Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Enel Green Power to build three PV plants totaling 1 GW in Mexico | photon.info
http://news.photon.info/en/news/enel-green-power-build-three-pv-plants-totaling-1-gw-mexico
Sent from a mobile device.
Dominican Republic commissions 30 MW solar plant | photon.info
http://news.photon.info/en/news/dominican-republic-commissions-30-mw-solar-plant
Sent from a mobile device.
SunEdison could seek bankruptcy protection | photon.info
http://news.photon.info/en/news/sunedison-could-seek-bankruptcy-protection
Sent from a mobile device.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Fwd: Solar Firm Seeks Backers for 600-MW Project in Chile - Renewable Energy World
From: Rebecca Nichols <rvan@tnag.net>
Date: Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 2:26 PM
Subject: Solar Firm Seeks Backers for 600-MW Project in Chile - Renewable Energy World
To: Monty Bannerman <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>
Solar Firm Seeks Backers for 600-MW Project in Chile
Valhalla Energia is seeking partners to build a 600-MW solar project in Chile that will incorporate hydropower to deliver energy 24 hours a day.
The company is in talks with investors to raise as much as 40 percent of the estimated $1.3 billion needed for the project — $900 million for the solar component and $400 million for a 300-MW hydropower system — according to Juan Andres Camus, Santiago-based Valhalla's co-founder and chief executive officer. The rest will come from bank loans.
"We are looking for sponsors that can be part of the project as equity," Camus said in an interview in Santiago on March 18. "We are in advanced negotiations."
The Cielos de Tarapaca solar project aims to produce electricity around the clock, using an integrated solar and hydro system that pumps sea water uphill to a reservoir during the day and letting it flow through turbines at night. The project is in Chile's northern Atacama desert, the same region where the struggling Spanish developer Abengoa SA recently mothballed its $1 billion, 110-MW solar-thermal power plant that retained heat to generate power at night. The two plants represent rival technologies to store solar energy and guarantee supply after sundown.
'Risky Project'
Valhalla received environmental approval in January for the project and expects to start construction in the second half of this year. Both the solar and the hydro plant will be about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of the city of Iquique and are scheduled to go into operation in 2020.
"It is an expensive and risky project as the technology is rare in the region," said Ana Verena Lima, an analyst with of Bloomberg New Energy Finance in Sao Paulo. "But of course everything will depend on its efficiency, on the contracts and financing conditions they can get."
Valhalla is competing with a 616-MW solar plant owned by Empresa de Desarrollo de Energias Renovables Alen Walung SA, now under construction in Chile, to be the largest in Latin America.
In terms of profitability, Cielos de Tarapaca will be competitive with new thermal electric plants, according to Camus, who didn't provide details on financing. The company will focus on long-term, bilateral contracts with the copper mines that dot northern Chile and wants to participate in the next auction of Chilean power contracts later this year. It is negotiating with local and international banks for financing.
"The big opportunity in Chile is energy supply 24 hours a day and, for now, solar energy cannot accomplish that," Camus said. "The hydro project is a very efficient way of storing energy."
Copyright 2016 Bloomberg
Thursday, March 24, 2016
BBC News: Kepler space telescope catches star explosion
Kepler space telescope catches star explosion
Sent from a mobile device.
Residential Solar Business a Wild ride
Between March 1 and March 18, SolarCity’s shares rose 50 percent, to $27.06. And over the last three days, SolarCity has given back more than 17 percent of that, including a loss of almost 10 percent on Wednesday, to close at $22.36 a share. The only major event involving SolarCity of late came Tuesday, when the company closed a new tax equity fund of $131 million to cover the costs of solar equipment and installation for consumers.
San Jose Mercury News. February 24 2016
Monty Bannerman
ArcStar Energy
+1-646-402-5076
www.arcstarenergy.com
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Monday, March 21, 2016
Near Default, Federally Backed $2.2 Billion Solar Facility Granted Extra Time
This bad bet backing so much government backed debt on concentrating solar is going to blow back on the entire US industry. Especially in an election year.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Bloomberg: The First U.S. Climate Refugees
Bloomberg - The First U.S. Climate Refugees http://bv.ms/1nZzxSQ
Friday, March 18, 2016
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Fwd: What do you think about the pricing that the CFE has set for the clean energy auctions?
From: Jamie Dowswell <jamiedowswell.bdnfuhcwltinyvjb@greenpower.msgfocus.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 11:06 AM
Subject: What do you think about the pricing that the CFE has set for the clean energy auctions?
To: mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com
| Dear Monty, I hope you're well. Have you heard about what's been happening lately with Mexico's CFE? Well, I wanted to share with you the latest video insights from our Clean Energy Briefing Series! Enrique Nieto, Director of Sustainable Projects for Mexican development bank Nafinsa is asked for his opinion on the feasibility of the pricing that has been set by the CFE for the clean energy auctions. View his response (in Spanish) here. I hope you find this interesting and do share your comments with me by emailing me. Best wishes, Jamie Dowswell P.S. For more insights into the Mexican clean energy sector visit MIREC WEEK.
|
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Fwd: Reaching a Feasible Utopia for Renewables in Latin America and the Caribbean - Renewable Energy World
Reaching a Feasible Utopia for Renewables in Latin America and the Caribbean
Since 1970 there has been great interest in using renewable energies in the 46 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), where currently only three countries have no policies or strategies for the promotion and/or development of this energy source.
Combining the objectives set by the six largest economies in the region — Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru — we see that LAC countries aim to add at least 120 GW of renewable capacity to their electrical grid by 2030.
Will It Be Possible to Meet the LAC Renewable Energy Objective?
LAC is a fully heterogeneous geographical area, where six large regional integration processes coexist, with very different interests and approaches to deal with a common challenge: how to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable electricity throughout the region.
Considering that the installed power generating capacity in the countries mentioned above is over 250 GW, with more than a half being generated byhydroelectric sources, LAC's goal of adding 120 GW of clean energy in the next 15 years is a feasible utopia.
A Feasible Utopia?
At the regional level, LAC has significant power shortage, not only in generation, but also in transmission and distribution. So, technically and commercially, 120 GW by 2030 is potentially feasible — as long as prices are related to those handled internationally.
Nonetheless, the political, economical and social conjunctures in the different countries that form the region are very different and quite independent, so the utopian component to achieve the goal will be to ensure that all stakeholders in the region work strategically and jointly.
What to Expect for Solar PV in the Region?
The solar PV market in LAC is being led by Chile, but it will gradually see tremendous growth in other countries in the region, especially in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Peru. It is estimated that the region will exceed 11 GW of PV installed capacity by 2018.
LAC is the global frontier for unsubsidized solar markets. With high insulation levels (AbraPampa, Jujuy State, Argentina enjoys 2.32 MWh by square meter annual energy) and growing demand, the region is positioned to be one of the most attractive on the planet for solar development in the mid- and long term.
By 2030 — at least — 30 GW of solar capacity may be commissioned in the LAC region. That estimate takes into account studies published by United Bank of Switzerland — in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the International Energy Agency — where they expressed that solar could become 25 percent of the global installed base by 2050, as well as the geographical conditions at the region for the development of solar energy.
To carry out this process successfully, I suggest considering some aspects of the Indian Solar Model. India has begun a transforming process to shift its energy matrix, setting a target for 100 GW of solar power by 2022. At the beginning, India was thinking of imposing an anti-dumping duty to foreign equipment, but it quickly understood that the local industry lacked the capacity to provide the modules for the solar projects it wanted to implement. Thus the country created a program where a percentage of the capacity is tendered under Domestic Content Requirement (DCR), between 10 percent and 25 percent, and in the tenders where this program is used, the customer pays a higher price per MWh.
Renewable Energy in LAC: Business Development
The enactment of renewable energy policies, by public entities, provides the tangible and favorable framework for the development of electricity from renewable sources; development that is carried out mostly by private companies under different structures, e.g., joint ventures and special purpose vehicles.
The countries that have made significant progress in developing renewable energies are those that have understood and incentivized the private sector, with simple and clear rules for the private companies focused on generation with clean sources. With this clean energy, each country established a business environment for growing their competitive industries. In Chile, for example, they ensure electricity for the mining sector or the export fruit sector.
Coincidentally, those countries that do not have an attractive scenario for developers and/or generating companies are the countries that have made less progress towards a clean energy generation matrix.
It is critical to create a simple, clear and friendly framework for private companies. That framework would be the key to achieving – or not – the 120-GW goal by 2030 for the LAC region. Other factors that could contribute to the failure of this objective are: corruption, political crises, lack of access to capital, legal instability and currency fluctuations among others.
However, we must keep in mind: high risk is needed for high reward!
Lead image: Solar farm. Credit: Shutterstock.
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Fwd: Argentina Preparing Law to Boost Consumption of Clean Energy - Renewable Energy World
Argentina Preparing Law to Boost Consumption of Clean Energy
Argentina is poised to approve the final details of a new law designed to give a boost to clean energy as President Mauricio Macri steps up his efforts to fight climate change.
The law will impose fines on large users of electricity that don't get at least 8 percent of their power from renewable sources, starting in 2018, according to Juan Carlos Villalonga, a lawmaker from the governing party Cambiemos.
The legal framework will be completed this week. Once enacted, the government will auction 1 gigawatt-hour of electricity from renewable generators.
"Once the framework is fixed by the government, with clear rules for all the players, Argentina will be able to quadruple the amount of electricity currently on offer from renewable companies as required by law before 2018," Villalonga said in an interview in Buenos Aires after meeting with the Energy and Mining Minister Juan Jose Aranguren and a delegation from the Global Wind Energy Council.
Fossil Fuels
More than 60 percent of Argentina's energy comes from fossil fuels. The country has 215 megawatts of installed wind-power capacity and almost nosolar or biomass plants, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Lawmakers approved policies in September to increase clean-energy generation. The new rules will require industrial consumers to gradually increase their use of renewable power to 25 percent by 2025. The penalty for non-compliance is equivalent to the cost of imported diesel.
"Companies will gradually return to invest in Argentina," said Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Wind Energy Council, an international trade group for the wind-power industry. "Prices per megawatt-hour are expected to at least double in first auction. In future auctions, prices would decrease."
The law also creates a fund to finance or buy stakes in renewable-power projects. It enables bilateral power purchase agreements directly between generators and large consumers, instead of restricting those consumers to the state-owned utility Cia. Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Electrico SA, known as Cammesa.
"Argentina's new government is looking closely to renewable sources, in a strategic way," said Lilian Alves, a New Energy Finance analyst in Sao Paulo. "Argentina needs to add power capacity right now. In the last years, there were few additions, while the energy demand is still increasing. Wind and solar energy would be a good alternative, because these parks can be built in a short time."
©2016 Bloomberg News
Lead image: People with flag of Argentina. Credit: Shutterstock.
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Monday, March 14, 2016
Patagonia creates a $35 million fund for rooftop PV: pv-magazine
Formation of tax equity pools by individual corps with big tax bills and green marketing drivers signals corporate awareness and acceptance of this investment becoming more mainstream.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Bloomberg: Arrest Warrant Sought for Lula as His Protege Is in Trouble
March 4 -- Bloomberg's John Fraher and Raymond Colitt discuss the former president of Brazil being detained and what that may mean for current Brazil President Rouseff's future. They speak on "Bloomberg ‹GO›." Once again, Brazil's embattled President Dilma Rousseff finds herself scrambling to stay in power.
To read the entire article, go to http://bloom.bg/1RaSFVv
Sent from the Bloomberg iPad application. Download the free application at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bloomberg-for-ipad/id364304764?mt=8
Sent from a mobile device.
Fwd: New Jersey SRECs Remain Strong
New Jersey market re-emerging strongly.
From: "FlettExchange.com" <info@flettexchange.com>
Date: Mar 8, 2016 1:59 PM
Subject: New Jersey SRECs Remain Strong
To: "apope@arcstarenergy.com" <apope@arcstarenergy.com>
Cc:
|
