News in brief - 09 May 2008

- Royal Dutch Shell will drop out of the world’s largest offshore windfarm due to soaring costs as well as weak and inefficient government policies to promote renewables. The London Array was being developed by Shell, E.ON UK (a subsidiary of German utility EON) and Denmark’s Dong Energy, with 346 turbines to be installed in the River Thames Estuary in southeast England. The facility would have capacity of 1,000 MW, enough for 75,000 homes. Shell says the decision was part of an “ongoing review of project and investment choices” and media sources said the company will invest in onshore wind projects in the US instead. A spokesman for E.ON says the Shell decision has introduced “a new element of risk into the project” where the current economics “are marginal at best.” The UK generates 4% of its electricity from renewables, and is committed to sourcing 15% of all energy (including electricity) from renewables by 2020.

- Two student-built solar-powered vehicles competed in the 2008 Shell Eco-marathon Americas in Houston, Texas. Thirty-two teams with 300 students from Canada, Mexico and the US from four high schools and 23 universities, with 25 vehicles powered by combustion engines, four by fuel cell/hydrogen technology, one by diesel, one by LPG and two by solar. The top combustion vehicle achieved 2,843 miles per gallon (equivalent to 1,208 km per litre) while the Purdue Solar Racing team from Indiana took first place at 2,862 mpg (1,216 km per litre).

- ARISE Technologies of Canada has started producing MW of solar cells at its plant in Bischofswerda, Germany. Construction on the 13-hectare site started last August and the facility will produce 35 MW of cells per year, using ‘off-the-shelf’ technology with an efficiency of 15%. ARISE recently signed a supply contract for a second line at the Bischofswerda plant that will increase annual capacity to 80 MW, with cell efficiency of 18%. By 2012, the company wants to produce 560 MW of solar cells from 12 production lines, with efficiency of 20%.

- Nations of the Asia-Pacific region will cooperate on renewable energy and disseminate renewable energy technologies. Delegates to the UN Economic & Social Commission for Asia & the Pacific (ESCAP) agreed to boost collaboration on developing renewables in order to decrease reliance on fossil fuels and their long-term energy security. A recent ESCAP study found that the region would consume half of the world's energy demand by 2030 under current trends, 80% of which will from oil and coal. Almost 2 billion people in the region rely on traditional biomass fuels and 1 billion lack access to electricity. ESCAP will collaborate with multilateral funding agencies, research institutions and public-private partnerships.

- Maryland governor Martin O'Malley has banned wind turbines from being constructed on any state-owned land, arguing that he could not justify the consequences that commercial wind would have on publicly-held land. The decision to reject a plan to clear 400 acres of forest to install 100 turbines along Backbone Mountain in Garrett County should not be misinterpreted as a rejection of wind power in the state, he added.

- General Motors has taken an ownership stake in a renewable energy company that is working to develop cellulosic ethanol from waste biomass. It is the car maker’s second partnership this year with a startup firm that is creating a green fuel from feedstock other than corn. The value of GM's ownership stake was not disclosed; the company wants to double its annual production of flexible-fuel vehicles to 800,000 by 2010 and to make half of its vehicles capable of running on E85 ethanol by 2012.

- The global headquarters of Dell computers in Texas is powering 100% of its 2.1 million square-foot campus with 100% green power, the latest step in meeting its 2008 carbon neutral commitment. The 10,000-employee campus obtains 60% of its electricity from existing windfarms provided by TXU Energy, with 40% from a landfill gas-to-energy plant. Last September, Dell said it would make company-owned and leased facilities carbon neutral this year by improving energy-efficiency and maximizing the purchase of green power. “The purchase of green power gives Dell price certainty on its operational costs for power, and the company expects it may see cost benefits to using green power in the future,” it explains.

- Iowa governor Chet Culver has signed a renewable energy bill into law, declaring that “our renewable energy expedition has begun.” The legislation extends a tax credit to 2012 and facilitates the use of tax credits for renewable energy projects, and allows tax credit certificates to be sold an unlimited number of times (rather than just once) and provides incentives for banks to get involved.

- Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick says “the age of fossil fuels is coming to an end” and urges business leaders in the state to support renewable energies. The clean energy sector employs 14,000 people and Patrick says “we must think of this as a shift in age, not just a shift in resource.”

- Tenaga Nasional of Malaysia will purchase electricity generated from a small renewable energy power project developed by Gunung Medan Hydro. The contract was signed under the Small Renewable Energy Power program which was launched by the government in 2001 to promote the use of green power. TNB will purchase the power for 21 years with a value of RM3.3 million per year.

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