In a similar statement reported by The Financial Times, The Guardian and Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia’s influential oil minister Ali Al Naimi recently said, “In Saudi Arabia, we recognize that eventually, one of these days, we’re not going to need fossil fuels. I don’t know when - 2040, 2050 or thereafter. So we have embarked on a program to develop solar energy. Hopefully, one of these days, instead of exporting fossil fuels, we will be exporting gigawatts of electric power.”
So what happens when the biggest global exporter of petroleum liquids starts vouching for the power of the sun?
What we are witnessing now is a major shift in thinking by some of the biggest stakeholders in oil, who have started laying out a well-planned future investment strategy for their respective energy sectors, with solar taking the lead. One of the main reasons behind this is that solar technology is becoming more affordable and popular with each passing day. Given this scenario, let us now examine the top five emerging solar energy markets from an investment point of view.
Forget expensive high-tech silver bullets such as nuclear fusion and carbon capture and storage; the solution to climate change lies in the humble electric immersion heater that sits in the hot water tank under your stairs. That's the view of Dr Mark Barrett, senior researcher at the UCL Energy Institute, who will present his analysis at a meeting in the House of Commonson 18 June .
A tank with an immersion heater may be just an oversized kettle, but there are thought to be around 19m in Britain's homes, which collectively have the capacity to store huge amounts of energy as hot water. And this could be key to achieving an almost wholly renewable electricity supply.
Dr Barrett says the heaters could be switched on and off rapidly to compensate for the erratic output of wind turbines and solar panels, each heater controlled by a gadget that responds to signals sent through the electricity grid – a system used since the second world war. "Everybody is always looking for a shiny new silver-bullet solution" says Dr Barrett, "but this idea is cheap, safe, and based on technology that's been around for decades".
(Guardian 2009)What is likely to become the nation's first offshore wind farm has closed on more than $290 million in financing, which will allow a five-turbine demo of the renewable energy system to be completed.
The Block Island Wind Farm is a 30-megawatt offshore wind farm that will be located about three miles southeast of Block Island. Being developed by Deepwater Wind, the renewable energy system will initially consist of 5 turbines capable of producing 30 megawatts (MW) of power.
"We're ecstatic to reach financial close," Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said in a statement. "We're full speed ahead and moving ever closer to 'steel in the water.'"
If all goes well, Deepwater Wind plans to follow the Block Island Wind Farm with the Deepwater ONE project, a 150-200 turbine project also in Rhode Island Sound that will be capable of generating from 900MW to 1,200MW. Deepwater ONE will produce enough electricity to power about 350,000 homes and eliminate more than 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. That's the equivalent of taking 4 million cars off of the road or 40 million barrels of foreign oil imports.
Construction of the Block Island Wind Farm has already begun. Alstom, a turbine maker based in France, has already completed fabrication of five 6MW offshore wind turbines for the project, along with 15 windmill blades.
Deepwater Wind plans to begin offshore installation of the Block Island project this summer. The wind farm is expected to online by the end of 2016.
Electricity from the wind farm will be transferred to the mainland electric grid via the 21-mile, bi-directional Block Island Transmission System, a submarine cable proposed to make landfall in Narragansett, R.I.
Deepwater Wind Block Island has received the financing from Mandated Lead Arrangers Societe Generale of Paris, France, and KeyBank National Association of Cleveland, Ohio.
how Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. dropped the most in five months after the world’s largest listed jewelry chain reported earnings that missed analyst estimates.
The stock fell 6.5 percent to HK$8.58 at the close of trading in Hong Kong, the biggest decline since Jan. 9. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.2 percent.
Net income at the Hong Kong-based jeweler fell 25 percent to HK$5.46 billion ($704 million) for the year ended March, as sales weakened in China and major markets such as Hong Kong and Macau, it said Friday. That missed the HK$5.9 billion average of 23 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
“We are turning more concerned on the company’s outlook,” UBS Group AG analysts led by Spencer Leung wrote in a note on Friday. Hong Kong, which contributed 45 percent of the company’s total, “might have entered a new era as tourism peaked out,” they wrote.
Chow Tai Fook is cutting prices for some diamond jewelry in Hong Kong as it looks to reduce its gem-set jewelry inventories bloated by the weaker-than-expected sales, according to Catherine Lim, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.