Rumors | Renewbl.com

Category: Rumors

Honduras to be home of pilot biomass energy project in Latin America

September 24th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

At a recently held panel discussion hosted by the Institute of the Americas, the US Embassy and renewable energy industry representatives in Honduras, this country has been confirmed as the location of a biomass pilot project. The purpose of the project is to assess whether this form of renewable energy facility would be successfull as a model for other locations in Latin America.

At the same time, an announcement came that the World Bank is granting Honduras USD 60 million in funding for power projects with up to 10 MW of installed capacity. The biomass plant, and other projects, will be developed in the northern part of the country.

The Honduran Association of Small Renewable Energy Producers (AHPPER) sees the announced developments as a chance to unite developers, and attract foreign investments into the country.

South Korea to spend USD 7.8 billion on huge offshore wind farm

September 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Wind

South Korea is joining the "huge offshore wind farm" club of nations, with a plan to develop about 5 GW of offshore wind capacity. There are still no specifics about the actual parameters of the new offshore wind farm, except that it will be located about 30 km off the coast of South and North Jeolla provinces, in the soutwestern part of the country. According to the country's officials, the wind farm complex will have about 5 GW of installed capacity by 2019.

France building 3 GW of offshore wind capacity?

August 31st, 2010 | Posted in Wind

According to media sources, and unnamed officials from the French Energy Ministry, France seems to be planning a huge array of offshore wind farms totalling in 3 GW of installed capacity. The whole endeavor will require an estimated EUR 10 billion in investments. The planned projects will involve the installation of some 600 wind turbines, for which tenders will be announced by the French Energy Minister in September this year.

Scotland in talks with Statoil for first commercial floating wind farm

August 17th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Scottish Minister Alex Salmond met with Statoil representatives, during his ongoing visit to Norway, to discuss the possibility of developing the world's first commercial flaoting wind farm in Scotland. Statoil has already showed us the concept is feasible with its Hywind project, located off the coast of Norway, floating over the seabed 200 meters below.

Bondcom Green Energy developing a 100 MW wind farm in Serbia

August 5th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

Italian renewable energy developer Bondcom Renewable Energy (BGE) is developing a wind farm near the town of Boljevac, Serbia. The project represents a EUR 100 million investment, and will feature 40 2.5 MW wind turbines.

Under the development contract, BGE is to pay 1.5% of the price of generated power to the local municipality, over the duration of the land lease period of thirty years. This represents about EUR 1 million in profit for the municipality annually.

[source: Investicioni Fondovi]

Bulgarian company planning a 50 MW solar power plant

July 16th, 2010 | Posted in Solar

Bulgarian steel manufacturer Radomir Metal Industries unveiled plans to Bulgarian media for building a 50 MW solar power plant in Radomir, in the southwest of the country. The solar park will cover some 140 hectares of land located on the company's facility grounds.

The company will support its main production line with power generated at the plant, while being able to keep its workforce in employment. Radomir Metal Industries has layed off a significant portion of its employes due to the economic downturn.

The project will be developed in cooperation with two German companies, together with funding from loans to be obtained from German banks. A subsidiary company will be registered to take care of all the business related to the development and operation of the new solar park. Produced electrical energy will be sold to the state power grid operator NEK. The first solar panels will be mounted near the end of this year, while the deadling for the entire project has not been officially set.

[source: SEENews]

Lebanon to spend USD 5 billion on energy system revitalization and expansion

July 9th, 2010 | Posted in General

The Lebanese government has recently unveiled plans to make big investments into the country's power generating system. The country is currently, and has been for years, experiencing energy supply shortages, resulting in constant energy rationing throughout the country. If the government's plans are executed, Lebanon could end its energy crisis in just four years.

Lebanese Energy Minister, Gebran Bassil, unveiled a USD 5 billion plan to revatilize the country's energy sector to the local newspaper Daily Star. This could result in the country having about 4 GW of power generation capacity by 2014, and 5 GW after 2015. The investments would cover power generation capacities, but also the transmission and distribution networks to ensure stable and reliable power supply.

The plant includes wind and biomass energy as far as renewables are concerned. According to the minister, Lebanon should have about 12% of renewables in its power generating portfolio by 2014.

[via: UPI, source: Daily Star]

OPEC investing in renewable energy projects around the world

June 24th, 2010 | Posted in General

The OPEC has decided to invest in renewable energy project development around the world. A total of USD 170 million will be invested in 14 projects in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. According to Central America Data, about 20% of the total amount is to be invested in Latin American countries. Some of the countries are Colombia (USD 30 million), Cuba (USD 12 million), the Dominican Republic (USD 5 million) and Nicaragua (USD 4 million).

There are no details about which renewable energy technologies will be developed, but judging from the recent developments in Latin American countries, wind and hydro are the most likely. We couldn't verify this bit of news with OPEC yet, so take this with a little salt (that's why we have the Rumors category ).

[source: Central America Data]

Panama reviewing 25 applications for 3.144 GW of wind energy capacity

June 10th, 2010 | Posted in Wind

The Panamanian Public Services Authority is reviewing 25 applications for wind energy development, which if accepted, could total in 3144 MW of installed wind energy capacity in this Central American country, effectively doubling the amount of power produced from wind energy.

Two major projects under review are 600 MW Donoso wind farm (also the largest of the group), proposed by Fersa Panamá, and the 500 MW Eólico Bocas Bay wind farm in Bocas del Toro.

[source: Central America Data, image: Merriam-Webster]

Tibetan river holds 38 GW of hydropower potential, but dams probably won't be built

May 28th, 2010 | Posted in Hydro

Scenery from the Great Bend on the Tsangpo River, where it turns towards India to become Brahmaputra.

The Guardian caused quite a stir with its report on China's plans to construct the biggest hydropower project in the world in the Tibetan region on the Tsangpo River (known as Brahmaputra later on on its flow path through India and further). Chinese scientists and engineers have made assessments and estimations which resulted in the possibility of some 38 Gw of hydropower potential that could be harnessed for electricity production. This would require building a huge dam in the Tibetan part of the river flow. sounds pretty straight forward, except for the issue with significant disruption of downward river flow in India and Bangladesh which both use the river for water supply and power generation. Chinese academicians have however stated that the project would cause very little if any river flow problems for the two countries.