Sidelines of Copenhagen Summit : India Announces Incentives for Wind Power Generation

India's ministry of new and renewable energy Thursday announced the implementation of incentives for grid-connected wind power projects providing cleaner power.

Wind electricity producers will now receive a generation-based incentive of 0.50 rupees ($0.01) per unit of electricity fed into the grid. The government will spend about 3.8 billion rupees on subsidies as of the new scheme.

"Providing 0.50 rupees per unit is huge if you compare it with existing wind power generation costs," Debashish Majumdar, chairman and managing director, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event. "The average price of wind power in India is currently about 3 rupees per unit."

Installed wind power in India stands at 10,500 megawatts, of the country's total of 15.59 gigawatts.

India's federal government is promoting the renewable sector through a mix of fiscal and financial incentives as it aims to exploit its renewable energy potential by attracting investments in the sector and reduce carbon emissions.

The latest tariff incentive comes three months after the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, which regulates power tariffs in the country, announced tariff norms for companies investing in renewable energy projects, stating they will get a 19% pretax return on investments for the first 10 years of generation and 23% thereafter.

The tariff on power produced by wind energy will vary between 3.76 rupees and 5.64 rupees per kilowatt hour, depending on the wind velocity at the site, CERC had said.

European Union, United States Eye Green Goods Tax Pact In Climate Fight

The European Union and the United States are holding talks on forging a pact with OECD countries and China to eliminate duties on green goods as part of incentives to Beijing in a potential global climate deal.

EU diplomats told Reuters that under a plan being discussed by Brussels and Washington, the 30 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and China would agree a global pact to phase out import tariffs on goods such as wind turbines, renewables and green technologies.

But any deal is unlikely to include environmentally friendly hybrid cars, the diplomats said.

"The talks are entering an advanced stage. Brussels and Washington hope this could be one of the incentives needed to get China on board in the lead up to the Copenhagen climate change talks," one EU diplomat told Reuters.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office said the United States and the EU had been pushing within the Doha round of world trade talks since November 2007 for a deal to cut tariffs on environmental goods "and continue to work closely in pushing for concrete progress."

"We remain eager to move ahead with negotiations to eliminate tariff barriers on climate-friendly technologies and spur momentum on a larger WTO Doha package on environmental goods and services," said USTR spokeswoman Carol Guthrie.

U.S. businesses such as United Technologies Corp and General Electric Co, that are frustrated with the slow pace of the Doha round, have urged the Obama administration to consider alternative paths to reach a deal to boost trade in environmental goods and services.

China is on course to become the world's largest producer of wind turbines in the world this year and is a major manufacturer of solar products.

Source : REUTERS

Wind Power Could Meet China's Electricity Demands By 2030 : Study

Wind power could meet China's electricity demands through 2030 and cut carbon dioxide emissions in China by 30 percent, U.S. and Chinese researchers said on Thursday.

China already is the world's chief emitter of carbon dioxide, a leading so-called greenhouse gas implicated by scientists in global climate change.

China currently generates 792.5 gigawatts of electricity per year, mostly through coal-fired power plants, and that output is expected to grow by 10 percent per year, a team from Harvard University in Massachusetts and Tsinghua University in Beijing reported in the journal Science.

About 80 percent of China's electricity comes from coal.

Wind energy accounts for just 0.4 percent of China's total current electricity supply, but the country is quickly adding capacity, trailing only the United States, Germany and Spain in existing wind farms, the scientists said.

To study the potential of wind energy in China, the team used data from NASA as well as global meteorological data collected from surface observations, aircraft, balloons, ships, buoys and satellites worldwide.

They found that a network of wind turbines operating at as little as 20 percent of their rated capacity could provide more than seven times China's current electricity consumption.

To meet its growing energy demand with coal-fired plants, China could potentially increase the country's carbon dioxide output to 3.5 gigatons a year, the scientists said.

The team calculates that the switch to wind power would cost China around $900 billion dollars at current prices over the same 20-year period.

"This would require a major investment of resources and could be accomplished only on the basis of a carefully designed long-range plan for the Chinese power sector," the team wrote.

Source : REUTERS

German Wind Power Moves Further Out To Sea.

A pioneering German wind power plant's new high-tech equipment, to capture higher winds further offshore and for longer periods, is exciting the industry.

The Alpha Ventus wind park started this month and operates 45 km off the German-Dutch coast. Existing European wind parks operate only 20 km offshore at the most.

Alpha Ventus was forced by German environmental laws to build in deeper waters further out to protect tidelands.

The 250 million euros ($357.7 million) test field, also known as Borkum West, lies near the German-Dutch border with steel foundations 30 meters deep.

On August 11, three of the 12 Alpha Ventus turbines of five megawatts each began test runs and the rest are expected to start by the end of 2009.

Not just the big utilities that clubbed together for Alpha Ventus -- E.ON, Vattenfall Europe and smaller rival EWE -- are betting on its success.

German Repower and French Areva jointly supply the turbines for Alpha Ventus.

But Germany's Siemens and Denmark's Vestas, which installed half of all the world's existing turbines, also hope to benefit.

Some analysts believe higher-technology offshore wind has a big potential future within the next decade.

"In the long-term, by 2015, it could have a recognizable impact on the wind industry," Katharina Cholewa, analyst at WestLB, said.

The International Energy Agency believes that offshore wind power will grow more than 100-fold by 2030.

SOURCE : REUTERS

EU wind power seen steady in 2009 despite crisis

Europe looks set to build slightly more wind capacity this year than in 2008, despite weakening electricity demand due to the economic crisis, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) said on Friday.

About 8,600 megawatts of new wind energy capacity will be installed in the European Union's 27 nations in 2009, 1 percent higher than the 8,484 megawatts installed last year, EWEA estimated.

"Although the outlook for 2009 is encouraging, the real test of the wind energy sector's ability to withstand the financial crisis will be 2010," said Christian Kjaer, EWEA chief executive.

EWEA expects the financial crisis to have a deeper impact in 2010 due to poor liquidity in the loan markets.

New wind installations will take the EU's cumulative capacity to 73,535 megawatts this year, up from 64,935 megawatts last year.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Denmark's DONG Says To Build North Norway Windpark

Denmark's DONG Energy will build and run an up to 33-megawatt wind farm in the northern Norway municipality of Narvik in cooperation with its local affiliate Nordkraft, DONG said on Friday.

"The farm will have a capacity of between 25.3 and 33 MW," state-owned DONG Energy said in a statement.

Investment in the Nygaardsfjell 2 wind park is expected to be around 300 million Danish crown ($57.85 million), it said.

The wind farm will be owned by Nordkraft Vind AS, a 50/50 venture with Nordkraft, DONG said.

Since 2002 DONG has owned a third of Norwegian hydropower producer Nordkraft, so its stake in the Nygaardsfjell 2 project is 67 percent, DONG said.

"The Nygaardsfjell 2 wind farm represents yet another important step toward our ambition to triple our production of renewable energy by 2020," DONG said.

Nordkraft's target is to produce 300 gigawatt hours of wind power over the next 10 years, its chief executive, Olaf Larsen said in the statement.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Scotland Approves Two Wind Energy Projects

The Scottish government has given the go-ahead to two wind power projects, including one held up in the planning system for five years, that could supply enough clean energy for about 43,000 homes, it said on Friday.

The 29-turbine Berry Burn wind farm near Forres will have a capacity of 78 megawatts (MW), while a 15-MW expansion of the 20-turbine Millennium wind farm near Fort Augustus will increase the capacity to 65 MW.

"I am delighted to approve further investment to develop our vast natural potential, create more jobs and fuel the clean, green energy revolution," Energy Minister Jim Mather said.

"Renewable energy is a key sector for Scotland and will help drive our economic recovery."

In contrast to legislators in London, Scotland has ruled out building new nuclear power plants to replace its aging reactors and plans to meet half of its electricity demand from renewables by 2020.

"Our comprehensive climate change laws demand that we continue to support good projects that reduce emissions and help Scotland become a global role model for a sustainable, low carbon economy," Mather said in a statement.

Total installed renewables capacity in Scotland is over 3 gigawatts (GW).

Catamount Energy and Force 9 Energy applied for consent for the Berry Burn wind farm in 2004 but the project was held up by objections from anglers and environmentalists.
Millennium Wind Energy Limited applied for consent to add six turbines in Janury 2009.

SOURCE : REUTERS

China Starts Building First 10-GW Mega Wind Farm

Targets total wind power capacity to 100 GW by 2020

China started construction of the country's first 10-gigawa wind power base in Jiuquan of northwest Gansu province on Saturday as Beijing seeks more clean power to fuel its fast economic growth.

China, the world's second-largest energy user, has said it would bring its total wind power capacity to 100 GW by 2020 from the current 12 GW, part of a broad energy target to generate 3 percent of total electricity from non-hydro renewable energy.

To that end, the National Energy Administration (NEA) has planned six 10GW-level wind power bases in areas rich in wind resources such as Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Xinjiang, Hebei and Jiangsu.

The Jiuquan mega wind power base will be built in two phases. The first one, a 3.8 GW base comprising of 18 200-MW and two 100-MW wind farms, is developed by 20 developers and will be completed by 2010, Construction for the second phase, consisting of 40 200-MW wind farms will kick off in 2010.

The installed wind power capacity of Jiuquan will jump to 5.16 GW by 2010, 12.71 GW by 2015 and 20 GW by 2020 from the current level of 660 MW, Feng said.

Analysts have cautioned against blind expansion in a wind power sector that has drawn swarms of investors and record installations despite ongoing issues with services and technologies.

SOURCE : REUTERS

Latest protest leaves climate strategy twisting in the wind

From Shetland to the Isle of Wight, feelings run high as plans to transform the UK into a low-carbon economy hit further trouble
Europe's largest onshore windfarm project has been thrown in severe doubt after the RSPB and official government agencies lodged formal objections to the 150-turbine plan, it emerged today.

The setback adds to the problems facing the government's ambition to install 10,000 new turbines across the UK by 2020 as part of its plan to cut the carbon emissions causing climate change.

The proposed 550MW windfarm, sprawling across the centre of Shetland's main island, would add almost 20% to existing onshore wind capacity. But the objectors say the plans could seriously damage breeding sites for endangered birds, including a rare wader, the whimbrel, which was unexpectedly discovered by the windfarm developer's own environmental survey teams. Other species at risk include the red throated diver, golden plover and merlin.

The RSPB heavily criticised the proposal from Viking Energy after initially indicating it could support the scheme. The RSPB also claims now that installation of the turbines could release significant carbon dioxide from the peat bogs affected, undermining the turbines' potential to combat global warming.

The group's fears have been endorsed by the government's official conservation advisers, Scottish Natural Heritage, and SNH has also objected to the "magnitude" of the scheme, claiming it could kill many of these birds through collisions with the 145-metre-high structures.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), which oversees pollution and waste laws in Scotland, has also formally objected, making it inevitable the scheme will now go to a full public inquiry and intensifying pressure on the developers to alter the scale of the project.

In a detailed critique of the proposal, Sepa has asked Viking Energy to significantly rethink its plans to cut out and dump up to 1m cubic metres of peat during construction, and asked ministers to impose tough conditions to protect local water quality and freshwater species .

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk
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Vestas dispute: Red and green coalition forms to fight wind plant closure

A unique "red and green" army of trade union and environmental campaigners was on the march in an attempt to save from closure Britain's only major wind turbine manufacturing plant.

Up to 500 people are expected outside the Vestas plant at Newport on the Isle of Wight tomorrow night where 25 workers are engaged in a sit-in, while further demonstrations are being planned simultaneously outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change in London.

Greenpeace said the Vestas dispute promised a historic change from a situation where the labour movement and environment activists have found themselves on different sides of the fence, with one wanting to shut down polluting industries and the other defending jobs.

"Although we have always tried to highlight the employment opportunities that could flow from a low-carbon economy, historically there has been animosity between the two sides. If we can build this new alliance and break down those perceived barriers then there all sorts of exciting opportunities," said John Sauven, UK executive director of Greenpeace.

In April, Vestas announced plans to shut the manufacturing side of the Isle of Wight business with the potential loss of 600 jobs, saying it could produce blades cheaper in America.

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk

Wind power boosted by £1bn in new loans

The UK government will demonstrate its willingness to exert influence over Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group by announcing £1bn of lending to wind farm developers whose schemes have been becalmed by a lack of cash.

The initiative comes as Greenpeace unveils new figures showing that local councils run by the Conservative party block more than three times as many wind farms as they approve. Labour-controlled councils meanwhile approved marginally more projects than they turned down between December 2005 and November 2008, according to the campaign group.

Both issues are important because Vestas, the UK's only major wind turbine maker, is threatening to close its manufacturing plant on the Isle of Wight this week blaming some of its woes on "faceless nimbies" and a lack of a vibrant domestic market.

The £1bn cash arranged by the government is part of the additional £4bn of EIB lending to support UK energy projects announced in the spring budget. The government has been urged by environmentalists and thinktanks to use the state equity stakes in banks – gained when they had to be bailed out last autumn – to push them towards green projects.

Greenpeace claimed last night that its study of publicly available information provided to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) showed that Tory councils approved 44.7 megawatts of onshore wind schemes but blocked 158.2MW. Labour-controlled councils approved 68.3MW and rejected 62.6MW.

"One of the reasons Britain's green industrial revolution is yet to take off is the lack of domestic demand for wind turbines, and a key reason for that has been the attitude of many Conservative councils," said John Sauven, Greenpeace's executive director. "They need to be offered incentives to stop blocking wind developments, while David Cameron could make a difference straight away by making a crystal-clear commitment that a Tory Britain would meet the target to generate 20% of our energy from renewables by 2020."

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk

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Kenya to build Africa's biggest windfarm

One of the hottest places in the world is set to become the site of Africa's most ambitious venture in the battle against global warming.

Some 365 giant wind turbines are to be installed in desert around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya - creating the biggest windfarm on the continent.

When complete in 2012, the £533m project will have a capacity of 300MW, a quarter of Kenya's current installed power and one of the highest proportions of wind energy to be fed in a national grid anywhere in the world.

Until now, only north African countries such as Morocco and Egypt have harnessed wind power for commercial purposes.

Kenya is trying to lead the way. Besides the Turkana project, which is being backed by the African Development Bank, private investors have proposed establishing a second windfarm near Naivasha, the well-known tourist town. And in the Ngong hills near Nairobi.

Kenya's electricity is already very green by global standards. Nearly three-quarters of KenGen's installed capacity comes from hydropower, and a further 11% from geothermal plants, which tap into the hot rocks a mile beneath the Rift Valley to release steam to power turbines.

SOURCE : guardian.co.uk