Guardian: “The row over subsidies for the UK’s new nuclear power stations has deepened after it emerged that the £160m-a-year cost of accommodating the giant reactors on the national electricity grid will be borne by all generators, including renewable energy providers.” Read more
Solarcentury
The company I founded in 1998 to design and supply solar energy solutions for the built environment. Solarcentury
Solar Aid
The charity I founded in 2006, with a 5% contribution of Solarcentury profits, to help deliver solar lighting to Africa. Solar Aid
UK government’s climate advisors say gas dash blocks renewables.
April 24, 2013 Clean Energy, Gas
Guardian: The Committee on Climate Change “sounded caution on the prospects for widespread development of shale in the UK. It said that relying heavily on gas would scupper the UK’s chances of meeting emissions targets in the longer term, and prevent needed investments in low-carbon technologies.” Read more
Google criticises US utilities for not providing renewable energy direct.
April 22, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate
REW: “Google Inc., which has invested more than $1 billion in renewable energy projects and buys wind- generated electricity, said utilities should offer large customers more options for using clean power.” Read more
As cities drown in smog, China gets ever more serious about renewables.
REW: “China’s renewable energy sector is expected to adopt a more stable and regulated development pace in 2013 as many favorable policies to drive the development of the sector have been established, along with increased awareness of environmental protection and benefits of renewable energy.” Read more
Report urges use of gas to avoid UK energy crunch.
FT: Closing Britain’s coal-fired power stations should continue if the government is to meet carbon cutting targets, according to a cross-party report. It argued that gas power generation could providing enough capacity to avoid an energy crunch in the next decade.” Read more
Clean energy investments at lowest level for four years.
April 18, 2013 Clean Energy, Finance
REW: “Clean energy investments worldwide slid 22 percent in 1Q13 to $40.6 billion, their lowest level in four years, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).” Read more
“The drive to clean up the world’s energy system has stalled”: IEA.
April 17, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate
REW: “Today in New Delhi the International Energy Agency (IEA) revealed the latest figures from its annual report on global progress towards a low-carbon future.” Read more
London Array becomes world’s largest wind farm.
April 9, 2013 Clean Energy
Business Green: “The London Array project, jointly owned by Dong Energy, Masdar and EON, yesterday announced that the first 630MW phase of the project in the Thames estuary is now fully operational.” Read more
“List of Deceased Solar Companies: …sad inevitable result of VC bubble”.
April 6, 2013 Clean Energy, Finance
greentechsolar: “The sad, inevitable results of the VC bubble and solar shakeout. We listed the more than 200 VC-funded solar startups back in 2008. We knew that we’d be writing about most of them on their way up — as well as on their way down.” Read more
Investor nerves rise in EU over threats to support for renewables.
April 6, 2013 Clean Energy, Finance
FT: “As the third anniversary of the Greek bailout nears, a shift is afoot on the continent that gave the world its biggest carbon market, its most effective green electricity subsidies, and its first offshore wind farms. It is too early to call it a U-turn, let alone a permanent reversal. But jitters are clearly growing about the cost of tackling climate change and building a green electricity infrastructure in the world’s oldest industrial powers.” Read more
Enough Scottish renewable electricity in 2012 to power all homes.
March 28, 2013 Clean Energy
Guardian: “2012 was a record year for renewable energy in Scotland, which produced enough electricity to power all of its homes.” 
Read more
UK 2012 CO2 emissions up 4.5% due to coal increase.
Guardian: The UK’s emissions of climate-warming gases surged in 2012 as cheap coal replaced gas in power stations.” Read more
Renewable energy providers to pay back-up costs for UK nuclear.
March 27, 2013 Clean Energy, Nuclear
New York state could be 100% renewable power by 2030: Jacobson study.
March 13, 2013 Clean Energy
REW: “Stanford Professor Mark Z. Jacobson previously co-authored studies in 2009 and 2011, outlining what it would take to shift completely to renewable energy at a global and national scale, respectively. ….But could it be more feasible to do it on a smaller scale — say, an individual state?” Read more
Gas plants shutting across Europe in face of demand drop, cheap coal, RE.
REW: “Three years ago, Germany’s largest utility spent 400 million euros ($523 million) building a natural gas-fired power station. Later this month, the company may close the plant because it’s losing so much money.” Read more
Scotland’s 100% renewables target by 2020 unviable without UK: study.
February 11, 2013 Clean Energy
Guardian: “Alex Salmond could be forced to abandon his ambitious 100% green energy target if Scotland votes for independence, a team of academics has warned.” Read more
A renewables revolution despite civil war in energy markets? Possible.
My presentation to Enova 2013 in Trondheim, posted on You-Tube, professionally edited, on the same day as the impressively organised conference. The part in English starts 1 minute in.
Its renewables or catastrophe very soon, Francois Hollande says.
January 15, 2013 Clean Energy, Climate
Guardian: “If we don’t act, if we don’t do anything, if we don’t invest anything, we can be sure that we will have a catastrophe very soon. We have to have confidence to invest in the new energy. We can act together to create this world of renewable energy.” Read more
China announces 49 GW of renewables in 2013. Solar stocks soar.
January 10, 2013 Clean Energy
REW: “Chinese solar stocks led the first advance in the benchmark index of U.S.-traded shares this week on prospects domestic demand for alternative energy will rise after the government increased capacity targets.” Read more
Buffett solar company buys half a gigawatt of solar PV farms.
January 2, 2013 Clean Energy
Recharge: SunPower sells two mega PV projects totalling 579MW in California’s Antelope Valley to MidAmerican Solar, part of US billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.” Read more
US rooftop solar is cheaper, but the federal dollars go to the big plants.
December 29, 2012 Clean Energy
LA Times: “The Obama administration’s solar-power initiative has fast-tracked large-scale plants, fueled by low-interest, government-guaranteed loans that cover up to 80% of construction costs. In all, the federal government has paid out more than $16 billion for renewable-energy projects.” Read more
Update of UK Renewables Roadmap includes solar PV as a key technology.
December 27, 2012 Clean Energy
Clean energy co-ops being formed in Germany one every two days.
December 17, 2012 Change for Good, Clean Energy
European Energy Review: When Germany’s environment minister Peter Altmaier addressed the first-ever congress of energy cooperatives in Berlin on November 19, he knew he was looking out over one of the Energiewende’s core constituencies.” Read more
“Renewables and gas likely to power UK future”: FT.
December 9, 2012 Clean Energy, Gas
FT: Angela Knight, head of EnergyUK ….says Britain cannot depend on wind, solar and biomass alone. “It is gas with renewables and nuclear – it’s not an either/or,” she said. “The fact is you need gas as a back-up.” Read more