Europe’s utilities are re-evaluating their business models due to the energy transition. Members of POWER-GEN Europe’s Advisory Board consider how a reliance on fossil fuels is no longer politically desirable, forcing utilities to transform their portfolios to adapt to radical change.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is shunned by the environmentalists that laud renewable energy sources. However, by not supporting both initiatives, they may be working at cross purposes. Natural gas, booming largely because of fracking, complements renewable energies on the grid. The two seemingly opposite technologies are, for the moment, inextricably linked.

Just over a decade ago, the state of California faced serious concerns about whether its utilities could generate and/or buy enough power to assure that the world’s seventh-largest economy could keep the lights on. The infamous California energy crisis, which affected several other western states as well, was a complex tangle of poorly structured deregulation, significant market manipulation (remember Enron?), and other causes. Along with rolling blackouts, California endured an official state of emergency that lasted 34 months, led to the recall and replacement of Gov. Gray Davis, and cost the state and its ratepayers billions of dollars — a cautionary tale for all states of electricity supply unable to meet demand.

The surprise Conservative victory in the recent UK elections have some worrying about the future of renewable and climate progress, but officials are now calming those fears.

Every industry has its challenges and misunderstandings. Sometimes the obstacles we face in simply trying to do our jobs can be very frustrating.

Carbon emissions in 2014 remained at the previous year’s levels of 32.3 billion metric tons — a milestone that points to the impact worldwide renewable energy investment is having in the face of a 1.5 percent annual increase in global energy consumption, according to a new report from REN21. The tenth annual Renewables 2015 Global Status Report cites “increased penetration of renewable energy” and improvements in energy efficiency as the chief reasons for the noted emissions stabilization.

Trillions of dollars will be invested in renewable energy over the next 25 years, driving some of the most profound changes yet in how humans get their electricity. That's according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that plots out global power markets to 2040. 

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said 13 percent of power stations burning lignite, a cheap form of coal, would be phased out by 2021 under a program to cut power industry pollution. The government abandoned talks on proposals to impose a climate-change fee that the industry said would have forced mines and plants to close, threatening jobs.

This month alone, we Americans celebrated our nation’s birthday, capped off perfectly by the USA women’s soccer team’s sensational 5-2 victory in the World Cup final. As we hit the halfway point of 2015, the clean-energy industry also has much to celebrate, much of it in the month of June alone and much of it financial.

In a lopsided 23-3 vote, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee voted yesterday to extend a number of renewable energy production tax credits through the end of 2016. The vote allows developers of wind, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, incremental hydroelectric, and ocean energy to take advantage of federal tax credits for projects begun before December 31, 2016.

Chief among big renewable winners was the wind energy industry, which received extensions to the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). If passed, wind farms would qualify for a 2.3-cent-per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) credit through the end of 2016.

Executives from 13 major U.S. corporations are announcing at least $140 billion in new investments to decrease their carbon footprints as part of a White House initiative to recruit private commitments ahead of a United Nations climate-change summit later this year in Paris.

Companies including Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will join Secretary of State John Kerry and top administration officials at the White House for the announcement. In addition to pledges to cut emissions, provide financing to environmentally-focused companies, and reduce water consumption, the companies have said they will procure at least 1,600 MW of new, renewable energy. The White House said in a statement that it expects to announce a second round of similar pledges later this fall from additional companies.

The commitments are being announced as President Barack Obama is looking to build momentum toward a legacy-defining global climate accord in Paris. In addition to company-specific commitments, the corporate leaders on Monday will signal their support for a strong climate agreement out of the United Nations talks. They administration is using the pledges to set an example for companies to find ways to eliminate their carbon emissions.

Climate Talks

“As the world looks toward global climate negotiations in Paris this December, American leadership at all levels will be essential,” the White House said in a fact sheet detailing the announcement.

The administration’s actions are pushing the issue into the 2016 presidential debate. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, released an energy strategy saying she would both defend and go beyond Obama’s efforts. Republican candidates have criticized the administration’s initiatives as costly to the economy and unnecessary.

Among the pledges, aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc. has agreed to reduce emissions by 50 percent from its 2005 levels, while agricultural giant Cargill Inc. says 18 percent of its total energy use will come from renewable sources.

Coca-Cola Co. said it would drive down the carbon footprint of its beverage production by 25 percent over the next five years, while Google says it plans to triple its purchases of renewable energy over the next decade. Berkshire Hathaway says it plans to invest up to an additional $15 billion in the construction and operation of renewable energy generators, while Bank of America Corp says it will increase its environmental business initiative by $75 billion over the next decade, according to the White House

Other participating firms include Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Microsoft Corp., General Motors Inc.

The corporate commitments won’t be the administration’s only major climate announcement in the next few weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency is set to present final regulations that aim to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 later this week.

While visiting Kenya over the weekend, Obama repeatedly praised the country for its efforts to address climate change, saying its efforts tor educe emissions “has put it in the position of being a leader on the continent.” And next month, the president will travel to Alaska for an international summit on Arctic climate issues.

©2015 Bloomberg News

For more, see Big Companies, Big Renewable Investments.

After a year of being pummeled by opponents, Obama’s final carbon reduction plan emerged this week with an even stronger push for renewable energy.

Wind and solar energy are centerpieces of the Clean Power Plan, the United States’ first ever rule to reduce carbon dioxide from power plants.

The rule not only makes renewables one of the plan’s three central building blocks, but also creates special incentives to spur communities to build renewables more quickly than required.

The revised version of the rule comes after a year of review, hundreds of meetings and 4.3 million public comments delivered to EPA.  It requires that states come up with plans to cut carbon pollution from power plants by 870 million tons, or 32 percent below 2005 levels, in 2030.

More than a year after Prime Minister David Cameron publicly announced support for the Perpetuus Tidal Energy Center (PTEC), Great Britain’s Marine Management Organization (MMO) issued a license on April 20 to Royal HaskoningDHV to deploy and operate a proposed 30-MW tidal array at the center, located off the Isle of Wight.

The World Bank has approved US$390 million in additional financing to be used by Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority for extensions of its Tarbela hydroelectric plant.

Power Africa and Trade Africa Coordinator, Andrew Herscowitz, announced on Feb. 14 during the Abuja Electricity Distribution Co.’s two-day Distribution Company Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria, that the U.S. will invest US$1billion in the country through the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Engineer Support Center, based in Huntsville, Ala., this week announced a new contract for use of geothermal technology as part of the Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) series for renewable and alternative energy production work orders at Department of Defense (DOD) installations.

"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis'. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognise the opportunity," said former U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

According to the most recent issue of the "Monthly Energy Review" by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), with data through June 30, 2013, renewable energy sources (i.e., biofuels, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, solar, and wind) provided 9.81 percent of U.S. energy consumption and 11.82 percent of domestic energy production for the first half of 2013.

So here we are: the U.S. federal government is in shutdown mode after Congress failed to pass the budget. We've seen this several times in the past couple of decades, usually ranging from a few hours to a few days, though the most recent one lasted nearly a month from late 1995 into early January 1996.

Mandatory spending cuts triggered by the March 1st sequester (automatic spending cuts) in the U.S. are being felt across the renewable energy sector sparking fears that reduced federal investment could curtail research, development and commercialization of new renewable energy technologies.

Alternative energy mutual funds (MF) racked up extremely robust gains in the past year. Returns range from a low of 16 percent, to a high of 64 percent for a mutual fund that is heavy into solar investments. Exchange traded funds (ETF) also did well, but returns are much more variable. They range from a loss of 34 percent for a carbon ETF, to more than doubling of a solar ETF.

In the third quarter, clean energy stocks in general continued their upward trend, turning in a 27 percent gain for the quarter and a 64 percent gain for the year as a whole, as measured by my benchmark and most broadly held clean energy ETF, Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy (PBW.) This brings PBW back up to levels last seen in September 2011.

“I can remember as a young man driving from Carson City to Reno for the first time and I saw this steam coming out of the ground,” Nevada Senator Harry Reid told the geothermal industry last week. Although the congressman was in Washington DC trying to prevent a government shutdown, as his representative Vinny Spotleson reminded the audience, he and Senator Dean Heller both conveyed their support and appreciation of geothermal via video remarks at the opening plenary session of the GRC Annual Meeting and GEA Geothermal Energy Expo in Las Vegas.

Germany’s power grid operators boosted the surcharge consumers pay for renewable energy by 18 percent to a record, adding to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to act against rising electricity bills.

October 17 marks the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo — an event that arguably launched the United States' ongoing pursuit of a national energy policy.

Coal contributes 60 percent to India's power mix today; solar is less than 1 percent. But what was a factor-of-seven difference between the cost of coal and solar two years ago shrank this summer to just a 1.8x gap. Can solar catch up within the next ten years?

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison plans to build one to power the Hawaiian island he bought last year. EBay Inc. has one to run a data center. The University of California at San Diego and the federal government have invested tens of millions of dollars in the technology.

Walk into any panel discussion at a geothermal power event and you will often hear about barriers hindering geothermal development. In spite of the obstacles, the geothermal industry has grown and adapted to adversity, and it is unfortunate when more attention is not given to geothermal power’s technological accomplishments and the long-term potential. Today, 73 countries across the globe are actively engaged with the geothermal energy sector, showing that more governments, utilities, and industry stakeholders are recognizing the long-term value geothermal power can bring to their power systems.

In early 2013, a group of women, dubbed the Women in Power committee, assembled in Orlando, Florida to figure out how to honor women who have dedicated their careers to the power industry. The industry is male-dominated with men making up more than 75 percent of the workforce, according to some estimates. The Women in Power committee believed that it was time to give recognition to the pioneering women who have worked to advance the power industry. To do this, the committee decided to allow anyone in the industry to nominate a woman for a Woman of the Year Award, which would be given out at POWER-GEN International. To judge the nominees, the committee came up with three focus areas.

One of Europe's largest utilities is on the cusp of reportedly transforming its business from being a centralised energy provider into a decentralized energy provider.

The European Commission has offered up some new guidelines about managing electricity markets among its Member States, offering direction for design and support schemes for renewable energy, managing capacity, and addressing demand at the consumer level to mitigate new generation investments -- which, while technically not binding, likely will inform future regional environmental and aid policies.

Wind farms and solar parks are changing hands at record rates, signaling both an increased taste for the assets among pension funds and hard times for utilities that are the biggest sellers.

What’s the next big opportunity for geothermal? According to panelists at last week's Renewable Energy World North America international geothermal session, it’s emerging markets. Kicking off the two-hour discussion, special guest Agnes Dasewicz of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) explained the Power Africa initiative, which launched in June 2013. USAID is attempting to unlock energy growth in six countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and — of particular interest to the geothermal crowd — Ethiopia.

Brazil's latest A-3 auction, matching up developers and power purchasers to prepare renewable energy projects to meet the nation's electricity demand by 2016, was a landslide win for wind energy -- but a shutout for solar, which was included in the process for the first time.

The third quarter earnings season has been quite eventful for my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013 and six alternative picks model portfolios, so much so that writing about them has taken a back seat to keeping up with the announcements. There were a number of earnings disappointments and earnings announcements which were in line with my expectations but the market treated like disappointments. These resulted in an overall decline of 2.5 percent for the portfolio since the last update, even as my industry benchmarks, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy (PBW) and my small cap benchmark (IWM) were up 1.0 percent and 3.9 percent over the months since October 15th.

In the global competition for appealing clean energy solutions, a leading entry is the new West Village at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis), which today celebrated significant progress toward its goal of becoming the largest planned “zero-net energy” community in the United States.

The geothermal heat pump (GHP) industry prides itself on offering an efficient, environmentally friendly technology for satisfying the thermal loads of buildings. To do so, a GHP system relies on circulating water through pipes placed underground (either vertically or horizontally) to tap the natural heat retained by the earth.

India's solar market is on track to be roughly the same in 2013 as it was in 2012, which is surprising given the ~20 percent overall growth projected for global solar demand. But optimism and expectations continue to emerge for India's solar potential.

The U.S. market for wind energy is something of a contradiction: it's one of the world's larger markets and fastest growing with its own supply chain, yet it's still heavily reliant upon a production tax credit, which was renewed at the last minute last December (yet late with enough uncertainty to chill many projects in the pipeline), and this time its renewal is even less certain.

As we come into the final stretch of 2013, my annual model portfolio of Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013 looks certain to break its five year winning streak of beating its industry benchmark. As of December 6th, the model portfolio's total return has been 19.0 percent, compared to a sunny 56.1 percent for my benchmark, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy (PBW). The broad market, as represented by the Russell 2000, also resoundingly beat my model portfolio, and is up 37.5 percent. My six alternative picks fared even worse than my top ten.

Developing countries that are interested in geothermal energy may see transformational results by approaching World Bank and other institutions, as Djibouti did. In an interview, the World Bank Djibouti geothermal project team talks about the project investment, lessons from Kenya’s experience, and preparations that are being made for the private sector to take up the next steps.

For those clamoring for (and against) the year-end-expiring legislation, and anyone in favor of some tax-code simplification, today the government has offered an early holiday present: proposed reform for some key areas including the production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC).

Global private capital renewable energy investments are still above $250 billion for 2013. While the final numbers are not in yet, 3rd quarter global renewable energy investments, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s latest data on deals and projects, notes slightly lower global investment than in 2012 due faltering “political will to decarbonise energy mix.” They further note that the third quarter’s decline in investment will push the year’s overall investment in renewable energy and energy-smart technologies down below 2012's $281 billion. But $250+ billion ain’t shabby.

As editors we delight in learning which of the stories that we wrote or commissioned were most popular with our readers. That’s why at the end of each calendar year, we pull reports that tell us which stories we posted got the most shares, the most views, the most comments, etc. We also look at which videos were watched the most. Often, we post articles that we know will be a big hit: like explanations of controversial solar legislation. But other times you surprise us, readers, by taking great interest in articles that we felt were solid but not necessarily ground-breaking.

After being shut out of previous renewable energy auctions, and delaying its own auction by two weeks, the state government of Pernambuco held the nation's first solar energy auction on December 27, registering 122.82 MW of energy, six times the country's current entire solar energy output (20 MW). The auction involved 34 bidders proposing roughly 1 GW of capacity; at the end it was narrowed to six companies from Brazil, Italy, Germany, China and Spain. Average price of power finished trading at 228.63 Brazilian reais/MWh (just under U.S. $97), about 9 percent lower than the starting price of R 250.

We here at RenewableEnergyWorld.com value each and every one of our excellent contributors that share their important and thought-provoking insights with our readers. But we have a special affinity for our outstanding blogging community.

European Union leaders intend next month to agree on a timeline for developing energy and climate targets for 2030, delaying a final decision on the polices, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said shifting to greater use of solar and wind power will challenge utility companies.

The U.K. risks power shortages because utilities may react to Europe’s toughest carbon emissions rules by closing plants without replacing them.

Talks between Germany and Norway about how to boost the trading of electricity from renewable sources are being held up by concerns that the power cable running under the North Sea won’t ever make money.