The burning of solid urban waste, sludge from water treatment plants, and livestock slurry could generate more than 7 percent of Spain’s electricity needs, according to a new report.

Researchers at the University of Zaragoza say incineration of these materials has the potential to produce up to 20.95 terawatt hours annually. In 2008, that would have met 7.2 percent of the nation’s electricity demand, according to the report published in the journal Renewable Energy. (more…)

The Guardian announced in November that “BP had dropped all plans to build wind farms and other renewable schemes in Britain and is instead concentrating the bulk of its $8bn renewables spending program on the US, where government incentives for clean energy projects can provide a convenient tax shelter for oil and gas revenues”. The ARRA (aka Stimulus Package) should hasten that shift of focus.

Similarly, Fotowatio of Spain today announced its bold move: By buying the assets of Baltimore and San Francisco based Solar Developer MMA Renewable Ventures (MMARV), Fotowatio’s global portfolio will include more than 130 megawatts of operating solar projects in the United States. It might not be a name you’ve heard much about… yet. Fotowatio has invested more than US$880 million (€700 million) in solar projects since 2006 and plans to invest up to US$3.2 billion (€2.5 billion) by 2012 in Spain, Italy and the United States.

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While recent news about renewable energy layoffs raise questions about wind and solar in the near future, there remains a healthy commitment in the US to creating strong incentives to move renewable technologies forward.

With most states and the federal government struggling to meet aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standards (“RPS”), regulatory agencies and governmental leaders are considering robust incentives to boost renewable energy production.

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On the surface, the last several months have been good for installers and solar developers as panel prices have come crashing down.  Not only has the United States seen a substantial reduction in installed costs of PV installations but Europe has also experienced a rapid decline in panel pricing of close to 30% from one year ago.

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In the last few weeks both Shell and BP have pulled out of developing off-shore wind developments in the UK due to better incentives and support from the US government in the form of tax breaks and incentives.

The same is true for Spain where in the last few years the country has been unprecedented growth in wind farms along the majority of the eastern part of the country. Then just as the country was seeing clean and green as a way forward – they remove the tax break for further development. Almost overnight the work stops, new planned sites are abandoned and people are laid off.

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A few weeks ago I ran a blog regarding the allegations of fraud in the Spanish Solar Sector (news that was published several weeks later at GreenTechMedia.com). The story has since taken a few predictable turns (indignation, a period of silence, crossed fingers, etc) and has now reached the point that the National Energy Commission (CNE) is ramping up the pressure with legal and legislative measures. Specifically, the CNE intends on bringing punitive charges against solar developers who knowingly fabricated paperwork in connection with the September 30th deadline, surpassing what many thought would merely be a series of fines followed by acceptance of the grid connection. It appears that the authorities are taking this very seriously, and rightfully so. If solar is to be a force in distributed generation it should be as much for reasons having to do with transparency as for the simple nature of the technology. The authorities should be applauded on their hard line towards any malfaesance especially given the dismal reputation of the real estate sector.

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A couple weeks ago I asked Mike Lichtenfeld, a deal associate with MMA Renewable Ventures what the impact was on the Project Finance business was after the first bailout package wasn’t approved. Here is a synopsis of his written response:

“Credit contraction, if sustained, will hurt the clean energy sector as much as any other industry – our projects, our manufacturing capacity, our corporate development and expansion all depend on access to debt capital. That much is clear. In addition, we know that the bailout debacle has stalled negotiations on an energy bill that would include extension of critical tax incentives for clean energy. However, even under a scenario in which the credit markets open and tax incentives are extended, the financial distress experienced market-wide to date has probably changed the landscape of tax equity investors for the worse, not only by reducing the numbers of players through outright institutional failure, but also by drastically reducing the tax equity appetite among those players still standing.

Financial institutions large and small that have been active in renewable energy from a tax advantaged equity position have recently underperformed or experienced losses in the economic maelstrom. The outlook for the US economy – even under a bailout scenario – is at best a mild and short-term recession, so a constricted tax equity universe could continue for 12-18 months or more….

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