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 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.

The European Union is poised to take its first formal steps to expand the world’s most ambitious limits on fossil fuel pollution. That may widen a rift in how it balances green policies with the need for cheaper power.

Wind and solar power producers say they're at risk of losing investment after the European Union's executive arm scrapped proposals for a mandatory target on renewable energy use in 2030.

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.

Iceland and Japan, two nations rich with underground sources of renewable energy, can tackle climate change together by promoting the use of geothermal power, Iceland’s environment minister said.

Clean energy investment rose by 9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on surging demand for rooftop solar panels from the U.S. to Japan.

The Obama administration is considering cutting greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants by reaching beyond the plants themselves — an unusual approach that could run afoul of anti-pollution laws.

The top hydroelectric power news for May 2014

Iceland is moving closer to plugging European homes into the volcanic island nation’s geothermal and hydropower reserves via what would be the world’s longest power cable, according to the country’s largest energy producer.

Japan said the U.S.’s proposed cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions from its power plants is a bold step to tackle climate change.

U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg mounted a defense of the 80-year-old agency as Republicans weigh eliminating the lender they say backs major corporations with political connections.

Orix Corp., a Tokyo-based finance and leasing company, plans to build as many as 15 geothermal power stations in Japan in the next five years.

France’s planned energy law will mobilize about €10 billion (US $13.4 billion) in investment through tax credits and low-interest loans to spur efficiency and renewable power, Environment Minister Segolene Royal said.

Kenya Electricity Generating Co., the East African nation’s biggest power producer, plans joint ventures to complete its geothermal projects in Olkaria, Chief Executive Officer Albert Mugo said.

U.S. electricity markets face years of higher prices as clean-air regulations shut more coal-fired power plants than earlier forecast, cutting supply and forcing producers to rely more on natural gas.

Peru’s government is set to announce plans for a renewable-energy auction during a global climate conference to be held next month in Lima.

The Brazilian government is seeking to award contracts in an auction tomorrow for natural gas- and coal-fueled power plants, reversing a drive that previously favored renewable-energy projects. It would lead to the first new thermal plants in three years, after the government scaled back such projects and awarded wind contracts starting in 2009 and solar energy earlier this year.

India, the world’s third-largest polluter, will spend at least $100 billion on climate-related projects but isn’t ready to follow China and the U.S., the top two emitters, in promising to limit its fossil-fuel emissions.

GDF Suez SA plans to double renewable power production capacity in Europe over the next decade as the utility shifts its focus away from developing more historic natural gas and nuclear energy sources in the region.

China could be nearing publication of a plan to guide the development of geothermal energy resources over the next few years as it plunges ahead with efforts to get more of its energy from renewable sources.

Germany’s utilities, battered by the country’s shift to wind turbines and solar panels, would be glad to sell you a power plant on the cheap. They’ll even pack it up and ship it to another country.

Beijing, where pollution averaged more than twice China’s national standard last year, will close the last of its four major coal-fired power plants next year.

Jim Keffer is Republican state lawmaker in Texas with a permit to carry a concealed weapon and doubts about whether human activity is causing global warming.

European Union negotiators are endorsing an accelerated overhaul of the bloc’s carbon market after the price of emission rights fell to levels that fail to deter polluters.

RWE AG, the German utility whose coal-fired plants make it Europe’s largest carbon emitter, officially started the company’s largest renewables project on Thursday: a wind farm in Liverpool Bay off Britain’s coast.

Renewable energy will draw almost two-thirds of the spending on new power plants over the next 25 years, dwarfing spending on fossil fuels, as plunging costs make solar the first choice for consumers and the poorest nations.

Long-frustrated wind and solar developers in Australia can now get to work on more than A$14 billion ($11 billion) in projects after a new renewable energy target passed parliament.

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.

Coal is having a hard time lately. U.S. power plants are switching to natural gas, environmental restrictions are kicking in, and the industry is being derided as the world's No. 1 climate criminal. Prices have crashed, sure, but for a real sense of coal's diminishing prospects, check out what's happening in the bond market.

Clean, renewable energy is the single most needed technology by the millennial generation. Not only is it the key to slowing global warming and climate change, but it also solves a host of other problems, such as respiratory diseases and national security.

Papua New Guinea recently became the first country to formally submit the final version of its national climate action plan (called a “Nationally Determined Contribution,” or NDC) under the Paris Agreement. The small Pacific nation’s plan to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 is no longer just an “intended” nationally determined contribution (INDC) — it is now the country’s official climate plan.

In the case of the Fossil Fuel Industry, et. al. VS Earth, et. al., I find myself asking—not for the first time—is justice delayed, justice denied? It should come as no surprise that I am convinced it is.

By the time this column is published, oral arguments in the legal challenge to the Clean Power Plan will have already been made. The en banc panel of 10 appeals court judges is not likely to render its decision before the New Year.  No matter the opinion, it will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Iran wants to work toward a draft agreement on a comprehensive solution to a lingering nuclear row with Western powers, the foreign minister said Tuesday.

A trade agreement with China will give European companies the opportunity to compete in the Chinese solar power market, the EU's trade commissioner said.

A decision from the U.S. State Department to expel Syrian diplomats from the country was long overdue, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said.

The Lebanese military is commended for its commitment to peace in light of its vast security obligations, a UNIFIL official said Wednesday.

The security situation in the Central African Republic remains dire, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Thursday.

The intrusion of the Arabian Sea into the mouth of the Indus River in Pakistanis forcing villages to relocate inland, and threatening livelihoods.

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In the case of Smith v Ideal Shopping Direct Ltd [2013], the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered the statutory definition of harassment. Facts Mr Smith was an openly gay employee of Ideal Shopping Direct Limited. He brought a claim allegin...

The issue of maternity rights for surrogate parents has recently caused confusion ‘’ with two Advocates General to the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) giving conflicting guidance.  Final rulings are expec...

Eversheds' Discrimination Law Review: January 2014 Introduction from Audrey Williams, Head of Discrimination Law Welcome to the latest edition of our Discrimination Law Review. Our focus, in this edition, is on recent significant cases.  As eve...

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When What Where 6 April 2014 Full Article