Apple, Inc has finalized an historic $850 million agreement to purchase solar power from First Solar, the largest solar developer in the United States. “The deal will supply enough electricity to power all of Apple’s California stores, offices, headquarters and a data center, Cook said Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco.
It’s the biggest-ever solar procurement deal for a company that isn’t a utility, and it nearly triples Apple’s stake in solar, according to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). “The investment amount is enormous,” said Michel Di Capua, head of North American research at BNEF. “This is a really big deal.” [Bloomberg]
Experts and analysts are beginning to claim the supremacy of the world’s two biggest energy information organizations, EIA and IEA, are being undermined by the recent downturn in world oil prices. “Until now most energy price and supply forecasts and analyses were based predominately on information from the globe’s two leading energy information agencies: the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, and the International Energy Agency (IEA), a consortium of 29 countries originally formed in response to the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo to provide better information on world energy supplies to its members.
Both agencies provide forecasts that are publicly available and widely covered in the media. What’s not apparent is how dependent private forecasts issued by the energy industry and financial firms are on the work done by these agencies.” [OilPrice]
UK ministers are warning the Austrian government that retaliatory measures will be taken if Vienna goes ahead with plans to challenge an EU state aid decision approving subsidies for new nuclear reactors at Hinkley point in Somerset. “A diplomatic cable from the Austrian embassy in London to Vienna, seen by the Guardian, says that the Foreign Office’s Europe director, Vijay Rangarajan, conveyed a message that “the UK will take in the future every opportunity to sue or damage Austria in areas that have strong internal political effects,” unless the lawsuit was dropped.
Initial measures would include: a complaint to the European Court about Austrian electricity labelling rules, pressure for Austria to contribute more to EU effort – sharing funds when it does not accept nuclear power as a “sustainable energy source”, and an investigation into whether Austria’s suit violated the Euratom treaty.
“Further steps and escalation cannot be excluded after the complaint has been submitted,” the cable says. [The Guardian]
