EDF announced the completion and official inauguration of the Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Laos. The power plant was built on behalf of Nam Theun 2 Power Company (NTPC) (40% subsidiary of EDF). It features four 250 MW generators, producing power for the Thai power grid, and two 37 MW generators, which supply the Laos power grid with clean electricity. Even though the Laotian stake in the generated power is somewhat small (74 MW), this will be enough to supply almost 20% of the country's annual electricity consumption.
One of the major issues that slows down renewable energy development anywhere, is investor certainty – how much support for a particular project, how long, and so on. Every major renewable energy project requires years for development, and quite a large amount of investment into the process, in order to see it through to the very end. In a climate of investment uncertainty, investors will not invest large amounts of money in projects which represent a commitment of several years, only to be let down much later, and suffer losses. The UK has decided to do something about this issue, and introduced a faster project review process for renewable energy development, providing greater investor certainty for projects under the Renewables Obligation from 2013.
Minnesota Power has decided to replace the 17 2.3 MW Siemens turbines initially planned for the second phase of the Bison I wind farm, with the new generation direct drive units, also from Siemens. The company will install 15 SWT-3.0-101 direct drive units, which will yield an additional 10,000 MWh of electrical energy annually.
