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RENEWABLOG

September 2010

Plenty of renewables interest but where's the money?

There was standing room only as the Renewable Energy Finance Forum (REFF) – London  - Europe’s largest and most established event for renewable energy finance and investment, which celebrated its 12th year anniversary. The highly successful 2-day conference united 400 investors and project developers from over 25 countries.

Lord Browne opened the conference that facilitated thought-provoking, open and highly controversial presentations and discussions on the European global renewables financial market. Other leading speakers included, Hermann Scheer, German MP and Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy, Peter Gutman of Standard Chartered Bank, Craig Coborn of BP Alternative Energy and Yvo de Boer, Former Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change & Global Advisor on Climate & Sustainable Development, KPMG.

Over 2 days, speakers composed of almost 70 experts in the renewable energy sector continued the tradition from the last twelve years of bringing together key investors, bankers, developers and renewable energy service providers.

The renewable energy industry has achieved considerable successes here in Europe, which accounted for 44% of all renewable energy deals in 2009, up from 38% in 2008. That being said, the renewable industry is still in the midst of a very challenging period, with the EU Directive mandating 20% renewable energy by 2020 now in full force. Wind remains the most popular renewable and it has been helped along by government incentives as it has gained more than half of the roughly 26 billion invested globally in clean energy in the first quarter of 2010.

As a media sponsor, Schwartz attended the sessions and had a series of interesting conversations on our stand, leading us to take home a few key messages. Firstly, there are some real challenges in funding – the scale of investment needed for infrastructure projects such as the proposed supergrid is far beyond anything ever attempted in the history of mankind! Furthermore, the sector still hasn’t passed the institutional investment threshold – and how can it in the foreseeable future since it seems impossible to accurately calculate risks, and thus ROIs, on long-term windfarms for example.

Another interesting development was the confidence in solar and the belief that grid parity was achievable within the next five to ten years as panel costs come down. Currently, there are concerns about the key Italian and Spanish markets, but there were some positive sentiments about both. Of course the debate regarding feed-in tariffs went around in circles as usual with equally passionate supporters and opponents. However, all agreed that consistency and long term commitments from governments were essential whatever they decide.

With the momentum gained here in London, the conference moves on to San Francisco from September 29 to 30 celebrating its 3rd year of REFF West in the United States.

Tags: cleantech, cleantech+financing, cleantech+pr, energy+policy, european+renewable+industry, green+conferences, renewable+energy

Posted by Richard Hayhurst on September 30, 2010 at 1:44 PM
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World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm Goes Live; What About the US?

It seems like every week, Europe is setting a new benchmark for wind and solar farms. From the world's largest wind farm currently in development (in northern Sweden), to the Thanet Wind Farm which was commissioned today and officially becomes the world's largest offshore wind farm.

The commissioning of the Thanet farm, located in the North Sea, is great PR for the UK which has languished behind Germany and Spain in terms of clean technology innovation, development and adoption. 

But the big question for the US is, why not us? What does the US have to do to stimulate more offshore wind farm development? What can we learn from Europe (tons)? There are a few things the government and the wind industry can do to open a very large and lucrative market:

1) Fast-track legal challenges--As the Cape Wind farm illustrated, the US is very prone to legal challenges, not-in-my-back-yard protests (NIMBY) and other ways of slowing project development. The hope is that the US Department of Interior sent a message with its landmark decision to greenlight Cape Wind, but it still won't stop coastal property owners, fisherman and fossil fuel power suppliers from protesting development.

2) Longer-term tax credits--One of the big things blocking the development of offshore projects is the lack of a longer-term tax credit which is important for securing project financing. Instead of renewing things like the ITC and PTC, or treasury grants for two years, it would give the industry a big boost to have a five or a ten year tax credit. Other measures like the passing of a renewable electricity standard or a tax on carbon would also make offshore wind farms more attractive to utilities.

3) Continued technology innovation--The reason you only hear about offshore wind development on the Atlantic seaboard, is that the technology has not existed to install offshore wind farms off the Pacific coast of the US. There are a number of factors that make the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington less suitable for wind farm developement, including the grade of the seafloor. However, floating wind turbines currently in development in...you guessed it, Europe, could be one answer to the lack of offshore viability in the Pacific.

The US has made a lot of progress in onshore wind--from the rapid rise of Texas as the country's largest wind energy producer--to the nurturing of small wind for rural farms and residential applications. But the market still has a long way to go to fulfill its promise.

 

Tags: cleantech, offshore+wind, sweden+wind, thanet+wind+farm, uk+wind, wind+pr

Posted by Jason Morris on September 24, 2010 at 10:54 AM
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