QUICK NEWS, December 7: SUN MOVES ON, VC SOLAR BUY-IN UP; CHINA WIND UPGRADING; CLIMATE TALKS SLOWING, CHANGE SPEEDING UP

SUN MOVES ON, VC SOLAR BUY-IN UP
2011 Venture Capital funding in solar to date surpasses 2010 levels; More than half a billion VC dollars raised since the Solyndra bankruptcy announcement
December 5, 2011 (Mercom Capital)

"According to the preliminary numbers compiled by Mercom Capital Group, Venture Capital (VC) funding in the solar sector so far this year has surpassed 2010 totals. Year to date VC funding (as of Nov. 30, 2011) amounts to $1.71 billion compared to $1.67 billion in in 2010."

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"The number of venture deals this year crossed the 100+ mark for the first time and will make 2011 the best year in terms of number of venture deals in a year...[M]ore than half a billion VC dollars went into 30+ deals since the Solyndra bankruptcy announcement, at the end of August."


CHINA WIND UPGRADING
53% of China's turbines upgraded following safety inspections
Wu Qi, 2 December 2011 (Windpower Monthly)

"China has upgraded 53% of its wind farms following a nationwide inspection to ensure safety operation, according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC)...[S]ince August when it started a nationwide inspection of wind farms, [SERC] has examined 360 wind farms that are connected to the grid and 80 wind farms that are under construction. The inspection found around 1,700 hidden dangers.

"Since last year, wind turbines have frequently broken down in Chinese wind farms and the malfunctions continue to rise...SERC said that in the first eight months this year, there have been 193 accidents on wind turbines. They included 54 accidents that led to a 100-500MW being disconnected, and 12 accidents that each led to over 500MW of turbines being disconnected."

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"...[SERC said the] accidents exposed fluctuations in Chinese wind farm operation, discordance in wind farm planning and construction, difficulty in wind power grid-access and consumption, and low overall competitiveness of wind turbine manufacturing sector...

"[Only] 34 key wind farms with an overall capacity of 4.34GW, have a low voltage ride through (LVRT) capacity [that protects the grid]. This was a priority for SERC...Grid-access inspection, another priority, is making slow progress...because China has only one testing organisation with qualifications for the inspection..."


CLIMATE TALKS SLOWING, CHANGE SPEEDING UP
U.N. climate talks move slowly as new studies urge more dramatic emissions cuts
Juliet Eilperin, December 6, 2011 (Washington Post)

"…[A]s researchers warned that if nations don’t bolster their plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions, much more costly reductions will be needed after 2020...[and with] just three days left in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Durban, South Africa, the major contributors to the world’s carbon output were divided over how to forge a more comprehensive approach to reducing emissions.

"The fundamental sticking point...is the same conflict that has dominated international negotiations for years: The existing global-warming treaty does not impose binding emissions cuts on some of the world’s top emitters, either because they were not originally bound or because they refused to ratify the agreement. Now, with the first commitment period of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol set to expire at the end of next year, delegates are wrangling over what sort of process should guide talks aimed at forging a new global warming treaty by 2020."

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"...[D]elegates are “stuck” on whether industrialized nations would adopt new climate targets under the Kyoto treaty starting in 2013 and what role the United States, China and India would play under a new climate framework...The European Union...[will] agree to a second round of emissions cuts only if the United States and major developing countries such as China and India sign on to a 'road map' that aims to forge a binding agreement on reductions by the end of the decade.

"Negotiators for China — which is the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter but is not obligated to make cuts under the Kyoto treaty — said publicly last weekend that they might be open to joining a legally binding treaty, but they have shown little willingness to make concessions in private sessions with other countries...American officials have emphasized that they want a better sense of what a binding agreement would look like before they sign off on a process to create one..."