News

• Challenging year ahead for renewables investments – Ernst & Young

  28 February 2012

  Emerging markets will be most attractive to renewable energy investors in 2012, while the outlook for more established markets will be uncertain, according to Ernst & Young.

• EU financiers 'saved US renewables sector'

  27 February 2012

  Financial institutions in the US and China continue to lag behind their European counterparts in supporting the US clean-tech sector, according to a financing expert.

• Renewables developers 'too optimistic' on financing

  27 February 2012

  Renewable energy developers need to be more realistic about their projects to secure financing, experts said.

• Energy bill could promote state feed-in tariffs, PACE, says SEIA

  27 February 2012

  The US is not likely to adopt a feed-in tariff (FiT) at the federal level, but an energy bill this year could help FiTs become more widespread at the state level, and include other benefits for the renewables sector, according to the head of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

• Danish companies invest in Dong offshore wind farm

  23 February 2012

  Danish toy maker Lego and hearing aid manufacturer Oticon have bought 50% of a Dong Energy wind project for 4.7 billion Danish kroner ($840 million).

• Carbon market to grow in size, slump in value in 2012 – Point Carbon

  23 February 2012

  The global trade in carbon credits will be worth €61 billion ($81 billion) this year, a fall of 36% compared with 2011, according to forecasts by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.

• No role for PRI in policing ESG implementation – Gifford

  23 February 2012

  The Principles for Responsible investment (PRI) secretariat has no role in policing how its signatories address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, its executive director has said.

• Canadian Solar could shift production if US tariffs imposed

  23 February 2012

  Canadian Solar could supply the US market from its domestic facilities if US regulators impose tariffs on its Chinese manufacturing operations, according to a top official at the company, one of the world's largest solar module makers.

• DOE retreats from financing clean-tech, regardless of Solyndra

  23 February 2012

  The US Department of Energy's (DOE) days as a financier of clean technologies are over thanks to the Solyndra backlash, but budget cuts would have prevented the department from functioning in that role anyway, according to NRG Energy's chief executive.

• Project Amp loan approval possibly designed to prop up Solyndra, say Republicans

  22 February 2012

  The US Department of Energy (DOE) may have approved a $1.4 billion partial loan guarantee for a rooftop solar project last year to help prop up now bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, according to Republicans.