CleanTech Report June 16th 2020 |
NORTH AMERICADOE Announces $11B In Energy Cost-Savings From Better Buildings Initiative Partners The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced nearly $11 billion in energy-cost savings by more than 950 public and private sector organizations in DOE’s Better Buildings Initiative. To date, partners have saved nearly 1.8 quadrillion British thermal units of energy, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 27 million homes in America over one year. The U.S. Could Get To 90% Clean Power By 2035 When utilities build a new power plant, they pass the cost on to ratepayers. By 2035, ratepayers will have paid off most gas- or coal-fired power plants running today, meaning consumers won’t lose money if utilities shut those plants down early. That’s what researchers mean by “no extra cost.” Ratepayers will be funding new, exclusively carbon-free power plants after they have paid off the old ones. Cutting pollution will help people breathe easier, reducing health care costs, making it cheaper overall to move to shift away from fossil fuels. Global New Clean Energy Investment Totalled $282B Global investment in new clean energy capacity rose 1% last year to $282.2 billion, research by UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre showed on Wednesday. The United States invested $55.5 billion in 2019, up 28% from the year before as onshore wind developers rushed to take advantage of tax credits before their expected expiry, the report said. |
LATIN AMERICASolar Power Fills Gaps In Underserved Rural Argentina Rice farmers in the Argentine province of Entre Rios often look like mechanics. “They’re always full of grease, because they haul diesel fuel around all the time, for their water pumps,” says local farmer Arturo Deymonnaz. He, however, doesn’t have that problem, because he uses solar energy to grow his rice. Mexican Business Lobby Says Power Transmission Rate Hike To Hurt Renewable Energy Firms An influential Mexican business lobby on Thursday warned a hike in the price that private power producers pay to access the country’s main electricity transmission grid will deal a blow to the green industry and be passed on to the consumer. Sonnedix, Natixis Pen $87M, 100MW Chilean Solar Deal Sonnedix and French financier Natixis have closed senior financing facilities to bring forward up to 100MWp of solar in Chile. The deal will see independent power producer (IPP) Sonnedix advance on a portfolio of solar projects backed by Chile’s Small Distributed Means of Generation (known as PMGD under its Spanish acronym) programme, which supports smaller-scale renewables with a regulated, stabilised price for exported power. |
EUROPEEnefit Green Boosts Output Of Renewable Energy 15% On Year Enefit Green, renewable energy arm of state-owned Eesti Energia group, produced 96 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity in May, which is 15% more than the amount produced in May 2019, informed LETA/BNS. BP To Slash Value Of Fossil Fuel Assets By £14B, Predicting Faster Shift To Green Energy BP will write off up to $17.5bn (£14bn) from the value of its fossil fuel assets because it believes Covid-19 will accelerate the global shift to cleaner energy sources. Researchers Unveil Solar Windows That Self-Adjust To Allow Right Amount Of Sunlight Using a new generation of dye-sensitised solar cell design, researchers in France and Spain have developed a new type of solar module that is able to become more transparent in low light conditions, creating the potential for solar cells embedded in windows that avoid inadvertently blocking too much natural sunlight from entering a building. |
ASIAAdani Green Plans $12B Green Bond Sales Next 4-5 Years Adani Green EnergyNSE 2.90 % Ltd. plans to raise up to $12 billion through sales of green bonds over the next four to five years to fund billionaire Gautam Adani’s plan to make it the world’s biggest renewable energy player. Wind-Solar Hybrid Pipeline Of 15GW Makes It A Key Renewable Energy Segment Renewable energy generation projects that are a hybrid of wind and solar power appear to be the next sector of interest among both government policymakers and investors. According to estimate by credit ratings agency Crisil, about 15 GW of WSH (wind-solar hybrid) power will come up over the next five years, riding on strong support from central public sector undertaking Solar Energy Corporation of India and several state governments. BayWa Completes First Japanese Solar Park BayWa RE has completed its first solar park in Japan, the 12MW Kuwabarajo Mega Solar Number 4. The project covers 24 hectares and is located in Izumi in the Kyushu Kagoshima Prefecture. |
MENAUAE’s Masdar To Build And Operate Wind Farm In Uzbekistan Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) agreed a deal build and operate a 500-megawatt wind farm project in Uzbekistan, the Abu Dhabi media office said in a tweet on Tuesday. The agreement was signed with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade and JSC National Electric Grid, as part of the country’s goal of developing 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2030. Danube Signs Up SirajPower As New UAE Solar Partner The solar system will cover 13,000 sq m roof area and is expected to generate 1.7 GWh of annual energy production. SirajPower, UAE’s leading distributed solar energy provider, has been appointed by leading Dubai developer Danube as its new solar partner for its projects in the emirates. Total Committed And Planned Energy Sector Investments For 2020-2024 In Excess Of $79B The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), a multilateral development financial institution, estimates that planned and committed investments in the MENA region will exceed USD792bn over the next five years (2020-2024). As per APICORP’s MENA Energy Investment Outlook 2020-2024, which it launched today, the amount marks a USD173mn decline from the USD965bn in last year’s five-year outlook. |
AFRICAD.Light, Solar Frontier Capital Announce Sh6.5 Billion Local Currency Receivable Financing Facility For Kenya Solar Frontier Capital Limited and d.light design, the leading global innovator of solar energy products, have jointly announced the establishment of a KSh6.5 billion financing vehicle to be known as Brighter Life Kenya 1 Limited. The off-balance sheet financing vehicle is dedicated to acquiring pay-as-you-go solar home system accounts receivables from d.light’s Kenyan subsidiary to provide the company with flexible, working capital to finance its continued growth. Energy Storage Technology Will Make Blackouts In Africa Ancient History A shift from Africa’s traditional approach to power generation is needed to unleash the continent’s clean energy potential and secure an African future free from blackouts. A strategy centred around energy storage and flexible power systems will be the key to guaranteeing the reliability of a high-renewable grid, while also lowering the cost of electricity for Africans. Nigeria Plans Solar Household Boost Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo set out a plan to “produce what we eat and consume what we produce”. The economic sustainability plan had four strands, of which one was installation of solar home systems. Osinbajo said the policy would see solar power generation equipment installed on 5 million households, serving around 25 million Nigerians. The programme is focused on houses not connected to the national grid. |
AUSTRALIAAustralia’s 5GW Wind Energy Pipeline Celebrated On Global Wind Day Wind energy’s contribution to Australia’s electricity supply has doubled since 2014, after the sector added a record 837MW of new capacity to the grid over the course of 2019, and gears up to add gigawatts more. Infratil Seeks $280M With Eye To Renewables And Storage Projects New Zealand infrastructure investor Infratil is raising $NZ300 million ($A280 million) in new capital with an eye to funding a growing pipeline of opportunities in large scale renewable energy and battery storage projects. Infratil owns a majority share of the listed Tilt Renewables, with operations and major new projects in Australia and New Zealand, but the new capital raising appears focused on renewable and storage opportunities in Europe and the US, as well as its growing portfolio of data centres. New 3.6GW PV-Powered Hydrogen Project Announced In Australia Australian renewables producer Austrom Hydrogen has secured land near the Port of Gladstone, Queensland, for an ambitious project that could feature a 3.6 GW solar-powered hydrogen facility. The project, Pacific Solar Hydrogen, will join the growing group of gigawatt-scale green hydrogen project announcements across Australia. |
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