Category: News

July 11 2017

Electricity Overtook Fossil Fuels in Push for Investment in 2016

Electricity drew in more investment than fossil fuel supply for the first time last year as the energy industry prepared for electrification of everything from cars to buildings and industrial processes. Power generation and electricity grid expansions took in $718 billion, 42 percent of the $1.7 trillion invested in energy last year, according to a […]

July 11 2017

Tesla’s Australian Battery Fix Comes at ‘Big Price,’ Analyst Says

Billionaire Elon Musk’s plan to install a giant battery to help fix a power crisis in South Australia will come at a “big price” with installation costing 60 percent more than alternative open cycle gas plants, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Musk’s Tesla Inc. won a tender Friday to build what the entrepreneur said is […]

July 11 2017

AXA, Burberry Among Companies Committing to 100% Clean Energy

AXA SA and Burberry Group Plc are joining an array of companies committing to going green. Burberry expects to source all of its electricity from clean energy by 2022, while Copenhagen-based international brewing company Carlsberg A/S plans to switch to 100 percent renewable power at its breweries by that year, according to a statement from The Climate Group, […]

July 10 2017

Aramco to Spend $300 Billion as CEO Frets About Oil Supplies

Saudi Aramco, which plans what could be the world’s biggest initial public offering, will invest more than $300 billion over the next decade to maintain its spare oil-production capacity and explore for more natural gas, President and Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said. The outlook for oil supplies is “increasingly worrying,” with about $1 trillion in […]

July 10 2017

Shell Plans to Spend $1 Billion a Year on Clean Energy by 2020

Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to spend as much as $1 billion a year on its New Energies division as the transition toward renewable power and electric cars accelerates. “In some parts of the world we are beginning to see battery electric cars starting to gain consumer acceptance” while wind and solar costs are falling […]

July 10 2017

Good News Can’t Stop Oil’s Bad Mood as Short-Sellers Rule

Even good news can do little to dispel the prevailing pessimism in the oil market. Hedge funds paused a swift increase last month in wagers on declining West Texas Intermediate crude prices. But there was little conviction behind a price rise, as futures shook off a report of declining U.S. stockpiles to finish last week 3.9 […]

July 10 2017

Chernobyl Radioactive Zone May Get Giant French-Built Solar Park

Ukraine is talking to one of France’s largest energy companies about building a giant, billion-euro ($1.25 billion) solar park in the uninhabited radioactive zone surrounding the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Engie SA is beginning a pre-feasibility study funded by the French government next week with the results expected for the end of the year, Ukraine’s minister […]

July 10 2017

Wall Street Sours on $9 Billion Mechanism for Green Projects

Wall Street investors have gone cold on one of the main mechanisms banks invented to fund the green-energy revolution. The business structure, known as the yieldco, feeds dividends from operating solar and wind farms to investors. Yieldcos raised $7.9 billion in public equity in 2014 and 2015 but only $1 billion since then, according to […]

July 7 2017

China, EU Bolster Greener Global Shipping to Curb Emissions

The trillion-dollar global shipping industry may soon be forced to curb greenhouse gas emissions under new rules backed by the European Union and China. Over 200 representatives convened this week at the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations shipping supervisor based in London, to discuss regulation that could turn their industry, currently responsible for as […]

July 7 2017

Blackstone Does What RWE Can’t Do by Reviving Dutch Plant

Blackstone Group LP’s reboot of an idled Dutch natural gas-fired power plant this week underlined investor appetite for the unwanted assets of some of Europe’s biggest utilities. The Rijnmond station in Rotterdam sold electricity on Monday for the first time since the world’s biggest private equity fund bought the bankrupt facility last year. Utilities such as […]