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1. Industry outlookThe report's baseline deployment forecast, shows Europe achieving between 26 - 27GW of installed capacity by 2020, of which around 23GW is new installations.Such deployment would:- Occur mainly in the UK and Germany.- Require around 3,500 turbines plus associated infrastructure.- Cost upwards of £75 billion (€86 billion) based on current industry practices.2. Power cable demandGrowth in resulting cable installations will be significant, with an estimated 6,000km of export cable, 2,000km of EU inter-connector cable and 6,500km of array cable installations by 2020.The report's findings show:- In terms of total cable installations, the report predicts that demand will more than double over the period to 2020, with growth of between 2.5 and 3.0 times that of 2011 occurring in both export and array installations.- A near-doubling of export and inter-connector installations by 2016. Thereafter, growth is limited as HVDC use increases and general industry growth slows.- A 250% rise in array cable installations from 350km in 2011 to 900km by 2020.3. Export cable supply vs. demandThe authors estimate that annual export cable installation supply currently stands at around 600 - 650km (vs. 500km 2011 demand). Identified capacity additions are limited. Our analysis shows that export cable installation capacity needs to increase by around 75% within 2 - 3 years if demand is to be met.

n 2010, thermal energy displaced hydro as the major source of energy generation for the Chilean Central Interconnected System.  Coal, natural gas, and diesel supplied over 50% of energy consumed while hydropower accounted for 48%.  This trend is expected to continue in 2011 if current water shortage conditions persist. (El Mercurio, 1/4/11)  Last year’s drought created a 26% increase in thermal generation as compared to 2009.

The Regional Energy Efficiency Strategy initiative led by Bun-ca has reported an energy savings of 9368 MWh over the past six years, equivalent to 4992 tons of carbon dioxide, by working with 190 companies in the industrial and commercial sectors to become more energy efficient.   Recently UNEP’s En.lighten study estimated that Costa Rica could save 276,000 MWh and $27.6 million per year if they changed all light bulbs to CFLs.  The cost of this change was estimated to be $22.63 million.  (El Financiero CR, 1/3/11)

The Mexican government is planning to invest four billion dollars to build a one thousand megawatt renewable energy storage facility in Northern Mexico.   The facility will use a special kind of sodium sulfide batteries for the project which is expected to be completed in the next six years.  (Clean Techies, 1/6/11)

Paranapanema approves US$377mn investment plan

Brazilian copper products manufacturer Paranapanema's (Bovespa: PMAM3) board has approved an investment plan of 630mn reais (US$377mn) for the 2011-13 period.

Energy. The Equinox Summit held in Waterloo Canada 2011 (2011 Equinox Summit: Energy 2030 http://wgsi.org/publications-resources) identified electricity use as humanity's largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Our appetite for electricity is growing faster than for any other form of energy. The communiqué from the summit said 'Transforming the ways we generate, distribute and store electricity is among the most pressing challenges facing society today.... If we want to stabilize CO2 levels in our atmosphere at 550 parts per million, all of that growth needs to be met by non-carbon forms of energy' (2011 Equinox Summit: Energy 2030 http://wgsi.org/publications-resources). Superconducting technologies can provide the energy efficiencies to achieve, in the European Union alone, 33–65% of the required reduction in greenhouse gas emissions according to the Kyoto Protocol (Hartikainen et al 2003 Supercond. Sci. Technol.16 963). New technologies would include superconducting energy storage systems to effectively store power generation from renewable sources as well as high-temperature superconducting systems used in generators, transformers and synchronous motors in power stations and heavy-industry facilities. However, to be effective, these systems must be superior to conventional systems and, in reality, market penetration will occur as existing electrical machinery is written off. At current write-off rates, to achieve a 50% transfer to superconducting systems will take 20 years (Hartikainen et al 2003 Supercond. Sci. Technol.16 963).

However, the standards committees are concentrating on cables with contacts at the end, with Europe the laggard. The European Commission and European standards organizations hope for a common interface in general use by 2017. Quixotically, they hope their standards will become global despite the fact that North America, China and Japan are showing more urgency, already pushing for their standards to be adopted globally. Nonetheless, there are no agreed and adopted standards anywhere for the fastest "Level 3" form of charging  -- top request for public places. If Level 3 can be made safe and affordable, charging some EVs in ten minutes is possible if they have the right type of lithium-ion battery.  Fastest charging means expensive hardware and installation at present, often with a large lithium-ion battery and ultracapacitor bank in the charger. Copying the 40MW delivery of a gasoline station is not necessarily feasible, safe or affordable yet. The forecast of the 2015 split between options is shown below. Discrete Level 1 stations will be modest in number because so many EVs will be charged slowly using a regular domestic power socket, the inverter being in the vehicle itself.Percentage split in numbers of EV charging stations sold worldwide in 2015. Level 1:    6 percentLevel 2:  80 percentLevel 3:  14 percentSource IDTechEx report "Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure 2011-2021"

PM Wen Jiabao reaffirms China’s commitment to upgrading its power grids in the rural regions during the China State Council board meeting held on 5 Jan 2011. This comes on the back of an increase in electricity consumption in rural areas, following the implementation of China’s rural home appliance subsidy program. Many places are still suffering from an inadequate supply of power grid infrastructure…ben_oh : …Hu An is poised to benefit from China’s estimated Rmb200b invmt in its rural power grids btwn 2010-12, of which two-thirds will be spent on power transmission eqpt such as power wires and cables, transformers, wire poles and towers. In particular, China is expected to shift its focus from main power grids (220-750 KV) to the ultra high voltage power grids (800-1000 KV) and rural/ urban distribution power grids (<110KV)…

Hu An Cable: PM Wen Jiabao reaffirms China’s commitment to upgrading its power grids in the rural regions during the China State Council board meeting held on 5 Jan 2011. This comes on the back of an increase in electricity consumption in rural areas, following the implementation of China’s rural home appliance subsidy program. Many places are still suffering from an inadequate supply of power grid infrastructure…ben_oh : …Hu An is poised to benefit from China’s estimated Rmb200b invmt in its rural power grids btwn 2010-12, of which two-thirds will be spent on power transmission eqpt such as power wires and cables, transformers, wire poles and towers. In particular, China is expected to shift its focus from main power grids (220-750 KV) to the ultra high voltage power grids (800-1000 KV) and rural/ urban distribution power grids (<110KV)…