[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
LIBREVILLE
Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:20pm EST
Gabon warns Veolia unit on water contract
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon warned environmental services group Veolia's SEEG unit on Wednesday to improve water distribution in the capital Libreville or risk seeing its concession frozen.
"The water distribution system faces shortages going back to 2003 as a result of obsolescence and saturation of the transport system for treated water," government spokesman Seraphin Moundounga said after a cabinet meeting.
Some Libreville districts had no water at all, while others faced cuts of up to eight hours a day, he said. Failure to make improvements would result in a "sequestration" of the contract.
He did not indicate how much time SEEG, 51 percent owned by Veolia's water services division, had to react.
SEEG has agreed to try and alleviate the problem by seeking to transfer water from a reservoir currently being used to supply the north of the city. Tests on that project began on December 28 and are due to last seven days.
Veolia has been operating in Gabon since 1997.
(Reporting by Linel Kwatsi; Editing by Mark John and Richard Chang)
[Green Business]
JAKARTA
Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:09am EST
Indonesia to relax forest protection on key projects
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will allow some infrastructure projects deemed in the public interest such as toll roads and geothermal energy plants to operate in protected forests, the chief economics minister said on Wednesday.
Under Indonesian law it is currently forbidden to undertake any kind of activity that could impact on a forest conservation area.
But chief economics minister Hatta Rajasa told reporters that the government would issue a new rule to allow some development in forests after discussions between relevant ministers.
"For the public interest such infrastructure projects and geothermal projects can use protected forests," Rajasa said.
The users of protected forests would have to compensate by setting aside twice as much land within another part of the province for use as forested land, he added.
The minister said the regulation would give investors certainty and denied it would disturb forest conservation.
"We know that there are many geothermal projects located in protected areas. That's why this regulation is part of the government's 100-day programme," he said.
The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who started a second term in October, has set 100-day programmes focused on removing bottlenecks that have stalled investment and infrastructure development in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
Overlapping regulations on the environment and resource development frequently complicate plans to develop projects in Indonesia, although green groups also complain that firms are sometimes wrongly given permission to exploit forests.
Indonesia also currently has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world that threatens to swiftly erode its dwindling untouched tracts of tropical forests.
At the same time, the developing nation desperately wants to speed up spending on airports, roads, ports and other infrastructure to help reduce inefficiencies and speed up economic growth in order to reduce poverty and unemployment.
On energy, Indonesia has established two crash programmes to increase power generation by 10,000 megawatts (MW) in a bid to resolve chronic power shortages in the country.
The first programme, which is due to be 40 percent complete by the middle of next year, relies on coal-fired power stations, while a second programme, due to start next year, has nearly half, or 4,733 MW, of power slated to come from geothermal sources.
Abadi Poernomo, president director of Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PHE), said previously the company planned to increase its geothermal capacity but had been blocked by the conservation law.
PHE, which is a unit of the country's state oil and gas firm Pertamina, planned to increase its geothermal capacity to 1,342 MW in 2014 from 272 MW currently. Pertamina already operates geothermal projects in West Java and North Sulawesi.
Indonesia is hoping to tap alternative sources of energy to meet rising power demand and cut consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.
The vast archipelago, with hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes, has the potential to produce an estimated 27,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources.
However, most of the potential remains largely untapped because the high cost of geothermal energy makes the price of electricity generated this way expensive.
(Reporting by Muklis Ali; Editing by Ed Davies)
[Green Business]
LOS ANGELES
Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:22pm EST
Clean tech venture capital off 36 percent in '09: report
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Venture capital investors spent 36 percent less this year on clean technology for a total of nearly $5 billion, an industry group reported on Wednesday.
The solar power sector continued to pull in the most investment, with 84 deals worth $1.4 billion -- more than a quarter of the total $4.85 billion invested in clean technology in 2009, Greentech Media said in a year-end report. Last year's total was $7.6 billion.
Biofuel companies followed with $976 million in 44 rounds, while investment in water tallied more than $130 million.
The volume of deals -- 356 -- rose slightly from the previous year's total of 350 deals, the report said.
Among the sizable venture capital deals in 2009, the group noted the $198 million venture capital investment led by Argonaut Private Equity for solar thin film player Solyndra, which filed in December for an initial public offering.
The group also noted key acquisitions and initial public offerings in the clean technology sector, such as German conglomerate Siemens' purchase of solar thermal player Solel for $418 million and battery maker A123 Systems Inc's strong IPO debut. (Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Gary Hill)
[Green Business]
Daniel Fineren
LONDON
Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:30pm EST
Spain stops wind turbines to balance supply
LONDON (Reuters) - Spain had to shut down some of its wind turbines on Wednesday as wet and windy weather caused a surge in green electricity generation at a time of low demand, grid operator Red Electrica said.
The country's thousands of wind turbines supplied a new record of 54.1 percent of demand early on Wednesday, forcing gas- and coal-fired power plants to run at minimum output to avoid system overload as hydropower companies drained brimming reservoirs.
"High wind output in the early hours of this morning, together with the high level of hydropower generation, due to reservoirs opening up after recent rains, forced the control center to cut thermal power to a technical minimum," Red Electrica said in a statement.
"Due to low demand at the moment this was not enough ... So the control center had to order wind power production to be cut between 4 am and 7 am this morning by 600 megawatts."
Spain has invested heavily in wind power generation over the last decade to cut carbon emissions and reduce its reliance on imported fuel.
It now has over 18,000 MW of turbines installed, out of a total power generation capacity of about 93,000 MW, and first produced over half of its electricity with them early on November 9.
Wind turbines are seen as a key technology for producing electricity without emitting climate-warming carbon. But the Spanish experience highlights the difficulties for grid and other plant operators in balancing the system when the wind blows hard and there is little demand, especially early in the morning.
Greater numbers of electric cars charging up overnight could help absorb some of the extra output in future but there are still too few to make a difference.
Wind power output hit 54.1 percent of demand at around 0350 local time (0250 GMT) on Wednesday, or over 10,000 megawatts.
Even after the order to cut output the remaining turbines were still producing around 40 percent of Spain's power at around 7 am, reducing the contribution of coal and gas plants to under 5 percent in the hours in between, according to Red Electrica data.
(Additional reporting by Martin Roberts in Madrid)
[Green Business]
LIBREVILLE
Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:20pm EST
Gabon warns Veolia unit on water contract
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon warned environmental services group Veolia's SEEG unit on Wednesday to improve water distribution in the capital Libreville or risk seeing its concession frozen.
"The water distribution system faces shortages going back to 2003 as a result of obsolescence and saturation of the transport system for treated water," government spokesman Seraphin Moundounga said after a cabinet meeting.
Some Libreville districts had no water at all, while others faced cuts of up to eight hours a day, he said. Failure to make improvements would result in a "sequestration" of the contract.
He did not indicate how much time SEEG, 51 percent owned by Veolia's water services division, had to react.
SEEG has agreed to try and alleviate the problem by seeking to transfer water from a reservoir currently being used to supply the north of the city. Tests on that project began on December 28 and are due to last seven days.
Veolia has been operating in Gabon since 1997.
(Reporting by Linel Kwatsi; Editing by Mark John and Richard Chang)
[Green Business]
JAKARTA
Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:09am EST
Indonesia to relax forest protection on key projects
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will allow some infrastructure projects deemed in the public interest such as toll roads and geothermal energy plants to operate in protected forests, the chief economics minister said on Wednesday.
Under Indonesian law it is currently forbidden to undertake any kind of activity that could impact on a forest conservation area.
But chief economics minister Hatta Rajasa told reporters that the government would issue a new rule to allow some development in forests after discussions between relevant ministers.
"For the public interest such infrastructure projects and geothermal projects can use protected forests," Rajasa said.
The users of protected forests would have to compensate by setting aside twice as much land within another part of the province for use as forested land, he added.
The minister said the regulation would give investors certainty and denied it would disturb forest conservation.
"We know that there are many geothermal projects located in protected areas. That's why this regulation is part of the government's 100-day programme," he said.
The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who started a second term in October, has set 100-day programmes focused on removing bottlenecks that have stalled investment and infrastructure development in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
Overlapping regulations on the environment and resource development frequently complicate plans to develop projects in Indonesia, although green groups also complain that firms are sometimes wrongly given permission to exploit forests.
Indonesia also currently has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world that threatens to swiftly erode its dwindling untouched tracts of tropical forests.
At the same time, the developing nation desperately wants to speed up spending on airports, roads, ports and other infrastructure to help reduce inefficiencies and speed up economic growth in order to reduce poverty and unemployment.
On energy, Indonesia has established two crash programmes to increase power generation by 10,000 megawatts (MW) in a bid to resolve chronic power shortages in the country.
The first programme, which is due to be 40 percent complete by the middle of next year, relies on coal-fired power stations, while a second programme, due to start next year, has nearly half, or 4,733 MW, of power slated to come from geothermal sources.
Abadi Poernomo, president director of Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PHE), said previously the company planned to increase its geothermal capacity but had been blocked by the conservation law.
PHE, which is a unit of the country's state oil and gas firm Pertamina, planned to increase its geothermal capacity to 1,342 MW in 2014 from 272 MW currently. Pertamina already operates geothermal projects in West Java and North Sulawesi.
Indonesia is hoping to tap alternative sources of energy to meet rising power demand and cut consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.
The vast archipelago, with hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes, has the potential to produce an estimated 27,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources.
However, most of the potential remains largely untapped because the high cost of geothermal energy makes the price of electricity generated this way expensive.
(Reporting by Muklis Ali; Editing by Ed Davies)
[Green Business]
LOS ANGELES
Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:22pm EST
Clean tech venture capital off 36 percent in '09: report
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Venture capital investors spent 36 percent less this year on clean technology for a total of nearly $5 billion, an industry group reported on Wednesday.
The solar power sector continued to pull in the most investment, with 84 deals worth $1.4 billion -- more than a quarter of the total $4.85 billion invested in clean technology in 2009, Greentech Media said in a year-end report. Last year's total was $7.6 billion.
Biofuel companies followed with $976 million in 44 rounds, while investment in water tallied more than $130 million.
The volume of deals -- 356 -- rose slightly from the previous year's total of 350 deals, the report said.
Among the sizable venture capital deals in 2009, the group noted the $198 million venture capital investment led by Argonaut Private Equity for solar thin film player Solyndra, which filed in December for an initial public offering.
The group also noted key acquisitions and initial public offerings in the clean technology sector, such as German conglomerate Siemens' purchase of solar thermal player Solel for $418 million and battery maker A123 Systems Inc's strong IPO debut. (Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Gary Hill)
[Green Business]
Daniel Fineren
LONDON
Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:30pm EST
Spain stops wind turbines to balance supply
LONDON (Reuters) - Spain had to shut down some of its wind turbines on Wednesday as wet and windy weather caused a surge in green electricity generation at a time of low demand, grid operator Red Electrica said.
The country's thousands of wind turbines supplied a new record of 54.1 percent of demand early on Wednesday, forcing gas- and coal-fired power plants to run at minimum output to avoid system overload as hydropower companies drained brimming reservoirs.
"High wind output in the early hours of this morning, together with the high level of hydropower generation, due to reservoirs opening up after recent rains, forced the control center to cut thermal power to a technical minimum," Red Electrica said in a statement.
"Due to low demand at the moment this was not enough ... So the control center had to order wind power production to be cut between 4 am and 7 am this morning by 600 megawatts."
Spain has invested heavily in wind power generation over the last decade to cut carbon emissions and reduce its reliance on imported fuel.
It now has over 18,000 MW of turbines installed, out of a total power generation capacity of about 93,000 MW, and first produced over half of its electricity with them early on November 9.
Wind turbines are seen as a key technology for producing electricity without emitting climate-warming carbon. But the Spanish experience highlights the difficulties for grid and other plant operators in balancing the system when the wind blows hard and there is little demand, especially early in the morning.
Greater numbers of electric cars charging up overnight could help absorb some of the extra output in future but there are still too few to make a difference.
Wind power output hit 54.1 percent of demand at around 0350 local time (0250 GMT) on Wednesday, or over 10,000 megawatts.
Even after the order to cut output the remaining turbines were still producing around 40 percent of Spain's power at around 7 am, reducing the contribution of coal and gas plants to under 5 percent in the hours in between, according to Red Electrica data.
(Additional reporting by Martin Roberts in Madrid)
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