Wednesday 6th August 2014

UK mulls subsidies for overseas schemes

The UK government is considering giving subsidies to projects outside the UK under its contracts for difference (CFD) regime.

On Monday, the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published a policy paper, called “Contracts for Difference for non-UK Renewable Energy Projects”, which sets out options for the future of CFDs.

The government is considering offering CFDs to schemes outside the UK but linked into the UK electricity grid. This could open up the potential for cross-border energy subsidies between the UK and Ireland or mainland Europe.

Under a CFD, DECC pays an energy producer the difference between the estimated market price for the energy from their scheme and a higher ‘strike price’ that enables the producer to invest in a given renewable technology. These are due to come into force in April 2015.

Pioneer sells 200MW Logan’s Gap in Texas

Pioneer Green Energy has sold its 200MW Logan’s Gap project in Comanche County, Texas, to Pattern Energy for an undisclosed sum.

US renewable energy company Pioneer started preliminary work on the site last year, but main building work has not yet started. Pattern said it expected to secure financing and begin full construction by the end of this year, with completion scheduled in late 2015.

Pioneer sold the site with a ten-year power purchase agreement with retail giant Wal-Mart, which has agreed to buy around 60% of the project’s output.

China drop hits AMSC results

US wind technology developer AMSC has seen first-quarter sales halve to $11.7m after slower sales in China and its grid division.

The business saw sales in the three months to 30 June 2014 drop to $11.7m from $23.1m in the equivalent period last year. It also reported an operating loss of $13.5m in the first quarter of 2014/15, compared with a $10.5m loss in the same period last year.

AMSC’s wind division saw sales drop to $7.7m in the first quarter of 2014/15 from $14.7m last year; and made an operating loss of $3.5m in the period, up from £1.8m year-on-year.

Judge declares Impsa arm wind bankrupt

Brazilian judge Rafael Jose de Menezes has declared bankrupt Wind Power Energy, part of turbine maker Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona (Impsa).

The judge declared the Argentinian firm's’s Brazilian subsidiary in bankruptcy following requests from port operator Libra Group, which said Wind Power Energy had not paid debts of $4.7m. Impsa has not commented on the ruling.

The decision by Pernambuco state judge Menezes gives Wind Power Energy 15 days to appeal the ruling. The ruling comes as Impsa is looking to sell assets to boost its finances, and is reportedly in talks to sell a significant part of its 810MW Brazilian portfolio, worth an estimated $2.2bn.

Bulgaria rules 20% green tax unconstitutional

Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court has scrapped the country’s 20% tax on the income from wind and solar schemes after ruling it was unconstitutional.

The tax hike was passed last year as part of the 2014 Budget, with 116 of 182 Bulgarian MPs voting in favour of it. However, the country’s president Rosen Plevneliev lodged the legal challenge arguing the rate would put off investors, damage the business environment, and contravened free enterprise principles. Ten of the court’s 12 judges backed the challenge.

The Bulgarian Wind Energy Association (BGWEA) has welcomed the ruling. It argued that the 20% tax was discriminatory about wind and solar firm; and contravened the European Union’s aim of increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the continent’s energy mix.