Global Clean Energy Investment Steady in Q2
California's Ivanpah Solar Tower Project Moves Forward
DOE Loan Solicitation for Renewable Energy Manufacturing
DOE Designates National Marine Renewable Energy Center
U.S. CO2 Emissions to Increase 3.4% in 2010
Global Clean Energy Investment Steady in Q2
Investments in clean energy technologies, companies, and projects held steady in the second quarter (Q2) of 2010, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
$33.9 billion flowed into clean energy, led by a "continuing boom" in China and some upward movement from the US that helped offset a drop in European projects. Overall, Q2 investment fell 1.5% from Q1.
$28.9 billion was in asset financing -with China getting $11.5 billion of that. Asset financing in the US rose from $3.5 billion in Q1 to $4.9 billion in Q2. While the public markets didn't results, Tesla Motors' IPO was an exception. Tesla's June 28 IPO raised $184 million, net of commissions and expenses. Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts 2010 total new clean energy investments at $180-$200 billion. See the Bloomberg New Energy Finance press release and the Tesla press release.
California's Ivanpah Solar Project Moves Forward
On August 12, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a power purchase agreement for the utility-scale Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System.
CPUC granted a 20-year contract between Southern California Edison and Ivanpah operator BrightSource Energy, Inc. for 117 MW of planned production from the three-tower, concentrating solar power (CSP) complex in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California.
The contract calls for electricity to begin flowing on September 30, 2013. The site's three plants will feature the company's proprietary solar tower technology, which employs thousands of flat mirrors to concentrate the sunlight on a central tower-mounted receiver. Water pumped to the receiver is boiled into steam, which drives a turbine to produce electricity. Solar towers capture a greater percentage of solar energy compared to other solar thermal technologies. Ultimately, the project is designed to generate approximately 400 MW of electricity, an output that would nearly double the existing generation capacity of CSP facilities in the US. See the CPUC ruling.
Earlier in the month, the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on the project, to be sited on about 4,000 acres of public land in San Bernardino County. The agency wanted BrightSource to pair down the footprint by 12% to 3,564 acres to reduce impact on sensitive plant and animal species. In February, DOE gave conditional commitments of more than $1.37 billion in loan guarantees to BrightSource Energy for the project. See the BLM press release, the BLM Ivanpah Web site, the California Energy Commission recommendation (PDF 9.28 MB), and the EPA notice in the Federal Register.
DOE Issues Loan Solicitation for Renewable Energy Manufacturing
On August 12, DOE issued a new loan guarantee solicitation for
renewable energy manufacturing projects including components for solar and wind. The solicitation covers manufacturing of commercial technology systems as well as wind turbine blades and solar PV equipment. Recovery Act funds will be used including up to $750 million to pay credit subsidy costs of loan guarantees.
