MORE NEWS, 7-28 (CHINA BOOSTS SUN; SWISS WANT IN ON EMISSIONS TRADING; ANOTHER BIOFUEL TO FLY)

CHINA BOOSTS SUN
China offers big solar subsidy, shares up
Jim Bai and Leonora Walet (w/Eadie Chen, Nichola Groom, Anna Driver, Ben Tan, Derek Caney and Bernard Orr), July 21, 2009 (Reuters)

"China has launched an unprecedented and long-awaited plan to offer subsidies for utility-scale solar power projects, sparking a rally in shares of Chinese solar panel makers…Beijing's bid to boost the solar energy sector could draw more than $10 billion in private funding for projects and put China on track to become a leading market for solar equipment in the next three years…

"As the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, China is trying to catch up in a global race to find alternatives to fossil fuels…Expectations of such a move by China have underpinned a rally in Chinese solar stocks for much of this year."

click to enlarge

"…[Analysts warned, however, that] the subsidy program, although positive, would not lead to a near-term pickup in solar panel demand. The solar industry has suffered this year from a lack of available financing… due to the financial crisis…The Ministry of Finance said the government will subsidize 50 percent of investment for solar power projects as well as relevant power transmission and distribution systems that connect to grid networks…For independent photovoltaic power generating systems in remote regions that have no power supply, the subsidy will rise to 70 percent…

"Grid companies are required to buy all surplus electricity output from solar power projects that generate primarily for the developers' own needs, at similar rates to benchmark on-grid tariffs set for coal-fired power generators."

click to enlarge

"To qualify for the subsidy, in addition to other requirements, each project must have a generating capacity of at least 300 kilowatt peak [and not bigger than 20 megawatts], while construction will have to be completed in one year and operations will have to last for at least 20 years…The government plans to install more than 500 megawatts of solar power pilot projects in two to three years…[One analyst said the initiative is not big enough to offset] the global economic recession and a pullback in subsidies in Spain and Germany [that] have led to an oversupply of solar panels…[and] driven down prices and hurt panel makers' profits…

"China is expected to raise its 2020 solar power generation target more than fivefold to at least 10 GW. With incentives, analysts expect over 2 GW in new solar capacity will be installed as early as 2011, up from just over 100 MW in 2008…"


SWISS WANT IN ON EMISSIONS TRADING
Swiss seek to join EU carbon trading system
Emma Thomasson, July 24, 2009 (Reuters)

"Switzerland wants to join the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and hopes to start formal talks to that end after a climate change meeting in Copenhagen in December, the government said…

"Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss transport and energy minister, told EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas at a meeting in Sweden the Swiss government wanted to bind the country's own emissions trading system with that of the EU…"

The big board of emissions trading. (click to enlarge)

"The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme puts a price on carbon dioxide and forces companies to pay for permits for each metric ton of CO2 they emit into the atmosphere."

"Leuenberger agreed to pursue technical talks between EU and Swiss experts initiated in 2005 and said formal negotiations to agree a deal could be started after the Copenhagen conference...The Kyoto Protocol, a treaty limiting greenhouse gases is due to be renewed in global talks culminating at [Copenhagen]…"


ANOTHER BIOFUEL TO FLY
New Biofuel Could Lead to 100% Clean Flights
Andrew Williams, July 23, 2009 (Gas 2.0 via Reuters)

"Earlier this month, a team of scientists at the University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) successfully tested a new biofuel based on a mixture of canola and soybean oils, and claim it may be the key to zero emission aviation.

"The new super-biofuel, known as Jet Propellant-8 (JP-8) was used to launch a rocket above the Mojave Desert, where it approached the speed of sound and reached an altitude of 20,000 feet - a major leap forward in biofuel-powered flight…The rocket was built by Flometrics, Inc., a product engineering company specializing in fluid dynamics and thermodynamics…"

click thru to EERC site to see the biofuel-powered rocket launch

"The 100% natural fuel exhibits all the characteristics of existing petroleum-based jet fuels, and crucially has the same freezing point - meaning it won't turn into gel in mid-flight causing airplanes to literally fall out of the sky!

"The Dakota project is still in the test phase and there is no news yet about the projected costs of mass production. However, the EERC has plans to build a plant capable of producing up to three million gallons per year."