Renewable Energy News

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/3/feature-0-1370251941106.jpg" /pHow strange that the development of many solar array fields has largely become an exercise in massive excavation, grading and stormwater management. This is ironic when we consider that such projects carry the “sustainable” tag. Yet there is a better way. Such terrains can be developed with minimal disturbance to the site footprint, within an existing regulatory framework and with less impact to sensitive environmental features./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371503032174.png" /pOfficially launched in January after years of development, a new CLEAN (feed-in tariff) program from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (the city’s municipal electric utility) promises 100 MW of new local renewable energy by 2016.  In absolute size, the program will be among the largest CLEAN programs in the U.S., but compared to the siz/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371504420897.jpg" /pMyanmar is blessed with an abundance of natural resources and a youthful workforce, but with many of its people living in extreme poverty, the newly opening economy is attracting the interest of investors and aid workers alike. In the middle of the fastest growing region in the world, East Asia, Myanmar holds great promise as the next big market. Growth rates have exceeded 5 percent since 2010 when the country released human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi and held elections, and 8 percent growth rates are within reach. McKinsey analysts estimate that Myanmar could quadruple its GDP by 2030 to US$200 billion. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371501120940.jpg" /pWomen in power — it’s not just a play on words. With all the talk about ‘leaning in’ it’s time to recognize all the women that leaned in, reached back, pulled forward, marched and continued marching for themselves, their families, their industries and their peers. Women in high-profile positions are honored (though the fickle limelight that can shine or glare), and the scrutiny that comes with this honor can be uncomfortable. Brave women march through this fickle limelight because it is important to them to make a difference. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371491318095.jpg" /pMassachusetts officials are preparing to take a number of steps to shore up one of the state’s key solar power subsidies, including spending millions of dollars to buy up the credits developers use to help finance their projects./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/18/feature-0-1371575201738.jpg" /pSolarWorld AG (SWV), Germany’s biggest maker of solar panels, rose the most in four months after newspapers reported that Qatar Solar Technologies will help finance a restructuring by acquiring a 30 percent stake. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371479899709.png" /p  The lack of access to comprehensive, accurate and reliable information on the renewable energy regulatory landscape in Kenya has been a significant barrier to private sector participation. Types and number of licenses/clearances, application procedures, associated costs, contacts of related government agencies, expected turn-around time and the s/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371478872892.jpg" /pSiemens AG will close its solar power unit after struggling to find a buyer following losses of at least 784 million euros ($1 billion) euros since 2011 amid Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher’s failed push into that business to expand renewable energy offerings./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371479862770.jpg" /pInternational Finance Corporation has released a new report called “Success of Geothermal Wells: A global study” with data taken from both public and private sources. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/17/feature-0-1371478119053.jpg" /pGodawari Power Ispat Ltd. started Asia’s biggest CSP plant as India limps toward clean energy targets with prices almost half the global average./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/16/feature-0-1371420045982.jpg" /pThe summer solar selling season may be upon us, and as your sales heat up, I hope you’ll take some time to contribute to the organizations that have supported our industry and our businesses. While there are many worthy solar charities, I’d like to focus on four that have been of great value to me, and probably to you too. The American Solar Energy/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/3/feature-0-1370258204996.jpg" /pBy 2020, swapping aging wind turbines with more powerful modern units will have raised annual electricity generation at refurbished sites from 1524 GWh to 8221 GWh. A 2 MW wind turbine coming off the production line with a rotor diameter of 80 metres can generate four to six times as much electricity as the 1 GWh annual yield of a 500 kW wind turbine with a 40 metre rotor built in 1995. This is the fundamental thinking behind wind repowering. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/10/feature-0-1370893622792.jpg" /pAs SunPower prepares to install its 10,000th residential system, the company says that it anticipates that solar will be on 20 percent of all new homes built in California this year. That’s based on recent trends, like the doubling of solar on new homes between 2011 and 2012, renewed efforts through the California Solar Initiative (CSI) under the N/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/10/feature-0-1370898872428.jpg" /pThanks to solar’s resiliency, falling prices and ability to help out in disasters, New York is anticipating more solar installed in 2013 than ever before in the Empire state and in New York City. That’s based on experts who discussed the “Tipping Point for Solar in New York” at the City University of New York (CUNY), which held the seventh annual N/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/3/feature-0-1370253026583.jpg" /pA new kind of tracking system, in combination with system-wide savings, could substantially reduce balance of system costs, claims one company. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/14/feature-0-1371231522177.jpg" /pThe sun is still only rising for the commercial and residential deployment of photovoltaics (PV) and, as barriers to development are identified, innovative approaches to solar financing continue to sprout. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/4/feature-0-1370361504060.jpg" /pInvestment in renewable energy is changing, with those who were once the backbone of the market pulling out and new entrants increasingly taking up the slack. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/14/feature-0-1371219525460.jpg" /pThe countdown to Global Wind Day marks more than just a wait for a fun-filled day spent outside discovering wind energy. It is also a chance for the public, politicians, and industry officials to discuss wind energy and its benefits, sharing ideas, exchanging opinions, and deepening their knowledge and understanding along the way. Across Europe, wi/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/14/feature-0-1371214850853.jpg" /pAt industry trade body RenewableUK’s offshore wind event in Manchester, UK energy minister Michael Fallon has announced that the government will launch a new Offshore Wind Investment Organisation (OWIO) this summer, with the aim of increasing investment in the nation’s offshore wind sector. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/6/13/feature-0-1371156117337.jpg" /pBrown kelp macroalgae — the strange, foul-smelling seaweed so often found washed up on the Pacific Northwest’s volcanic sand beaches — could ultimately offer an almost unlimited global supply of commercial-quality ethanol or biomethane. /p