Iberdrola sells wind farms in France for $463 million

An international consortium is buying 32 wind farms in France from Iberdrola. GE Energy Financial Services, asset manager MEAG and EDF Energies Nouvelles are purchasing this portfolio of onshore wind farms for around €350 million ($463.2 million), plus an earn-out of €50 million ($66.31 million), depending on production over the next five years. The farms, which are spread throughout France, were commissioned...

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European Commission grants $1.59 billion for renewable energy demonstration projects

The European Commission gave out over 1.2 billion euro ($1.59 billion) in grants this week to 23 “highly innovative” renewable energy demonstration projects in a bid to boost the development of clean technologies in the European Union. The funds were taken from revenues obtained from the sale of 200 million emissions allowances from new participants’ reserve of the E.U. Emissions Trading System. The funding will deliver...

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U.S. adds anti-dumping duties to wind turbine towers from China and Vietnam

Fresh off the heels of imposing anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar manufacturers (see related story), the U.S. Department of Commerce has again found foreign manufacturers of renewable energy technologies to be selling their products at unfairly low prices. This time, the Commerce Department found that manufacturers of wind turbine towers from both China and Vietnam dumped the products in the United States, materially...

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E.U. on track to meet 20% renewable energy target by 2020 - report

The European Union is most likely to meet its 20 percent renewable energy target by 2020, according to a new report from the EurObserv'ER Barometer program. The program, which measures the progress in renewable energy deployment in member states of the E.U., found that the share of renewables in the gross final energy consumption of the E.U. climbed from 12.5 percent in 2010 to 13.4 percent in 2011, an increase of 0.9 points...

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World’s largest aluminum recycling center breaks ground in Germany

Ground has been broken in Nachterstedt, Germany for a $250 million facility which will be the world’s largest aluminum recycling center. Aluminum recycling company Novelis began working on the recycling center on November 26 and expects to commission the plant by mid-2014. The facility is adjacent to their existing aluminum rolling mill and will enable the company to produce 400,000 metric tons of aluminum...

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Energy giants form coalition to ensure E.U.’s decarbonization

Five large names in the European energy industry formed a corporate coalition that aims to reinforce the low-carbon energy policy in the regional bloc. Alpine-Energie, Dong Energy, First Solar, GE Energy and Shell, all big investors in gas and renewable energy projects, said they will together support the European Union’s climate mitigation plans. The European Union, under its “climate action roadmap,”...

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Solar PV playing a key role in Europe’s decarbonization

For the past 10 years, the European photovoltaic industry had grown by an average of over 40 percent yearly, while production costs have dropped by around 60 percent, according to the European Commission’s Joint Research Center in a report. Meanwhile, last year, Europe collectively comprised two thirds, or more than 63 percent, of global solar PV installations, earning the reputation as the “world leader in solar...

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Irish wind industry policy paper pushing government to do more

Ireland enjoys constant winds, with almost all parts of the country having either excellent or very good wind resources. It could thus be one of the best spots in Europe for generating low-carbon power, delivering a competitive energy-based industrial sector” at the same time. The Irish Wind Energy Association came up with this conclusion in its new policy paper, “Export Policy – A Renewables Development Policy...

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Two thirds of the world’s new solar PV installed in Europe in 2011

In 2011, two-thirds of new photovoltaic installations across the globe, were in Europe, according to a recent report by the European Commission's Joint Research Center. The European Union is considered as the leading region in terms of solar installations, accounting for over 70 percent of worldwide electricity generated from solar energy in 2011. Last year saw an additional 18.5 gigawatts of P.V. capacity...

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Spain to implement 6 percent tax on power generation revenue

The Spanish cabinet approved a proposal to impose a 6 percent tax on all energy production in the country – both from renewable and non-renewable sources – to make up for its accumulated tariff deficit. The tariff deficit, the difference between the actual cost of energy and what the consumer pays, has reportedly reached 24 billion euros in Spain ($31.5 billion) in December 2011 largely due to subsidies for renewable energy production.

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