Goldwind
Goldwind, will invest an additional 2.15 billion yuan ($325 million) in five different wind units, using funds from the initial public offering in Hong Kong.
MacGen
Tomago Aluminium has finalised an 11 year power purchase agreement with the state owned Macquarie Generation. The finer details of the 900MW PPA contract have not yet been released but it said to interruptibility clauses to allow MacGen to suspended power in times of severe generation disruptions. The contract also hedges the power price to the London Metals Exchange price from Aluminium, this clause cost MacGen dearly in 2008 when the price of aluminium fell sharply.
Hydro Aluminium’s smelter plant at nearby Kurri Kurri has been in negotiations with Delta Electricity. These negotiations have been suspended for both parties to digest the Tomago contract.
Infigen
Infigen Energy’s biggest stock holder, The Children’s Investment (TCI) Master Fund (~22%), has demanded a seat on the company’s board, trigger the resignation of the then chairman Graham Kelly.
The recent performance of Infigen has put a lot of pressure on the board and the TCI’s pressure could be good for the performance of the stock.
ACT
The ACT Government has admitted that its solar power feed-in schemes will add $225 to the average annual household bill in Canberra. The scheme promises to generate up to 25 per cent of the city’s power within a few years with solar farms dotted around the territory and vast photovoltaic panels on shopping centre and warehouse roofs.
Iberdrola
Iberdrola Renewables has begun construction on a 26.8MW biomass power plant in southeastern Oregon, forging ahead with an expansion of its business lines in North America.
The facility will be cooled entirely by air, reducing water use by more than 80 per cent compared with conventional plants, and derive sawmill waste from Collins Pine as fuel. Collins will also purchase the equivalent of 2MW of steam from the project to run its lumber drying process more efficiently. The project is due for completion in 2012.
Risø DTU
The Danish National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Risø DTU, has been granted DKK 20 million from the EU to develop a 20MW offshore vertical wind turbine.
CEC
Last week the Clean Energy Council released a technical report from experts on the noise impacts of wind farms in Australia. The report provides independent technical advice that concludes there is no evidence that residents will suffer any direct health effects as a result of living near wind farms.
Key points of the report include:
- The Standards and Guidelines used in Australia and are amongst the most stringent and contemporary in the world,
- There is detailed and extensive research and evidence that indicates that the noise from wind farms developed and operated in accordance with the current Standards and Guidelines will not have any direct adverse health effects.
See the CEC paper or the
Victorian Work Safe document
Ararat
Protestors from across the state descended upon Penshurst to rally against one of Victoria’s largest wind developments on Saturday. Busloads of racegoers travelling through Penshurst on the way to Dunkeld were greeted by scores of placards from an imposing group of anti-wind farm lobbyists spouting slogans such as “Wind Farms Make Me Sick” and “Wind Farms Kill Birds”. Representatives from RES were in town holding an open day with displays of birds-eye turbine layouts and photographic predictions of the Ararat wind farm project.
