Renewable Energy News

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/18/body-china-govt-should-oust-shi-to-save-suntech.jpg" /pNew developments have come rapidly over the past week at Suntech (NYSE: STP), leaving the former solar superstar on the brink of collapse as its founder Shi Zhengrong blocks a potential government rescue. Shi’s exit is believed to be a main condition for the government bailout, and his refusal to leave could well result in the failure of a company /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/18/body-wind-now-10-of-electricity-in-nine-states-over-20-in-iowa-south-dakota.jpg" /pImpressive numbers from the wind industry's record-breaking 2012 continued to come out this week with the news that American wind power generation shot up 17 percent last year, producing more than 10 percent of the electricity in nine states, up from the five that hit double digits in 2011./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/18/body-wind-energy-suppliers-thrown-by-brazil-local-supply-rule.jpg" /pBrazil's requirement that wind turbine suppliers buy locally is increasing costs for providers from Vestas Wind Systems A/S to Suzlon Energy Ltd., who say the rule will probably drive away some companies./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/14/body-bioenergy-calling-the-shots-on-asian-fuel-supply.jpg" /pEmerging markets have tremendous biomass resources. Such fuels also enjoy commercial advantages due to grid and baseload power availability and a strong willingness from users to pay for electricity. Yet to become a corporate sector, biomass power has avenues to explore to take it away from being made up of mostly isolated one-off projects, captive-generation schemes or public policy/NGO projects. Biomass power needs to focus on the vertical logistics of the fuel business. Indeed, conventional fuel price rises and demand-side pressures from north Asia point to the adoption of such a logistics chain./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/15/body-for-renewable-energy-hands-on-learning-cant-be-beat.jpg" /pI’m a reader.  I love sitting down with a great book or an in-depth report full of charts and graphs and really digging in.  SEIA and GTM Research just released their Solar Market Insight Report with staggering figures about solar installations in the U.S. in 2012. If you, like me, love to learn about the global growth of renewable energy, you shou/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/15/body-big-oils-100-year-incentive-birthday-bash-hosted-by-biofuels.jpg" /pHappy birthday, Big Oil! A group gathered in Washington D.C. this week to celebrate 100 years of tax subsidies for the oil industry – but attendees certainly weren’t oil-industry insiders – quite the opposite, in fact. The party consisted of more than 50 members of the American Coalition of Ethanol (ACE) and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IR/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/15/body-us-senators-urge-wind-ptc-clarification-but-is-it-time-to-look-beyond.jpg" /pA bipartisan group of US Senators, led by Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), have sent an open letter to the US Treasury and IRS asking them to speed up their clarification of new language in the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC)./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/15/body-suntech-plunges-as-reckoning-day-comes.jpg" /pI rarely write about the same company 3 times in a single week, but in this case the developments are coming so quickly at plunging solar panel pioneer Suntech (NYSE: STP) that an update to this fast developing story is really necessary. Company watchers will know that today, Friday, is the official deadline for Suntech to repay some $540 million i/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/15/body-u-k-offers-renewables-support-ahead-of-reforms-to-stem-delays.jpg" /pBritain will offer renewable energy developers contracts for the power they generate ahead of electricity market reforms due to go into force next year to avoid delays that may threaten the U.K.'s low-carbon ambitions./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/15/body-solar-amplified-benefits-maximized.jpg" /pCloud cover and inconsistent winds are natural assumptions when it comes to integrating renewable energy. Their variable and non-dispatchable nature requires utilities to take a number of precautions when integrating some types of renewable energy. Utilities take precautions because they are required to ensure the safety, reliability and power qual/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/2/28/body-microgrid-by-mail-can-contribute-to-rural-electrification.jpg" /pWith policy focus, creative use of technology, and good management, minigrids can deliver 100 percent electrification for the ~1.5 billion mostly rural people worldwide — affordably, without global warming emissions, and within ten years. In urban deployments, renewables-powered minigrids will de-stress the electricity infrastructure. A whole new business is poised to launch. The time to begin is now./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/15/body-obama-to-press-congress-on-2-billion-clean-energy-research-fund.jpg" /pPresident Barack Obama is pressing Congress to create a $2 billion clean-energy research fund with fees paid by oil and gas producers to help lower U.S. dependence on oil./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/12/body-a-safe-haven-in-a-carbon-price-storm-securing-value-with-voluntary-offsets.jpg" /pVoluntary emission reductions (VERs) focus on sustainability rather than just carbon reduction and allow renewables projects to produce truly game-changing results. So says Tom Morton of ClimateCare, a developer and marketer of this type of offset internationally. 'It's important to intervene early in a country's development to introduce sustainable, low-carbon practice rather than wait until unsustainable practices develop,' he said, suggesting that, for example, micro-renewable energy technology funded by VERs could avoid the need for a centralised grid fuelled by large-scale coal./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/11/body-geothermal-industry-in-uganda-reaching-out-to-developed-markets.jpg" /pU.S. geothermal companies are beginning to see East Africa as an area for industry activity that is fruitful in almost every sense: enormous geothermal resource potential, areas in need of significant energy infrastructure development, and increased demand for U.S. expertise at the local level./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/14/body-scaling-up-solar-in-israel.jpg" /pPop quiz: Which country ranks tied with Austria and South Africa for solar energy "attractiveness," and is tied with Saudi Arabia (and just behind Chile and the UAE) for overall renewable energy attractiveness?/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/14/body-china-seeking-solar-consolidation-damps-hope-for-suntech.jpg" /pChina won't rescue Suntech Power Holdings Co. from its creditors because the former biggest solar-panel maker needs to retrench along with the rest of the industry, two advisers to government agencies said./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/14/body-u-s-approves-1100-megawatts-of-renewable-energy-projects.jpg" /pThe U.S. approved three renewable- energy projects to be built on federal land in California and Nevada./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/14/body-15-count-em-15-must-haves-for-any-modern-residential-solar-websites.jpg" /p  A lot of residential solar companies contact me about programs for them, and one of the first things I do is look at their websites. Some are okay, but often they’re outdated and missing several key elements that every modern website should have. So, for the benefit of not repeating myself and helping these installers to at least look modern, her/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/13/body-support-equitable-access-to-solar-energy.jpg" /pShould solar energy only be accessible to those who can afford to invest in a solar system?   The California Solar Initiative (CSI) has created financial incentives to encourage California citizens to adopt solar, helping homeowners across California reduce their electric bills.  A residential solar system in California will typically pay for itsel/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/3/13/body-biomass-to-more-than-triple.jpg" /pDriven by aggressive biofuel mandates, rapid industry growth will cause great strain on biomass by 2030, according to analysis firm Lux Research. A report from the firm says that, using today's technologies, an area the size of Russia would need to be cultivated to replace all petroleum used for chemicals and fuels, and feedstock innovation will be needed to keep growing biomass's market share./p