News in brief - 26 November 2008

FiT for Australian solar?
AUSTRALIA, December 1, 2008. Australia is in a strong position to develop a thriving national solar industry over the next 20 years, according to a report into the renewable energy sector released by the Clean Energy Council (CEC).

UK Lords question dash for intermittent RE
LONDON, UK, December 1, 2008. The UK Government's efforts to meet its EU 2020 renewable energy targets, even if successful, may encourage the UK to adopt an unnecessarily costly and risky approach to reducing carbon emissions, according to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee.

American Wind Wildlife Institute launched
AUSTIN, TEXAS, USA, November 27, 2008. Twenty of US’ science-based conservation and environmental groups and wind energy companies have created a national institute to facilitate timely and responsible development of wind energy while protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat.

PSE expands Wild Horse wind farm
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON, USA, November 27, 2008. Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has placed an order for 22 wind turbine generators from Vestas for the proposed expansion of the utility’s Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility in Kittitas County, Washington, USA.

EREC Technology Roadmap 2020
PARIS, FRANCE/BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, November 27, 2008. At the recent EU Presidency Renewable Energy Policy Forum, the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) launched its Technology Roadmap showing how to reach the 20% renewable energy share in final energy consumption by 2020.

SolarWorld airs plans for German Opel sites
BONN, GERMANY, November 27, 2008. SolarWorld AG is planning to submit an offer to the US car maker General Motors (GM) to take over the four German factories and the Rüsselsheim development centre of Adam Opel GmbH.

China's wind market unfazed by global slowdown
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, USA, November 26, 2008. China’s plans to reach 100 GW of installed wind power generation capacity by 2020 are unlikely to be derailed—or even side-tracked—by the current global financial crisis, according to a recent study of China’s towering wind power market by analyst Emerging Energy Research (EER).

New rating system for green building performance
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, USA, November 26, 2008. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 2009, the update to the internationally recognised LEED green building certification programme, has passed member ballot, and will be introduced in 2009 as the next major evolution of the existing LEED rating systems for commercial buildings.

AMSC and Shenyang Blower team up on 2 MW turbines
SHENYANG, CHINA, November 26, 2008. American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) and Shenyang Blower Works (SBW), a Chinese industrial equipment manufacturer, have signed an agreement for co-development work for 2 MW wind turbines.

Crown Estate launches Round 1 for marine power
LONDON, UK, November 25, 2008. The Crown Estate is now inviting initial proposals from developers for the UK’s first commercial marine power sites, located in the Pentland Firth and surrounding waters north of Scotland.

Impax and FTSE expand Environmental Index series
LONDON, UK, November 25, 2008. The environmental investment company Impax Group and the index company FTSE Group have announced the expansion of the FTSE Environmental Opportunities Index Series with the addition of nine new indices.

SolFocus announces 25% efficient concentrator PV
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, USA, November 25, 2008. SolFocus has launched its latest concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solution – the SolFocus 1100S with panel efficiencies of 25%.

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