Renewable Energy News

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/31/feature-0-1370012447541.jpg" /pDomestic shipments of solar cells and modules in Japan leapt by their most in at least 30 years last fiscal year as government efforts to spur clean energy after the 2011 Fukushima disaster began to pay off./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/30/feature-0-1369940453262.jpg" /pIn the past decade, the massive expansion of China’s production and export of silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells and panels has cratered the price of those items globally, creating tension between China and the United States, and, more recently, China and the European Union. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/30/feature-0-1369933590716.jpg" /pThere has been great interest in recent years in using tiny particles called quantum dots to produce low-cost, easily manufactured, stable photovoltaic cells. But, so far, the creation of such cells has been limited by the fact that in practice, quantum dots are not as good at conducting an electric charge as they are in theory./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/30/feature-0-1369930669266.jpg" /pOne Block Off the Grid (1BOG), whose business model once was pooling communities together to buy into solar energy GroupOn-style, has embarked on a new strategy that shifts to a one-stop online shopping service matching residential solar customers with the solar project that makes the most sense for them./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/30/feature-0-1369930890114.jpg" /pPoland could be adding €17.5 billion (PLN 73.8 billion) to its economy by 2025 if it develops its offshore wind energy sector to a potential six gigawatts, a new report by Ernst Young has revealed. The report, “offshore wind energy — analysis of benefits for the Polish economy and development determinants”, also said that the sector could potenti/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/31/feature-0-1370014006198.jpg" /pThe Democratic Republic of Congo will be ready to build the 4,800 megawatt Inga III hydroelectric plant by 2015, after two failed attempts to kick-start the $12 billion project, Minister of Energy Bruno Kapandji said./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/30/feature-0-1369920798293.jpg" /pOkay, the title is a bit of an overstatement. But when it comes to the economy, we don’t need a crystal ball to understand what is coming next. Rarely in history has there been a time when the greatest opportunity available has also been so obvious. People, groups and societies all wish to maintain and improve their standards of living. Yet the ecological underpinnings of the economy that would allow that to happen are at risk from legacy economic activities that we no longer need in order to maintain that standard of living. Seems like a paradox, but it's true. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/29/feature-0-1369845422535.jpg" /pWhere are the most promising solar PV markets in Latin America? It depends on a combination of factors, from solar insolation to electricity costs and PV market maturity, and political factors including the effectiveness of existing policies, what is required for new generation, and various economic and investment risks./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/29/feature-0-1369854000661.jpg" /pSolar and renewable energy standards in general have come under increasing attack in the past year as fossil-fuel companies and some utilities are starting to feel the heat and competition from renewable energy generation. Few places have seen such vicious attacks as North Carolina, where Republican legislators pushed legislation forward through co/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/30/feature-0-1369898569909.jpg" /pVoting ends tomorrow on Google's Global Impact Challenge, in which the public decides which of the 10 finalist projects will walk away with a £500,000 prize. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/29/feature-0-1369836997268.jpg" /pOne kilowatt may not seem like a lot – some heaters in the West use this much energy every hour. But in Songambele, Tanzania, comparatively little energy is going a long way./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/29/feature-0-1369831898218.jpg" /pWhile there is much to celebrate about the current direction of Germany’s energy policy, the nation must take steps to manage both the growth and the cost of its renewable power capacity, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its new country report./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369766490099.jpg" /pIndia's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has released a draft national offshore wind energy policy for 2013. The draft policy was written with input from a steering committee on offshore wind energy. According to the draft, onshore wind energy has reached a stage of deployment that makes it competitive with traditional fossil fuel power generation./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369760072250.jpg" /pIt’s been interesting to watch all the different interpretations coming out of a brief flurry of talks in Europe late last week aimed at settling a trade dispute between the EU and China over Beijing’s support for its solar panel makers. About the only thing that everyone agrees on is that some talks did happen, and that China took the interesting /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369770937583.jpg" /pDelegates at the International Hydropower Association World Congress, which took place last week in Kuching in Malaysian Borneo, have heard that the World Bank has reversed a two-decade old decision to turn its back on large hydropower investment./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369769208756.jpg" /pThe U.S. Department of Energy will help three Native American tribes go solar this year through its Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) program. Under the DOE's program, tribes in Arizona, California and Colorado will receive assistance to go solar.   The effort is part of a larger undertaking to bring renewable energy technologies/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369762040420.jpg" /pA pair of analyst reports this week attach some numbers to the potential market for grid-scale energy storage using battery technologies, and why getting there will depend upon individual companies tying up with the right partners./p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369761186928.jpg" /pIn Washington, the DoD will award three contracts totaling $16 million to Emerald Biofuels, Natures BioReserve and Fulcrum Biofuels for drop-in military biofuels, according to Sharon Burke, assistant secretary of defense for operational energy, who relayed the news initially to Bloomberg. /p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369757933145.jpg" /pHow many people around the world lack access to electricity and safe household fuels? What’s the share of renewable energy in the global mix? How are we doing in improving energy efficiency?/p

img hspace="10" vspace="5" align="left" src="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com//assets/images/story/2013/5/28/feature-0-1369754567292.jpg" /pA friend at Fresh Energy generously called me the “architect” of Minnesota’s new solar energy standard (signed last week), and although that may be a bit generous, I’d like to provide a detailed description of the nation’s newest solar energy standard. The topline: 1.5 percent solar standard for the state’s investor-owned utilities (with some exemp/p