Michael Bloomberg to plunge $500M into clean energy effort
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is plunging USD500 million into an effort to close all of the nation's remaining coal plants by 2030 and put the United States on track toward a 100% clean energy economy. The billionaire Bloomberg's investment in the Beyond Carbon initiative marks the largest ever philanthropic effort to combat climate change, according to the mayor's foundation.
The organisation will bypass the federal government and instead seek to pass climate and clean energy policies, as well as back political candidates, at the state and local level.
Bloomberg considered but ultimately passed on seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Instead, he vowed to point his vast wealth and political connections toward fighting climate change and defeating President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg will formally unveil the Beyond Carbon effort Friday during a commencement address at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The initiative mirrors Bloomberg's work on gun control, which has focused on bolstering ...
June 7, 2019
Enel Green Power to invest EUR 138m in geothermal work in Italy
Reporting on a meeting with Italian trade unions with Enel Green Power back in April, where the company provided a report on its activities in 2018, with particular reference to safety on the working in the geothermal field.
To tackle issues of the future of geothermal in Tuscany, also due to regulatory changes luring over the industry in Italy, work groups have been established dedicated to “Construction and maintenance” and “Drilling”.
As regards the technical results, 2018 ended with a production decrease of 0.2 percent, attributable to a progressive decline in the potential of geothermal fields (in Tuscany). The company is planning to mitigate the phenomenon by increasing operating costs and planning investments in development, approximately EUR 38 million ($43m) for renovations, repowering and new wells.
There are EUR100 million ($112m) for new drilling in the three-year period 2019-2011 , which will be able to guarantee the full employment of the three teams ...
June 5, 2019
Fund manager Glennmont raises 850 mln euros for clean energy investment
Fund manager Glennmont Partners has raised 850 million euros ($947 million) at the final close of its third clean energy fund, which will invest in renewables projects in Europe and Britain, it said on Tuesday.
London-based Glennmont has 2 billion euros of assets under management and says it is the world's largest fund manager in terms of investment in clean energy infrastructure.
It had aimed to raise 600 million euros through the Clean Energy Fund III but exceeded the target thanks to the high level of interest from Japan and the United States as well as the European Investment Bank among others.
"Institutional investors globally recognise that energy transition and climate change is of key relevance to the performance of their portfolio," Glennmont Chief Executive Joost Bergsma said in a statement.
More than 70 percent of the fund will be invested in projects in the euro zone and Britain. The fund's lifetime will be ...
June 4, 2019
Goldman Sachs, CPPIB, ADIA invest $300 mn into ReNew Power via rights issue
Goldman Sachs Inc, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the existing investors of ReNew Power, are putting in an additional $300 million into the green energy company through a rights issue, people with knowledge of the matter told ET.
Proceeds from the issue may be used for a combination of purposes. These include financing business growth and repaying existing debt taken for inorganic growth plans executed earlier. “The company wants to increase confidence levels among investors with the proposed fund mop-up,” said one of the persons cited above. ReNew is said to be repaying some debt obligation coming up in the next few months.
The rights issue follows earlier plans of a bond issuance, which has temporarily been put off due to tepid investor appetite globally for risk assets. Bonds could still be issued later.
It is not clear if Japan's LNG major JERA, which has a 10% stake ...
May 31, 2019
Asian renewable investment to overtake upstream oil and gas spending in 2020
May 27, 2019
Icelandic pension funds and British fund buy geothermal firm HS Orka
As reported this morning in Iceland, Jardvarmur slhf, a company jointly owned by 14 pension funds in Iceland, has decided to exercise its pre-emptive right in the only private power company in Iceland, HS Orka for the 54 per cent stake sold by Canadian energy company Innergex in HS Orka. In the sale process, a fund by Australian investment bank Macquarie put in the winning offer in Magma Energy Sweden A.B, which holds the the 54 stake in HS Orka, but with the step by the pension funds this sale did not go through.
Subsequently, Ancala Partners, a foreign partner of Jardvarmur will subsequently purchase a 50% share in HS Orka versus Jardvarmur, as stated in the company announcement.
In the announcement of Innergex to the Canadian exchange this morning, the purchase price is USD 299.9 million, equivalent to ISK 37.3 billion. The market value of HS Orka, based on the purchase ...
May 24, 2019
Innovative geothermal drilling technology receives DOE funding
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has announced funding of up to $22 million in grants for small businesses to demonstrate technical feasibility for innovations as specified under theprogram.
Of the 12 topics, two were for the Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) and five under a joint topic of advanced manufacturing and the GTO.
The following awards have been announced this week that are relevant to geothermal.
E-Spectrum Technologies Inc., San Antonio, Texas. – $194,694
A Machine Learning Based Geothermal Drilling Optimization System Using EM Short-Hop Telemetry of Bit Dynamics Measurements
Improvements in the telemetry of downhole drilling data are needed to optimize drilling performance and reduce geothermal well costs. This project uses short- hop downhole communications, downhole processing, pattern recognition, machine-learning algorithms, and long-range EM technology to create a Geothermal Drilling Optimization System to maximize penetration rates and drill bit life.
Ozark Integrated Circuits Inc., Fayetteville, Arkansas. – $204,902
Ruggedized Communication ...
May 22, 2019
Polaris Infrastructure raising funds of up to $25m for development purposes
Polaris Infrastructure Inc. (TSX:PIF) announced that it has increased the size of its previously announced private placement of convertible debentures to $20,000,000. In addition, Cormark Securities Inc., Clarus Securities Inc., and a syndicate of agents will now have an option to sell an additional $5,000,000 in Convertible Debentures under the offering for total gross proceeds of $25,000,000 (if exercised in full).
As previously announced, the Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering for general corporate purposes and to provide the flexibility to pursue further corporate development opportunities in Peru and similar jurisdictions in Latin America.
Polaris Infrastructure operates the 72 MW San Jacinto geothermal project located in Nicaragua and a 5 MW run-of-river project in Peru. The Company is also completing the construction of another 28 MW of run-of-river projects also located in Peru. It has further announced an interest in further hydro projects, but it is not clear ...
May 17, 2019
China sets renewable power quotas for 2019, 2020
China set mandatory renewable power quotas for each of its region for 2019 and 2020, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Wednesday, in an attempt to promote the use of clean energy in the country.
Local grid companies will have to purchase a certain volume of electricity from renewable energy generators, the NEA said.
The targets, setting as a portion of renewable energy use in total energy mix, vary from 10% in eastern province of Shandong to as high as 88% in southwestern province of Sichuan in 2019 based on their energy structure.
The draft plan was launched in November.
Apart from checks from local authorities, central government will also deploy inspectors to monitor the implementation of the policy, the NEA statement said.
May 16, 2019
Basic Energy plans capital increase to gain investors for development
Basic Energy Corp., listed on the Philippines Stock Exchanges is planning to double its capital stock to allow potential investors joining the company and secure sufficient funds for the company’s geothermal and renewable energy development activities.
The proposed capital increase will allow potential investors to come into the company and provide a certain flexibility for fundraising.
The company announced that a potential investor is currently conducting legal and financial due diligence review.
Basic Energy is developing several geothermal projects namely the Mabini Geothermal Service Contract in Batangas, Mt. Mariveles Geothermal Project in Bataan and Mt. Iriga Geothermal Project in Albay.
Recently, two of its geothermal contracts were terminated by the Department of Energy, as we reported.
Apart from pursuing geothermal developments, it is also eyeing opportunities in other renewable energy projects, such as solar, wind and biomass energy, and is currently undergoing due-diligence studies and work.
May 13, 2019