Jan 10 (Reuters) - Sempra Energy and BP Plc will spend $1 billion to build new wind power farms this year in Pennsylvania and Kansas with a total output capacity of 560 megawatts, the companies said on Tuesday.
Wind power developers are racing to build new plants ahead of the expected expiration of a tax credit at the end of 2012, an incentive the industry is seeking to have extended to help make the renewable power source competitive against fossil fuel power stations.
GAZPROM SIGNS POWER CONTRACT TO GROW UK RETAIL ARM
LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Gazprom Energy, the retail subsidiary of Gazprom Marketing & Trading, signed its first contract to buy power from a small producer and is talking to other independent generators about offtake agreements, the company said.
Gazprom Energy signed a one-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for 16 megawatts (MW) with Infinis, a renewable energy company which generates power from biogas, hydro and wind.
SPAIN HYDRO RESERVES SLIDE, IRRIGATION EDGES UP
MADRID, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Spanish hydropower reserves continued a recent slide last week, official data showed on Tuesday, which could drive up power prices and gas consumption in the world's eighth-biggest natural gas importer.
Reservoirs set aside for irrigation meanwhile rose, despite dry weather, which will tend to help Spain contain cereal import needs of at least 7 million tonnes a year, which lures sellers from Kazakhstan to Argentina.
RWE TO INVEST 5 BLN EUR IN RENEWABLES IN NEXT 4 YRS
ESSEN, Germany, Jan 10 (Reuters) - German utility RWE plans to invest about 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) to expand its green power business over the next four years, struggling to tap new areas of growth in a move to prepare itself for a nuclear-free energy market at home.
By announcing an investment plan for its renewable unit, RWE follows German peer E.ON , which in mid-December said it would spend 7 billion euros for its green energy business over the next five years.
CHINA 2011 POWER CAPACITY UP 9 PCT TO 1,050 GW -REPORT
BEIJING, Jan 10 (Reuters) - China, the world's biggest energy consumer, put another 90 gigawatts of power generating capacity into operation in 2011, bringing the total to 1,050 GW, the head of China's National Energy Administration said on Tuesday.
But Liu Tienan told a gathering of government, industry and Communist Party officials that China still needed to impose limits on energy consumption and address its growing reliance on foreign supplies, the People's Daily newspaper reported.
WIND ENERGY DISPUTE MAY TEST U.S.-CHINA IP RESOLVE
LOS ANGELES, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A little-known dispute between a U.S. renewable energy company and its Chinese customer over the theft of trade secrets could prove to be a significant test of China's intellectual property laws, and the success of Western companies in pursuing claims in China.
American Superconductor Corp , which makes wind turbine components and transmission grid systems, is seeking to recover $1.2 billion from Chinese wind turbine maker Sinovel Wind Group Co Ltd in four separate legal actions in China. The U.S. company has accused its former biggest customer of stealing the software AMSC makes to power wind turbines and illegally canceling contracts.
GERMAN SOLAR BOOM STRENGTHENS CRITICS OF SUBSIDIES
FRANKFURT, Jan 9 (Reuters) - New solar installations reached a fresh record of 7.5 gigawatts (GW) in Germany in 2011, playing into the hands of advocates for steeper cuts in tariff subsidies to reduce growth of solar power and the resulting higher costs for consumers.
The figure slightly exceeds the 7.4 GW recorded in 2010, German network regulatory agency Bundesnetzagentur (BnetzA) said in a statement on Monday.
COLUMN-SOLAR GLUT HERALDS 2012 SHAKEOUT-GERARD WYNN
(The author is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.)
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A glut in solar power will drive yet more bankruptcies this year among panel producers after a brutal 2011, but falls in equipment prices will slow and leading firms may recover as spare capacity goes to the wall.
At the heart of solar power problems is a chronic over-capacity now almost double demand.
ROMANIA HIDROELECTRICA SEES DROUGHT CUT OUTPUT IN Q1
BUCHAREST, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Romanian state-owned hydro power producer Hidroelectrica will be unable to lift force majeure due to drought in the first quarter of the year, and will produce no more than 60 percent of its usual output, its general director was quoted as saying on Monday.
Hidroelectrica, which has installed capacity of some 6,400 megawatts and is Romania's cheapest power producer, declared force majeure in September and has cut deliveries to clients as a prolonged drought has lowered water levels on the Danube river, lifting power prices.
MOROCCO SEEKS BIDS FOR 850 MW WIND FARM PLAN
RABAT, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Morocco's state-run power utility, ONE, on Friday invited companies to submit expressions of interest in five wind farm projects with a total power generation capacity of 850 megawatts in the energy-importing country.
ONE said will take bids until March 2 from firms or consortia for "the development, design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance" of the five projects.
KENYA WIND POWER PROJECT TO START BY APRIL-OFFICIAL
NAIROBI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Construction of a 310 megawatt (MW) wind power project in Kenya is expected to start in April after its financiers complete due diligence on the project, a senior company official said on Thursday.
Most of Kenya's power is generated by hydroelectric plants, which are prone to the vagaries of frequent droughts, which cut water levels in dams, lead to power outages and force east Africa's biggest economy to rely on diesel-powered generators.
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