News

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

Renewable energy investment in the Asia-Pacific region will overtake spending on oil and gas exploration by 2020, consultancy Rystad Energy said on Monday.
Total capital expenditure in renewables will rise above $30 billion in the region by 2020, just overtaking investment into exploration and production for oil and natural gas, the consultancy said.

India, Australia, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea will be the leading destinations for investment in Asia, according to Rystad.

The company focuses on China separately and did not include the nation in this assessment. China is the world's biggest investor into renewables and also one of the leading spenders in upstream oil and gas.

Investment into renewables is being supported by government policies such as solar and wind feed-in-tariffs across the region.

"Importantly, most (countries) have large targets outlining the inclusion of renewable power sources within their respective energy mixes, with corresponding support policies," said Gero Farruggio, Rystad's head of renewables.

Rystad said ...

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.

/Source: REUTERS/

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.

/Source: PhilStar/

May 13, 2019