Scaling up solar in India

February 28, 2008 (Renewable Energy World) –

Moser Baer PV steps up its plans to change the way India receives electricity. 

The company, a relatively new entrant in the solar photovoltaic (PV) market, has recently announced a series of new initiatives. These include setting up India’s largest grid-connected solar farm in the sunshine abundant state of Rajasthan, and increasing production capacities.

MBPV announced that it had partnered with the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation (RREC) to set up a solar farm of 1-5 MW capacity in the state. At US $4.5 million per MW, the total investment for this farm will be US $25 million.

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Sharp, KEPCO planning on Japan’s largest solar power plant

February 15, 2008 (Power Engineering) – Sharp and Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) are planning to jointly build Japan’s biggest solar power generation plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. The new plant will have a total electricity generation capacity of 10 MW, informed sources said. For the plant, Sharp and Kansai Electric are planning to lease a 20-hectare site within the prefecture’s 280-hectare industrial waste disposal site in Sakai. The two companies aim to complete construction around autumn 2009.

Sharp will install its solar power generation panels. Kansai Electric will purchase electricity generated at the plant. A 5 MW facility in Sharp’s Kameyama Plant in Mie Prefecture, western Japan, is currently Japan’s largest solar power generation plant.

Greens delighted electricity feed-in scheme becomes law (Australia)

February 14, 2008 (SA Parliament Release) – The SA Government’s solar panel ‘feed-in’ Bill has passed both Houses of Parliament tonight, with crucial Greens’ amendments. The Electricity (Feed-in Scheme – Residential Solar Systems) Amendment bill encourages the uptake of solar electricity by allowing residents to sell their solar electricity at a higher rate than they are charged.

PG&E signs first U.S. agreement to buy ocean energy

December 18, 2007 (Reuters) – Utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company became the country’s first utility on Tuesday to agree to buy renewable electricity made by the ebb and flow of ocean waves. The energy will be captured by several buoys bobbing 2.5 miles off the California coast and then transmitted to shore by an undersea cable. At peak times, the electricity will light at least 1,400 homes.

“This is a first,” said Robert Thresher of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. “It implies that someone with money and experience is willing to invest and take a chance on this technology, which could be as popular as wind technology in only a few decades.”

There is enough ocean wave energy surging off U.S. coasts to match the power generated from the country’s hydroelectric dams, which account for 6.5 percent of its electricity use, said Roger Bedard, a specialist at the Energy Power Research Institute.

New energy policy will let Singaporeans choose electricity providers

November 13, 2007 (CSR Asia) – Singapore has just launched a new National Energy Policy Report (available at http://www.mti.gov.sg) unveiling six key strategies an inter-ministry group called the Energy Policy Group will focus on. Attracting most attention is news that households in Singapore will be able to choose their electricity supplier, which theoretically will give them the option to choose ‘greener’ providers. The report also includes policies on energy efficiency and growing the renewable energy sector. A review of the report will be included in next week’s CSR Asia Weekly.

Tenaga lifts Purchase Price of Electricity from Biomass Waste

August 7, 2007 (Business Times) – To encourage the private sector to generate energy from biomass resources, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has increased the purchase price of electricity produced from palm oil biomass waste to 21 sen per kilowatt hour from 19 sen now.