News

• Lack of disaster-resilience poses risks for investors – Maplecroft

  11 August 2011

  Natural disasters in China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia pose a high risk for investors, according to risk analysis firm Maplecroft.

• Nuclear phase out hits RWE profits, investment plan

  09 August 2011

  The phase-out of nuclear power in Germany has prompted utility RWE to downgrade its earnings expectations for 2011 and sell another €3 billion ($4.3 billion) of assets.

• Investors ignoring wind companies' 'robust fundamentals' – HSBC

  08 August 2011

  Wind turbine makers are boasting healthier order books and stronger margins than investors had feared – but ongoing macro-economic uncertainty means the sector is likely to remain undervalued by the markets, according to HSBC.

• Siemens splits renewables business in two

  08 August 2011

  Technology group Siemens is restructuring its renewables business into two independent units, one concentrating on the more developed wind market, the other focusing on solar and hydropower.

• Offshore wind farm closes €1.2bn financing

  08 August 2011

  A project to install 80 wind turbines off the German coast completed its financing on Friday, according to its major backer, private equity group Blackstone, with support from German development bank KfW.

• US wind installations soar – but future remains uncertain

  05 August 2011

  The US wind energy sector is continuing to recover from the credit crunch with turbine installations on the rise in 2011, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), but future growth could be undermined by an uncertain federal policy environment.

• US clean-tech VC plummets 44% in Q2

  05 August 2011

  US venture capital (VC) investment in clean-tech companies dropped 44% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, according to consultancy Ernst & Young (E&Y).

• Biomass and CCS combo could suck up 10GT of carbon

  04 August 2011

  Using biomass for electricity or transport fuel then capturing and locking away the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions underground could take up to 10 billion tonnes (GT) of CO2 out of the atmosphere in 2050, according to a study by consultancy Ecofys and the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme.

• US debt deal likely to gut clean energy support

  04 August 2011

  The deal to raise the US debt ceiling may have averted a disastrous credit crisis, but it is bad news for the clean energy sector.

• Jatropha biofuels set for revival after 'extraordinary collapse'

  04 August 2011

  Confidence is returning to the jatropha biofuels sector, say analysts, despite two scientists this week publishing a withering critique of its success so far.