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Anaerobic digestion: getting your hands dirty (guest blog)

Written by Andrew Mourant. It’s hard to imagine a more unsavoury sight than mounds of rotting household rubbish or piles of farmyard dung. And so few prospects are more appealing than turning these into a source of renewable energy. The worldwide demand for anaerobic digestion (AD) plants t ...

Posted 28 November 2013 by David Hopwood

tags: anaerobic , digestion , feedstock , research

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Time to end the guilt on incentives and start fighting

The last month has brought another depressing piece of news: This time the potential demise of Suntech, a pioneer credited with helping scale up the PV industry, on the verge of bankruptcy. The recent turmoil being suffered by module and cell manufacturers in the PV industry is well documented (Pau ...

Posted 10 April 2013 by David Hopwood

tags: renewable energy , incentives

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10 clean energy investments from Google

The past few years has seen Google embark on an ambitous program of investment in the renewables space, the most recent announcement seeing Google investing $200 million in a Texas wind farm. So where else has Google been putting its money? Spinning Spur Wind Farm: West Texas wind In December 2012 ...

Posted 31 January 2013 by David Hopwood

tags: not tagged.

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EWEA 2013 conference - hot topics

EWEA 2013 is just a few weeks away. So what can conference delegates expect to be the main topics up for debate? Event launch and keynotes The EWEA 2013 conference will open with a series of high-profile speakers addressing important political and business issues affecting the European wind indust ...

Posted 23 January 2013 by David Hopwood

tags: EWEA 2013 , Wind , Wind Power

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We bid an Austrian farewell to EWEA’s man at the top...

The Renewable Energy Focus team – along with many on the wind power side of the renewable energy business – is looking forward to some top wind-related events coming up in the next few weeks and months… First up on the events scene for wind power is the European Wind Energy Assoc ...

Posted 22 January 2013 by David Hopwood

tags: Windpower , renewables , EWEA 2013 , Kjaer

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Guest Blog: Tragic Fall of a Solar Icon - Sharp sells itself piece by piece

By Sneha Shah. The vicious downturn of the global solar industry has seen innumerable bankruptcies and thousands of job losses. Companies which used to rule the roost in the solar industry like Q-Cells, Evergreen Solar, and Energy Conversion Devices no longer exist today. The most promising o ...

Posted 04 December 2012 by David Hopwood

tags: Sharp Solar , Solar , Photovoltaics , PV

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Guest Blog: driving forward wind and marine in the UK

By Felicia Jackson. The second UK Wind & Marine Energy Business Barometer, covered recently in a UK, The Times newspaper supplement, Wind & Marine Energy, reveals findings from an annual survey of 450 senior executives in the sector. In this guest post, Felicia Jackson, author of Conquering ...

Posted 23 November 2012 by David Hopwood

tags: wind , wind power , wave , tidal power , wave & tidal , marine energy

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Scotland takes advantage of Westminster's mixed messages

In contrast to the mixed messages coming from Westminster in recent times that many believe have constrained renewable energy development in parts of the UK, Scotland has made its renewable energy aspirations clear, with some eye catching announcements. Not least its recent MOU with Areva: The ...

Posted 20 November 2012 by David Hopwood

tags: Scotland , Wind , Windpower , Areva

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Sign of the times

As we enter 2012 with more talk of funding problems and reduced financial incentives, it is apparent how the dynamics – and drivers – for renewable energy have changed, and relatively quickly at that. When I first took this job a few years ago “climate change” was the buzz p ...

Posted 27 February 2012 by David Hopwood

tags: renewable energy cost

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Risky business

An interesting report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) crossed our desk recently. The EIU spoke to 284 senior-level renewable energy executives about the risks in financing, constructing and operating renewable energy projects, as well as the risk management challenges that the renewable e ...

Posted 20 February 2012 by David Hopwood

tags: renewable energy project risk

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Which countries are winning the race to invest in renewables?

NB: this is my editorial from the March/April issue of Renewable Energy Focus magazine, which is now out. If you don't subscribe yet, it's free, so feel free to subscribe here. Global clean energy finance and investment grew significantly in 2010 to US$243 billion, a 30% increase from 2009, accord ...

Posted 27 April 2011 by David Hopwood

tags: not tagged.

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Zayed Future Energy Prize sends a message to the transport sector

Taken at face value, the news that the winner of the Zayed Future Energy Prize 2010 (and with it a cool US$1.5 million) is Japanese car manufacture Toyota for its groundbreaking third generation Prius may raise a few initial eyebrows. But the message it sends is an interesting one. There's no doubt ...

Posted 20 January 2010 by David Hopwood

tags: WFES , Toyota Prius , Zayed Future Energy Prize

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COP15 in a nutshell

The much talked about UNFCCC COP15 Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen is now underway. If you, like us, have been completely overwhelmed with all the news; views; predictions; doom and gloom; excitement; not to mention political machinations, possibilities and stall setting of the last few months l ...

Posted 08 December 2009 by David Hopwood

tags: COP15 , Copenhagen , Climate change

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