Energy Industry Archive

Climate legislation could pad –not punish — the bottom line of farmers who embrace the potential cash crop of the carbon offsets market, according to a report released this week by the Department of Agriculture. The USDA analysis examines the possible impact of climate legislation that reduces greenhouse gases on the agricultural and forestry industries. For proponents of the...

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First Solar to build plant in France – Along with Electricite de France, the country’s state-owned utility, thin-film solar manufacturer First Solar is planning to build a $128 million plant somewhere in France. The entire capacity of the new plant, which will be France’s largest, has been contracted for the next ten years by EDF Energies Nouvelles. [Source: New York Times]...

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Occidental Petroleum Corp. has found what may end up being the largest oil and gas field discovery in California in the past 35 years. Now this may not equal finds in Brazil or Ghana, but the field is still substantial and could hold up to 250 million barrels of oil reserves. Occidental’s chairman and CEO Ray Irani is expected to discuss the discovery in more detail during the...

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Suncor Energy has been given the official OK to merge with Petro-Canada, a deal that will create Canada’s largest integrated oil company with market value of more than $43.3 billion and adds one more giant to the world’s supermajor club. But what will the new and improved Suncor look like? In short, the strategy of the new Suncor will look a lot like the old Suncor, according to...

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There’s an interesting idea being batted around by a United Kingdom think tank called the Policy Exchange: that planes should use all the available supply of biofuels, and other alternatives should be used for cars. The reasoning in the study is pretty simple, at least as reported by the BBC. First, it’s argued that supplying the fuel needs of cars would require biofuel crops to...

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Energy Secretary Steven Chu is flexing his social networking muscles by launching a Facebook account that besides offering some personal tidbits, promises to gives “fans” an inside look at the Obama administration’s energy policy. The Facebook launch is the latest in a flurry of Chu cheerleading that is clearly aimed at ramping up support and momentum for energy and climate...

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China boosts solar sector with massive subsidy plan — China will subsidize 50 percent of the investment for solar power projects, an unprecedented plan that could spur more than $10 billion in private funding and make the country a leading market for solar equipment. The subsidies also will be extended to power transmission and distribution systems that connect to grid networks....

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Nine months after its initial offer to buy power plant operator NRG Energy for $6.2 billion, Exelon has given up. Stockholders voting this morning at NRG’s annual meeting decided to reject all of the new board members proposed by Exelon, letting the suitor know its raised $7.53 billion bid was still far too low. Although NRG CEO David Crane has said several times that NRG is willing to...

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Veteran cleantech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla will be announcing a pair of new funds to invest from today, according to a story in Forbes. If their sources are correct, it would make Khosla one of the few who has managed to get fresh money from investors during the recession. The funds will be split into a bigger and smaller size. To seed new startups, Khosla will set aside $250 million. A...

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A few years ago, Austin Energy’s GreenChoice program in Austin, Texas was rated top in the country for delivering cheap renewable energy to Texan customers who signed up. Since then, prices have skyrocketed, and the utility is considering passing off the costs to its regular customers, a change that could double monthly power bills. So what happened? After it started GreenChoice, Austin...

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