Bloomberg: Seeds of Instability Seen in Modi's Push for Solar Boom in India
India’s solar developers are voicing concern that foreign investors are promising to supply clean power at rates that are unrealistically low, threatening to destabilize the industry.
Companies such as SkyPower Global of Toronto have undercut Indian companies in recent auctions for contracts to build solar power plants. Local rivals including Azure Power and CLP India Pvt. say their competitors may never be able to build the capacity they promise.
The dispute is a test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effort to draw in as much as $100 billion for solar power, reducing emissions from plants fired by fossil fuels and the greenhouse gases they emit. Modi’s government is preparing to announce India’s pledge for reducing emissions, the last major developing economy to do so.
Mashable: Tesla Will Have 745-Mile Range, Fully Autonomous Vehicles by 2020
Yet again, Elon Musk is setting lofty goals for Tesla, claiming the upstart EV automaker's models will have a range of roughly 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) as well as full autonomous, self-driving technology by 2020.
Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk made the prediction about the range of the carmaker's all-electric models in an interview on Danish television last week. However, that assertion comes with a caveat: That range might not be achievable in real-world driving.
PV Magazine: Yingli Proposes Restructuring of Payment on US$157 Million in Bonds
Yingli is selling land to make payments on bonds due in early October, and is in negotiation with creditors. This restructuring is the latest indication of poor financial health at the company.
Formerly the world's largest solar PV module maker, Yingli Green Energy has had a rough few years. While many other large PV module makers returned to profitability in late 2013, the company continues to report losses.
In May Yingli warned investors of “substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern” in light of heavy debts, during the release of its annual report. This announcement exacerbated a slide in the company's stock value which has been ongoing for at least a full year.
Climate Central: Offshore Wind a ‘Missed Opportunity’ in U.S., Say Scientists
The United States’ first offshore wind farm is now being built off the coast of Rhode Island. But the U.S. may be further from large-scale offshore wind development than it was a decade ago, partly because the federal government has not focused urgently enough on building renewables, a group of University of Delaware scientists says.
The government, through its offshore wind leasing program, is promoting offshore turbines for job growth and economic development rather than harnessing their most effective long-term potential -- to tackle climate change, the scientists at the University of Delaware’s Center for Carbon-Free Power Integration wrote in a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Inside Climate News: The Highs and (Mostly) Lows of Shell’s Failed Arctic Adventure
In the 10 years between Royal Dutch Shell's first purchase of a drilling rig destined for the Arctic and the company's decision to close its Arctic oil and gas exploration program on Monday, it sunk more than $7 billion into the program. A series of setbacks ranging from permit troubles to legal challenges to equipment failures to improper recordkeeping has littered its route along the way. The oil giant has also faced increasing pressure from environmental activists, local communities and business partners concerned about the associated climate impacts.
Ultimately, it was a combination of meager oil and gas reserves, regulatory uncertainty and high costs that blighted Shell's Arctic ambitions. The company needed "a multi-billion-barrel discovery" to "justify going ahead," Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said in an investor call last January. Instead, the Berger J well yielded reserves "not sufficient to warrant further exploration,” according to a company statement.