MORE SUNDAY WORLD , 3-8 (CHINA STILL WANTS NEW ENERGY; JAPAN BUYS PORTUGAL PV; DEAL TURKEY IN; GERMANS/DANES IN HUGE OFFSHORE DEAL)

CHINA STILL WANTS NEW ENERGY
China clings to clean-up amid economic woes
Emma Graham-Harrison (w/Alex Richardson), March 5, 2009 (Thomson Reuters)

"Grappling with slowing growth and a rising tide of unemployment, China is still pushing for cleaner development and may step up efforts to tackle climate change, the country's top economic planner said…Experiments with a cap-and-trade emissions trading system for air pollutants, more spending on technology to tackle global warming and another round of shutdowns at outdated power plants and factories are all on the agenda…

"The election of a new U.S. president with a strong position on global warming, and a looming deadline for a world deal on fighting climate change, have focused attention on China as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gasses…But some experts have voiced fears that the global downturn will test the resolve of China and other leading emitters to fight global warming…"

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"Beijing, in turn, is worried about its reliance on imported oil and gas, the health and economic consequences of its murky air and water and risks of protests and unrest from citizens threatened by pollution and now also unhappy about the economy…

"A long-standing drive to cut wasteful energy use remained a focus of attention with pledges to improve management of power demand, fine-tune pricing of oil products and block construction of new power-hungry projects…[T]argeted measures include income tax rebates for purchase of energy efficient equipment and tax credits for the manufacture of small, environmentally friendly cars."

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"The effort to improve "energy intensity" was actually speeded up by the economic downturn, which helped China to achieve a self-imposed energy-saving target for the first time in 2008, by pushing dirty metal firms and factories over the edge…

"…[O]fficials have said in the past that a scheme for these gasses could lay the ground for a system tackling greenhouse pollutants such as carbon dioxide by putting monitoring equipment in place, building up a market and popularising the concept of emissions trading…The government also plans to set climate change programmes for each province…Beijing has called for rich nations to provide green technology to developing countries as part of a global pact to cut emissions of global warming gasses, due to be hammered out at talks in Copenhagen in December…"


JAPAN CO BUYS PORTUGAL PV POWER
Mitsubishi Invests in Solar Farm, Taps European Aid
Shigeru Sato and Todd White, March 5, 2009 (Bloomberg News)

"Mitsubishi Corp. agreed to buy 34 percent of the world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant in Portugal to broaden its commodities-trading business and benefit from European government support for clean energy.

"Japan’s largest trading house, making its first investment in solar-power production, bought the stake from Acciona SA for an undisclosed amount…The plant has 262,000 solar panels and covers 250 hectares (1 square mile) in eastern Portugal.

"U.S. and Asian investors have flocked to Spain, Germany and Portugal where there’s state support for solar energy. The three, along with 34 nations with greenhouse-gas emission limits under the Kyoto treaty, have helped drive demand for clean energy.
The three nations require utilities to buy solar power at a premium price, in contrast to the U.S., not a signatory to Kyoto, whose solar incentives are largely limited to tax breaks…"

From france24english via YouTube.

"Mitsubishi, already an exporter of silica sand and solar cells [to the U.S., European and other markets], will diversify its revenue becoming a partner with Madrid- based Acciona, the world’s second-biggest wind-energy company. The company is [also]…expanding exploration and production of conventional fuels, such as oil and natural gas…Mitsubishi in January cut its full-year profit outlook for a second time in three months and reduced its dividend as prices for commodities tumbled…

"The 45.8-megawatt solar farm in the Moura district near the Spanish border can supply about 30,000 Portuguese homes, Acciona said in December when it began production. The plant cost 261 million euros ($329 million) to build and is the largest in the world connected to a supply grid…

"Spain’s Cuenca region is home to a group of solar installations, owned by different investors, that produce a combined 65 megawatts…"


DEAL TURKEY IN
Turkey to become key carbon market to kick CO2 habit
Yonca Poyraz Dogan, March 4, 2009 (Today’s Zaman)

"Voluntary carbon trading projects in Turkey have increased rapidly, reaching 45 from 30 in the first quarter of 2008…Turkey's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, a UN-led pact to combat climate change, ushered the country into a new era…[R]atification of the protocol gave Turkey the right to become involved in climate change decisions after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol will expire, and another commitment period will start…

"…As carbon markets have developed to bring buyers and sellers of carbon credits together, a number of projects…have been developed in Turkey...[but] only through voluntary carbon trading mechanisms because Turkey was not party to the Kyoto Protocol until February of this year…[Buyers] can be any entities that emit greenhouse gases to the atmosphere …[Sellers] can be entities that manage forest or agricultural land [or build renewable energy projects]…"

Turkey's wind. (click to enlarge)

"Despite the plunging economy, the value of the worldwide carbon market climbed 84
percent in 2008 to reach $118 billion and could reach $150 billion this year…Currently, 30 of the projects…in Turkey are wind power stations, 11 are hydroelectric power plants, two of them are geothermal and two are energy generators from biogas… [T]he Ministry of Environment and Forestry has started to study voluntary carbon trading mechanisms in the country…

"The latest data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) indicates that Turkey's greenhouse gas emissions…equal about 4.6 tons per person… [less than the EU nations’ 10.4 tons] but it is still a cause of concern because of the rapid speed of the increase….Turkey [the world's 17th biggest economy] will have take initiative, and the sooner it starts doing that, the less it will cost later on…

"Turkey will not have any obligations to reduce its carbon emissions until 2012, but it also will not have the advantages coming from the Kyoto Protocol's flexibility mechanisms. For example, Turkey cannot collect funding by hosting Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM), like China, which received sizable funds through CDMs to promote investments based on reduced carbon emissions."

Turkey's sun. (click to enlarge)

"However, Turkey's annual emission reduction efforts can be facilitated by sustainable energy development projects funded by voluntary carbon funds until it becomes eligible to host CDMs… [I]f Turkey had been in the right category under the Kyoto Protocol…its sustainable energy projects, especially wind power projects, would be 10 times their present level thanks to various incentives.

"…[M]any companies have already lined up for investment in sustainable energy development, including wind and solar power, considering the need for 4,000 megawatts of additional electricity every year…"


GERMANS/DANES MAKE HUGE OFFSHORE DEAL
Siemens wins 1,800 MW wind turbine contract
Kim McLaughlin (w/Karin Jensen, Will Waterman and Andrew Macdonald), March 6, 2009 (Reuters)

"Danish state-controlled oil and natural gas group DONG Energy…awarded Siemens a supply contract for up to 500 offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of up to 1,800 megawatts…The wind turbines will be deployed on DONG Energy's coming offshore wind farms in Northern Europe…

"DONG said the supply agreement was the biggest single order ever for offshore turbines. DONG Chief Executive Anders Eldrup told Reuters it was worth more than 15 billion crowns ($2.55 billion)…Eldrup said DONG had negotiated exclusively with Siemens for the order because it was the only company capable of delivering an order that big…"

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"Danish daily Berlingske said on its website the order was worth 20 billion crowns.
Siemens Renewable Energy Division head Rene Umlauft said the order was one of the biggest in the history of the German firm.

"DONG said the turbines Siemens will deliver have a capacity of 3.6 megawatts each and are similar to the turbines in operation at DONG's Burbo Banks offshore wind farm in Liverpool Bay…

"Denmark's Vestas, the world biggest maker of wind turbines, also makes a large offshore unit, a 3 megawatt turbine. It put this model back on the market in February last year after pulling it in 2007 following reliability problems with the turbine's gearbox…"