Buffett Ready to Double $15 Billion Solar, Wind Bet

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

While utilities don’t offer the sort of outsize returns of businesses that Warren Buffett favored earlier in his career, he has said he likes the industry because it provides opportunities for reinvestment and further acquisitions.

Warren Buffett briefly lost track of how many billions of dollars his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) is spending to build wind and solar power in the U.S. That didn’t stop him from vowing to double the outlay.
Describing the company’s increasing investment in renewable energy at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in Las Vegas yesterday, Buffett had to rely on a deputy, Greg Abel, to remind him just how much they’d committed: $15 billion.
Without missing a beat, Buffett responded: “There’s another $15 billion ready to go, as far as I’m concerned.”
Such bold remarks are common for the Berkshire chairman and chief executive officer. He frequently talks about hunting for “elephant”-size acquisitions and making multibillion-dollar stock purchases

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-10/buffett-ready-to-double-15-billion-solar-wind-bet.html

Green energy solutions Kenya

Why Green Jobs Are Booming in Bangladesh

Reuters

Bangladesh is known for its apparel manufacturing industry—and for the conditions faced by garment workers toiling in Dickensian factories for a dollar a day. But according to a report released Sunday, the South Asian nation has become a top hot spot for renewable energy jobs, creating a green workforce as large as Spain’s in 2013.
How? Solar energy.
Bangladeshi’s are installing small photovoltaic systems at a rate of 80,000 a month, says the report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In a country where only 47 percent of the population had access to electricity in 2009, according to the Asian Development Bank, solar is increasingly becoming a way to leapfrog the need to build a bigger power grid.

In the past 10 years, the number of solar systems in Bangladesh has jumped from 25,000 to 2.8 million, according to IRENA. That in turn has created some 114,000 jobs, from assembling solar panels to selling, installing and maintaining them. In fact, the number of solar-related jobs nearly doubled between 2011 and 2013. “The numbers are set to increase further,” wrote the report’s authors. (By comparison some 4 million people work in Bangladesh’s garment industry.)

Solar is nice choice for those area where is hard to obtain electricity.

Solar is nice choice for those area where is hard to obtain electricity.

Solar Energy Dominates First Quarter With 74 Percent of New Electric Capacity

Solar energy was clearly the top choice when it came to new, electric generating capacity installed during this year’s first quarter.

Power generated from the sun accounted for 74 percent of that new capacity, according to aquarterly report produced by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. That figure outpaced all other forms of energy by at least 54 percent. Natural gaschecked in with a paltry 4 percent.

In all, 1,330 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) were installed in the first three months of 2014. That figure—a 79-percent increase over the same period last year—brings the U.S. total installed solar capacity to 14.8 gigawatts. That’s enough to power 3 million homes.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/29/solar-energy-first-quarter-2014/

How does a biogas plant work?

How does a biogas plant work?

KENYA RENEWABLE ENERGY

Nigeria's private power industry

Selling Renewable Energy to the Kenyan National Grid

Kenya Govt seeking investment in green energy

UN forum launched to boost sustainable development

A UN sustainable development forum has been set up to provide “political leadership grounded in solid science”, secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said during an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

The high-level political forum (HLPF) has replaced the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which was launched after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, with the aim of promoting sustainable growth and a responsible use of the planet’s finite resources.

Speaking at the launch of the forum, Ban said, “This forum can be the catalyst for a strengthened global partnership for sustainable development, providing political leadership grounded in solid science.”

He added that to strengthen the efforts made towards a more sustainable future, a scientific Advisory board, which includes experts from various fields, has been created by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

UN general assembly president John Ashe said, “We have created this HLPF for the express purpose of delivering more effectively on our aspirations and agendas at a time when we realize that the practice of sustainability provides the only real bridge from our past to our present and our future, and from our planet to our peoples and our prosperity.”

Together with the French government, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) recently organised a conference that looked into the role tourism can play in the sustainable development of small islands.

Tourism – particularly ecotourism – was in fact one of the six areas that the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) identified as crucial to sustainable growth for emerging economies.

Further reading:

Conference calls for sustainable tourism as key factor for island development

The six industries that are crucial to sustainable economic development

PRI study: ESG factors influence countries’ economic development and sovereign debt

Kenya prepares to host major ecotourism event

http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/09/26/un-forum-launched-to-boost-sustainable-development/

Kenya to generate over half of its electricity through solar power by 2016

Masinga hydroelectric power plant. Kenya gets most of its power from hydroelectricity, but there are hopes solar will contribute more. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images

Kenya has identified nine sites to build solar power plants that could provide more than half the country's electricity by 2016.

Construction of the plants, expected to cost $1.2bn (£73m), is set to begin this year and initial design stages are almost complete. The partnership between government and private companies will see the state contributing about 50% of the cost.

Cliff Owiti, a senior administrator at the Kenya Renewable EnergyAssociation, said the move will protect the environment and bring down electricity costs. "We hope that when the entire project is completed by 2016, more than 50% of Kenya's energy production will consist of solar. Already we are witnessing solar investments in Kenya such as a factory that was opened here in 2011 that manufactures solar energy panels."

He said that over $500m had already been invested in solar projects in Kenya. "The costs related with hydro electricity are very high, considering they are influenced by the low water levels in major supply dams. With high investments in solar, we will witness almost no blackouts and power charges will reduce because electricity will be in high supply."

Germano Mwabu, an economics professor at the University of Nairobi, said the solar plan could have a dramatic impact on energy prices. "When the project is complete and solar is in good use, electricity costs could go down by as much as 80%."

India installed over 1GW of grid solar in 2013

Source: PV Tech

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has released figures revealing more than 1GW of grid-connected solar was installed last year. 

As of 31 December 2012, a total of 1.176GW had been installed and grid connected in India. Throughout the 2013 calendar year, a further 1.004GW was added, taking the cumulative total to 2.180GW. 

<snip> 

As of 31 December 2012, 106MW of off grid solar had been installed cumulatively, as of 31 December 2013; the cumulative total for installed off grid solar was 144MW. 

<snip> 

Despite industry concerns, and trade disputes, India is still pushing forward with ambitious solar targets. In September the ministry set the target of 10GW of solar to be installed by 2017.

Read more: http://www.pv-tech.org/news/more_than_1gw_new_solar_installed_by_india_in_2013 

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Via http://ecowatch.com/2014/01/20/india-solar-energy-gigawatt-grid/ 

Kenya to build the largest solar Plant

Chinese firms have partnered with the Kenyan government to build the largest solar plant ever seen in Kenya. The firms, China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic & Technical Co, Ltd. (CJIC) and the manufacturers of the Chinese photovoltaic (PV) JinkoSolar Holdings  have come together to build the 50 MW solar plant in Kenya.

The solar power facility is expected to be the largest solar power plant connected to a grid in the country and will be built on a 200 acre piece of land in Garissa County, North Eastern Kenya.

The plant is expected to produce about 76,470 MWH per year while contributing to reduced carbon emissions by 54, 190 tons per annum and reducing coal consumption by 24,470 tons per year.

With its arid climate and a wide piece of land mass under desert conditions, Garissa is geographically fit for harvesting solar power.

Under the construction agreement, the NYSE listed JinkoSolar will provide technical support needed for the project who are also preferred by CJIC to supply modules.

Good forecast for Dutch solar panels in Kenya