STUFF

AEC (Saudi Arabia) and KACO New Energy (Germany) MOU to develop new biz opportunities in solar energy. Focus on PV inverters.

DOI wants detailed plan on how Shell plans to address safety issues before allowing resumption of exploration, drilling offshore Arctic Alaska.

CNOOC bought 20%, $4.2B stake in Eni's NG field offshore Mozambique.

Obama proposing taking money from oil/NG leases on fed lands - $2B over 10 yrs - to research cleaner fuels, more efficient vehicles, battery tech, etc. "Energy Security Trust".

Exxon official predicts by '25 US likely to be net exporter of energy. Probably with NG, LNG, refined petrol products.

SaskPower (Canada) rebuilding 43-yr-old coal power plant to capture ~90% of CO2, store it underground.

Scientists: extreme Arctic summer melt "stacked the deck" for superstorm Sandy.

NWS aims to improve forecasting tech. (The Brit service first to forecast Sandy's turn into NJ, not NWS, as we remember. Brits invested in higher-powered computers the story. Or they're just more honest, less hopeful.)

Energy emerging as hot issue in Pakistan election. (Especially with pipeline with Iran.)

New Zealand drought hitting farmers hard.

Advanced Energy Consortium at U of TX Austin spent ~$40M last 4 yrs researching unconventional oil/NG, fracking development. Looking into magnetic nanoparticles injected along with fracking liquids to reveal detailed dimensions of shale rock fractures, track movements of NG molecules. Also looking at particles that change form at contact with oil, giving clues about amounts of oil in shale formations. (Science IS amazing.)

EPA telling Enbridge to do more cleanup in Kalamazoo River. (Oil spill.)

Canada reported record oil ouput. (In '12? Last month? Didn't say.)

Brit driller halted fracking over enviro concerns.

Britain to offer clean/renewable energy developers contracts for power gen ahead of el market reforms due 2H14. (If only US govt could get that far ahead of the curve.) Eligible projects capacity of over 50Mw, 100Mw for offshore wind, must not have existing subsidy.

Israel targets of 5% clean/ren energy by '15, 10% by '20 (~2.7Gw). (EU's goal 20% by '20.) Israel clean/ren now 1% of energy mix. Solar capacity ~200Mw. In '09, Israel was planet's fastest-growing solar market with 21.5Mw added for 20x annual increase. (Well, when you start from zero ...) Added 60Mw last year. Most roofs have solar water heaters. FIT established in '08 scaled back since. Construction start on 5 solar PV projects this week. 35Mw total for E100M (500M shekels). JA Solar (JASO) modules. 3 other solar PV projects - 23Mw - also in development.

OPEC says their crude demand to fall 350Kb/d this year.

Fed Ex considering converting 90K delivery trucks to NG within next 10 yrs. (Why is everybody now thinking in 10-year frame? China only goes 5.)

Global Clean Energy Holdings (Cal) bought Sustainable Oils (leader in camelina genetics, production). Camelina the only non-food crop approved by EPA as advanced biofuel for RIN. Also bought related assets of Targeted Growth (crop biotech comp). Total cost 40M shares of GCEH common, $1.3M note. Sustainable Oils had over $20M revs past 4 yrs from camelina ops, including jet fuel production.

Domtar (Canada) installed lignin separation plant at NC mill. 1st such US facility in over 25 yrs. Production start in Feb. Target rate 75 tons/d of lignin. Bio-based alt to fossil fuels. Aps for fuels, resins, thermoplastics.

30 US governors urging members of Congress to stay the course on RFS.

French govt '07 study found upper end of cost of accident at single reactor over 3x country's GDP. Tried to keep it secret. E760B-E5.8T. 75% country's elgen from 58 reactors at 20 plants. Govt owns most of EDF. Latest report, though, put cost at E430B. Fukushima reportedly will ultimately cost E1T.

Somali pirates released hijacked oil tanker, crew after 10 months sans 1M bls oil ransom. 1 of last hijacks of large tankers.

China predicted to pass Germany this year as world's largest PV solar user.

Columbia's largest coal exporter train bombed days after deal to end month-long workers' strike.

Taiwan FTC slapped $213M fines on 9 independent power producers for alleged collusion.

WA state awarded $800K energy efficiency grants to 37 local govts.

Citigroup head of enviro finance says green bonds may spur comps to build 1st advanced biofuels plants. No collateral, securitization requirements from bodies like World Bank. Advanced biofuels production expected to near triple this year to near 200M gal. 27 "significant" advanced biofuels processing plants to be built by '15. (Watch AMRS, SZYM, KIOR, GEVO.)

Japan added 1.1Gw, mostly solar clean energy capacity, in 9 months through Dec.

Hokkaido El Power to buy solar power from Softbank farm. 111Mw, 79Mw to grid. Online 1Q15.

DC Court of Appeals ruled FERC hasn't authority to assess fines for manipulating NG futures. Congress mandated Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not FERC, to police futures trading. (Gotta hope somebody knows what they're doing.)

MD going for poultry waste-to-energy.

DOI to let BP bid on central Gulf of Mex lease sale.

Nissan may build EV's in China.

Tally ho, pards.