Energy

Bloomberg Renewable energy muscled out coal to become Germany’s biggest source of electricity for the first time last year, helped by a surge in solar panel installations and coal-plant closures. Wind, solar, hydro and biomass produced just over 40 percent of Germany’s electricity in 2018, overtaking coal’s 39 percent share, according to the Fraunhofer Institute. An almost 20 percent increase ...

Bloomberg State Grid Corp of China has started up the world’s longest and most-powerful ultra-high voltage power line from its far northwest to the heavily populated east. The 1,100-kilovolt direct-current Changji-to-Guquan project stretches 3,293 kilometers (2,046 miles), the nation’s biggest electricity distributor said in a statement. That’s roughly the distance between Los Angeles and Cleveland. The 40.7 billion yuan ($5.9 ...

Bloomberg India should provide long-term finance at lower interest rate to all hydro power projects for their viability and to keep tariff competitive with other generation sources, a lawmakers’ panel said in a report. The report recommended promotion of hydro power on the lines of solar energy by making its purchase mandatory in overall consumption. India should categorise hydro power ...

Bloomberg India issued a tender to build 7.5-gigawatt of solar power projects in Jammu and Kashmir, state-run Solar Energy Corp of India said on its website. The request is part of a larger plan to build 23 gigawatts of solar capacity in Ladakh, a region in the country’s extreme north bordering China. The capacity is offered in as many as ...

Bloomberg The record jump in prices in Europe’s biggest power market could extend well into 2019. Booming European carbon futures, Germany’s plan to shut some of its dirtiest plants, and low water levels after an extremely dry summer are all factors driving the region’s electricity prices. While 2018’s surge probably won’t be repeated, Wood McKenzie Ltd says average rates for ...

Bloomberg Russian officials and executives from its biggest oil companies put on a brave face, even as Brent trades near 16-month lows. “The drop in oil prices hardly bother us because our budget is based on $42 a barrel,” First Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters ahead of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and big business in Moscow. ...

Bloomberg The price of gasoline in South Africa’s economic hub of Gauteng will fall to the lowest since March in January 2019. A liter of 95-octane gasoline will decrease 1.23 rand to 14.01 rand ($0.97) in Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, the Central Energy Fund said in an emailed statement. Diesel will decline 1.53 rand a liter ...

Bloomberg Things haven’t been this bad for the world’s biggest oil stock since Ronald Reagan became president. But brace yourself, 2019 may not be much better. Exxon Mobil Corp, down 22 percent for the year 2018, is headed for worst annual performance since 1981, when US was in recession and a 20-year crude glut was just beginning. The decline comes ...

Bloomberg China approved its first large battery storage pilot project as it seeks to maximise clean energy output and improve grid stability. The initial phase of the venture in the northwestern prov-ince of Gansu will require 1.2 billion yuan ($174 million) of investment and have a capacity of 720 megawatt hours and storage duration of four hours, the Gansu Provincial ...

Bloomberg If you ever needed convincing there’s money to be made investing in renewable energy companies, just look at the best performer this year on Europe’s main utilities index. As a torrid year for global markets draws to a close, Verbund AG almost tripled in value in 2018 and is beating all of its 27 peers to the top spot ...