QUICK NEWS, 2-8: WIND GIANT RE-EMERGING; WAVE-TIDE EXPANSION COMING; SHAMEFUL NEW ENERGY SHAKEDOWN; GE, MISUBISHI IN WIND LAWSUITS

WIND GIANT RE-EMERGING
Suzlon Says Orders `Absolutely Sufficient' to Repay $2.2 Billion in Loans
Natalie Obiko Pearson, February 7, 2011 (Bloomberg News)

"Suzlon Energy Ltd., the world’s third-biggest maker of wind turbines, said it’s booking orders fast enough to resume making payments on 100 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) in borrowings in April next year.

"…[The India-based second-most indebted clean- energy company through syndicated loans] reported that cumulative orders rose 35 percent from October to a record $7.3 billion, equal to about 5,000 megawatts of power capacity…Suzlon, under pressure to ramp up sales before a 2-year grace period on principal repayments ends, rose as much as 4.6 percent in Mumbai trading even after the company reported its fourth straight quarterly loss…"

From Bloomberg - click to enlarge

"…Suzlon last April had to refinance 100 billion rupees in loans taken from banks including Citibank Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Barclays Plc and ICICI Bank Ltd. after the global recession dried up orders for wind farms and squeezed margins for turbine sales…Suzlon’s shares have lost about 32 percent in the last 12 months. The Bloomberg Wind Energy Index rose about 1.6 percent in the period. The index tracks 64 wind power generators and suppliers globally, including Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Siemens AG, and Alstom SA."

From Bloomberg - click to enlarge

"Suzlon carries $2.3 billion in syndicated loans, the most among global renewable-energy companies except for Suntech Power Holdings Co., which has $7.8 billion in such loans…Loan repayments in the first two years [of the eight-year repayment period] will only amount to about 5 percent of the money owed…with subsequent payments increasing…

"…1.72 billion rupees of Suzlon’s third- quarter loss of 2.54 billion rupees [can be attributed] to a weaker euro that devalued overseas assets…While Suzlon is seeing ‘significant improvement’ in orders in India, sales in terms of megawatt capacity for the fiscal year ending March 31 are still expected to be 36 percent below their all-time high of 2,790 megawatts in 2009…"


WAVE-TIDE EXPANSION COMING
Ocean energy: development over the next five years
February 7, 2011 (Regulacion Eolica con Vehiculos Electricos)

"Although ocean energy technologies or marine energy are still in the demonstration phase... their [2011-2015] turnover is expected to exceed $1.2 billion, and at least 150 new MW should be installed.

"...[D]ozens of projects and technology proposals are being assessed...[but] ocean (wave energy and tidal power) energy is still not widely harnessed...[P]rojects have not yet passed the demonstration phase...[but] over the next few years this renewable industry could...be launched...[in] areas with the wealthiest [ocean] resources..."

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"According to The Wave World & Tidal Market Report 2011-2015, compiled by financial analyst Douglas-Westwood, investment in this sector is expected to increase tenfold over the next 5 years, rising from $52 million in 2010 to $500 million in 2015..."

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"The report notes that facilities that will become operational this year double those that were put into service in 2010...Currently, the UK is the first market, followed at a distance by Canada and the United States.

"...[A]t present, ocean energy projects imply high costs throughout the supply and production chain...[so] development is closely linked to the trends that will be registered in financial markets over the next two years and to what degree investors will believe in technologies which will mature in the long term...[I]t is therefore essential that the sector should receive strong public support, which will probably depend on the visibility that this technology will gain..."


SHAMEFUL NEW ENERGY SHAKEDOWN
Renewable Energy: Labor coalition’s tactics draw heat
Margot Roosevelt, February 6, 2011 (LA Times)

"Do California construction unions raise concerns about building massive solar plants in the Mojave Desert because they care about wildlife, water shortages and delicate vegetation? Or is it, as some fellow labor unions charge, a way to extort expensive contracts from renewable-energy builders?

"In the last decade, a coalition calling itself California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), organized by the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California, has filed more than 1,300 requests for information about endangered species, air pollution and groundwater effects as a part of government permit proceedings for all 12 renewable energy projects planned for the Southern California desert."

Are THESE guys slowing solar growth or...(click to enlarge)

"But when the developers of eight of those projects -- one geothermal plant and seven solar plants -- agreed to sign expensive contracts with the building trades unions to supply workers, CURE dropped its objections to those plants.

"The contracts give CURE unions -- which represent plumbers, pipe-fitters, electrical workers and boilermakers -- control over work rules, including hiring. CURE also taps developers for payments as high as $400,000 to a CURE fund promoting the industry."

...are THESE guys slowing solar growth?(click to enlarge)

"Three California unions that represent carpenters, laborers and operating engineers -- and are not CURE members -- say the coalition's threats of lawsuits against renewable-energy projects are ‘shameful’ tactics that could drive projects out-of-state at a time when California unemployment is more than 12%…

"The struggle over labor costs and permits for solar plants comes at a time when Gov. Jerry Brown has vowed to streamline the licensing of renewable-energy facilities. A law to require utilities to buy a third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020 is expected to be adopted in the Legislature this year."


GE, MISUBISHI IN WIND LAWSUITS
Giants Gird for Wind-Energy Battle
Bob Sechler, February 7, 2011 (Wall Street Journal)

"A closely watched patent dispute in the estimated $12 billion annual U.S. market for wind-energy gear takes center stage Thursday, when General Electric Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. face off in a federal appeals court.

"Attorneys for GE aim to persuade the three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., to reverse a decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission a year ago that Mitsubishi didn't infringe upon GE patents for technology used in variable-speed wind turbines…Mitsubishi, which has been trying to become a bigger player in the U.S. wind-energy market, may have more riding on what has become a multifaceted legal battle than GE, the market leader."

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"Mitsubishi has contended in a separate antitrust lawsuit against GE that its U.S. sales of variable-speed wind turbines went from about $2 billion annually to zero once GE first started mounting ‘sham’ patent litigation against it in 2008 to monopolize the market…[T]he appeals court ruling in the ITC case—which isn't expected before late spring—could have significant bearing on the three years of tangled legal wrangling between the two companies.

"Mitsubishi's antitrust suit, for one, has been stayed partly to await the outcome of the ITC case. The trade commission's ruling against GE came after an administrative law judge had initially sided with the conglomerate…The judge who stayed Mitsubishi's antitrust suit said a successful outcome for GE in its appeal of the ITC decision, or in patent-infringement suits against Mitsubishi that GE filed in Texas, ‘could render [Mitsubishi's antitrust suit] moot or narrow the issues considerably.’"

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"But a favorable decision by the appeals court for either side in the ITC case is unlikely to end the many-sided battle immediately. A number of lawsuits spawned by the broad dispute remain pending, with one of the Texas cases scheduled for trial in November, and both companies have indicated they'll have legal avenues left to pursue…[B]oth also hope the appeals court bolsters their hands…

"GE contends the overall dispute boils down to protecting intellectual property rights, a principle it says is essential to a healthy wind-energy sector…"