Offshore renewable energy agency coming for Canada

Offshore renewable energy agency coming for Canada

Canada is working on new rules for regulating offshore renewable energy projects, currently a patchwork of laws and procedures that can cause friction between producers and local communities. The federal government is working on a set of comprehensive rules for approving and monitoring offshore energy projects and a single regulatory board to oversee them.

CBC News

Alberta investing in renewable, natural gas sectors

Alberta has announced close to $100 million in investments as part of its stated goal to further diversify the provincial economy. Economic Development Minister Deron Bilous says the money will be used to support job creation and innovation in the renewable energy and natural gas sectors.

CBC News

Canadian Solar brings 200 MW of power online in California

PV project developer Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Canadian Solar has completed the 200MW (DC) Tranquillity solar power project in California for Southern Power.

PV Tech

Canadian Solar shrugs off investor concerns

Canadian Solar Inc.’s share performance has been anything but sunny this year, with the stock falling about 50 per cent since the start of 2016.

Globe and Mail

Canadian businesses call California the Saudi Arabia of solar

Born and based in Newfoundland, Barry Perry hadn’t spent any time in Arizona before his work took him there a few years ago.

Globe and Mail

China building world’s largest solar farm

As China adds record amounts of renewable energy, a solar farm under construction in the Ningxia region of the country’s northwest takes efforts to a new level.

Bloomberg News

Dunrobin offers a model for community solar in Canada

A large-scale project in rural west Ottawa is quickly becoming a model for community solar. The roof of a large storage facility near the village of Dunrobin features an installation of 1140 solar panels capable of generating 250 kilowatts.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Carbon pricing can help Canada lead in energy

Canada is at a turning point in energy. Lower world oil prices and a renewed global commitment to addressing climate change are opening a new energy conversation.

Globe and Mail

Swiss call for joint green economy with Canada

Swiss Energy Minister Doris Leuthard has called for the renegotiation of a free-trade agreement between Switzerland and Canada and a joint push for a “sustainable green economy”.

SwissInfo

Brexit impacts European renewable energy investment

The landscape of renewable-energy investment in Europe and the UK is in transition, driven by changes in programs and incentives. Current European Union targets require member countries to produce 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. According to the European Commission, the bloc was on track to meet those targets as of June 2015.

Clean Energy Finance Forum

Canada helps fund $76-million solar project in Jordan

International Finance Corp. and the Canadian government helped fund a $76 million solar power project in Jordan, which is seeking to curb its reliance on expensive natural gas imports and fuel a growing population.

Bloomberg Markets

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Fortis makes major U.S. electricity transmission purchase

Fortis Inc. (TSX:FTS) has received a key U.S. federal regulatory approval for its US$11.3 billion plan to purchase ITC Holdings Corp., which has one of the largest independent electricity distribution systems in the United States.

Metro News

ABB lands $85-million contract for electrical grid work

ABB has won orders worth over $85 million from Canadian utility Hydro-Québec (HQ) to upgrade its 800-kilovolt air-insulated switchgear (AIS) substations and transmission grid with state-of-the-art circuit breakers, power transformers and shunt reactors.

Wind Power Engineering & Development

Investment buyers vie for solar firm’s holding company

BlackRock Inc. has joined a list of potential buyers for TerraForm Power Inc., a holding company founded and controlled by bankrupt wind-and-solar energy giant SunEdison Inc.

Bloomberg News

Chevron seeks to sell its Asian geothermal assets

China General Nuclear Power Corp., the country’s biggest nuclear power operator, has been invited to make a second-round bid for Chevron Corp.’s Asian geothermal energy assets, which could fetch $3 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Bloomberg Markets

Companies in the news

Canadian renewable company seeks buyer

Canadian power group Northland Power (NPI.TO) is looking for a new owner, its chief financial officer said, as part of its strategic review begun in July aimed at boosting growth and shareholder value.

Reuters

Renewable Energy

Ontario municipalities cheer suspension of green energy contracts

Municipalities across Ontario are cheering the government’s decision to suspend its competition for 1,000 megawatts’ worth of big, new renewable energy projects.

CBC News

Solar power EV chargers provide a speedy boost

Electric vehicle owners can get zapped in a flash at a new solar-powered, ultra-fast electric vehicle charging station at the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Burnaby campus.

Metro News

Improving energy efficiency with better landlord-tenant relations

The tenant/owner relationship adds a layer of complexity to energy efficiency efforts. In general, the issue is that the two parties have different agendas.

Energy Manager Today

Market reports and research

Three money-saving energy efficiency trends

By 2050, 70 percent of the world population will live in cities, a change that will add 40 percent to the current world building stock.

Energy Manager Today

Best business practices for managing energy

Once an organization has a grasp on all the energy data at its fingertips, the logical next step is figuring out how to use that information.

Green Biz

Government programs and policy

Provinces divided on federal carbon tax plan

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an ultimatum to the provinces on Monday, announcing his government’s plan to set a minimum carbon tax even as environment ministers were meeting in Montreal to discuss options for carbon pricing.

Globe and Mail

Alberta needs to embrace wind power

Polling numbers released Thursday by ThinkHQ suggested declining support for the Alberta government’s climate leadership plan.

Calgary Herald

Solar energy

Utility-scale solar on the rise in the U.S.

According to GTM Research’s Utility PV Market Tracker, as of August 2016, there are 11 states with 500 megawatts or more of PV projects in development and a total of 20 states with 200 megawatts or more under development.

Green Tech Media

B.C. firm looking at Cache Creek site for viable solar

A B.C. firm intends to test the sun-baked hillsides near Cache Creek for the viability of solar power generation with long-term potential for a clean energy project worth anywhere between $3 million and $45 million.

News Kamloops

Wind power

NL wind developer lands financial backer

The company that hopes to build a wind farm on the west coast of Newfoundland has landed Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) as a financial backer.

CBC News

Four N.S. Mi’kmaq wind projects generating 20 MW of power

Mi’kmaq communities in Nova Scotia are completing a four-stage project that will see them put more energy into the grid than they collectively use.

CBC News

Saskatchewan nixes wind power project

A wind project proposed near a shorebird habitat in southwestern Saskatchewan will not go ahead, says the provincial government.

CBC News

Lawyers must properly explain wind power contracts

Rural landowners who are approached to permit a wind turbine or turbines or associated equipment on their acreage badly need sophisticated legal advice on these complex agreements. 

Law Times

Electrical grids and transmission

Eastern Canada, Maine team up on $12.4 million microgrid project

A North American consortium plans to build a $12.4 million multi-utility microgrid project, designed to show how microgrids save money and help integrate renewables with advanced software.

Microgrid Research

British Columbia Institute of Technology steps up microgrid research

At the British Columbia Institute of Technology, researchers hope that their microgrid research will someday create a living lab that allows the entire campus to island from the grid.

Microgrid Research

First Nations company wins Ontario power contract

First Nations-owned Wataynikaneyap Power LP (Watay) has been selected by the Ontario government to connect 16 remote communities in northwestern Ontario to the province’s electrical grid.

Northern Ontario Business

Hydro power’s hidden emissions costs

Is hydropower less clean than it seems? A new study synthesizing prior research on water reservoir emissions suggests that they may emit the equivalent of a billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. That’s 1.3 per cent of total global emissions.

Christian Science Monitor

New technology and products

N.B. home testing out new Tesla Powerwall tech

The company best known for building electric cars, has now started powering a New Brunswick home.  Stephen McNeil’s home Fredericton Junction is the first to host a Tesla powerwall in the province.

CBC News