[Graeme]

Here is the truth about China. It quite a bit different from what you are portraying.

The Pace Of Chinese Development

There is no modern parallel for the pace of Chinese development. Economically speaking, China was a Third World nation only decades ago – now it has surpassed the US, and enters 2015 as the world’s leading economy. (It will take at least another generation for this to be possible on a per capita level.) China’s development has two faces: black and green. The world’s largest GHG polluter has also built up the planet’s renewable energy system, which was producing 378 GW by the end of 2013. Wind, water and solar accounted for around 30% of installed capacity, and close to 20% of generated electricity in 2013. (A little more than 10% of China’s power comes from renewable sources.) The shift towards renewables was most clearly seen in new generation, 58% of which was “green.” As of September 2014, the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) selected it as the #1 choice for renewable investors.


China has been the world’s leading producer of wind energy since 2012. Though the final figures for last year have not yet been released, Vice President Ma Jinru , of Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., recently told Bloomberg that it added another 20 GW or so of wind capacity in 2014. If that is true, China has about 110 GW capacity, and is well on its way to reach the goal of 200 GW by 2020.

Foreign Investments

China was the second largest recipient of foreign direct investments in 2013, receiving a total of $117.6 billion. The most prominent sources:

$102.5 billion – Asian countries, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore
$7.2 billion – the EU
$3.4 billion – US
China’s FDI stock (including figures from Hong Kong) was $1,444 billion

China’s outgoing FDI was $107.84 billion. The largest single transaction was in Canada, where China National Offshore Oil Corporation acquired the Nexen Group for $14.8 billion. This is slightly more than the $14 billion (70% of which came from private companies) that China invested the US. The amount of capital sunk into Europe shrank to less than $6 billion, while ventures in Latin America, Oceania, Africa and Asia grew

cleantechnica

[Graeme]

Energiewende Will Succeed

American critics of Energiewende regularly announce its approaching demise. A hypocritical article in The Wall Street Journal announced that Germany will spend €1 trillion on it renewable energy experiment by 2040, without mentioning that a large portion of that money will go for electric grid upgrades that would be needed anyway. Nor did the author disclose the fact an even larger sum (€90 billion a year) would have gone to fossil fuels. Similarly, Forbes mocked Germany’s slight rise in CO2 levels, without mentioning they are already 23% lower than the 1990 benchmark set by the Kyoto Accord. (The author’s country, the US, is still 5% above that target.) Their carping does not explain how Germany became Europe’s powerhouse and the fourth largest economy in the world. Nor does it do justice to the nation the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) ranks #3 for renewable investments. Energiewende will succeed because it is embraced by the German people.


Investments in Germany

Germany invested $22.4 billion in renewable technologies during 2012, but only $10.1 billion in 2013. As a result, she fell from #3 to #6 in terms of investments.

Germany’s incoming FDI was $852 billion in 2013; 58% comes from the EU, 24% from the US and 9% from Asia. (It is China’s #1 European trading partner)

Germany is currently ranked #3, behind China and the US, on the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index.

cleantechnica

[ralfy]

More meaningless generalized gobbledygook. I just pointed out to you that GDP and "energy" decoupled in the USA a few years ago. You show a figure in your link that has data which ends in 2011! That's when decoupling started.

Now I'll show you more recent data for renewable energy growth and better economic policy.

Fact Sheet: Renewable Energy Job Numbers

A 2013 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found 3.4 million green jobs in the United States at the end of 2011. This is the latest data available from BLS, due to the elimination of its Green Careers program. On March 1, 2013, the across-the board spending cuts referred to as sequestration, required by the amended Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, came into effect. As part of those budget cuts, BLS stopped offering all “measuring green jobs” products.

The BLS Green Jobs Initiative to measure green jobs across the United States was operational beginning in fiscal year 2010. The Initiative sought to provide reliable data to the public on the number of existing green jobs in the country, the changes in job numbers over time, the distribution of green jobs, and the wages workers earn in these jobs. BLS defined “green jobs” as jobs that “produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources.” The data BLS provided on green jobs for 2009, 2010 and 2011, has been widely used by government agencies, think tanks, and non-profit organizations. The lack of reliable data updates from BLS is a big loss for green job estimates.

Nevertheless, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) was able to cite the job figures below using data from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Bureau of Labor Statics (BLS), as well as international organizations, national non-profits, think tanks and national trade associations.

renewableenergyworld

Piketty: 'The Myth Of National Sovereignty Helps Big Corporations Screw Us Over'

French economist Thomas Piketty has put inequality back on the map and is being hailed as the Karl Marx of the 21st century. He talked to Max Tholl and Florian Guckelsberger about globalization gone wrong, a Eurozone parliament and our obsession with economic growth.


Piketty: The book is by no means an attack against the globalized world; it’s an attempt to reconcile globalization and global economic competition with global justice. I firmly believe that globalization is a positive-sum game that serves all our interests. But we must find ways and develop institutions to ensure that everybody benefits from it. If a rising percentage of the public thinks that a disproportionate share of the benefits of globalization goes to the financial sector or large multinational companies, then there is a great danger that people like Marine Le Pen will be able to successfully drive the anti-globalization agenda and revitalize nationalism.

The European: Does it bother you that she uses your book to back up her arguments?


Piketty: I am advocating all the things she opposes in Europe: a closer political and fiscal union, more cooperation, etc. So I think that people will realize that we’re not on the same side. But let me make it clear that the book is actually more about the history of inequality rather than the way ahead. I am much better at analyzing the past than predicting the future. I actually want people to disagree with my conclusions and write their own. I wanted to provide the data and bring the debate about inequality back on the political and economic center stage.

The European: You just spoke about the need for strong institutions to regulate the effects of globalization. Do you have any specific examples in mind?


Piketty: The existing institutions can no longer cope with the effects of globalization. The IMF and the World Bank are insufficient to deal with the problems created by globalization. If we want to have a regulated globalization that benefits the majority of people, then we need closer political and fiscal cooperation. The European Union has clearly failed to deliver the kind of regulation we need. The institutions need to be fundamentally restructured if we want to have a common corporate tax in the future or fight tax havens more efficiently, for example.


Piketty: I am not at all growth-averse. The first two chapters of my book should make it clear that I am not a zero-percent-growth advocate but that I believe in both population and productivity growth as a remedy against inequality. The only problem is that economic growth is still very damaging to the environment. I am confident that innovations will enable us to grow sustainably but we should not be as naïve as to believe that growth will solve all our problems. We need a Plan B.

huffingtonpost

USA <> the world.

Or are you assuming that much of the world is like the U.S. or industrialized countries, or that they operate independently of other countries?

Finally, as explained to you earlier, RE components, infrastructure, and consumer goods that use electricity from these sources involve not only oil but many other materials, and extraction and manufacturing lead not only to air pollution but also to water pollution and other forms of environmental damage.

In addition, what affects oil also affects minerals (rare elements are not the only minerals used) in terms of diminishing returns. Meanwhile, investors expect higher profits and returns each time, which means more energy and material resources needed. And with competition and very high credit levels, even RE combined with FF will not be enough to meet investors' needs plus a growing global middle class.

[Graeme]

R, The US is the world's dominant economy. Here's a figure reproduced from page 3 in the old thread which shows the energy has been decoupling from world GDP growth.



I don't know why you insist on repeating truisms. Of course oil is used to extract minerals now but that doesn't mean that oil will continue to be used in it's current form. We will find substitutes. Yes we don't want oil because it pollutes. That I agree with. Let's get rid of it. It appears that oil is fading into history anyway. You don't necessarily have to have higher profits by extracting minerals. We can can shift to a service economy that not only uses renewable energy more efficiently (hence decoupling) but drastically reduces natural resource extraction. Meanwhile, back to real world:

Global Solar Investment Surged An Incredible 175% In 2014

Solar energy has emerged as one of the best options to meet growing power demand while cutting emissions, but has it also become one of the best options to generate investor returns without volatile financial risk?

The answer is a resounding yes, according to Mercom Capital Group, which tallied $26.5 billion in solar project investment from corporate funding sources during 2014.

That’s an astounding 175% increase over 2013, when Mercom counted just $9.6 billion. “The solar sector has come a long way from being perceived as a speculative high risk investment to attracting investors based on low risk attractive dividend yields,” said Raj Prabhu, Mercom CEO.

Solar Investment Surges, Led By Venture Capital

Venture capital funding was far and away the biggest contributor to solar’s financing surge. Developers secured more than $1.3 billion in 85 deals, more than twice the $612 million raised in 98 deals during 2013, and the highest amount since 2011.

cleantechnica

Energiewende Will Succeed

American critics of Energiewende regularly announce its approaching demise. A hypocritical article in The Wall Street Journal announced that Germany will spend €1 trillion on it renewable energy experiment by 2040, without mentioning that a large portion of that money will go for electric grid upgrades that would be needed anyway. Nor did the author disclose the fact an even larger sum (€90 billion a year) would have gone to fossil fuels. Similarly, Forbes mocked Germany’s slight rise in CO2 levels, without mentioning they are already 23% lower than the 1990 benchmark set by the Kyoto Accord. (The author’s country, the US, is still 5% above that target.) Their carping does not explain how Germany became Europe’s powerhouse and the fourth largest economy in the world. Nor does it do justice to the nation the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) ranks #3 for renewable investments. Energiewende will succeed because it is embraced by the German people.

cleantechnica

[ralfy]

R, The US is the world's dominant economy. Here's a figure reproduced from page 3 in the old thread which shows the energy has been decoupling from world GDP growth.



I don't know why you insist on repeating truisms. Of course oil is used to extract minerals now but that doesn't mean that oil will continue to be used in it's current form. We will find substitutes. Yes we don't want oil because it pollutes. That I agree with. Let's get rid of it. It appears that oil is fading into history anyway. You don't necessarily have to have higher profits by extracting minerals. We can can shift to a service economy that not only uses renewable energy more efficiently (hence decoupling) but drastically reduces natural resource extraction. Meanwhile, back to real world:

Global Solar Investment Surged An Incredible 175% In 2014

Solar energy has emerged as one of the best options to meet growing power demand while cutting emissions, but has it also become one of the best options to generate investor returns without volatile financial risk?

The answer is a resounding yes, according to Mercom Capital Group, which tallied $26.5 billion in solar project investment from corporate funding sources during 2014.

That’s an astounding 175% increase over 2013, when Mercom counted just $9.6 billion. “The solar sector has come a long way from being perceived as a speculative high risk investment to attracting investors based on low risk attractive dividend yields,” said Raj Prabhu, Mercom CEO.

Solar Investment Surges, Led By Venture Capital

Venture capital funding was far and away the biggest contributor to solar’s financing surge. Developers secured more than $1.3 billion in 85 deals, more than twice the $612 million raised in 98 deals during 2013, and the highest amount since 2011.

cleantechnica

Energiewende Will Succeed

American critics of Energiewende regularly announce its approaching demise. A hypocritical article in The Wall Street Journal announced that Germany will spend €1 trillion on it renewable energy experiment by 2040, without mentioning that a large portion of that money will go for electric grid upgrades that would be needed anyway. Nor did the author disclose the fact an even larger sum (€90 billion a year) would have gone to fossil fuels. Similarly, Forbes mocked Germany’s slight rise in CO2 levels, without mentioning they are already 23% lower than the 1990 benchmark set by the Kyoto Accord. (The author’s country, the US, is still 5% above that target.) Their carping does not explain how Germany became Europe’s powerhouse and the fourth largest economy in the world. Nor does it do justice to the nation the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) ranks #3 for renewable investments. Energiewende will succeed because it is embraced by the German people.

cleantechnica

Dominant economy <> world economy.

Germany <> most countries.

The point about decoupling is irrelevant because whatever is not used to back up money in one country is used in others. That's why material resources and energy consumption have been rising worldwide.

Put simply, as the world economy grows, more money is created, more oil is produced and consumed, more goods and services are created and sold, etc. This has been going on for decades, and as more people worldwide want both basic needs (not just solar panels and wind turbines but also food, water, medicine, cement, steel pipes, etc.) and wants (not just EVs but also smart phones, kitchen appliances, etc.) then material resource and energy use will obviously increase.

Now, it's possible for decoupling to take place, but that only refers to rich countries. That's why all of your examples refer only to them. That's because rich countries which transition to financing and services profit from increased credit creation. But the money is partly invested in mining, manufacturing, etc., in developing economies, where more people use earnings to buy more goods and services. That's what Pstarr has been explaining to you. In addition, profits and ROI from sales of goods and services are re-invested in the same or other businesses to create and sell even more goods and services.

Given that, ultimately more material resources and energy will be needed to ensure economic growth. The only way to avoid that is to imagine a global economy where credit is simply created continuously for no reason at all.

[Graeme]

Conservative Group Pushes For Innovative Solar Policy In Florida

A petition for a 2016 ballot measure in Florida has been launched that could give a big boost for solar power in Florida. This petition is momentous because even though Florida has a great deal of sunshine, there has been stiff political resistance to solar power. Consequently, Florida has been a solar power laggard when it could be a national leader. Interestingly, the petition was launched by Conservatives for Energy Freedom.

Property owners and business owners would be able to generate up to 2 MW of solar power using their own solar power systems that could be sold directly to other Floridians, if the petition has enough signatures to become a ballot measure (it needs nearly 700,000) and then enough votes to pass (60% of the votes or more).

Imagine people creating their own solar power and being able to sell it in the free market, with no utilities involved. Creative entrepreneurs and solar power system owners with an entrepreneurial bent might really run with such a new freedom. In point of fact, having such freedom might create something of a new market space, in addition to the opportunity for small solar power operators to recoup the cost of their rooftop systems even faster than is possible at this moment.

As it stands now, solar power owners can pay off the cost of their systems by saving money each year that they would have paid to a utility company for electricity. So, for a $20,000 system, it might take about eight years to pay back that cost, when combined with incentives like rebates, refunds, or tax breaks.

Net metering does allow small solar power operators to sell their excess electricity back to the grid in exchange for credits from utility companies. These credits are applied to utility bills, so when electricity is used from the grid as a supplement, the credits can cover that cost, or most of it.

However, if small solar power operators could sell their excess electricity in an open market directly to their tenants, neighbors, city, school district, or local businesses, they would have more freedom to sell for money and not only receive credits. They also might be able to sell at a higher rate and generate more income for themselves.

cleantechnica

[Graeme]

Opinion: Renewable energy ‘fad’ is our best bet for saving the planet

Yes, it’s a fad, but one that most of the world – developed and developing – is adopting or seeking to adopt, not just as a means of reducing carbon emissions, but of becoming more sustainable and securing energy supply.

Yes, it’s a protection racket, one on which those impressionable and impetuous Chinese are spending billions to create the world’s largest renewable power capacity (388GW), dwarfing the US (172GW) and renewables-sector darling Germany (84GW). Those crazy and irrational Germans are now producing almost 30 per cent of their electricity needs with renewable energy.

Excuse the sarcasm, but I couldn’t help it after reading an opinion piece by Matt Canavan, a Nationals senator for Queensland, in which he argues for the abolition of the renewable energy target (RET) in Australia.


Even the Government’s own economic research agency, the Bureau of Research and Energy Economics, found that renewable energy would be among the cheapest of all forms of power generation within 20 years.

The true cost of renewables compared with fossil-fuel generation is a contentious topic, with one analysis seeming to cancel out the other.

But Canavan is comparing renewables built in 2014 with coal plants that were built – mostly by state governments using public money – and paid off years ago. This also ignores the fact that the cost of building modern coal plants that comply with energy efficiency and emissions standards would be eye-watering.

It’s a lesson Germany has learnt as it decommissions its older coal plants and considers new forms of generation. Germany has trebled its share of renewable electricity since 2003, with more than 25 per cent of all electricity generated from renewables in 2013.


If Germany’s experience is any indicator, renewables offer huge employment potential. On moderate forecasts, Germany will have created 600,000 jobs in renewables by 2020, and almost 700,000 by 2030.

Perhaps imposing an RET is at odds with Friedmanite economic dogma, but investment in renewables isn’t about pure economics.

It isn’t about just making cars or clothes, about inputs and outputs. It’s also about sustainability, cleaner environments, energy security, healthier cities and people.

couriermail

[Graeme]

Renewable Energy Rising Across All Spheres of U.S. Society

Organizations across the U.S. are coming to grips with our fossil-fuel addiction and the escalating, often hidden, true costs of fossil-fuel production, distribution and combustion.

Registering another record-setting year in 2014, the U.S. solar energy industry is looking forward to another banner year in 2015, while the recent extension of the federal wind energy production tax credit is expected to boost growth across the wind sector.

A mix of supportive government policies and R&D investments, along with energy market reforms, ongoing technological advances and new financing vehicles, is proving to be a potent and self-reinforcing combination for allocating public- and private-sector resources for public good. As a result, the costs of renewable energy generation and energy efficiency upgrades are expected to continue on their downward trend — and installations continue to grow — despite the recent sharp drop in oil prices.

Manufacturers such as Boeing, for example, are helping refute the notion that “green” renewable energy technologies can’t meet heavy industry and grid power needs. Smart grid demand response and management systems are being refined, while a new generation of advanced energy storage systems hold out the promise of a more efficient, effective and clean energy-fueled power grid.

U.S. universities, such as Cornell University, are at the leading edge of change as well, both in terms of installing and tapping into renewable energy sources for electricity and carrying out renewable energy and clean tech R&D. Community-based renewable energy is also on the rise, with municipalities such as aptly-named Greenfield, Mass. The town gives residents the opportunity to go 100 percent green energy by investing in and buying electricity from local utility distributors, solar power installations and wind farms.

Renewable energy and 737s

A growing list of leading U.S. companies are busting myths by proving that renewable energy resources can reliably and affordably meet all of their electrical power needs. Manufacturing airliners requires a lot of energy, but Boeing is demonstrating its commitment to corporate social, as well as environmental, responsibility in a variety of ways, including making increasing use of renewable power.

triplepundit

[Graeme]

India's Green Bond: Bright Example of Innovative Clean Energy Financing

As a new year kicks off, India's renewable energy market is surging ahead. Prime Minister Modi's government just targeted $100 billion worth of investments to support reaching the ambitious goal of installing 100 gigawatts of solar energy by 2022. Plans to train a 50,000 person 'solar army' to staff new solar projects under a national skill-development mission have also been announced. A new National Wind Mission was announced last year, and is expected to be modeled on the successful National Solar Mission. In addition to this government support, the economics are shifting favorably too. Solar power generated in India by large-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants now costs less than fossil fuels imported from countries like Australia.

Stimulating greater deployment of renewable energy projects requires more affordable and available financing, however. Innovative financing mechanisms, such as green bonds, can help address the current gap in financing to scale clean energy—particularly solar and wind energy projects—to become a greater percentage of the domestic energy mix. The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) issued its first green bond last February, offering a pioneering example of India's entrance into the green bonds market and a tangible example of the national government's support for green financing.

Effectively utilized in both public and private international markets as a new mechanism to stimulate clean energy growth, green bonds function in much the same way as standard bonds, except that the issuing agency must use the bond proceeds to fund "green" projects. Most green bonds focus on the renewable energy sector, but some green bonds are also utilized to fund other "green" projects such as efficiency, reforestation, or transportation. Outside of India, the World Bank has a robust green bond program, the New York Green Bank issues credit enhancing bonds, and Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank has issued Canada's first commercial green bond.

theenergycollective

[Graeme]

U.S. Can Reach 50% Renewable Generation by 2030, Says IRENA

The U.S. could get nearly 50% of its generation from renewable sources by 2030 with existing technologies and the right policies and investments, according to a report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on Jan. 12.

The report is one of the first in IRENA’s Remap 2030 series, which explores how to double the global share of renewable energy from 18% to 36% by 2030. A previous report released in November 2014 analyzed prospects for renewable energy in China. Reaching the 50% threshold for power generation would raise the renewable share of the overall U.S. energy mix from 7.5% in 2010 to 27% by 2030.

The U.S., the report says, “has the potential to become a centre of renewable energy thought and innovation, and to become the world’s second largest user of renewables after China;” however, “[w]ithout a widespread and systematic policy shift, the U.S. risks falling far short of this potential.”

Reaching this goal, says the report, would require average investments of $86 billion a year, though this would represent only a $38 billion increase over what would be spent during this period under a “business as usual” scenario. The report claims that making the shift would result in $30 billion to $140 billion in savings for the U.S. economy from reduced health effects and CO2 emissions.

The largest share of new generation would come in wind. The report envisions a fivefold increase in onshore wind capacity—most of it installed in the central U.S. plains—from 63 GW in 2014 to 314 GW by 2030. Another 40 GW of offshore wind capacity would also be needed. Solar—photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power—would also rise dramatically, from around 16 GW currently to 135 GW in 2030. About one-third of PV capacity would be distributed.

powermag

[Graeme]

Germany’s Carbon Emissions Fall as Renewable Energy Takes the Lead

2014 may have marked an inflection point in the transition to clean, renewable energy in Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the fifth largest in the world. Collectively, renewable energy resources supplied more electricity in Germany than any other category last year, surpassing lignite coal for the first time, according to Agora Energiewende‘s 2014 annual report.

Renewable energy resources, including wind, hydro, solar and biomass, accounted for 27.3 percent of German electricity generation in 2014, according to Agora’s The Energiewende in the Power Sector: State of Affairs 2014. Significantly, greenhouse gas emissions and electric power consumption both declined, and wholesale power prices fell to a record-low while Germany’s economy expanded 1.4 percent.

Commenting on the confluence of positive developments, Agora Energiewende Director Dr. Patrick Graichen said: “In 2013, we could still see an increase in the undesirable emission of carbon dioxide, parallel to the rise in renewables. At the time, we called this the Energiewende Paradox. Today we can say that this trend has been broken – energy from renewables continues to grow and greenhouse gas emissions are decreasing again.”

A turning point in Germany’s renewable energy transition?

A tapering off in wind power production in October and November was followed by a record amount of wind power generation in December. Overall, a mild winter resulted in a low amount – 60-70 gigawatts – of power demand, Agora Energiewende highlights in its 2014 annual report.

Falling prices, falling greenhouse gas emissions and a growing economy

What’s more, the upward trend in wholesale electricity prices also reversed course. Wholesale electricity prices on the Leipzig power market fell to a record-low 33 euros per megawatt-hour in 2014 as compared to 38 euros in 2013, according to Agora Energiewende’s report.

triplepundit

[Graeme]

The Year Ahead: Top Clean Energy Trends of 2015

For the past 13 years, Clean Edge has published the annual Clean Energy Trends report that has sized the global market for solar, wind, and biofuels and tracked everything from venture capital and stock market activity to total global investments. This year, instead of issuing one single report, we'll be producing infographics, tables, charts, and webinars throughout the year – so be on the lookout in the coming weeks and months.

In the annual report, we also picked our top trends to watch for the coming year. Here are our top trends that matter in 2015:

Moves Toward 100 Percent Renewables Will Expand
Energy Storage will Carve out a Competitive Advantage
Low-Cost Oil Could Impact Clean Transportation, but not Clean Electricity
Other Regions will Follow New York Fracking Lead

Let’s take a closer look at the top trends and how they are likely to impact markets in 2015.

Moves Toward 100 Percent Renewables Will Expand

Naysayers will tell you that renewables will remain a niche offering that’s unable to provide large amounts of total electricity supply. But in 2014, the trend toward bucking this myth was on full display. In less than two years, Apple went from primarily fossil fuels to 100 percent renewables, and Amazon.com (at least for its data center operations) recently joined other tech leaders like Facebook and Google in announcing plans to get to 100 percent renewables. Denmark reaffirmed its commitment of getting to 100 percent renewables for all of its energy supply, including transportation, by 2050; it’s already close to reaching its goal of 50 percent renewables on its electricity grid by 2020. And late in the year, NextEra Energy announced its plan to acquire Hawaiian Electric. While its subsidiary NextEra Energy Resources is a leader in U.S. wind and solar development, its other subsidiary Florida Power & Light has been less than a stellar supporter of renewables deployment. The next year will tell which direction NextEra plans to take Hawaiian Electric, which already had plans to reach 65 percent of its electricity sales from renewable resources by 2030. These developments and others will shine a light on what’s possible and how getting to high-penetration renewables will become an increasingly achievable reality.

renewableenergyworld

The Greatest Solar Market Isn't Where You Think it Is

America isn't the land of solar opportunity anymore -- India is. With big plans and support, smart solar companies are scrambling to get a piece of Indian action. Here are three reasons why India is the greatest solar market in the world.

1. Sunny side up
It's not always sunny in Philadelphia -- but it is in India. According to the latest calculations from India's National Institute of Solar Energy, India's solar power potential clocks in at a whopping 750,000 MW. To put that in perspective, 750,000 MW is five times the current global solar capacity, four times the United States' solar power potential, and 47 times our nation's current solar capacity.

As large as that number is, it may still be conservative. Estimates assume that only 3% of India's wasteland will be used for solar projects, and that average solar module efficiency is 15%. First Solar's (NASDAQ: FSLR ) thin-film modules already offer 17% efficiency at relatively cheap prices, while SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR ) boasts 21.5% efficiency for its commercial solar modules.

It makes sense, then, that India is set to build the world's largest 750 MW solar power plant. When World Bank co-financers visited the proposed site in the state of Madhya Pradesh, they "found the tract of barren land for commissioning the project most appropriate," according to Energy and Mining Minister Rajendra Shukla Shukla. "Barren land" is music to any solar power developer's ears, and India has plenty of it.

2. Easy money
It may be the beginning of the end for solar incentives in developed countries. As companies like SolarCity Corporation adapt to phase-out programs like New York's Megawatt Block, India will continue to benefit from government and development agency support. For example, the World Bank will provide 50% of the $1.3 billion needed to finance India's newly announced 750 MW solar plant -- and they'll be doing it at below market interest rates.

fool

[Graeme]

The Solar Industry Created More Jobs In 2014 Than Oil And Gas Extraction

The solar industry added jobs at a rate nearly 20 times faster than the national average last year, according to an annual report.

The report, published Thursday by the Solar Foundation, found that more than 31,000 solar jobs were added in the U.S. between November 2013 and November 2014. According to the report, 85 percent of those jobs were new, rather than jobs that already existed but which added additional solar responsibilities. There are now a total of 173,807 people in the U.S. with jobs related to solar power, a number that’s increased by 87 percent over the last five years.

thinkprogress

Germany passes 1GW offshore wind, set to triple this year

More than 1GW of offshore wind capacity fed into the German grid at the end of 2014, a figure that is set to more than triple by the end of 2015.
Grid-connected offshore capacity in the German areas of the North and Baltic Seas increased by 529MW last year to reach an accumulated 1.05GW, according to figures compiled by research company Deutsche WindGuard for Germany's leading wind groups.

Another 1.3GW has already been installed and are awaiting their grid-connection, while a further 923MW is currently being built.

"In 2015, we expect some 2GW of new offshore wind machines in the grid," Norbert Giese, who heads the offshore wind industry body within the VDMA engineering federation, said at a press conference in Berlin. Giese is also vice president for offshore at Germany-based turbine manufacturer Senvion.

"In total, we will have some 3GW in installed capacity on the grid at the end of 2015, which corresponds to investments of about €10bn ($11.7bn)."

He added that some 19,000 people now are employed in Germany's offshore wind industry.

If everything goes according to plan and Germany reaches 3.2GW in offshore capacity this year, it will already have met roughly half of a government set target of 6.5GW for 2020.

rechargenews

[Graeme]

From Principles To Reality: Powering Business Growth With Renewable Energy

Facebook is committed to powering all of its operations with cost-competitive clean and renewable energy and has an intermediary goal for its global data centers of 25% in 2015. In November 2014 Facebook’s newest data center in Altoona, Iowa, came online. Almost simultaneously, 60 miles away in the town of Wellsburg, Iowa, a new wind project is beginning to deliver 140 MW of renewable energy into the grid. Being able to make this wind project a reality and help bring more new renewable to the grid than it expects to consume at its data center was a key part of Facebook’s decision to invest in Iowa. This is just one example of a growing trend in the United States where companies are collaborating with their utilities to secure renewable energy for their operations.

Eighteen other companies have joined Facebook as signatories to the Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles, facilitated by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and World Resources Institute (WRI). The Principles are an effort to foster a dialogue with utilities, regulators, and other stakeholders on how to make more renewable energy projects a reality. Like Facebook, these major companies — 3M, Adobe, Bloomberg, Cisco, eBay, EMC, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Mars, Novelis, Novo Nordisk, Procter and Gamble, REI, Sprint, Volvo, and Walmart – are committed to increasing access to cost-competitive renewable energy.

cleantechnica

Solar Industry Jobs are Growing at 20 Times the National Rate

The solar power industry created 31,000 new jobs last year, a growth rate that was 20 times the national average, according to the fifth installment of the Solar Jobs Census, released today.

cio

1 Big Oil Company That Sees a Future in Renewable Energy

French oil giant takes a long-term view
French oil giant Total has taken the opposite approach than competitors to both the solar industry and new fuel technology. Instead of building a business itself, it has acquired major stakes in industry leaders.

Total holds two-thirds of solar industry leader SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR ) , which makes the world's most efficient solar panels. This not only gives Total an equity position in a solar company, but it is buying stakes in the solar power plants SunPower builds -- notably Chile's largest merchant solar power plant, which is selling electricity to the grid at market prices.

As an energy giant, Total can also help SunPower grow, so it's a mutually beneficial relationship. Total's reach into the Middle East opens up sales channels for SunPower and again gives the oil giant an option to buy solar projects that SunPower builds. Slowly but surely, both SunPower's equity and acquired solar generating assets are becoming a big part of Total's business.

Total has also invested in Amyris (NASDAQ: AMRS ) , owning a 17.9% stake at the end of 2013. The company is a leader in synthetic biology that, as fellow Fool Maxx Chatsko pointed out recently, has the potential to produce $1 billion in sales by the end of the decade. In addition, Total created a 50/50 joint venture with Amyris called Total Amyris Biosolutions that holds all of the intellectual property related to Amyris' main product, farnesene, which can be used to make jet fuels, cosmetics, and solvents.

In addition, Total has made small investments in wind farms and tidal energy, although they aren't part of the company's main new energy development.

fool

[Graeme]

Why Renewable Energy Is Attracting the Smart Money

Dr. Kent Moors writes: While everyone's been fixated on oil, renewable energy has been gathering some serious steam.

Led by solar power, worldwide capital investment in "clean" energy surged by more than 16% last year.

In fact, spending on renewable energy was so strong in 2014, some have begun to label the recent rush into renewables as a "turning point" in the energy balance.

According to a report last week from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the total invested in renewable power jumped to $310 billion, just $17 billion shy of the all-time record in 2011.

But here's the real kicker…

Since renewable energy is now much cheaper to generate, last year's investment brought in almost double the clean electricity capacity versus what was realized only four years earlier.

That's undoubtedly a bullish sign…

A Brewing Solar Power Boom
Of course, these figures don't tell the whole story about renewables.

For one thing, the global renewable picture is very uneven. While new projects have moved forward in the Middle East and certain parts of Asia, the biggest move has been largely spearheaded by solar power investment in the United States and China.

Meanwhile, had it not been for some large-scale offshore wind farms in Europe, investment there would have been in negative territory. And in Australia, where there had been signs of a major initiative, lack of government support has resulted in an absolute contraction in support for renewables.

But as the British newspaper The Guardian noted on Friday, BNEF Chairman Michael Liebreich said, "The investment bounce back in 2014 exceeded our expectations," adding, "Solar was the biggest single contributor, thanks to the huge improvements in its cost-competitiveness over the last five years."

In all, solar investment rose by 25%, while wind power rose 11% to account for a third of all investment in 2014. Meanwhile, energy efficiency and electric vehicles rose 10%, including the $2.3 billion raised by Tesla Motors Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA). On the downside, biofuels investments fell 7% and biomass and incinerator projects attracted 10% less financing.

marketoracle

The path towards economic growth is powered by renewables

Renewable energy last year became the No 1 source of electricity supply in Germany and accounted for 27.3 per cent of our consumption. At the same time, our economy grew by 1.4 per cent, while power consumption in total fell by almost 4 per cent. The use of renewable energy has avoided almost 150 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

This development shows that we managed to decouple energy consumption from economic growth and that renewable energy is part of the expansion.

This would not have been possible without the fast-pace technological advances and cost savings in recent years – particularly in wind and solar energy. Today we can generate electricity from new wind and large photovoltaic facilities at the same overall cost as newly built hard-coal or gas-fired power plants.

This drop in costs of renewables’ technology opens up major opportunities for all countries that are now investing in renewables. Using world market fuel prices as a reference, electricity from wind and solar power could be considerably cheaper for solar-rich countries such as the Arabian Gulf countries and others in the Middle East.

Another added benefit is the new jobs that are created in the power industry. Over just a few years, Germany created about 370,000 jobs in this field. The UAE and several other countries in the region have recognised the potential of renewables and have set themselves renewables targets. This gives them an opportunity to be at the vanguard of the development in their region.

Increasing the use of renewables has become one of the key pillars of the energy strategies for many countries. Nowhere is this better reflected than in the membership of Irena, the International Renewable Energy Agency based in Abu Dhabi. The organisation ensures its members have access to best practices that have already been adopted by pioneering states as they reach their renewables targets. Germany and the UAE were among the first supporters of the agency.

thenational

The Solar Project So Cheap It Will Revolutionize Energy

[Graeme]

Solar is energy of choice for businesses going 100% renewable

Solar PV is the most popular form of renewable energy among businesses while biomass generation offers the best return on investment, according to a new report from The Carbon Group and CDP.
Related articles
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Report: Renewable energy now price-competitive with fossil fuels

Activists say Obama action on methane emissions 'misses 90% of pollution'

Bioenergy makes record contributions to UK energy mix

Kyocera goes even bigger with world's largest floating solar farm



The report, The journey to 100%, was launched yesterday (19 January) in relation to the RE100 group - a global campaign group made up of 15 corporate giants that are together encouraging other companies to use power exclusively from renewable energy sources.

The report finds that solar PV is the most popular renewable technology across all sectors thanks to ease of installation and application, with many companies putting panels in places where it is immediately visible to colleagues and customers to showcase their commitment to renewable power.

But solar PV is not just a vanity option, with capacity set to double in the US within the next two years, offsetting 40m tonnes of CO2.

Swedish retailer Ikea is one of the 15 RE100 signatories to take advantage of the falling price of solar generation, having installed 550,000 panels on its stores in nine countries.

Ikea chief sustainability officer Steve Howard said: "Investing in renewable energy is good for business, the economy and the planet. That's why we've committed to match 100% of our energy use with our own renewable energy generation by 2020 and have allocated €1.5bn to take us closer to this goal.

"Every business can benefit from making the switch to clean, abundant energy and RE100 is a call to action to accelerate this transition."

edie

[Graeme]

Wind and solar are cheapest energy options for China's growth

We already know that large-scale wind and solar are becoming competitive without subsidies in some parts of the world, even while fossil fuels remain hooked on government support.

Now, as reported by TV network YLE, a team of researchers at Finnish universities has shown that a rapid transition to wind and solar in the next five to ten years offers the cheapest, most cost effective option for meeting China's growing energy demand:

The Finnish researchers are confident that renewable energy sources like solar and wind power will become the cheapest form of energy production in Asia within the next ten years. What is more, energy produced in this way provides the added benefits of being inexpensive, emission-free and promoting self-sufficiency. Professor of solar energy Christian Breyer from the Lappeenranta University says the project’s large-scale simulation of functioning renewable energy networks is the first of its kind.

What's particularly interesting about this research is not just that individual renewable energy projects might be cost competitive in the very near future, but also that—to quote Professor Breyer—a "network fully based on renewable energy is possible in Northeast Asia."

treehugger