THE MONEY IN SMART BLDG ENERGY MANAGEMENT

THE MONEY IN SMART BLDG ENERGY MANAGEMENT Building Energy Management Systems; IT-Based Monitoring and Control Systems for Smart Buildings: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts

3Q 2013 (Navigant Research)

“Driven by technology advances as well as growing familiarity among customers with the benefits they create, the market for building energy management systems (BEMSs) continues to grow. Digital controls continue to proliferate…While BEMSs have traditionally focused on two key functions – energy visualization and energy analytics – the market is expanding into adjacent functions, such as demand response and property management, broadening the capabilities of next-generation BEMSs and engaging a broader set of players in the building market. Navigant Research forecasts that the BEMS market will grow from just under $1.8 billion in annual revenue in 2012 to nearly $5.6 billion in 2020…” click here for more

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CHINA WIND TO PANAMA VIA CHICAGO

Goldwind USA Closes Financing For Panama's First Wind Farm

August 5, 2013 (North American Windpower)

“[Chicago-based] Goldwind USA has closed a $71 million project financing deal for the 55 MW Penonome wind farm, the first in Panama…[T]he project represents the largest wind energy project using Goldwind wind turbines financed by Western lenders. Sponsors for the deal, Goldwind International Holdings Limited and Unión Eólica Panameña S.A. (UEP), were represented by members of Goldwind Capital in Chicago and UEP in Panama…Banco Internacional de Costa Rica, S.A. and Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento, S.A. led the financing…The 55 MW first phase of the total planned 220 MW Penonome wind project will feature 22 of Goldwind’s 2.5 MW permanent magnet direct drive wind turbines. Once completed in 2014, the 220 MW Penonome wind project will be the largest wind energy project in both Panama and Central America…” click here for more

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EU SUN MARKET SHIFTING

European PV Demand to Depend More on Business Models than Trade Disputes

Tim Murphy, July 31, 2013 (SolarBuzz)

“With the European market currently in a strongly transitional phase, the 2013 market is expected to reach 11.2 GW, down 33% Y/Y from calendar year 2012. Demand over the next four quarters (Q3’13 to Q2’14) is set to reach 10.6 GW, with the top 3 markets being Germany, the UK, and Italy…The transition is in large part due to a shift away from premium incentives as the primary market driver, towards competitively priced PV electricity. In Germany and other markets, residential consumers will see more value from avoiding electricity purchases than from selling PV generated electricity at the FIT rate. The same applies to commercial consumers, though to a lesser extent and in somewhat fewer markets…” click here for more

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WHY BRITS LIKE NEW ENERGY

New UKERC research defines values which determine public acceptance of energy system change

17 July 2013 (UK Research Centre)

“…[The study reveals] that people in Britain are fully supportive of the idea of energy system change...[and highlights] key factors that influence public assessment of proposed changes…[T]he research shows that the public favours changes that are: energy efficient rather than wasteful; protect the environment and nature; are reliable, accessible and safe; allow consumers a certain amount of autonomy and power; are socially just and fair; improve on what has gone before; score well in terms of quality and performance; and, fit with a long-term, sustainable trajectory, rather than being just a short-term fix…” click here for more

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WORLD INVESTORS HAVE $14TRIL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Green policy failures are choking off billions in private investment; Fund managers are concerned that governments are not doing enough to mitigate effects of global warming

Tom Bawden, August 6, 2013 (UK Independent)

“…With global warming set to wreak accelerating devastation on the global economy, the world’s biggest fund managers – who between them control $14trillion of investments in everything from wind turbines and agriculture to property and manufacturing – say they are considerably more worried about the issue than they were a year ago. They point to extreme weather events such as last year’s Superstorm Sandy in the US as evidence that climate change is already upon us and are concerned that governments, including Britain’s, are not doing nearly enough to mitigate the effects.” click here for more

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BUILDING-INTEGRATED PV GETS BOOST

Austin’s Heliovolt to expand; Solar product producer raises another $9.5 million, laying groundwork for global expansion.

Brian Gaar, August 6, 2013 (Austin American-Statesman)

“…[S]olar energy company HelioVolt Corp. is continuing to lay the groundwork for a commercial expansion…SK Group, whose holdings include South Korea’s largest refiner, has invested another $9.5 million in HelioVolt, bringing its total recent investment in the company to $19 million…The money will fund a global expansion for Helio-Volt, which makes thin-film solar products that can be incorporated into building materials…” click here for more

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CELLULOSIC BIOFUELS GO COMMERCIAL SCALE

DOE Announces Biofuel Milestone

August 2, 2013 (SmartMeters)

“The United States Department of Energy has recognized America’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production at INEOS Bio’s Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Florida. The project uses a hybrid of gasification and fermentation technology to convert wood scraps, grass clippings, and other waste materials into transportation fuels as well as energy for heat and power…The Indian River County BioEnergy Center (Center) will have an annual output of eight million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year from vegetative, yard, and municipal solid waste as well as six megawatts of clean, renewable power annually—enough to run the entire facility and provide excess power to the local community…” click here for more

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COMMUNITY WIND GETS GO IN MAINE

First Wind Gets Green Light for Hancock County Wind Farm

July 25, 2013 (Maine Public Broadcasting Network)

“…The Department of Environmental Protection has given First Wind the green light to build an 18-turbine wind farm on two ridge tops in Hancock County…The company plans to construct the $110-million project on commercial forestland…not far from the company's existing Bull Hill wind farm…[The department concluded] the wind farm would not have an ‘unreasonable adverse effect’ on…scenic character…The Hancock project is expected to be tied into First Wind's 19-turbine Bull Hill farm, which went online in 2012.” click here for more

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SOLAR LAND PLANNING CRITIQUED

NREL Report Highlights Land Use Requirements For Solar Plants

Michael Puttre, 31 July 2013 (Solar Industry)

“A new [NREL] report…on the land use requirements of solar power plants suggests planners and developers tend to underestimate the acreage required for their projects…[D]ata from 72% of the solar power plants installed or under construction in the U.S…found a wide range of total land use requirements for solar power plants across technologies. Generation-weighted averages for total area requirements range from about 3 acres per GWh per year (GWh/yr) for concentrating solar power towers and concentrated photovoltaic installations to 5.5 acres per GWh/yr for small two-axis flat panel PV power plants…” click here for more

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REPUBLICAN LEADERS BACK OBAMA CLIMATE ACTION

A Republican Case for Climate Action

William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas, William K. Reilly, and Christine Todd Whitman, August 1, 2013 (NY Times)

"Each of us took turns over the past 43 years running the Environmental Protection Agency. We served Republican presidents, but we have a message that transcends political affiliation: the United States must move now on substantive steps to curb climate change, at home and internationally…The costs of inaction are undeniable. The lines of scientific evidence grow only stronger and more numerous. And the window of time remaining to act is growing smaller: delay could mean that warming becomes “locked in.”…A market-based approach, like a carbon tax, would be the best path to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, but that is unachievable in the current political gridlock in Washington. Dealing with this political reality, President Obama’s June climate action plan lays out achievable actions that would deliver real progress…Rather than argue against his proposals, our leaders in Congress should endorse them and start the overdue debate about what bigger steps are needed and how to achieve them…” click here for more

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LOW SUN COSTS HOLD

Report: EU Tariffs Ending The Era Of Low-Cost Chinese Solar Modules

23 July 2013 (Solar Industry)

“The European Union's (EU) anti-dumping tariffs are spurring an increase in prices for Chinese solar modules, marking the end of a period when inexpensive photovoltaic devices enabled fast growth of installations in the region…[according to] a new report by IHS…After declining for 48 months since the first quarter of 2009, with a seasonal uptick in February 2013, the average price of Chinese crystal polysilicon modules in Europe rose by 4% in June to EUR 0.54 per watt, up from EUR 0.52 in May…[HIS] expects prices to continue climbing in July and then again in September, with an increase to an average of EUR 0.55 per watt by the end of that month…” click here for more

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HEAT WAVE SPIKES GRID STRESS AND POWER PRICES

Short-term, real-time power prices reflect system strain during Northeast heat wave

July 19, 2013 (U. S. Energy Information Administration)

“The first sustained heat wave of summer 2013 in the Northeast hit this week and electric systems in New England, New York, and across the Mid-Atlantic region are contending with the stress of meeting elevated demand levels for electricity to cool homes and workplaces amid high temperatures and humidity. Daily temperatures in these regions reached highs in the upper 90s. Real-time electric power prices in the New York Independent System Operator area peaked at more than $800 per megawatthour (MWh) on July 17 in New York City…High real-time power prices are an indicator of electric system stress…” click here for more

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BIOFUELS MAKER SAPPHIRE PAYS OFF DOE LOAN

Biofuel Company Latest To Pay Off Government Loan Early

Antony Ingram, August 1, 2013 (Green Car Reports)

"…[Like] Tesla Motors [NDSQ:TSLA]…biofuel company Sapphire Energy has…[paid pack its Department of Energy] $54.5 million loan with years to spare…Like Tesla's DoE loan, Sapphire's was granted back in 2009, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture…The company's aim was to build a fully integrated algae-to-crude oil commercial demonstration facility in Columbus, NM. Not only did Sapphire's 'Green Crude Farm' project hit both its time and budget targets, but it's now an operational facility producing renewable crude oil from algae and cyanobacteria on a continuous basis…” click here for more

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UK NEW ENERGY IPO GETS $460MIL BOOST

U.K.’s Biggest Clean Energy IPO Raises $460 Million

Louise Downing, July 24, 2013 (Bloomberg News)

“The Renewables Infrastructure Group Ltd., raised 300 million pounds ($460 million) in the U.K.’s biggest initial public offering of a clean-power company, to invest in solar and onshore wind projects…The proceeds from the share sale on the London Stock Exchange will be used to buy 14 onshore wind farms and four solar photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 276 megawatts… in the U.K., France and Ireland…” click here for more

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BIG MONEY GOING INTO WIND

Q2 2013 Wind Funding and M&A Report Executive Summary

August 2013 (Mercom Capital)

"…VC funding totaled $210 million in four deals in Q2 2013 compared to $16 million in three deals in Q1 2013…Total funding into the wind sector was $3.5 billion in Q2 2013 including VC funding, debt financing and announced project funding deals…There were six M&A transactions in Q2 2013, amounting to $328 million…Announced large-scale project funding in Q2 2013 totaled $3.2 billion in 24 deals compared to $6.2 billion in 29 deals last quarter…This quarter had the greatest number of announced project acquisitions since Mercom began tracking the sector…” click here for more

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