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Energy Companies Risk $2.2 Trillion as Climate Goals Cut Demand
Nov 25, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Rakteem Katakey
Oil, natural gas and coal producers are risking $2.2 trillion by investing in projects for which there will be no demand if the world meets a United Nations target of limiting the rise in temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius, a non-profit think tank said. -
To ease trade problems, Chinese solar companies move production abroad
Nov 24, 2015 | Environment & Energy News
By Coco Liu
With the dominating role of Chinese factories in the global solar supply chain, the label "Made in China" has adorned the majority of solar panels installed in the world. But now, some Chinese solar manufacturers are out to get a different label. -
FOE: Finance for 100% renewables exist, but policies are absent
Nov 24, 2015 | PV Magazine
In a new report, Friends of the Earth (FOE) calculates that switching to 100% renewable energy in Africa, Latin America and most of Asia by 2030 would cost US$5.15 trillion – equivalent to the amount held by the world’s 782 wealthiest people. -
Utility-Scale PV O&M Will Surpass 390 GW By 2020
Nov 25, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Joshua S Hill
A new report has concluded that the global market for utility-scale solar PV operations and maintenance (O&M) will reach 390 GW by 2020. -
Clean Energy Shocker: Emerging Economies Invest More Than Wealthier Nations
Nov 24, 2015 | Triple Pundit
By Tina Casey
For the first time ever, clean energy investment by China and other emerging economies has surpassed the mark for wealthier nations. This significant flip in global clean-energy trends spells more bad news for fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil, which have been counting on emerging economies both to grow their business and to leverage a positive image for their brands. -
Poorer countries lead growth in clean energy
Nov 24, 2015 | Environment & Energy News
By Camille von Kaenel
Renewable energy continues to rise in developing countries, which attracted more new investment and built more new capacity than wealthier countries in 2014, according to a new analysis. -
Europe’s Largest Solar PV Plant Connected To Grid
Nov 25, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Henry Lindon
The 300 megawatt Cestas solar photovoltaic project in France has now been fully connected to the electric grid, according to recent reports. -
World Bank plans $16bn fund to fight African climate change
Nov 25, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Ian Clover
World Bank will push for investment from development organizations, private partners and governments, while footing $5.7 billion itself to help stem the causes of climate change in Africa. -
Google buys 61MW of solar power from North Carolina data center
Nov 24, 2015 | Recharge
By Richard A. Kessler
Duke Energy has secured Google as the launch customer in a program in North Carolina that provides renewable energy to offset new load at facilities – in this case, 61MW of solar power for expansion of the internet giant’s data center there. -
Las Vegas to Run Facilities With Only Clean Power
Nov 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Eckhouse
Las Vegas is going green. The city is planning to run municipal buildings, fire stations, parks, streetlights and other facilities exclusively with renewable energy, under a deal announced Nov. 24 with the Berkshire Hathaway Inc.-owned utility NV Energy Inc. The agreement doesn't cover the famously bright casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.
Industry News
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Energy Companies Risk $2.2 Trillion as Climate Goals Cut Demand
Nov 25, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Rakteem Katakey
Oil, natural gas and coal producers are risking $2.2 trillion by investing in projects for which there will be no demand if the world meets a United Nations target of limiting the rise in temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius, a non-profit think tank said.
No new coal mines are needed, oil demand will peak around 2020 and growth in gas will disappoint industry expectations, Carbon Tracker Initiative said Wednesday in a report. The U.S. has the greatest exposure with $412 billion of projects at risk up to 2025, followed by Canada with $220 billion, China $179 billion, Russia $147 billion and Australia $103 billion, according to the think tank.
“Too few energy companies recognize that they will need to reduce supply of their carbon-intensive products to avoid pushing us beyond the internationally recognized carbon budget,” James Leaton, head of research and co-author of the report, said in a statement. “Clean technology and climate policy are already reducing fossil fuel demand. Misreading these trends will destroy shareholder value.”
Policy makers, including about 140 heads of state, are scheduled to meet in Paris next month as they work toward an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Europe’s biggest oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA, have come together to promote natural gas as a cleaner fuel to meet growing energy demand. Oil Risk
The biggest risk is to the oil industry, with $1.3 trillion of spending on new projects and $124 billion on existing ones unlikely to be needed over the next decade because there won’t be any growth in demand, Carbon Tracker Initiative said. About $532 billion of natural gas projects and $219 billion of coal will also be left “stranded,” it said.
In oil, 43 percent of investments in new projects and 33 percent of new supply should be shelved to align with a 2 degree scenario, according to the report. This will help avert 28 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Overall, energy companies need to avoid generating 156 billion tons of CO2 to work toward achieving climate change goals. Central Role
Energy companies will have to be at the center of efforts to cut emissions. Scientists warn that burning fossil fuels has put the planet on track to warm by more than the globally-agreed goal of 2 degrees, melting glaciers and ice caps, raising sea levels and prolonging droughts.
The UN in June urged the heads of six European oil majors to plan for phasing out fossil-fuel emissions by 2100. The companies had the previous month come together to discuss ways they can better engage in the climate debate. In that debate, they estimate energy demand will continue to expand, driven by developing nations such as India and China and a growing middle class with more disposable income.
The world still needs a lot of coal, gas and oil and carbon-based fuels will meet three-quarters of energy needs over next 30 years, Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson said Oct. 7 in London.
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To ease trade problems, Chinese solar companies move production abroad
Nov 24, 2015 | Environment & Energy News
By Coco Liu
With the dominating role of Chinese factories in the global solar supply chain, the label "Made in China" has adorned the majority of solar panels installed in the world. But now, some Chinese solar manufacturers are out to get a different label.
Xi'an LONGi Silicon Materials Corp., a solar producer based in central China, recently announced it will build a factory in India with an investment of about $222 million. If all goes as planned, the company says, the new plant will bring its overseas manufacturing capacity from zero to 500 megawatts.
LONGi is the latest among a growing number of Chinese solar companies that have moved production abroad. According to estimates at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, overseas facilities are expected to make up nearly one-tenth of all China-owned solar manufacturing capacity by the end of this year.
Putting that into numbers, it would be about 5 gigawatts of manufacturing capacity for solar cells and solar panels, the market intelligence firm says.
This is far behind what Chinese solar companies could produce at home, indicating that "Made in China" is nowhere near the stage of fading out. But a wave of new facilities announcements also sends out a clear signal that there is nothing small or temporary about Chinese solar companies' ambition to globalize their production.
Canadian Solar Inc., a Nasdaq-listed solar equipment maker that has most of its operations in China, said this month that it will be expanding manufacturing bases in Canada, Brazil and Southeast Asia. Earlier this year, JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd., another leading Chinese solar manufacturer, unveiled a plan of building a factory in Malaysia, following its production in South Africa and Portugal.
And the list could go on and on.
"Most first-tier Chinese companies have already built or have announced building factories outside China," said Edurne Zoco, a principal analyst for the solar research group at IHS.
Zoco added that some smaller players have also spread their ties. China's Zhongli Talesun Solar Co. Ltd., for one, has started producing solar panels this month in Thailand.Circumventing trade sanctions
"Overseas manufacturing is a trend," explained Armand Cao, an analyst following China's energy sector at Beijing-based Cinda Securities. Cao said this trend emerged only in the last couple of years, when the relations between Chinese solar producers and their key trading partners began to turn sour.
In 2012, the United States slapped preliminary punitive tariffs on China-made solar cells for what it said were dumping and unfair government subsidies. The European Union then followed suit, launching the bloc's biggest ever anti-dumping action against more than 100 Chinese solar producers.
To dodge penalties imposed by their two major buyers, Chinese solar producers have begun setting up factories outside China. The trade disputes have also provided momentum for the Chinese to diversify sales markets, which, in turn, has fueled their desire for overseas manufacturing.
"Hot spots include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, Turkey, Germany and Canada," said Wang Xiaoting, an analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, referring to countries in which Chinese solar companies prefer to build their manufacturing plants.
"The locations for new plants are picked by considering costs and convenience to explore emerging markets," Wang explained.Developing emerging markets, cutting labor costs
That is particularly true in the case of JinkoSolar. Before the recent economic crisis and currency risks forced JinkoSolar to postpone its decision, the Chinese solar manufacturer planned to open a factory in Brazil, where local authorities have lured project developers to use components sourced from domestic suppliers by offering them cheap loans.
LONGi's recent announcement is also viewed as an attempt to cope with rules in India, which demands local content in solar products.
Reuters reported that peak power demand in India is expected to double over the next five years from around 140 GW now. To help meet rising demand while limiting greenhouse gas emissions, India wants 100 GW of new capacity to come from solar energy, with at least 8 GW of that from locally produced solar cells.
Besides that, experts say, cheaper labor costs have helped countries like India win over China in terms of attracting solar manufacturers. Dezan Shira & Associates, an Asia-focused investment advisory firm, compared minimum-wage levels between the two nations in 2013. Their findings show that workers in Shanghai, with the highest salaries among seven surveyed Chinese cities, made at least $264 per month. That figure was only $110 for their Indian counterparts.
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FOE: Finance for 100% renewables exist, but policies are absent
Nov 24, 2015 | PV Magazine
In a new report, Friends of the Earth (FOE) calculates that switching to 100% renewable energy in Africa, Latin America and most of Asia by 2030 would cost US$5.15 trillion – equivalent to the amount held by the world’s 782 wealthiest people. It concludes the financing for transforming the energy landscape exists, but that the political will is "shockingly" absent. Solar, meanwhile, is envisaged as playing a key role.
While it is not advocating that the world’s wealthiest pour their coffers into renewable energy investment, FOE aims to highlight that the finances for replacing fossil fuels are there; rather the political will to drive the change is "shockingly" absent.
Based on the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) assumptions on predicted energy demand (which should always be taken with a handful of salt, as recent reports have highlighted) FOE set out to calculate how much it would cost to power parts of the developing world – specifically Latin America (excl. Chile), Africa and Asia (incl. non-OCED countries and excl. India and China) with 100% renewables by 2030.
In its briefing, An Energy Revolution is Possible, it concluded $5.15 trillion would do the trick – equivalent to the wealth of the world’s 782 richest people. The wealthiest 53 people, meanwhile, could pay to power the entire African continent with renewables ($1.5 trillion), while the richest 32 could transform Latin America’s energy landscape ($1.2 trillion). This may seem like a hefty price tag, but asGreenpeace’s recent Energy Revolution analysis update showed, switching to 100% renewables globally would be cheaper than continuing to reply on fossil fuels.
FOE suggests the financing could come from a number of sources, including ending fossil fuel subsidies, and redirecting them into renewables; phasing out destructive energy sources and binning plans for new fossil fuel projects; reducing energy dependence and consumption; increasing energy efficiencies; and implementing appropriate financial instruments.
Wind, solar PV and CSP and energy storage would be the main drivers of a 100% renewable energy system, although hydro, geothermal and bioenergy would also play a role. Overall, due to the favorable solar irradiance in the examined regions, solar would be the most appropriate renewable energy. FOE offers up six replies to the question, how the transformation would work:Use a portfolio of different types of renewable energy technologies, which have different production characteristics;Generate more electricity than is required to make sure that there is enough even at times of low production;Use energy storage;Connect renewable power plants across a wide geographical area, taking advantage of different weather patterns;Change how electricity is used to better fit with production from renewables; andUse power from non-weather dependent dispatchable sources.
"This briefing clearly illustrates that the finance for an energy revolution certainly exists," states FOE, adding. "The political will to drive the transformation is, on the other hand, shockingly absent. This is revealed in the weak pledges of emission reductions submitted by countries, especially the richest developed countries, ahead of the Paris climate change negotiations. It is a gross injustice that 0.00001% of the global population hold the kind of wealth that could halt a climate disaster, but instead often exacerbate the problem."
In a seperate report released yesterday, it was found that investment in renewables in 2014 reached a record $126 billion, an increase of 39% on the previous year. Of this, the majority was channeled into emerging markets, including Africa, Latin America and Asia. Meanwhile, in its Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2015, the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) found that global climate financing surged in 2014, to reach $391 billion, up 18% on 2013. Despite the rise, it was noted that the investment gap between what is required and what is being delivered is growing.
Africa
As has been widely reported, solar potential in Africa is high, due to the favorable irradiance on the continent. In its analysis, FOE broadly envisages combining solar PV systems — standalone, microgrid and grid-connected — with wind power, CSP and hydro. Overall, it says most energy will come from solar PV (677 TWh/y in 2030, or 38%), compared to CSP (580 TWh/y, or 32%) and wind (322 TWh/y, or 18%). Cumulative PV capacity will need to reach 375 GW, at a cost of $728 billion.
Latin America
Again, solar resources in Latin America are abundant, and FOE believes the best deployment of the technology will be across PV rooftop systems in cities and in small microgrids in remote parts of the continent. Overall, it sees solar PV accounting for 598 TWh/y in 2030, or 27%, behind hydro, at 720 TWh/y, or 32% and wind at 679 TWh/y, or 32%. Cumulative PV capacity will need to reach 388 GW, at a cost of $635 billion.
Other Asia
Due to many living in isolated communities in this region, FOE anticipates that small-scale solar and battery microgrids will play a "significant role" in providing electricity access. Overall, solar PV is expected to contribute to more than half of the region’s energy needs, at 1,593 TWh/y, or 55%, compared to geothermal, at 582 TWh/y, or 20% and hydro, at 175 TWh/y, or 6%. Cumulative PV capacity will need to reach 1,217 GW, at a cost of $1.54 trillion.
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Utility-Scale PV O&M Will Surpass 390 GW By 2020
Nov 25, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Joshua S Hill
According to the new report published by GTM Research and SoliChamba Consulting, utility-scale PV O&M will almost triple the estimated 133 GW expected for the end of 2015.
“Just like the larger PV market, the global PV O&M market has been growing at a fast pace these past few years,” said Cedric Brehaut, author of the report. “And unlike the EPC business, it remains attractive even when new construction slows, as seen in Germany, where the addressable O&M market for megawatt-scale plants exceeds 11 gigawatts in 2015 despite a drop in new megawatt-scale plant activations.”
With the near-constant growth of renewable energy technologies around the world over the past decade, the O&M market has been growing slowly, limited by existing manufacture warranties and operation and maintenance contracts that were provided as part of the original delivery. With many of these contracts running out, O&M services are set to explode over the next few years, especially in the United States.
The report specifically broke down operations, maintenance, and asset management into three distinct services within the solar industry — though the report’s authors found asset management as a more distinct and separate entity from O&M in most cases. Though, interestingly, the authors found a major decoupling trend between operations and maintenance, nothing that “half of analysed O&M providers reporting different megawatt counts under operations vs. under maintenance.”
“With a single vendor providing both asset management and O&M, there is no duplication of supervision and reporting functions, so arguably this results in lower staffing costs for managing the same asset portfolio,” said Brehaut. “But there are real risks that a ‘one-stop shop’ provider may not defend the interests of the owner as fiercely as would an independent asset manager.”
The report comes almost exactly a year after GTM and SoliChamba’s 2014 solar PV O&M report, which predicted the market would reach 230 GW by 2018.
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Clean Energy Shocker: Emerging Economies Invest More Than Wealthier Nations
Nov 24, 2015 | Triple Pundit
By Tina Casey
For the first time ever, clean energy investment by China and other emerging economies has surpassed the mark for wealthier nations. This significant flip in global clean-energy trends spells more bad news for fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil, which have been counting on emerging economies both to grow their business and to leverage a positive image for their brands.
ExxonMobil in particular has been leaning on the “energy poverty” argument to portray its products as a net benefit to humanity, but the new report pulls the rug out from under the company’s public relations strategy.Flipping a global clean-energy trend
The new report is from a global clean-energy competitive index called Climatescope, a global public-private project supported in part by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, where you can find an interactive map as well as free downloads for the full 200-page report and the supporting data.
The report covers clean-energy investment for the calendar year 2014 among 55 developing nations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. That includes a number of major markets including China, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa.
The comparison group includes the United States and other members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
For those of you on the go, Bloomberg New Energy Finance has summarized the major points, the main one being this:
“On a percentage basis, clean energy capacity is growing twice as quickly in Climatescope nations compared to OECD ones.”
Climatescope totals up 50.4 gigawatts of new clean-energy capacity built in 2014 among the group of 55, a 21 percent increase from 2013. The 50.4 mark also surpasses OECD deployment.
That trend is reflected in the dollar figures for clean-energy investment. Among the 55 emerging economies assessed by Climatescope, new investment in renewables topped out at a record high of $126 billion. That’s the highest mark ever for emerging economies — a good 39 percent higher than the 2013 — and it puts that group of 55 ahead of wealthier nations.
TriplePundit readers will not be surprised that China made a key difference in pushing the group of 55 past OECD countries. According to the report:
“China alone added 35 gigawatts of new renewable power generating capacity all on its own – more than the 2014 clean energy build in the U.S., U.K. and France combined.”
Financial institutions also played a major role. Investments by banks and other institutions within the group of 55 totaled $79 billion in 2014, a significant increase from the 2013 figure of $53 billion.Clean-energy technology gains parityHere in the U.S., the fossil fuel lobby has been pushing the argument that clean energy cannot compete on its own, but requires special government treatment and public subsidies.As a general argument that’s not necessarily true, since hydropower can easily beat fossil fuels depending on the size of the power plant. More to the point, the costs of wind and solar energy are rapidly dropping as the technology improves.Climatescope does in fact credit the reduced cost of technology for pushing adoption of clean energy in emerging economies:“Continuing declines in clean energy costs appear to be driving growth. Costs associated with solar photovoltaic power have ticked down 15% year-on-year globally. Solar is particularly competitive in emerging markets which often suffer from very high power prices from fossil generation while also enjoying very sunny conditions.”Notably, the report reveals that the clean energy trend has continued even though overall economic growth among the group of 55 lagged last year:“Progress in 2014 was achieved despite a number of countries in the survey seeing economic growth rates slow. Average gross domestic product growth across Climatescope nations slipped to 5.7 percent in 2014 from 6.4 percent in 2013 with the slow-down most apparent in major nations, Brazil, South Africa, and China. Despite the pullback, these three countries attracted a total of $103 billion in new clean energy investment in 2014.”
It’s also worth noting that one of the drivers behind global clean-energy investment is President Barack Obama’s Power Africa campaign, which launched in 2013 as an “all of the above” energy strategy for electrifying sub-Saharan Africa.
That doesn’t necessarily mean good news for fossil fuels. As Bloomberg points out, though Power Africa may lean partly on natural gas as a “cleaner” fuel, its focus includes utility scale geothermal as well as solar off-grid solutions.
That dovetails with another new clean-energy report by IRENA, the International Renewable Energy Agency, which concludes that the region’s clean energy resources could be tapped relatively quickly. Renewable energy now fills 5 percent of the region’s need, and the report anticipates that could surge to 22 percent by 2030.
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Poorer countries lead growth in clean energy
Nov 24, 2015 | Environment & Energy News
By Camille von Kaenel
Renewable energy continues to rise in developing countries, which attracted more new investment and built more new capacity than wealthier countries in 2014, according to a new analysis.
With China responsible for much of the growth, the 55 emerging nations included in the report passed several new milestones. New clean energy capacity built topped 50 gigawatts, or enough to power 9 million U.S. homes.
Investment in wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, small hydro and biofuel projects reached $126 million, a 39 percent jump from the year before. A majority of the capital came from domestic sources, a sign of growing "South-South" investment.
"There is a tremendous amount of activity in emerging markets, and I would highlight that in light of the Paris climate negotiations, where one of the key questions is who can afford to do what," said Ethan Zindler, the head of policy analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
BNEF spearheaded the report, called Climatescope 2015, which also scores countries on their attractiveness for new investment.
Several drivers are motivating developing countries to invest in clean energy, he said. Renewable sources of power are reaching cost-competitiveness with fossil fuels, with prices for solar and wind technologies falling. Countries are seeking to ensure their energy security by becoming less dependent on imported oil.'Haves and have nots'
In the big countries driving the overall growth, China and Brazil, national development banks or state-owned companies are backing most of the renewable energy projects. China by itself accounted for around two-thirds of the total investment tallied up in the report.
The picture is different for some of the less developed countries, Zindler said.
"Among emerging countries there is a bit of schism between the haves and the have-nots, the very least developed countries," he said. "Those where the economies are last far along are the ones who clearly will need some kind of further push internally and externally to ramp up their clean energy activity."
Figuring out how to get money from developed to developing countries to fight climate change and build up clean energy will be a key focus at the upcoming U.N. climate summit in Paris.
The report also scores countries based on their attractiveness to investment in clean energy. The score factors in different indicators, including policy and regulation, clean energy penetration, green microfinance and the presence of a value chain.
Some countries rose in the rankings, like Panama, which jumped seven places. Some countries' scores fell, like Brazil. Overall, though, the scores rose slightly, showing improved conditions for investment, said Zindler. China, Brazil, Chile, South Africa and India made the top five.
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Europe’s Largest Solar PV Plant Connected To Grid
Nov 25, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Henry Lindon
The 300 megawatt Cestas solar photovoltaic project in France has now been fully connected to the electric grid, according to recent reports.
The achievement of full-grid connection followed the connection of the last 12 megawatt (MW) portion of the project — making for a total of 25 different 12 MW project portions.
The solar photovoltaic (PV) project — the largest in the whole of Europe, located in the Bordeaux region of France — is set to be officially inaugurated on December 1st. The project was built by a consortium featuring the French company Eiffage, Krinner, and Schneider Electric.
“The Cestas project is full erected, the mechanical completion has been achieved since September 30, and now it has been fully connected to the grid,” stated Patrick de Labrusse, the project director for Cestas consortium, in a conversation with pv magazine. “We are very satisfied because the consortium has performed very well and we’ve been able to execute what we anticipated to do at the beginning of the contract.”
“The handover was targeted for early January and we will be able to complete it in late November or in the early days of December,” continued de Labrusse.
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World Bank plans $16bn fund to fight African climate change
Nov 25, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Ian Clover
World Bank will push for investment from development organizations, private partners and governments, while footing $5.7 billion itself to help stem the causes of climate change in Africa.
The World Bank is preparing to launch an ambitious investment plan at the forthcoming COP21 UN Climate Change Summit in Paris outlining its goal of raising $16.1 billion in order to tackle climate change in Africa.
According to details laid out in the plan, the entire African continent will require around $5-10 billion a year in order to adapt to a world where global temperatures have increased by two degrees Celsius. A far cheaper and safer alternative, the World Bank says, is to find the money now that can help Africa preemptively tackle the effects of future climate change.
The Africa Climate Business Plan will suggest to world leaders, development organizations and private investors that a focus on scaling-up low carbon energy sources such as solar PV and geothermal will give the continent a fighting chance of avoiding the most damaging effects of climate change.
"This plan identifies concrete steps that African governments can take to ensure that their countries will not lose hard-won gains in economic growth and poverty reduction, and they can offer some protection from climate change," said World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
Further initiatives set to be outlined in the plan include ways of boosting the "resilience of Africa’s assets", with keen focus directed towards small-island developing states at risk from rising sea levels. Another strategy will focus on supporting "climate-smart agriculture" designed to reduce greenhouse gases.
The World Bank believes that the dreaded two degree Celsius increase – widely agreed by scientists and environmentalists as an irreversible tipping point in the earth’s atmosphere – will result in the loss of some 40-80% of suitable growing areas in sub-Saharan Africa for many of the region’s staple crops, including maize and millet.
"Sub-Saharan Africa is highly vulnerable to climate shocks, and our research shows that could have a far-ranging impact – on everything from child stunting and malaria to food price increases and droughts," added Kim.
The World Bank plan will be launched at COP21. The International Development Association, an arm of the World Bank that supports the world’s poorest nations, has already pledged to deliver $5.7 billion of the fund, with the hope being that the UN summit can convince nations and development organizations to pitch in, given that Africa contributes the least to the world’s greenhouse gases, but stands to suffer from the most severe impacts of climate change.
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Google buys 61MW of solar power from North Carolina data center
Nov 24, 2015 | Recharge
By Richard A. Kessler
Duke Energy has secured Google as the launch customer in a program in North Carolina that provides renewable energy to offset new load at facilities – in this case, 61MW of solar power for expansion of the internet giant’s data center there.Duke’s Carolinas unit will sell the power under long-term contract to Google, which will cover part of its new load at the data center located in Lenoir. In 2013, Google announced an additional investment of $600 million to expand it.
The Green Source Rider program allows companies to buy large amounts of renewable power directly from their utilities in the state, with no additional costs to other ratepayers.
“By working closely with providers like Duke, we’re now able to benefit from North Carolina’s emerging solar energy industry and pave the way for other big customers to do the same,” says Gary Demasi, director of data center energy and location strategy, at Google.
Cypress Creek Renewables will build, own and operate the plant in Rutherford County in western North Carolina. Duke is buying the solar power from the developer. It will generate energy to power almost 12,000 homes.
"Having Google as the first company to publicly announce its participation is extremely satisfying. We believe this will lead to similar announcements in the future," says Rob Caldwell, senior vice president, distributed energy resources, at Duke.
Duke is currently wrapping up a $500m solar expansion in North Carolina, with the completion of four major solar facilities in Bladen, Duplin, Onslow and Wilson counties.
Over the past eight years, Duke Energy has invested more than $4bn in wind and solar facilities in 12 states. It plans to invest about $3bn in renewable energy over the next five years.
Google claims to be the largest buyer of renewable energy in the world with 1.2GW in purchase commitments.
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Las Vegas to Run Facilities With Only Clean Power
Nov 25, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Eckhouse
Las Vegas is going green.
The city is planning to run municipal buildings, fire stations, parks, streetlights and other facilities exclusively with renewable energy, under a deal announced Nov. 24 with the Berkshire Hathaway Inc.-owned utility NV Energy Inc. The agreement doesn't cover the famously bright casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.
The city's shift is a sign that renewable energy is becoming competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels. It comes less than a week before an international conference aimed at completing a global pact on reducing greenhouse-gas productions begins in Paris.
“We will become the first city of our size in the nation to achieve 100 percent renewable energy for city operations,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said in a statement.
NV Energy already provides some clean power to Las Vegas, and that will be boosted with energy from a 100-megawatt solar farm under development in nearby Boulder City. The proposal requires the approval of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and the Las Vegas City Council.
The city of Las Vegas had a population of almost 614,000, according to a 2014 estimate from the U.S. Census. That is considerably more than the 50,000 residents who live in Georgetown, Texas, which in March said it would power itself entirely with renewable energy (53 DEN A-9, 3/19/15).
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