.

U.S. SOLAR INDUSTRY WAS NET EXPORTER IN 2010
LOS ANGELES, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The United States was a net exporter of solar energy products last year, thanks to strong demand from China, Germany and Japan for U.S.-made polysilicon and capital equipment used to make solar panels.
U.S. photovoltaic-related exports totaled $5.6 billion in 2010, compared with imports of $3.7 billion, according to a study by GTM Research prepared for the Solar Energy Industries Association, a U.S. trade group.

YINGLI UNLIKELY TO ADD CAPACITY IN EUROPE
BERLIN, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Chinese solar module maker Yingli  is unlikely to add production capacity in Europe, the head of its European operations told Reuters, pointing to slowing growth in the region after cuts in subsidies.
"It would be difficult to look at capacity expansion in Europe," Stuart Brannigan, also a member of Yingli's management board, said on Monday on the sidelines of the Handelsblatt conference for renewable energy, adding acquiring European solar companies was "probably not on our agenda".

RESEARCH ALERT-COLLINS STEWART RAISES FIRST SOLAR TO BUY
Aug 26 (Reuters) - Collins Stewart upgraded First Solar Inc  to "buy," saying the solar company will benefit from the projects it received over the last one month.
The world's largest solar company by market value received contracts for building solar projects by Sempra Generation -- a unit of Sempra Energy  -- and NRG Energy in Nevada and California over the last month, Collins Stewart said.

ENERGY INVESTORS SHOULD LOOK TO EAST EUROPE
LONDON/PRAGUE, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Wind power is surging in Poland and Romania, as is solar in the Ukraine, offering opportunities to investors who are facing tougher times in Europe's more established markets.
Despite fears of a double-dip recession in Europe and North America, central and eastern Europe are pressing on with energy infrastructure plans ailing after decades of underinvestment.

VOLKSWAGEN TO INVEST 1 BLN EUR IN RENEWABLES -REPORT
Aug 26 (Reuters) - German carmaker Volkswagen  will boost its planned commitment to renewable energy, investing almost 1 billion euros ($1.44 billion) in the production of environmentally friendly energy over two years, the Financial Times Deutschland reported.
This would be a substantial increase over the previous mid-term target of roughly 600 million euros Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, announced at the end of June.

UK'S Q2 WIND OUTPUT UP BY 131.1 PERCENT
LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - UK wind power generation surged by 131.1 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, figures released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change show.
Higher production was due to increased capacity and much higher wind speeds during the quarter, according to trade group RenewableUK.

JAPAN PARLIAMENT PASSES KEY RENEWABLE ENERGY REFORM
TOKYO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Laws to promote renewable energy in Japan passed a final hurdle on Friday, with the upper house of parliament formally approving a scheme that investors hope will ramp up spending on solar, wind and other green energy.
The country is struggling to overhaul its energy policies after the March quake and tsunami triggered a nuclear disaster that shattered the public's confidence in the safety of the atomic industry and delayed the restart of idled plants. Costly oil and gas imports have soared.

SOLAR SHAKEOUT WILL BRING MORE FAILURES, FEW DEALS
NEW YORK/FRANKFURT, Aug 25 (Reuters) - A brutal 2011 has left the solar industry dazed, damaged and on the cusp of a major shakeout of weaker players who are more likely to shut down than be snapped up by their stronger rivals.
Solar subsidy cuts in top markets Italy and Germany prompted a 20 percent drop in the price of solar panels this year, bringing the fast-growing solar industry to a critical tipping point. Even companies that had been stock market heroes find themselves as the walking wounded, struggling to cut costs in a market awash with solar panels.

JAPAN Q2 SOLAR CELL SALES GROWTH SLOWS TO 31 PCT Y/Y
TOKYO, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Sales of solar cells in Japan rose 30.7 percent from a year earlier to 258.6 megawatts in April-June, slowing slightly from a 33.4 percent increase in the previous quarter, industry data showed on Thursday.
Exports of solar cells in the quarter soared 23.3 percent from a year earlier to 438.9 MW, the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association data also showed, accelerating from a 9.8 percent rise in January-March.

JAPAN RENEWABLE ENERGY PUSH CLEARS KEY HURDLE
TOKYO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Japan's lower house of parliament passed a bill on Tuesday to promote investment in solar and other renewable energy sources as politicians took a step towards the prime minister's goal of reducing reliance on nuclear power.
Damage and the radiation leak at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has shattered the public's confidence in the safety of atomic power and plunged the country's energy policy into disarray. Ahead of the disaster, Japan had planned to build enough reactors to raise nuclear power supply to meet 50 percent of demand by 2030 from 30 percent.