Siemens
Posts US $1.9 Billion Quarterly Profit. Siemens, whose products include wind generators, high-speed trains and X-ray scanners, said sales in the three months through June rose 4 percent to 19.2 billion euros compared to the same period a year earlier, and new orders rose 22 percent to 20.1 billion euros compared to the same period in 2009.
Profit in Siemens’s energy business rose 7 percent to 925 million euros. Siemens said that while the market for equipment and services for fossil power generation was “challenging,” though still profitable, it recorded big gains in supplying equipment for offshore wind farms.
Brazilian Biomass
The Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency, Aneel, today approved the ceilings for two tenders. Power from the reserve tender will be bought by the government and will not count towards official supply needs of the grid.
Wind developers are extremely concerned that they will be unable to compete against biomass projects, seen to be much more competitive.
At the reserve tender, biomass plants will compete with a ceiling of R$156/MWh (AU$248); wind at R$167/MWh (AU$265); and small hydro at R$155/MWh (AU$246).
SunPower
SunPower is teaming with Solar Ventures to develop three solar power parks totaling 11.1MW in the Piedmont region of Italy. The plans call for SunPower to mount solar panels on fixed-tilt, systems over an area of 100 hectares.
SDE
Israel-based SDE has started building its first large-scale sea wave power plant with a maximum capacity of 50MW in Jaffa port. The new sea wave power project is the ninth plant to be built by SDE.
The initial phase of the project will produce 100kWh, with only one buoy under a fully automatic model, the company announces. Only 10% of the whole system will be submerged in water, hence minimising the risk of damage to the system under rough sea conditions.
Israel’s Electric Corporation is also willing to purchase the electricity from the plant at “a very attractive price of 12 cents per kW”, according to SDE.
The estimated erection cost of a 1MW SDE wave power plant starts from $650,000 while a comparable coal-fired station would cost $1.5m, natural gas plant at $900,000, solar plant at $3m and wind plant at $1.5m, SDE says.
SDE’s production cost per kW is estimated at 2 cents, compared to 3 cents from coal, 3.5 cents from natural gas, 12 cents from solar energy and 3.6 cents from wind.
BAE Systems Plc
BAE, Europe’s largest defense company, is also extending its diversification into civil engineering and technology contracts. The company was hired by Aquamarine Power Ltd. to help design and build wave-energy generators.
Energy Development Corp - Philippines
Energy Development to Boost Geothermal Generating Capacity 38% in 5 Years. The Energy Development Corp., the Philippines’ largest producer of geothermal energy, said it plans to boost generating capacity by 38 percent from 1,116 megawatts to 1,542 megawatts in five years starting 2011. It issued a statement in Manila before the company annual meeting.
Unmistakable’ Evidence Shows World Getting Warmer, NOAA Says
Scientific evidence that the world is getting warmer is “unmistakable,” according to a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration drawing on research from 48 countries, including Russia and China.
The past decade was the warmest on record and the past 50 years have been getting hotter, the researchers said, citing 10 main indicators, including surface and ocean temperatures, the amount of sea ice and glaciers and levels of humidity.
Globally, air temperature near the surface in the past 10 years was 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 Celsius) warmer than the 1960s and about 0.4 degree warmer than the 1990s, according to the report.
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