[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Leonora Walet and Sui-Lee Wee - Analysis
HONG KONG
Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:43pm EST
State funding fuels China's global push in wind, sun
HONG KONG (Reuters) - When A-Power Energy Generation Systems secured a deal to supply turbines for a U.S. wind farm project in October, the little-known Chinese firm had an ace up its sleeve to help it clinch the deal.
A-Power was armed with $1.5 billion in financing from state-run Chinese banks to fund the 600 megawatt project in Texas.
While global peers have limited access to cheap state loans, Chinese renewable energy firms are getting a boost from Beijing as they win clean technology projects around the world [ID:nHKG361180]. Much of that is via low-interest loans from big state banks for their clients to finance their purchases.
This support is giving China's renewable energy firms an edge over Asian rivals such as India's Suzlon Energy, Japan Wind Development and Australia's Infigen Energy, as well as heavyweights like German polysilicon firm Wacker Chemie and Danish wind energy firm Vestas Wind.
"I don't think A-Power could have done this deal without access to cheap financing," said Jacob Kirkregaard, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C, who recently published a paper on wind energy.
"China is clearly the big kid on the block, no doubt about that," he said, referring to the state support for renewable energy. "That's not something many Asian countries can emulate."
Shares of A-Power, which only entered the wind business in 2008, hit a 15-month high last Friday after it said it will supply wind turbines for the Texas project.
Such deals are unfolding as China aggressively develops its renewable energy sector and as its companies play catch-up with bigger, global peers including German solar cell producer Q-Cells AG and Spanish wind farm operator Iberdrola, which have built up solid track records, also with help from more than a decade of government subsidies.
LOAN BOOST
Most of China's alternative energy makers, including solar firms Yingli Energy Holdings and Suntech Power Holdings, and wind gear maker China High Speed Transmission, already have access to low-interest financing from state-run banks to fund their growth as well as client purchases.
Interest rates on loans for wind power generator China Longyuan Power Group, for example, are 10 percent below the prevailing benchmark rate set by the Peoples' Bank of China (PBOC), said Morgan Stanley in a report.
"Chinese banks are motivated by the mandate from the government to develop renewable energy as a national priority," said Zhao Feng at Denmark-based BTM Consult ApS, a consultancy that specializes in renewable energy.
"In Europe, the banks, when they offer loans, tend to assess the project and look at it more closely from a risk perspective."
Such state-backed financing is a common policy tool for governments globally trying to support industries they want to develop. China also provides similar strong support for its energy firms for overseas acquisitions, and its telecoms equipment makers as they try to expand abroad.
Beijing's support comes as Chinese players attempt to create new markets as the cost of developing renewable energy falls and competition intensifies for projects at home.
China's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp (CIC), is also helping to bolster the industry.
In the last several months, the fund has pumped about $1.1 billion into the sector, buying stakes in solar firm GCL-Poly Energy, the world's No.3 polysilicon company by capacity, and China Longyuan, the world's fifth-largest wind power company.
But analysts say access to cheap money will only get China's alternate energy firms so far.
"Essentially, you need to get the product right," said Felix Lam, analyst with CCB International. "Cheap loans can't guarantee a project's success, you've got to have the technology.
"It's the technology that will give you that advantage long-term."
[Green Business]
WASHINGTON
Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:32pm EST
U.S. cracks down on lung-harming ship emissions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. environmental regulators on Tuesday finalized engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships to cut emissions that cause lung diseases and save more than $100 billion in health costs.
By 2030 the strategy should cut annual emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) from large oil tankers, cargo ships and cruise vessels by about 1.2 million tons and particulate matter emissions, or soot, by about 143,000 tons, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
When fully implemented, the effort will reduce NOX emissions from ships by 80 percent, and particulate emissions by 85 percent, compared to current emissions.
The EPA estimates that in 2030, the standards will prevent between 12,000 and 31,000 premature deaths and 1.4 million work days lost.
Annual health benefits in 2030 should be worth between $110 billion and $270 billion, compared to compliance costs of only about $3.1 billion, the EPA said.
"Stronger standards will help make large ships cleaner and more efficient, and protect millions of Americans from harmful diesel emissions," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a release.
An environmentalist agreed. "Frankly, it is hard to find a better deal in the public health world," Rich Kassel, the director of clean fuels and vehicles at the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a blog on Tuesday.
The EPA is also working with international organizations to control emissions from non-U.S. flagged ships.
The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, is set to vote in March next year on the adoption of the joint U.S.-Canada buffer zone, which would result in stringent standards for large foreign-flagged and domestic ships operating within the designated area.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)
[Green Business > Environment > COP15]
PARIS
Tue Dec 22, 2009 3:04pm EST
Sarkozy wants global carbon talks in Paris: groups
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to hold international talks in Paris next year to seek agreement on carbon emission cuts following the Copenhagen climate conference, environmental groups said on Tuesday.
Sarkozy met representatives from several environmental campaign groups to discuss last week's Copenhagen meeting, which ended with a bare minimum agreement that fell far short of the ambitions France and many other countries had set.
In a statement, the presidential office said only that Sarkozy had "evoked the conditions of the mobilization that France intended to bring in the coming months" during a lunch with NGOs.
Arnaud Gossement, spokesman for the France Nature Environnement group, said after the meeting that Sarkozy had announced plans to invite the countries which are home to the world's four major forest basins to Paris at the end of January.
He also intended to invite the 28 countries that signed the final Copenhagen accord to a meeting in April or May.
The aim of the meeting would be "to implement the 50 percent objective by 2050," Gossement said, referring to the European Union's ambition of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent of their 1990 level by the middle of the century.
But he added that Sarkozy believed that not all of the 28 countries would attend the meeting. "He doesn't see China or Saudi Arabia joining the meeting," Gossement said.
A Chinese official said earlier this week that Beijing will treat talks on a binding global climate change pact in 2010 as a struggle over the "right to develop," signaling more tough deal-making will follow the Copenhagen summit.
(Writing by James Mackenzie; Additional reporting by Yann Le Guernigou; editing by David Stamp)
[Green Business]
Leonora Walet and Sui-Lee Wee - Analysis
HONG KONG
Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:43pm EST
State funding fuels China's global push in wind, sun
HONG KONG (Reuters) - When A-Power Energy Generation Systems secured a deal to supply turbines for a U.S. wind farm project in October, the little-known Chinese firm had an ace up its sleeve to help it clinch the deal.
A-Power was armed with $1.5 billion in financing from state-run Chinese banks to fund the 600 megawatt project in Texas.
While global peers have limited access to cheap state loans, Chinese renewable energy firms are getting a boost from Beijing as they win clean technology projects around the world [ID:nHKG361180]. Much of that is via low-interest loans from big state banks for their clients to finance their purchases.
This support is giving China's renewable energy firms an edge over Asian rivals such as India's Suzlon Energy, Japan Wind Development and Australia's Infigen Energy, as well as heavyweights like German polysilicon firm Wacker Chemie and Danish wind energy firm Vestas Wind.
"I don't think A-Power could have done this deal without access to cheap financing," said Jacob Kirkregaard, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C, who recently published a paper on wind energy.
"China is clearly the big kid on the block, no doubt about that," he said, referring to the state support for renewable energy. "That's not something many Asian countries can emulate."
Shares of A-Power, which only entered the wind business in 2008, hit a 15-month high last Friday after it said it will supply wind turbines for the Texas project.
Such deals are unfolding as China aggressively develops its renewable energy sector and as its companies play catch-up with bigger, global peers including German solar cell producer Q-Cells AG and Spanish wind farm operator Iberdrola, which have built up solid track records, also with help from more than a decade of government subsidies.
LOAN BOOST
Most of China's alternative energy makers, including solar firms Yingli Energy Holdings and Suntech Power Holdings, and wind gear maker China High Speed Transmission, already have access to low-interest financing from state-run banks to fund their growth as well as client purchases.
Interest rates on loans for wind power generator China Longyuan Power Group, for example, are 10 percent below the prevailing benchmark rate set by the Peoples' Bank of China (PBOC), said Morgan Stanley in a report.
"Chinese banks are motivated by the mandate from the government to develop renewable energy as a national priority," said Zhao Feng at Denmark-based BTM Consult ApS, a consultancy that specializes in renewable energy.
"In Europe, the banks, when they offer loans, tend to assess the project and look at it more closely from a risk perspective."
Such state-backed financing is a common policy tool for governments globally trying to support industries they want to develop. China also provides similar strong support for its energy firms for overseas acquisitions, and its telecoms equipment makers as they try to expand abroad.
Beijing's support comes as Chinese players attempt to create new markets as the cost of developing renewable energy falls and competition intensifies for projects at home.
China's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp (CIC), is also helping to bolster the industry.
In the last several months, the fund has pumped about $1.1 billion into the sector, buying stakes in solar firm GCL-Poly Energy, the world's No.3 polysilicon company by capacity, and China Longyuan, the world's fifth-largest wind power company.
But analysts say access to cheap money will only get China's alternate energy firms so far.
"Essentially, you need to get the product right," said Felix Lam, analyst with CCB International. "Cheap loans can't guarantee a project's success, you've got to have the technology.
"It's the technology that will give you that advantage long-term."
[Green Business]
WASHINGTON
Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:32pm EST
U.S. cracks down on lung-harming ship emissions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. environmental regulators on Tuesday finalized engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships to cut emissions that cause lung diseases and save more than $100 billion in health costs.
By 2030 the strategy should cut annual emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) from large oil tankers, cargo ships and cruise vessels by about 1.2 million tons and particulate matter emissions, or soot, by about 143,000 tons, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
When fully implemented, the effort will reduce NOX emissions from ships by 80 percent, and particulate emissions by 85 percent, compared to current emissions.
The EPA estimates that in 2030, the standards will prevent between 12,000 and 31,000 premature deaths and 1.4 million work days lost.
Annual health benefits in 2030 should be worth between $110 billion and $270 billion, compared to compliance costs of only about $3.1 billion, the EPA said.
"Stronger standards will help make large ships cleaner and more efficient, and protect millions of Americans from harmful diesel emissions," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a release.
An environmentalist agreed. "Frankly, it is hard to find a better deal in the public health world," Rich Kassel, the director of clean fuels and vehicles at the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a blog on Tuesday.
The EPA is also working with international organizations to control emissions from non-U.S. flagged ships.
The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, is set to vote in March next year on the adoption of the joint U.S.-Canada buffer zone, which would result in stringent standards for large foreign-flagged and domestic ships operating within the designated area.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)
[Green Business > Environment > COP15]
PARIS
Tue Dec 22, 2009 3:04pm EST
Sarkozy wants global carbon talks in Paris: groups
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to hold international talks in Paris next year to seek agreement on carbon emission cuts following the Copenhagen climate conference, environmental groups said on Tuesday.
Sarkozy met representatives from several environmental campaign groups to discuss last week's Copenhagen meeting, which ended with a bare minimum agreement that fell far short of the ambitions France and many other countries had set.
In a statement, the presidential office said only that Sarkozy had "evoked the conditions of the mobilization that France intended to bring in the coming months" during a lunch with NGOs.
Arnaud Gossement, spokesman for the France Nature Environnement group, said after the meeting that Sarkozy had announced plans to invite the countries which are home to the world's four major forest basins to Paris at the end of January.
He also intended to invite the 28 countries that signed the final Copenhagen accord to a meeting in April or May.
The aim of the meeting would be "to implement the 50 percent objective by 2050," Gossement said, referring to the European Union's ambition of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent of their 1990 level by the middle of the century.
But he added that Sarkozy believed that not all of the 28 countries would attend the meeting. "He doesn't see China or Saudi Arabia joining the meeting," Gossement said.
A Chinese official said earlier this week that Beijing will treat talks on a binding global climate change pact in 2010 as a struggle over the "right to develop," signaling more tough deal-making will follow the Copenhagen summit.
(Writing by James Mackenzie; Additional reporting by Yann Le Guernigou; editing by David Stamp)
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