Apr 28

Rudd climate change delay until 2012

General No Comments »

Yesterday Kevin Rudd confirmed that the Emission Trading Scheme had been shelved, prompting outrage from environment groups and opposition accusations he was ”running scared” from his centrepiece policy to tackle the problem he has described as ”the great moral challenge of our age”.

The Prime Minister said the government had decided ”to extend the implementation time for the introduction of a carbon pollution reduction scheme until the end of 2012”. It would then ”make its assessment on the implementation of a CPRS based on the commitments which are then entered into by the rest of the international community”.

Kevin Rudd’s retreat from climate change could save his government $4 billion in the Federal budget next month, helping the Government pay for a large share of the proposed health care reforms.

The ETS delay is the latest sign the government is clearing the decks before a possible early poll.

Together with new fuel efficiency regulations and existing funding for solar and clean coal projects (possibly the solar flagship program), the measures will become pre-election announcements to justify the claim the government is still committed to tackling climate change and able to meet the reduction targets it has pledged internationally.

Hazlewood power station

BRIEF OVERVIEW:
Who would have thought the difference between ”the greatest moral challenge of our age” and ”absolute crap” could wind up being so small?

On one side there will be the Coalition’s ‘’soil magic” scheme based on implausible assumptions about the greenhouse-abatement capacities of the earth, and on the other the government’s ”energy efficiency” measures, which it implausibly hopes will provide sufficient cover for it to duck discussion of an emissions trading scheme altogether.

To understand just how far this debate has shifted, think back to poor old Brendan Nelson, who lost the Liberal leadership in 2008 for suggesting the wait-and-see approach that now seems to have bipartisan approval.

Kevin Rudd suggested yesterday he was just shifting the timing of the ”implementation” of his carbon pollution reduction scheme - like it was a minor administrative matter.

This decision significantly compromises the Prime Minister’s credibility on the issue and clouds in uncertainty business investment decisions, and Australia’s international negotiating position.

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Apr 28

Infigen local growth hurt as US sale pulled

Wind No Comments »

Infigen Australia’s expansion plans have been slowed after the groups unexpectedly pulled the sale of its US wind farms.

The final bids received were substantially different to those received from infrastructure funds and private equity groups last year. The possible fall in offer prices could be due to the low US energy prices, a weak US economy, El nino and the lack of direction for US renewable energy policies.

Without the sale of the US wind farms, Infigen’s Australian growth plans would be challenged due to low cash reserves and tight capital markets.

Infigen is the 8th largest US wind farm operator with 1090MW of installed capacity, Next Era is the largest with 7458MW.

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Apr 27

Australian Wind Farm Project Map - Released

Wind No Comments »

Elemental Power Industries (EPi) has released a valuable tool in the form of a Google Earth map showing the proposed and operating wind farms within Australia.

The wind energy map shows the location and detail of the projects and will be continually updated by EPi. The map will be available for viewing through the through the Wind page in the EPi news room.

Click to visit the wind farm project map now.

Australian Wind Farm Map

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Apr 27

Global Solar-Panel Demand May Double

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Global demand for solar panels may double this year as Germany and other European countries offer guaranteed, above-market rates for the power produced.

Solar-panel installations will probably rise to between 11.5 gigawatts and 14.8 gigawatts this year from 7.3 gigawatts in 2009, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said in its photovoltaic industry outlook.

State support in most European countries drives investment in photovoltaic equipment, NEF said. In Italy, the prices paid for solar power are as high as 43 euro cents (57 U.S. cents) for each kilowatt-hour generated. That’s about six times the wholesale rate earned by fossil-fuel-burning plants.

Operators of solar power stations in France, the U.K. and the Czech Republic are paid similar rates. Spain and Germany, the biggest solar equipment market, are currently in the process of reducing their solar feed-in-tariff rates.

solar pv, roof top installation

Bloomberg 26th April 2010

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Apr 27

U.K. Offshore Wind Power Reaches 1 Gigawatt

Wind No Comments »

U.K. offshore wind power now has 1 gigawatt of generating capacity after projects by E.ON AG and Dong Energy A/S began producing electricity, the industry group RenewableUK said.

The U.K. in 2008 overtook Denmark to become the leading nation in terms of installed offshore wind power. Another 4 gigawatts of capacity have planning permission or are under construction, RenewableUK said.
offshore wind energy, offshore wind farm

General Electric Co. last month said it would build a new plant in Britain to make offshore wind turbines, and Clipper Windpower Plc in February began building a factory to make offshore turbine blades. Siemens AG is also studying whether to build a new wind-power equipment facility in the U.K.

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Apr 27

Vestas wins largest wind-turbine order

Wind No Comments »

Vestas Wind Systems A/S rose after winning an order that may be worth $2.9 billion, its biggest ever, to deliver and maintain turbines in Europe and North and South America for EDP Renovaveis SA.

Vestas will supply the Portuguese utility with 1,500 megawatts of turbines in 2011 and 2012 with a possible additional 600 megawatts in 2010 and 2011, the company said, calling it its largest single order. It includes a two-year service and maintenance agreement.

vestas wind turbine

“It’s a strong show of confidence in Vestas’ technology, as Vestas doesn’t offer the cheapest prices,” Jacob Pedersen, an analyst with Aabenraa, Denmark-based Sydbank A/S, said by telephone. The order may be worth 16 billion kroner ($2.9 billion), said Pedersen, who rates Vestas “overweight.”

EDP Renovaveis, the renewable-energy unit of Portuguese utility EDP-Energias de Portugal SA, says it’s the world’s third-biggest wind power operator and targets wind-energy capacity of 10,500 megawatts across Europe and the U.S. in 2012.

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Apr 27

Aluminium industry in meltdown

Earth No Comments »

THE aluminium industry has flatly rejected claims it should not receive compensation worth $10.5 billion under Australia’s proposed emissions trading scheme.

The industry has also denied that aluminium smelting will prove marginal or unviable in this country. A report by the independent think tank the Grattan Institute, Restructuring the Australian economy to emit less carbon, argued against the issue of $22 billion in free permits to emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries (EITE) including aluminium production in the first decade of the carbon pollution reduction scheme.

Aluminium smelters, the highest electricity users in the country, were set to receive the most compensation under the carbon plan negotiated between the government and the federal opposition last year, with free permits worth $8.1 billion to be issued by 2020.

The Grattan report found aluminium smelting would move overseas if a carbon price was introduced without compensation, but said the industry should not receive assistance. Instead, assistance should be targeted to those affected.

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Apr 27

Eden feels heat over wood-fired power plant

General No Comments »

EDEN, on the state’s south coast, is set to be the first Australian town to be powered by a wood-fired electricity plant, despite concerns that burning trees could generate more greenhouse gas emissions than burning coal.

The woodchip company behind the plant, which is being considered by the NSW government, describes it as a renewable energy project that will make practical use of offcuts and sawdust from its existing mill.

However the proposed power station suffered a serious blow last year when electricity retailers decided not to recognise it as an accredited supplier of renewable power.

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Apr 26

Brazil Awards Amazon-Dam Contract

Water No Comments »

Brazil awarded a contract to build an $11 billion hydroelectric dam in the Amazon to a group led by a state-run utility, ignoring criticism by environmentalists, “Avatar” director James Cameron and construction firms.

The group led by Cia. Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, a unit of state-run Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, won the rights to build and operate the Belo Monte project in an auction last week, electricity regulator Aneel said. Construtora Queiroz Galvao SA, also part of the group, was dissatisfied with the price awarded and may pull out of the project, the winning consortium’s representative said.

Cia. Hidro Eletrica do Sao Francisco, known as Chesf, will control 49.98 percent of the winning consortium, which offered to sell electricity from Belo Monte for 77.97 reais ($44.50) a megawatt-hour.

Belo Monte, set to be the world’s third-biggest hydropower plant when it’s completed, is the largest infrastructure project in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s plan to boost growth and energy supplies. Latin America’s biggest economy is expected to grow on average 5.5 percent a year through 2014.

The Belo Monte Dam by itself would have a small reservoir area (440 km2) and large installed capacity (11,181.3 MW), but the Altamira/Babaquara Dam that would regulate the flow of the Xingu River (thereby increasing power generation at Belo Monte) would flood a vast area (6140 km2).

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Apr 26

Eskom Revives Wind Power Projects

General, Wind No Comments »

Eskom Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s state power utility, resurrected plans for its Sere wind-farm and a rail project at its Majuba power plant after securing a $3.75 billion loan from the World Bank.

The loan will allow Eskom to build the 100-megawatt wind- farm at Sere, in South Africa’s Western Cape province, the utility said in an advertisement published in the Business Day newspaper today. The plant had been scheduled for completion this month at a cost of 1.17 billion rand ($157 million), before a lack of funding resulted in the plans being shelved, according to an Eskom report last June.

The wind-farm will have 50 turbines, each generating 2 megawatts, positioned over about 25 square kilometers (16 square miles) north of the Olifants river mouth, near the town of Koekenaap, according to Eskom’s Web site.

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