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Australian Renewable Energy Market Nears a Pivot

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The energy sector has transformed Australia’s economic and political fortunes in recent years, with the robust development of coal and natural gas lending it the strength of export powerhouse even as the country’s political leaders have repeatedly stressed a focus on renewable energy and carbon pricing in response to widespread concerns about environmental strain.

Pointing out that Australia had adopted an ambitious renewable energy and carbon emissions reduction campaign since 2006, International Energy Agency Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven welcomed the recent release of the Australian government’s Energy White Paper 2012. The White Paper release comes as the government’s Climate Change Authority prepares to issue a final version of its review of the country’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) program in December, and policy supported by both documents could lend much-needed certainty for renewable energy project developers like power company AGL awaiting confirmation of earlier government targets for renewable energy deployment in Australia. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 20, 2012 at 8:45 AM

The Business of Wind Energy in Europe

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The European Union (EU) has the reputation of a bureaucracy awash in red tape. Yet when it comes to wind power, and above all onshore wind, its policies over the last decade have proven enormously effective getting this precocious branch of business in Europe on its feet – and even booming.

Despite an ongoing economic crisis, Europe’s wind power industry has flourished as few others, not least as a consequence of the EU targets, national action plans, and other framework regulation including carbon pricing. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 23, 2012 at 1:00 PM

The Green Republic? Germany’s Wind Energy Boom

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The German wind industry sits at the heart of a European energy market preparing for a disruptive transformation intended to promote integration and allow the rich wind resource of the North to fuel continent-wide growth, without the risks of nuclear power and reliance on foreign energy producers.

It is a comprehensive, ambitious vision that in Germany alone the environment minister Peter Altmaier has compared in scale to the country’s painful post-Communist reunification. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 8, 2012 at 4:00 PM

Renewable Energy: Corporates, Financials and Technology Firms Take the Lead

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Companies are at the leading edge of wind globally, not least in the US. Starbucks recently sent a joint letter with 18 other US companies to Congress to request an extension of the Production Tax Credit which has helped grow installed capacity.

Ben & Jerry’s, Clif Bar, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co, The North Face, Sprint, Starbucks, Symantec, Timberland and Yahoo! are just a selection of household corporate names that understand the value of a sustainable wind industry to the consumer and the bottom line. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 25, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Renewable Energy Realities: US Energy Transparency Infographic

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During this year’s presidential campaign, the renewable energy industry and the tax credits that support it receives have become a hot political topic.

Renewable energy enjoys broad support in the US where people expect the government to support emerging clean power technologies and the 2012 Global Consumer Wind Study would make useful reading for both candidates. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 24, 2012 at 12:30 PM

Energy’s Brave New Transparent World

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Energy supply will soon no longer be a commodity, exchangeable and undifferentiated. Transparency about methods of production combined with increased consumer enthusiasm for authentic ways of ensuring their habits don’t harm the planet will ensure a shift in how energy is made, consumed and tracked.

That’s the brave new world Morten Albaek envisions as he considers the “puzzle” that is the energy mix today. Albaek is Global Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Corporate Relations at Vestas, the Denmark-based world leading wind energy company, but his approach to the business of selling wind turbines to the world is based on a fundamental view of the sector’s place in history, and its development. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 24, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Wind Energy in the US: Record Breaking Growth at Risk

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The US wind industry is on track for a record-breaking year. In August, the American Wind Energy Association announced a milestone 50 GW of capacity and installations will this year beat previous records.

Matt Kaplan, US wind analyst at IHS Emerging Energy Research, estimates that 12 GW will be installed this year. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 21, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Studies Show UK Corporations and Consumers Value Renewable Energy

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UK consumers care about price – that much is clear from the Vestas Global Consumer Wind Study 2012. And well they might. Government figures for 2011 show that the annual average electricity bill rose by £36 to £453 from the previous year.

It’s a trend that is never likely to be reversed. Electricity prices started to rise sharply from 2004 when the UK became a net importer of natural gas. Around 28% of the UK’s electricity fleet is gas-fired. This connection between fossil fuel imports and high energy prices is not lost on consumers – 77.5% of GCWS respondents expressed very high or moderately high levels of concern about dependency on fossil fuels. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 18, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Energy Transparency Studies Released

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Global investment in renewable energy capacity hit $237 billion in 2011, outpacing the $223 billion invested in new fossil fuel capacity globally, according to new data prepared by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for Vestas.

Moves by corporations to invest in renewable energy has the support of consumers as well, says a company data set – the Global Consumer Wind Study – also collected for Vestas and published as part of its Energy Transparency 2012 effort. Breaking Energy has partnered with Vestas on the Energy Transparency campaign as well. Read more about it here. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 14, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Wind Energy Works for an Island Nation: A Wind Power Infographic

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The UK has abundant wind resources from the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea that buffet the country’s coastlines, and despite current disagreement at the governmental level regarding renewable energy policy, a majority of people surveyed support greater renewable energy use over the next five years. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 14, 2012 at 9:45 AM
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