Aug 25

Wind Farm News 25th August

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Victoria
Victoria will speed up the process for approving renewable energy projects as part of plans to reduce it reliance on coal.

Under the new rules planning panels must report to the government within 90 days of finishing hearings and the planning minister must then make a decision on the project within 90 days of receiving the report.

Meridian
New Zealand’s largest state power firm Meridian Energy doubled its net profit for the year ended June 2010 on the growth of its wind capacity and hydro electricity generation.

Net profit surged 106% year-on-year to NZ$184m ($129.1m) and earnings interest, tax, amortisation and financial instruments were recorded at NZ$641.7m. The positive results came despite flat electricity demand during the period, the company says. Partial operation of the 62-turbine 143MW West Wind project near Wellington helped Meridian increase wind generation capacity by 95% over the year.

Other Meridian News:
* Vestas wins Australian order for 420MW Macarthur wind farm
* New Zealand’s Meridian nabs approvals for major hydro dam
* Southernmost wind turbines in full operation in Antarctica

CBD Energy
CBD wins solar power plant contract in Thailand. The size of the installation, at a total 99MW, will rank it among the larger photovoltaic plants in the world.

CBD subsidiary, eco-Kinetics, has signed a turnkey contract which covers design, equipment supply and construction of the plant as well as an operating and maintenance contract. The contract for the project is with a prominent private business group in Thailand which has ventures across manufacturing, chemical, insurances, transport and real estate.

A first down payment for the project has been received. The project begins with an initial stage of 8 MW, increasing to a total size of 99MW, with an overall project value in excess of $A300 million.

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Aug 24

Berrybank windfarm approved

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Planning Minister Justin Madden today approved three planning applications for the development of the $484 million Berrybank Wind Energy Facility south east of Lismore.

The Berrybank wind farm site is approximately 4543 hectares in size and located in South West of Victoria, between Lismore and Cressy, and about 150km from Melbourne. Grid connection is proposed via the 220kV transmission line north west of the site.

“The Berrybank Wind Energy Facility will include up to 99 wind generators producing up to 247.5 megawatts of electricity a year,” Mr Madden said.

Mr Madden said he had appointed a planning panel to review the three applications relating to the project and a public hearing was conducted in February 2010.

“The main issues addressed by the independent panel’s report included landscape and visual impacts, noise impacts, fire planning and management, social and economic impacts, fauna and removal of native vegetation.

Maddens office has worked closely with Corangamite and Golden Plains Shire Councils as well as the local communities, the developer UFWA, the Town Planner Tract Consultants and Freehills Lawyers to ensure the best possible outcome.

The Berrybank Wind Energy Facility planning panel report can be viewed online on the Department of Planning and Community Development website, www.dpcd.vic.gov.au/planning

berrybank wind farm

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Aug 23

Hung equals hobbled

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A hung parliament, leading to a minority government controlled by independents in the lower house and greens in the upper house is the last thing Australia needed.

Foreign analysts who were recently confused by the resource profits tax and the sudden sacking of Kevin Rudd will be left perplexed by the post election drama that will take place this week.

Uncertainty on the financial market will be emphasised by the prospect that many of the key policies on the domestic wishlist will struggle to get past in a hobbled government.

The possible good news for the renewable industry is that a surge in voter support for the Australian Greens has sparked optimism that the government may increase efforts to stimulate the development of the renewable energy industry and combat climate change.

The Greens party won its first lower house seat in a general election, with lawyer Adam Bandt taking Melbourne from the Labor Party, and will hold the balance of power in the Senate. The Greens have said they want a carbon price of A$23 a ton in Australia, where 80 percent of power generated comes from coal-fired plants, and a 40 percent cut in emissions by 2020.

“It’s a potential positive because the Greens have a strong commitment to introducing a carbon price and driving the development and deployment of renewable technologies,” Matthew Warren, chief executive officer of Australia’s Clean Energy Council, said in a phone interview yesterday. “But it’s qualified by the fact there are independents elected with different interests. So it’s really uncertain.”

Aug 20

Renewable News 20th August

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Wind Prospect
The proposed Wind Prospect wind farm near Claire South Australia has been scrapped due to heritage issues.

Samsung
Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said it has started manufacturing wind turbines in South Korea. The plant has the capacity to produce wind turbines that can generate 500 megawatts annually, the Seoul-based company said in an e-mailed statement today.

Vestas

Vestas Wind Systems A/S lost almost a quarter of its value in Copenhagen trading after the world’s largest wind-turbine maker reported a larger-than-expected loss and cut forecasts, blaming delayed orders.

Vestas cut its sales forecast for this year to 6 billion euros from 7 billion euros on delays in expected orders in the U.S., Spain and Germany. The credit crisis has prompted banks to restrict loans to wind-park developers that buy turbines from Vestas and competitors including Germany’s Siemens AG, Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA and General Electric Co.

German Solar
German solar power developers including Phoenix Solar AG and S.A.G. Solarstroem AG are expanding their businesses abroad in anticipation of slowing demand at home.

S.A.G. almost doubled the proportion of sales abroad to 38 percent in the first six months of the year, the company said today. Phoenix Solar last week boosted overseas revenue by more than 10 times in the second quarter.

Germany, was forecasted to install about half of the world’s new solar energy capacity in 2010. Then the government cut the price sun-generated electricity receives by 13 percent for projects started from July 2010. This p[olicy change has sparked a surge in sales in the first half of the year for projects seeking to qualify for the old rate. With that boom past, companies are looking for growth elsewhere.

solar pv project

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Aug 19

Renewable News 19th August

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Crowlands windfarm approved
Pacific Hydro’s Crowlands wind farm, has been approved by the Brumby goverment for 72 turbines. The approved wind farm has a proposed generating capacity of 172 megawatts.

The wind farm is located 25 km north-east of Ararat in Victoria.

Emu Downs Wind Farm Sale
The sale process for Emu Downs wind farm in WA will begin next week as the owners look to capitalise on the strong interest in one of the largest wind farms in the country.

The wind farm is a 50/50 JV between the Griffin Group and QLD’s Stanwell corporation. The sale also comes with Badgingara an approved 130MW stage 2 wind farm proposal.

Based on a typical industry valuation prices of $2.5 to $2.75 million per MW could be expected for the 80MW wind farm commissioned in 2006.

The wind farm located 200km north of Perth, near Joanna Plains, consists of 48 Vestas 1.67MW turbines and cost around $180 million to build in 2005/6, constructed by Vestas via an EPC contract.

Bandgingara is located 5km north of Emu Downs on 22,000ha site reportedly to be also owned by Rick Stowes empire. The wind farm was estimated to generate around 430GWh/yr from 130MW. The wind farm will require the delayed Western Power HV transmission line upgrade adjacent to the site, to proceed before it could be constructed.

emu downs wind farm

CSIRO has faith in wave power
CSIRO researchers say half of Australia’s electricity needs could be met by harnessing just 10 per cent of the energy generated by waves near the southern Australian coastline.

wave energy

Infigen
Analysts are weary of Infigen’s planned revision of production forecasts. Greg Dover, CFO of Infigen said the revision was always planned and was all part of business as usual.

Mr Dover did however say on the topic of REC prices “Macarthur will partially satisfy AGL’s own REC obligations, the long term shortfall in REC obligations still exists across the board”

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Aug 18

Renewable News 18th August

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Australia’s Depressing Policies on Clean Energy Turn Off Fund Managers
The Arkx Clean Energy Fund’s managers are Australians who don’t have a dollar invested in Australia, a stance that’s unlikely to change after the Aug. 21 election.

“We want to invest in Australia, but you cannot invest in a country that doesn’t have regulatory clarity and, worse, where the policy direction is changing every six to 12 months,” said Tim Buckley, manager of the fund in Sydney.

Investors are shunning Australian renewable energy stocks, unsure of government policy and whether it will start emissions trading. An Australian index of 78 clean energy stocks, from wind farm developer Infigen Energy Ltd. to geothermal power company Geodynamics Ltd., dropped 31 percent in the year that ended July 30 as the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 6 percent.

Australia lacks the “vision” needed to stimulate the renewable energy industry, said John O’Brien, who compiles the ACT Australian Cleantech Index. The government has said it will spend A$5.1 billion ($4.6 billion) on clean energy initiatives. China is set to spend $738 billion in the next decade on renewable energy sources, a government official said July 20.

Marubeni
Marubeni Corp., Japan’s fourth- largest trading company, signed an agreement with Cargill Inc. to develop projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the company said in a statement today on its website.

Marubeni and Minneapolis-based Cargill, a food and agriculture company, will develop renewable energy, forestry, and biomass projects in developing countries to generate carbon offset credits, Marubeni said.

The agreement is for projects under the current Kyoto Protocol framework as well as for projects after Kyoto expires in 2012, the company said. The statement didn’t provide financial details of the agreement.

Tata Power & Medco Energi
Tata Power Co. and PT Medco Energi Internasional have been shortlisted to develop a 200-megawatt geothermal project in North Sumatra, Sugiharto Harsoprayitno, geothermal director at the Indonesian energy ministry said. The government will make a decision this week, he said in Jakarta today. Medco has teamed up with Itochu Corp. to bid for the project, Harsoprayitno said.

geothermal plant

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Aug 17

Bathurst wind activity

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A new wind MET has been spotted on the South Western side of Bathurst in Central Western NSW.

Recently there has been a hive of activity in NSW, especially around the Upper Hunter, Armidale, Coolah, Goulburn/Yass and Cooma areas, with a few potential sites popping up around central west and the central slopes of NSW inc Infigen’s Forrest Reefs wind farm.

Wind met monitoring mast

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Aug 17

World Renewable News 17th August

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China launches emission-cutting factory closure programme
The Chinese government has published a list of more than 2,000 factories that it plans to force to close by the end of September as it attempts to make good on Premier Wen Jiabao’s recent pledge to use an “iron hand” to tackle inefficient factories.

This week, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a list of 2,087 steel mills, cement works and other energy-intensive factories required to shut down by the end of next month.

The factories were chosen after discussions with provincial and municipal officials to identify industrial operations with outdated, inefficient technology. In addition to reducing China’s carbon footprint, the factory closings are consistent with the government’s broader strategy to modernise production techniques, boost international competitiveness and transform an industry from “being big to being strong”, the ministry said.

steel millcement plant

Suzlon
Suzlon stocks declined in Mumbai trading after India’s biggest maker of wind turbines said its first-quarter loss doubled as a weaker euro devalued the company’s overseas assets.

Suzlon said in an e-mailed statement Aug. 13 after market hours. Orders from overseas “remain elusive” for Suzlon compared with rivals, including Vestas Wind Systems A/S, according to analysts Lokesh Garg and Supriya Subramanian.

suzlon turbine

CLP Holdings
CLP Holdings Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest power producer, posted an 83 percent gain in first-half profit, beating estimates, because of increased returns from projects outside the city and a one-off tax benefit.

The utility has invested in power projects in mainland China, Australia, India, Vietnam and Taiwan to offset declining earnings in Hong Kong.

The utility’s first fully-owned wind farm in Jilin province may go into commercial operations in October, CLP said. The company is also a partner in a wind farm venture with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., and the project has a generating capacity of about 1 gigawatt in operation by the end of June, according to the statement.

CLP/TRU Energy have the following power generation assets in Australia - Hallet Gas, Iona Gas, Tallawarra Coal and Yallourn Coal.

coal power station

Vestas
Vestas, said it won two Chinese orders on top of the Macarthur order amid analyst concern that the company will miss its 2010 sales forecast.

Vestas will deliver 37 of its V90-2.0 megawatt turbines to fulfill the Chinese orders in the fourth quarter of this year.

vestas wind

Atlantis Resources
Atlantis Resources Corp., the tidal power company whose investors include Morgan Stanley and the Norwegian utility Statkraft AS, unveiled the world’s largest tidal turbine in Scotland.

The SeaGen AK1000 device’s 18-meter (60-foot) rotors have the capacity to generate 1 megawatt of electricity, enough to power at least 1,000 homes, the Singapore-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. The turbine will be installed at the European Marine Energy Centre in Scotland’s Orkney Islands later this year, it said.

seagen tidal turbine

BrightSource
California regulators approved renewable power contracts totaling more than 400 megawatts for utilities PG&E Corp. and Edison International to help to meet state energy goals.

PG&E, owner of the state’s largest utility, won the California Public Utilities Commission’s permission today to buy electricity from a 250-megawatt solar plant being developed by a unit of NextEra Energy Inc., the largest U.S. producer of wind and solar power. The cost of the Riverside County, California, plant and the value of the contract weren’t disclosed.

California ordered its utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by the end of this year. The commission doesn’t expect that goal to be met, and may allow extensions to as late as 2013 in cases where transmission lines aren’t available.

Edison’s Southern California Edison utility won permission today from regulators to buy 117-megawatts from the Ivanpah solar plant being developed in California’s Mojave Desert by closely held BrightSource Energy Inc. PG&E already won approval to buy 275 megawatts from the project.

Ivanpah’s three phases would use arrays of pole-mounted mirrors, or heliostats, to reflect the sun’s rays to boilers mounted on top of towers, heating the water inside to more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 Celsius). The resulting steam would then be piped to an electricity-generating turbine.

solar power tower

AGL Energy
AGL Energy Ltd. may spend A$10 billion ($9 billion) building renewable power production capacity by 2020 as Australia pursues a target of sourcing one- fifth of its electricity from alternative sources.

Development of the Tarrone substation for the Macarthur wind farm will allow the future construction of a gas-fired power plant, AGL said. The plant will have a capacity of 500 megawatts to 600 megawatts and may cost as much as A$500 million, said managing director, Michael Fraser. UFWA if possible would also be looking to utilise this substation for the connection of Ryan Corner/Hawkesdale wind farms.

gas power generation plant

Infigen
FY10 FULL YEAR PRODUCTION AND REVENUE REPORT
FY10 production was 4,299 GWh, which was 4 GWh below IFN’s Production Guidance range, noting:
• Australia: an increase of 30% (262 GWh) over FY09 to 1,137 GWh due to the contribution from Capital Wind Farm and resolution of gearbox issues at Lake Bonney.
• USA: a reduction of 7% (224 GWh) from FY09 to 2,950 GWh reflecting low wind resource experienced in the first three quarters of FY10.
• Germany: an increase of 27% (45 GWh) over FY09 to 212 GWh reflecting a full year contribution from the Calau, Leddin, Langwedel and Seehausen wind farms. Production in Germany was adversely affected by low wind resource throughout the year.

FY10 revenue was $295.6m ($296.0m at guidance FX rates) which was $3.6m above IFN’s Revenue Guidance range, noting:
• Australia: an increase of 44% ($32.5m) over FY09 to $106.2m assisted by the sale of banked Renewable Energy Certificates (REC’s) and recovery of performance warranty payments. Approximately 310,000 uncontracted REC’s (including the 250,000 REC’s held on balance sheet at 31 December 2009) were sold at an average price of $44.3/REC, significantly above the average spot-market price of $37.5/REC.
• Market Prices: Relative to Guidance, the second half of FY10 saw stronger market prices in Australia and the US. Statutory Consolidated Revenue is expected to be $314.3m. This includes minority interests in the US and excludes the French assets which will be classified as discontinued operations.

Lake Bonney

Philippine Wind EOI
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has concluded a call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from consultants to conduct site-specific feasibility studies for the development of three wind power projects in the Philippines.
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The three wind projects will be developed by Manila-based Alternergy Philippine, with up to $630,000 technical assistance from ADB.ADB is currently in the midst of selecting a consultant to help with the assessment of the three potential wind projects, located in Laguna, Mindoro and Rizal, which will have a combined capacity of up to 120MW.

Assessment for each project would take at least two years with the three wind projects – having a potential combined capacity of up to 120MW.

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Aug 16

REC price forecasted to stay suppressed

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The $1 billion Macarthur wind farm to be built in south-western Victoria is being touted as the most significant renewable energy project in Australia since the Snowy Hydro. But don’t expect another project of similar ambition to follow anytime soon, even though there are a couple on the drawing board – there’s simply no room left in the market.

The construction of the 420MW project that has been delayed for many years is good news for AGL and its joint partner in the project, Meridian Energy, and for its suppliers and contractors Vestas and Leighton. The news is not great for others, particularly the independent developers who are finding it difficult to get long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) to satisfy their financiers and reach financial close.

wind farm construction

The Macarthur wind farm takes the size of the committed Australia wind farm pipeline to more than 1000MW. Wilson HTM analyst Jenny Cosgrove says the size of this pipeline – another 150MW from two projects due to be completed this year, another 382MW from five projects in 2011, and the 203MW Collgar wind farm in WA in 2012 – means that the price of renewable energy certificates could remain at current levels of $40/MWh for longer than expected. That’s not enough to make most projects competitive enough to gain a PPA and project finance.

Cosgrove says the wind farm pipeline means that LRET is rapidly approaching a balance of supply and demand in 2011-2013, and this is before the excess current banked supply of small-scale RECs, which she estimates to be more than 21 million by end 2010, is transferred into the large-scale RET.

Small-scale projects may find enough room, but Macarthur appears to have swallowed the market for large scale projects for the immediate future, and it will make it difficult for other technologies too.

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wind farm road construction

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Aug 12

MITCHELL AND GITEAU TO PLAY SUBBIES FOOTY

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WALLABIES - MITCHELL AND GITEAU TO PLAY SUBDISTRICTS RUGBY THIS WEEKEND

A couple of frontline Wallabies are trading the glitz and glamour of the Tri Nations for a bit of “old school rugby”. Drew Mitchell and Matt Giteau have been named in the Balmain starting XV for its third division sub districts clash against Epping at Blackmore Park this Saturday.

During the top-of-the-table clash, Mitchell will play fullback, while Giteau will wear the No 12 jersey playing outside Sam Manion in No. 10, who has performed financing work for EPi in the past.

“We’re really looking forward to running out this Saturday, it’s their annual Ladies Day and they’re expecting a couple of thousand rammed into Blackmore Park,” said Mitchell. “It’s old school rugby and they like it that way – they train once a week, enjoy a beer after training and have a crack on the weekend.”

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