Renewables and Efficiency

Saudi Arabia could save some $200 billion over the next ten years by switching from crude oil to natural gas and renewables for electricity production, Reuters reports, citing the Kingdom’s Finance Minister. “Instead of buying fuel from the international markets at $60 and then selling it at $6 for Saudi …

China Three Gorges Renewables Group Co. is set for an initial public offering that could be the biggest in the country this year after securing regulatory approval. The unit of China Three Gorges Corp. plans to sell up to 8.57 billion shares in Shanghai, it said in a prospectus filed …

As national and regional economies continue to recover from the recessions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 800 power generation projects, dominated by renewables, are now in the Asian pipeline outside China, representing at least $316 billion in investment opportunities, according to a recent EY report. Of that total, …

OPEC’s Fund for International Development is among a group of development banks providing $114 million of loans to build the largest privately owned solar plant in Egypt. ACWA Power’s 200-megawatt Kom Ombo site also received funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the African Development Bank, the Green …

Turkey’s total offshore wind power potential stands at 75 gigawatts (GW), Offshore Wind Energy Association (DÜRED) Chairperson Murat Durak said Monday, noting that they have reached a certain stage in works at some ports in the Marmara and Aegean regions and that they can now carry out offshore wind power …

China has flagged it will seek to raise its power generation from solar and wind plants to around 11% of the country’s total power consumption in 2021, from 9.7% in 2020, said the National Energy Administration (NEA) in a draft rule on Monday. Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that …

U.S. oil major Chevron, together with Norwegian company Moreld Ocean Wind, is set to invest in offshore wind technology at Ocergy, a U.S. company developing a low-cost floating wind foundation and a multi-disciplinary environmental monitoring buoy. Ocergy secured the investments through its Series A equity fundraising round to accelerate the …

French energy major Total has signed an agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Oil to develop a host of energy projects in the country, including 1GW of solar PV. The agreement, which builds on discussions between Total and the Iraqi government that began in October last year, has seen the two …

Iraq has suffered from a lack of electricity generation capacity following the US-led invasion of 2003 as well as the rise and fall of the Islamic State group (IS) over 2014-17. Successive governments have thus far failed to rehabilitate Iraq’s electricity sector, despite spending some 50B USD on it in …

Renewable energy projects are expected to see a record investment at US$243 billion this year, further closing the gap with expenditure on upstream oil and gas projects, where capex is expected flat at around US$311 billion, Rystad Energy said in a recent analysis. Spending on renewable projects in 2021 is …