How free markets are making solar energy feasible without subsidies February 20, 2014 IT MAY be a clean form of energy, but solar has become a dirty word in some circles. Given expensive subsidies and feed-in-tariffs, solar (like other renewables) has looked like yet another uncompetitive distraction. It’s little surprise that countries like Germany, which have made the greatest commitments to renewables, also have the highest domestic energy [...]
Erratic and arbitrary UK renewable subsidies are likely to end in failure December 4, 2013 WITH Centrica threatening to pull the plug on a £2bn offshore wind farm if the government did not increase already exorbitant subsidies, ministers agreed to do just that. Yesterday, they announced they would slow the planned reduction in the guaranteed strike price for offshore wind by adding £5 to the subsidy – to £140 per [...]
Crown Estate shelves plans for wind farm in Bristol Channel November 26, 2013 THE CROWN Estate, which controls seabeds around the UK, yesterday said there are no plans to build a wind farm in the Bristol Channel after RWE Npower pulled out of a £4bn project. “Having evaluated the site we feel this it is not a viable investment opportunity at the present time and we therefore have [...]
Power giant RWE pulls plug on Atlantic wind farm development November 25, 2013 FINANCING problems have hit RWE Innogy’s 240-turbine wind farm plan off the Devon cost, it was reported last night, which could force the group to scrap the project. The energy firm has been planning the project since at least 2008, and hoped to generate up to 1,200 megawatts of electricity on the site. It had [...]
Renewables policy blamed for decline in E.On and GDF profits November 13, 2013 GERMAN energy firm E.On yesterday narrowed its full-year earnings forecast, after posting a 19 per cent decline in earnings for the first nine months of the year. The integrated energy firm, which supplies power across Western Europe, blamed government support for renewables over conventional forms of energy for the decline. An increase in renewables has [...]
We can cut carbon emissions but not with inefficient renewable subsidies November 5, 2013 HOPE for a breakthrough at the international climate change talks in Warsaw next week is evergreen: “Where there is a will, there is a way!” the hosts’ environment minister says. But despite this optimism, there is little global will for an overarching agreement akin to the failed Kyoto protocol. Yet there is a very different [...]
Renewables firm Infinis puts price tag on IPO stake November 4, 2013 INFINIS, the energy company owned by Guy Hands’ private equity firm Terra Firma, yesterday set the price range for its forthcoming stock market float to value the company at nearly £1bn. Shares in the renewable energy provider are expected to price at between 260p and 310p each, giving the company a market cap of between [...]
Against the Grain: Why expensive renewable energy policies are failing to save the planet October 22, 2013 ENERGY price rises are again causing public anguish. The recent actions of some energy companies can be plausibly described as provocative, no matter how well-founded their decisions might be. They risk provoking the ire of the opposition, the government, and even former Prime Ministers like Sir John Major (who has just called for a windfall [...]
Wind turbine market to surge as investors dash for renewables August 26, 2013 SIEMENS, the world’s number three maker of wind turbines, expects the global wind power market to more than quadruple by 2030, lifted by strong growth in Asia. “The market will shift away from Europe significantly,” Markus Tacke, chief executive of the German company’s Wind Power division, said at a renewable energy conference in Berlin. He [...]