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[BusinessGreen.com > News > Renewables]
One-off costs blamed for Suntech loss
Chinese solar manufacturer increases shipment forecast for the rest of the year
BusinessGreen.com staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Suntech Power Holdings yesterday became the second renewable energy giant this week to post sizable losses for the second quarter, although the company was quick to attribute the losses to one-time charges and impressed investors by raising its shipment forecasts for the rest of the year.
While wind turbine manufacturer Vestas saw its share price fall drastically after the company posted weaker than expected results, Suntech's underlying performance was largely in line with expectations and as a result US-traded shares in the company edged up by about two per cent in midday trading.
The China-based solar panel manufacturer reported a net loss of $174.9m (£111.8m) for the quarter, or 97 cents per share, compared with a profit of $9.6m, or six cents per share, during the second quarter of 2009.
However, it attributed the loss to one-off costs resulting from the closure of its thin-film solar cell business and cash set aside relating to its stake in silicon wafer manufacturer Shunda Holdings.
Excluding the charges, the company would have matched analyst expectations, delivering earnings of three cents a share.
Sales at the firm were also in line with expectations, almost doubling year on year to $625.1m, while the company upped its shipment target for the year from 1.3GW to 1.5GW, citing strong demand in Europe and new supply agreements in Thailand, India and Israel.
"Despite successful sales expansion and strong execution during the second quarter, our financial results bear the significant impact of our Shanghai facility restructuring and Shunda Holdings investment impairments," the company said in a statement.
"These were necessary adjustments to make, and they have no impact on our core manufacturing operations. Now that they are behind us, we are in a better position to address the growth we are expecting in our core business."
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Carbon Trading]
New Zealand: Emissions trading helping to drive forestry projects
Minister says that recently introduced trading scheme is working
Tom Young, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Farmers in New Zealand have started planting forests on land previously used to graze livestock in response to the nation's new emissions trading scheme, according to a minister.
In a speech given to the Australia-New Zealand Climate Change And Business Conference earlier this week Nick Smith, minister for climate change issues, cited the change as a positive effect of the policy.
"In response to the ETS, some farmers have started to plant forests on their properties," he said. "For farmers who have steep, erosion-prone and largely unproductive land, forestry offers them a chance to boost their returns – both economically and environmentally."
Up until 2009, deforestation was on the increase in New Zealand with 30,000 hectares lost between 2005 and 2008, but policymakers now hope this will trend will be reversed thanks to new incentives for afforestation.
The governments estimates that forests that are planted to earn carbon credits under the emissions trading scheme will result in 30,000 hectares being planted each year, compared to just 3,500 hectares in 2009.
The emissions trading scheme began for large energy producers earlier this year and will be expanded to include agriculture by 2015, forcing farmers to pay for methane emissions from livestock – a further incentive to switch to forestry.
Last year, trade organisation Meat & Wool New Zealand estimated a carbon price of NZ$25 (£11) per tonne would cost the average sheep and beef farmer NZ$40,000 per year. Prices are currently hovering around NZ$19.
New Zealand farmer Edwyn Kight told Bloomberg this week he has planted 600 hectares of forest since carbon trading began and plans 800 more, while keeping 1,000 hectares for livestock.
Many farmers have warned that the emissions trading scheme will be bad for the economy, resulting job losses and the erosion of rural communities that will be displaced by the switch to forestry.
The Federated Farmers organization estimates that 2,800 cattle and sheep farms – some 20 per cent of the total – could be replaced by forests, irreparably damaging the sector.
However, the government maintains that the emissions trading scheme will help to curb the country's emissions while helping to diversify the economy and bolster long-term competitiveness.
Log exports from New Zealand to China more than doubled in the year ending March 2010 to 5.4m cubic meters, according to official statistics, and the government hopes that the forestry sector will continue to grow rapidly over the next decade.
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Investment]
Investors all charged up for US battery firms
Infinity Power Systems and 24M celebrate completion of successful funding rounds
Danny Bradbury, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Two US battery startups targeting opposite extremes of the energy storage market secured significant financial backing this week as investors gave a ringing vote of confidence to the fast-expanding sector.
Infinity Power Systems raised $20m in series C financing to continue the development of its thin-film battery business, while 24M, a spin-off from battery giant A123Systems, raised $16m to support its work on utility-scale batteries.
Infinity, which raised $13m in series B funding in March 2008, and $34.7m in 2006, raised its latest round through existing investors, with the help of new participant General Investment Management.
The company, which is already selling its range of Thinergy solid-state batteries, will use the new capital to help expand manufacturing and sales channels for the devices.
Thinergy thin-film batteries are designed to replace coin batteries and supercapacitors for use in tiny physical devices such as RFID chips and powered smart cards. The devices are designed to use energy harvested from movement – such as the up and down jiggling of a sensor during transportation, for example – enabling them to be constantly charged.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, 24M was officially spun out from A123Systems earlier this month to focus on the development of giant flow batteries.
The company is working to increase the density of traditional lithium-ion chemistry by combining fuel cell and flow battery technology, in which electrolytes stored in tanks are used to recharge a battery device.
24M reckons the technology will result in large-scale energy storage devices suitable for storing energy produced by intermittent renewable power sources, such as wind and solar farms.
MIT professor Yet-Ming Chiang, whose research led to the increased power density in A123's lithium ion cells, will head up the company with colleagues.
The company said that $10m of the latest funding will come from private investors Charles River Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners, while the remaining $6m will be provided by the Department of Energy.
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Transport]
Scientists brew up powerful whisky biofuel
Scottish researchers plan spin-off company to commercialise biofuel made from whisky by-products
BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Biofuels made from whisky by-products could be available on Scottish roads within a few years after a team of researchers at Edinburgh Napier's Biofuel Research Centre this week filed for a patent for the new fuel.
The team, which is now planning to form a spin-off company to commercialise the fuel, used pot ale waste liquid and spent grains known as draff from Diageo's Glenkinchie Distillery to develop a method of producing butanol.
The researchers said the resulting biobutanol produces 30 per cent more output power than ethanol and can be used by conventional cars without any changes to the engine.
They also predicted that the fuel will have minimal impact on the environment compared to first generation biofuels made from energy crops as it will draw on the 1,600 million litres of pot ale and 187,000 tonnes of draff produced by the Scottish malt whisky industry each year.
"While some energy companies are growing crops specifically to generate biofuel, we are investigating excess materials such as whisky by-products to develop them," said Professor Martin Tangney, who led the research. "This is a more environmentally sustainable option and potentially offers new revenue on the back of one Scotland’s biggest industries."
The announcement was welcomed by Jim Mather, Scottish minister for enterprise, energy and tourism, who said that the development could help Scotland meet its ambitious targets for both increasing renewable energy generation and cutting levels of waste sent to landfill.
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Renewables]
One-off costs blamed for Suntech loss
Chinese solar manufacturer increases shipment forecast for the rest of the year
BusinessGreen.com staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Suntech Power Holdings yesterday became the second renewable energy giant this week to post sizable losses for the second quarter, although the company was quick to attribute the losses to one-time charges and impressed investors by raising its shipment forecasts for the rest of the year.
While wind turbine manufacturer Vestas saw its share price fall drastically after the company posted weaker than expected results, Suntech's underlying performance was largely in line with expectations and as a result US-traded shares in the company edged up by about two per cent in midday trading.
The China-based solar panel manufacturer reported a net loss of $174.9m (£111.8m) for the quarter, or 97 cents per share, compared with a profit of $9.6m, or six cents per share, during the second quarter of 2009.
However, it attributed the loss to one-off costs resulting from the closure of its thin-film solar cell business and cash set aside relating to its stake in silicon wafer manufacturer Shunda Holdings.
Excluding the charges, the company would have matched analyst expectations, delivering earnings of three cents a share.
Sales at the firm were also in line with expectations, almost doubling year on year to $625.1m, while the company upped its shipment target for the year from 1.3GW to 1.5GW, citing strong demand in Europe and new supply agreements in Thailand, India and Israel.
"Despite successful sales expansion and strong execution during the second quarter, our financial results bear the significant impact of our Shanghai facility restructuring and Shunda Holdings investment impairments," the company said in a statement.
"These were necessary adjustments to make, and they have no impact on our core manufacturing operations. Now that they are behind us, we are in a better position to address the growth we are expecting in our core business."
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Carbon Trading]
New Zealand: Emissions trading helping to drive forestry projects
Minister says that recently introduced trading scheme is working
Tom Young, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Farmers in New Zealand have started planting forests on land previously used to graze livestock in response to the nation's new emissions trading scheme, according to a minister.
In a speech given to the Australia-New Zealand Climate Change And Business Conference earlier this week Nick Smith, minister for climate change issues, cited the change as a positive effect of the policy.
"In response to the ETS, some farmers have started to plant forests on their properties," he said. "For farmers who have steep, erosion-prone and largely unproductive land, forestry offers them a chance to boost their returns – both economically and environmentally."
Up until 2009, deforestation was on the increase in New Zealand with 30,000 hectares lost between 2005 and 2008, but policymakers now hope this will trend will be reversed thanks to new incentives for afforestation.
The governments estimates that forests that are planted to earn carbon credits under the emissions trading scheme will result in 30,000 hectares being planted each year, compared to just 3,500 hectares in 2009.
The emissions trading scheme began for large energy producers earlier this year and will be expanded to include agriculture by 2015, forcing farmers to pay for methane emissions from livestock – a further incentive to switch to forestry.
Last year, trade organisation Meat & Wool New Zealand estimated a carbon price of NZ$25 (£11) per tonne would cost the average sheep and beef farmer NZ$40,000 per year. Prices are currently hovering around NZ$19.
New Zealand farmer Edwyn Kight told Bloomberg this week he has planted 600 hectares of forest since carbon trading began and plans 800 more, while keeping 1,000 hectares for livestock.
Many farmers have warned that the emissions trading scheme will be bad for the economy, resulting job losses and the erosion of rural communities that will be displaced by the switch to forestry.
The Federated Farmers organization estimates that 2,800 cattle and sheep farms – some 20 per cent of the total – could be replaced by forests, irreparably damaging the sector.
However, the government maintains that the emissions trading scheme will help to curb the country's emissions while helping to diversify the economy and bolster long-term competitiveness.
Log exports from New Zealand to China more than doubled in the year ending March 2010 to 5.4m cubic meters, according to official statistics, and the government hopes that the forestry sector will continue to grow rapidly over the next decade.
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Investment]
Investors all charged up for US battery firms
Infinity Power Systems and 24M celebrate completion of successful funding rounds
Danny Bradbury, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Two US battery startups targeting opposite extremes of the energy storage market secured significant financial backing this week as investors gave a ringing vote of confidence to the fast-expanding sector.
Infinity Power Systems raised $20m in series C financing to continue the development of its thin-film battery business, while 24M, a spin-off from battery giant A123Systems, raised $16m to support its work on utility-scale batteries.
Infinity, which raised $13m in series B funding in March 2008, and $34.7m in 2006, raised its latest round through existing investors, with the help of new participant General Investment Management.
The company, which is already selling its range of Thinergy solid-state batteries, will use the new capital to help expand manufacturing and sales channels for the devices.
Thinergy thin-film batteries are designed to replace coin batteries and supercapacitors for use in tiny physical devices such as RFID chips and powered smart cards. The devices are designed to use energy harvested from movement – such as the up and down jiggling of a sensor during transportation, for example – enabling them to be constantly charged.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, 24M was officially spun out from A123Systems earlier this month to focus on the development of giant flow batteries.
The company is working to increase the density of traditional lithium-ion chemistry by combining fuel cell and flow battery technology, in which electrolytes stored in tanks are used to recharge a battery device.
24M reckons the technology will result in large-scale energy storage devices suitable for storing energy produced by intermittent renewable power sources, such as wind and solar farms.
MIT professor Yet-Ming Chiang, whose research led to the increased power density in A123's lithium ion cells, will head up the company with colleagues.
The company said that $10m of the latest funding will come from private investors Charles River Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners, while the remaining $6m will be provided by the Department of Energy.
[BusinessGreen.com > News > Transport]
Scientists brew up powerful whisky biofuel
Scottish researchers plan spin-off company to commercialise biofuel made from whisky by-products
BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, 19 Aug 2010
Biofuels made from whisky by-products could be available on Scottish roads within a few years after a team of researchers at Edinburgh Napier's Biofuel Research Centre this week filed for a patent for the new fuel.
The team, which is now planning to form a spin-off company to commercialise the fuel, used pot ale waste liquid and spent grains known as draff from Diageo's Glenkinchie Distillery to develop a method of producing butanol.
The researchers said the resulting biobutanol produces 30 per cent more output power than ethanol and can be used by conventional cars without any changes to the engine.
They also predicted that the fuel will have minimal impact on the environment compared to first generation biofuels made from energy crops as it will draw on the 1,600 million litres of pot ale and 187,000 tonnes of draff produced by the Scottish malt whisky industry each year.
"While some energy companies are growing crops specifically to generate biofuel, we are investigating excess materials such as whisky by-products to develop them," said Professor Martin Tangney, who led the research. "This is a more environmentally sustainable option and potentially offers new revenue on the back of one Scotland’s biggest industries."
The announcement was welcomed by Jim Mather, Scottish minister for enterprise, energy and tourism, who said that the development could help Scotland meet its ambitious targets for both increasing renewable energy generation and cutting levels of waste sent to landfill.
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