Folks — or should I say shareholders — were falling all over themselves yesterday on news that the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., commonly called Farmer Mac, posted a first-quarter profit. Hooray – good for them. Let’s not forget the other piece of the rural lender’s earnings report. The part that describes it’s continued problems with delinquent loans...
Energy Industry Archive
May 2009
PG&E ups the stakes for BrightSource Energy — Major California utility Pacific Gas & Electric has increased a previous agreement with BrightSource Energy for 900 megawatts of solar thermal power to 1,310 megawatts, which would make it the largest single solar plant in the world. Although BrightSource still needs a set of government approvals for the site near Ivanpah, it hopes to...
Another day, another proposal for a multi-billion dollar rail line in the United States. An Arizona company called Solar Bullet wants to build a 220 mile-per-hour train from Tucson to Phoenix, a journey of about 115 miles. Aside from the whopping $27 billion price tag for just the first phase, this idea has garnered a rush of attention for another reason — the promise to make it solar...
The Canadian Energy Research Institute spent 18 months examining the potential and expected impact to the oil sands industry once stricter climate change policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases are implemented in the U.S. and Canada. And guess what CERI found out? It’s going to be expensive. Really, really expensive. The question is, whether the latest doom-and-gloom surrounding the...
PetroChina has the financial stomach that few other oil companies share. And it’s exploiting the heck out it, while most Western oil companies sit on the sidelines. By the time Western oil companies feel comfortable enough to follow in its footsteps, they’ll be left with the merger-and-acquisition scraps. China’s biggest oil company said Tuesday that it views the current low...
In a weird reversal of the usual order, Chinese solar company Suntech has announced plans to site some manufacturing operations on American soil. It will spend the next few months determining a location for a factory, and potentially have it in operation within a year or so, producing panels for the local market. Suntech’s move is increasingly typical of the solar industry. With margins...
Centrica buys 20 percent stake in nuclear company British Energy — UK utility Centrica boosted its investment in nuclear power with its purchase of a 20 percent stake in EDF’s nuclear unit British Energy. Centrica benefited greatly in this discounted deal by paying 6 percent less than the price paid by EDF earlier this year. In a side deal, Centrica sold 51 percent of its holding...
Without more major power lines, it may be impossible to get energy from big renewable power plants to the towns and cities that need them. A whole range of companies are relying on this new transmission capacity, including solar thermal startups like Ausra and Brightsource, wind companies like Vestas, and geothermal companies like Ormat Technologies. But there may be a fight to get it, sparked...
Oil service companies already owed billions from Venezuela’s state-run Petroleos de Venezuela are at risk of losing the very moneymaking assets that help produce oil from the OPEC member nation. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has the power under a new law to seize local assets of international oil-service companies and based on early reports soldiers have already begun taking...
Yesterday marked the end of the United States government’s drive toward the vehicles, at least if a cut proposed by President Obama removing 60 percent of hydrogen program funds is approved. Details on that are next door at BNET Auto. Enthusiasm for the fuel peaked earlier in the decade, as President Bush picked up up on the idea of clean-running hydrogen vehicles and used the imagery of...
- "Sunshine to Petrol" Promises Fuel From CO2
- The Kidney Stone-Climate Bill Connection
- Week in Oil & Gas: Peak Oil, a Climate-Bill Interlude and Devon's Big Sale
- About Those Anti-Nuclear Arguments: They're Dishonest
- Week in Renewables: New Emissions Targets, Ausra to Sell, Tesla IPO
- The Great Climate Change Scandal of 2009
- Sour Market: With No Buyer in Sight, Valero Closes Delaware Refinery
- PG&E Smart Meter Case is Just the Beginning
- The Technologies for a Nuclear Resurgence
- Miasole Finally Begins Shipping as Next Generation Solar Gets Investment
- Chevron's Acquisition Strategy: Small Companies Need Not Apply
- Peak Oil? Not Here and Not For Decades, CERA Study Says
- Week in Oil & Gas: Punting in Copenhagen and Gulf of Mexico Leases -- Abridged
- Week in Renewables: Changes Afoot, Solar Growth, Electric Cars and Nukes
- Start Your Engines: Suncor CEO Marks Official "Restart" in Oil Sands Growth
- The Great Climate Change Scandal of 2009
- Week in Renewables: Glowing and Grim Reports, a New Bank, and Big Wind
- Sue Big Oil Over Global Warming? Court Tells Katrina Victims, Yes You Can!
- Clean Coal, a Global Failure in the Making
- The Technologies for a Nuclear Resurgence
- About Those Anti-Nuclear Arguments: They're Dishonest
- Boxer Rolls Political Dice, Climate Bill Moves Onto Senate Floor
- Week in Renewables: Obama vs. Public Opinion, and New Energy Bets
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- Clinton: Energy Efficiency Is Not Sexy, But Important Low-Hanging Fruit
- Trina Solar: Still Struggling to Bring Manufacturing Costs in Line With Falling Prices
- Boxer Rolls Political Dice, Climate Bill Moves Onto Senate Floor
- Valero to Shutter Some Refinery Operations, Cut Hundreds of Jobs
- Week in Oil & Gas: Climate Bill Hurdles and Refining Blues
- Spillover Effect: Another Pre-Salt Discovery in Brazil
- Canada Starts Doling Out Carbon Capture Dollars
- Natgas Conundrum: Calming Volatility Fears in Push for Clean Energy Alternative
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