[Top News] from [REUTERS}
[Green Business]
Toyota plans $1 billion marketing, more hybrids: report
Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:30am EDT
DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp is preparing a $1 billion marketing campaign to boost U.S. sales in the fourth quarter, while also planning to expand its line of hybrid models under the Prius name, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda was among those briefing U.S. dealers at a meeting in Las Vegas where the plans were laid out, the newspaper said.
The $1 billion marketing and advertising plan is 30 percent to 40 percent more than Toyota typically spends in the quarter, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The plan includes subsidizing leases and loan rates, offering other customer incentives and helping pay for dealer ads, the Journal said.
The plan comes as Toyota is struggling with its worst downturn since it was founded in 1937 and is expecting to report a loss for the second straight fiscal year.
Toyota also plans to raise the projected resale value of its vehicles, a figure used in calculating monthly lease payments, the report said, citing dealers briefed on the plan.
Toyota landed three models among the top 10 sold in the recent "Cash for Clunkers" incentive program by the U.S. government.
The media blitz comes less than a week after General Motors Corp announced its own media campaign, in large part aimed at recapturing consumers who believe Toyota and other foreign automakers make better products.
Toyota executives in Frankfurt this week said the company planned to sell 500,000 to 600,000 hybrid vehicles globally by the end of 2009.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
[Green Business]
California moving to boost small solar projects
Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:07am EDT
By Laura Isensee - Analysis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Solar power makers will get a boost in California, already their largest U.S. market, as it sharpens its focus on small-scale projects as part of efforts to get a third of its power from renewable energy.
Executives with solar industry heavy-weights California- based SunPower Corp and China's Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd and other supporters are optimistic the commission's proposal for a new solar feed-in tariff will take effect and jump-start development.
They believe smaller systems can get to market quicker and overcome transmission issues that have put California behind schedule reaching a 2010 renewables goal.
"I think the feed-in tariff in California is a step in the right direction (for) customizing policy to the market segments," said SunPower's chief executive Tom Werner at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco last week.
Werner expects that, if enacted, the PUC's proposal would "absolutely" increase SunPower's sales.
Detailed rules for how California will meet its 33 percent renewables goal -- and which renewable energy sources they may favor or hamper -- are yet to be determined and are in the hands of the state's chief climate change agency, the Air Resources Board.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an order this week that the state get 33 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2020, while the state aims to get 20 percent of electricity from renewables by 2010 -- and faces long odds.
The proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission would give an incentive for small-scale solar systems of up to 10 megawatts, for a total of 1 gigawatt for the program.
A 10 MW system is fairly small in the solar industry, with utility-scale systems reaching hundreds of megawatts.
The entire U.S. solar market reached 8,775 megawatts at the end of 2008, according to Solar Energy Industries Association. Power generated by solar installations is expected to more than double in California this year, according to research house iSuppli. But the PUC estimates the state needs to almost triple its renewable electricity to meet the 33 percent goal.
Feed-in tariffs generally guarantee a higher price for renewables. In Germany, solar feed-in tariffs have pushed the country to be the world's market leader in solar power.
The PUC plan includes a pricing mechanism meant to appease skeptics of regulation and create market-driven pricing.
"By having competition, you're ensuring that you will definitely get market activity and that you will get the best possible price," said Adam Browning, executive director of the Vote Solar Initiative, a national advocacy group.
Through the mechanism -- dubbed a reverse auction -- developers would bid projects to utilities similar to the regular solicitation process, but with some differences. The costs would be passed to the rate-payers, Andrew Kotch, a PUC spokesman, said in a email.
While California currently has an feed-in tariff for solar projects, critics say the current cap of 1.5 megawatts is too small to drive new projects. The PUC proposal would not set prices administratively, but use the auction to set them.
"I think it's definitely worth a shot," said Steven Chadima, Suntech's vice president of external affairs for its U.S. unit.
Chadima said some would like tariffs like in Europe.
"But there's this belief or legal opinion that that's not possible to do," he said, due to federal energy law.
Chadima said the proposal could clear some of those legal hurdles. If it is enacted, Suntech would likely partner with local developers to bid projects, Chadima said.
The California legislature is also pushing for a solar feed-in tariff, which would increase the existing incentive to 3 MW and allow the PUC to increase the rate utilities pay. FBR Capital Markets analyst Benjamin Salisbury wrote in a note to clients that a "feed-in tariff could be an important RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) tool."
(Reporting by Laura Isensee; editing by Andre Grenon)
[Green Business]
Denmark showcases world-biggest offshore wind park
Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:41am EDT
By John Acher
ESBJERG, Denmark (Reuters) - Denmark on Thursday inaugurated the world's biggest offshore wind farm in time to serve as a showcase of its green technological prowess before a global climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
The 91-turbine Horns Rev 2 wind farm off the west coast of Jutland in the North Sea will generate enough electricity for 200,000 Danish households.
"Horns Rev 2 is an important step in our energy policy," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told guests gathered for the opening ceremony in the west-coast town of Esbjerg.
"It's our ambition that Denmark will be a green growth laboratory," Rasmussen said after he joined Crown Prince Frederik in inaugurating the park on its offshore platform.
The 209-megawatt development by state-owned DONG Energy took 18 months of construction to complete and is the offshore wind farm situated furthest out to sea, 30 km off the coast, northwest of Esbjerg.
The total investment stands at 3.5 billion Danish crowns
The 3.5 billion crowns ($694 million) wind park overtakes another Denmark installation, the 166-MW Nysted wind farm -- also DONG Energy's -- as the world's biggest offshore wind park.
But it will be superseded by the 630-MW London Array wind park in the Thames Estuary once that comes on stream in time for the London Olympics in 2012.
The wind park, consisting of 13 parallel rows of seven turbines each that spread out fan-like, is the world's first to have an offshore accommodation platform that can house up to 24 workers. Plans call for it to be manned year-round.
The turbines are from Siemens and rise to a total height of 114.5 meters above sea level. An additional 30-40 meters are below the surface. Each has a capacity of 2.3 megawatts, and the blade diameter is 93 meters.
Current from the turbines goes by buried cables to a transformer on the platform from where the electricity is brought ashore by a subsea cable.
World leaders will meet in the Danish capital on December 7-19 to try to hammer out a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.
Denmark, which gets a fifth of its electricity production from wind, aims for an ambitious treaty in Copenhagen and hopes the conference will also boost its environmental technology industry.
If a new U.N. climate pact imposes tough emissions cuts, wind power stands to benefit as countries will be forced to turn increasingly to non-carbon renewable energy sources.
Rasmussen said the "green agenda" will play an important role at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December. "Nobody can stop the growth of green energy," he said.
(Additional reporting by Karin Jensen, editing by William Hardy)
[Green Business]
Toyota plans $1 billion marketing, more hybrids: report
Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:30am EDT
DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp is preparing a $1 billion marketing campaign to boost U.S. sales in the fourth quarter, while also planning to expand its line of hybrid models under the Prius name, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda was among those briefing U.S. dealers at a meeting in Las Vegas where the plans were laid out, the newspaper said.
The $1 billion marketing and advertising plan is 30 percent to 40 percent more than Toyota typically spends in the quarter, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The plan includes subsidizing leases and loan rates, offering other customer incentives and helping pay for dealer ads, the Journal said.
The plan comes as Toyota is struggling with its worst downturn since it was founded in 1937 and is expecting to report a loss for the second straight fiscal year.
Toyota also plans to raise the projected resale value of its vehicles, a figure used in calculating monthly lease payments, the report said, citing dealers briefed on the plan.
Toyota landed three models among the top 10 sold in the recent "Cash for Clunkers" incentive program by the U.S. government.
The media blitz comes less than a week after General Motors Corp announced its own media campaign, in large part aimed at recapturing consumers who believe Toyota and other foreign automakers make better products.
Toyota executives in Frankfurt this week said the company planned to sell 500,000 to 600,000 hybrid vehicles globally by the end of 2009.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
[Green Business]
California moving to boost small solar projects
Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:07am EDT
By Laura Isensee - Analysis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Solar power makers will get a boost in California, already their largest U.S. market, as it sharpens its focus on small-scale projects as part of efforts to get a third of its power from renewable energy.
Executives with solar industry heavy-weights California- based SunPower Corp and China's Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd and other supporters are optimistic the commission's proposal for a new solar feed-in tariff will take effect and jump-start development.
They believe smaller systems can get to market quicker and overcome transmission issues that have put California behind schedule reaching a 2010 renewables goal.
"I think the feed-in tariff in California is a step in the right direction (for) customizing policy to the market segments," said SunPower's chief executive Tom Werner at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco last week.
Werner expects that, if enacted, the PUC's proposal would "absolutely" increase SunPower's sales.
Detailed rules for how California will meet its 33 percent renewables goal -- and which renewable energy sources they may favor or hamper -- are yet to be determined and are in the hands of the state's chief climate change agency, the Air Resources Board.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an order this week that the state get 33 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2020, while the state aims to get 20 percent of electricity from renewables by 2010 -- and faces long odds.
The proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission would give an incentive for small-scale solar systems of up to 10 megawatts, for a total of 1 gigawatt for the program.
A 10 MW system is fairly small in the solar industry, with utility-scale systems reaching hundreds of megawatts.
The entire U.S. solar market reached 8,775 megawatts at the end of 2008, according to Solar Energy Industries Association. Power generated by solar installations is expected to more than double in California this year, according to research house iSuppli. But the PUC estimates the state needs to almost triple its renewable electricity to meet the 33 percent goal.
Feed-in tariffs generally guarantee a higher price for renewables. In Germany, solar feed-in tariffs have pushed the country to be the world's market leader in solar power.
The PUC plan includes a pricing mechanism meant to appease skeptics of regulation and create market-driven pricing.
"By having competition, you're ensuring that you will definitely get market activity and that you will get the best possible price," said Adam Browning, executive director of the Vote Solar Initiative, a national advocacy group.
Through the mechanism -- dubbed a reverse auction -- developers would bid projects to utilities similar to the regular solicitation process, but with some differences. The costs would be passed to the rate-payers, Andrew Kotch, a PUC spokesman, said in a email.
While California currently has an feed-in tariff for solar projects, critics say the current cap of 1.5 megawatts is too small to drive new projects. The PUC proposal would not set prices administratively, but use the auction to set them.
"I think it's definitely worth a shot," said Steven Chadima, Suntech's vice president of external affairs for its U.S. unit.
Chadima said some would like tariffs like in Europe.
"But there's this belief or legal opinion that that's not possible to do," he said, due to federal energy law.
Chadima said the proposal could clear some of those legal hurdles. If it is enacted, Suntech would likely partner with local developers to bid projects, Chadima said.
The California legislature is also pushing for a solar feed-in tariff, which would increase the existing incentive to 3 MW and allow the PUC to increase the rate utilities pay. FBR Capital Markets analyst Benjamin Salisbury wrote in a note to clients that a "feed-in tariff could be an important RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) tool."
(Reporting by Laura Isensee; editing by Andre Grenon)
[Green Business]
Denmark showcases world-biggest offshore wind park
Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:41am EDT
By John Acher
ESBJERG, Denmark (Reuters) - Denmark on Thursday inaugurated the world's biggest offshore wind farm in time to serve as a showcase of its green technological prowess before a global climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
The 91-turbine Horns Rev 2 wind farm off the west coast of Jutland in the North Sea will generate enough electricity for 200,000 Danish households.
"Horns Rev 2 is an important step in our energy policy," Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told guests gathered for the opening ceremony in the west-coast town of Esbjerg.
"It's our ambition that Denmark will be a green growth laboratory," Rasmussen said after he joined Crown Prince Frederik in inaugurating the park on its offshore platform.
The 209-megawatt development by state-owned DONG Energy took 18 months of construction to complete and is the offshore wind farm situated furthest out to sea, 30 km off the coast, northwest of Esbjerg.
The total investment stands at 3.5 billion Danish crowns
The 3.5 billion crowns ($694 million) wind park overtakes another Denmark installation, the 166-MW Nysted wind farm -- also DONG Energy's -- as the world's biggest offshore wind park.
But it will be superseded by the 630-MW London Array wind park in the Thames Estuary once that comes on stream in time for the London Olympics in 2012.
The wind park, consisting of 13 parallel rows of seven turbines each that spread out fan-like, is the world's first to have an offshore accommodation platform that can house up to 24 workers. Plans call for it to be manned year-round.
The turbines are from Siemens and rise to a total height of 114.5 meters above sea level. An additional 30-40 meters are below the surface. Each has a capacity of 2.3 megawatts, and the blade diameter is 93 meters.
Current from the turbines goes by buried cables to a transformer on the platform from where the electricity is brought ashore by a subsea cable.
World leaders will meet in the Danish capital on December 7-19 to try to hammer out a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012.
Denmark, which gets a fifth of its electricity production from wind, aims for an ambitious treaty in Copenhagen and hopes the conference will also boost its environmental technology industry.
If a new U.N. climate pact imposes tough emissions cuts, wind power stands to benefit as countries will be forced to turn increasingly to non-carbon renewable energy sources.
Rasmussen said the "green agenda" will play an important role at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen in December. "Nobody can stop the growth of green energy," he said.
(Additional reporting by Karin Jensen, editing by William Hardy)
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