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Renewable energy projects, like a hybrid wind and diesel system on San Cristobal Island, are paving the way for the Galapagos Islands' clean energy future, according to this analysis. Elecgalapagos, a utility tasked with leading the islands' transition away from fossil fuels, has set a goal to source 70% of the Galapagos' electricity from renewables in the near future. San Cristobal is home to three turbines providing about 30% of its electricity needs.

Siemens will invest $264 million to build production facilities for its 6MW offshore wind turbines in the UK. The facilities are expected to create over 1,000 jobs and begin producing rotor blades by 2016.

The total number of idle turbines in China more than doubled to 15% last year, according to the China's National Energy Administration. The report said that the country added a record-breaking 33 gigawatts of installed wind capacity last year, but its idle wind generation has climbed 69% since 2014. Observers say slowing consumption rates and more coal-fired power plants have contributed to the problem.

GE and Siemens have become two of the top wind energy developers in the US, writes analyst Scott Levine. GE turbines accounted for about 60% of the installed wind capacity added in the US last year, and in the first half of 2015, GE secured orders for more than 1,264 turbines. Last year, Siemens added 1,241 MW of installed capacity, or more than a quarter of the US market. Siemens and GE will likely continue to be key players in the US as the cost of wind continues to decline, Levine writes

General Electric will supply 55 wind turbines to the Chinese power generation company Huaneng Corporation for a planned 151 MW wind installation in China's Yunnan province. The deal is General Electric's largest wind power deal in China to date.

An ambitious new initiative aims to provide hybrid wind energy to 1 million people in the developing world.

Cleantech company Nova Innovation has reportedly built the world's first fully operational, commercial, grid-connected array of underwater turbines that generate power from oceanic tides. The array is located northeast of Scotland in the Shetland Islands.

Apple has invested in four subsidiaries of China's largest wind-turbine manufacturer Goldwind, marking its largest clean energy deal to date. The deal will reportedly add 285 MW of clean energy to China's grid across four provinces.

IKEA wants to become a net exporter of renewables by 2020 and plans to spend another $670.5 million on renewable energy development. It currently sources 53% of its total electricity needs from renewables, controlling 314 turbines and 700,000 solar panels worldwide. The company will continue to embrace energy-efficiency measures, reduce supply chain emissions and make its products more sustainable.

The cost of wind energy in the US will continue to decline over the next three to five years as the industry prepares for the wind energy Production Tax Credit to lapse, according to Pattern Energy CEO and President Mike Garland. He said that Pattern has begun retrofitting its turbines to boost performance.

At plants in Wisconsin and Holland, SC Johnson -- maker of cleaning products such as Mr Muscle and Pledge -- is using on-site wind turbines and advanced waste-reduction strategies to reduce its footprint. The aim is to develop a network of zero-waste, 100%-renewable facilities around the world. "Every place should be a better place because we are there," says CEO Sam Johnson.

A new report from the European Commission has concluded that wind power is the renewable energy technology with the largest and most successful deployment over the last 20 years.

Wind energy has been utilized more successfully than any other form of renewable energy for the past 20 years, according to the European Commission Joint Research Center. Over the past two decades, wind energy's global installed capacity has grown from 3 gigawatts to 370 GW, the report said. The U.S. added 131 megawatts of installed wind capacity in the first quarter of 2015 with 68 new turbines, the American Wind Energy Association said. 

A planned 650MW combined-cycle gas turbine power station in Indiana will reduce the rate of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions by more than 98 percent and water use by 97 percent.

IKEA just bought the Hoopeston Wind farm, comprising 49 turbines in Vermillion County, Ill. This is its first wind farm investment in the U.S. and its largest renewable energy project. Set to become operational in 2015, Hoopeston will generate 380 GWh per year ­- nearly 1.5 times the energy needed to operate all of IKEA's U.S. operations.

Home appliance company Whirlpool announced plans to build an $18 million on-site wind energy project to offset 22% of its electricity consumption at its Ohio-based manufacturing facility, in partnership with OneEnergy.

Under a new order from the state's Public Service Commission, utility companies will soon be barred from owning "distributed" power systems-that means rooftop solar, small wind turbines, and basically anything else that isn't a big power plant. "By restricting utilities from owning local power generation and other energy resources, customers will benefit from a more competitive market, with utilities working and partnering with other companies and service providers," the commission said in a statement.

General Electric Aviation will invest more than $200 million to construct two factories that will mass-produce silicon carbide (SiC) materials used to manufacture ceramic matrix composite components (CMCs) for jet engines and land-based gas turbines. The factories will be built adjacent to one another on 100 acres in Huntsville, Alabama.

The US energy landscape is swiftly transitioning away from fossil fuels in favor of renewables, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. "By the close of 2014, the United States was relying on an unprecedented amount of renewable energy from wind turbines, solar panels, and other technologies. We are bearing witness to fundamental change in the energy sector, reflecting the needs and aspirations of all who depend on it," said the report. It added that US carbon emissions have already dropped 10% below 2005 levels

Amidst the madness of 2017, a bigger shift was missed than probably any other - right at the commanding heights of the economy: Natural gas fizzled out of the plan for the future.