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General Motors (GM) announced that it is adding the world's largest rooftop solar photovoltaic power installation to its car assembly plant located in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, Spain. When the project is completed in fall 2008, the Zaragoza solar installation will cover about 2 million square feet of roof at the plant and include about 85,000 solar panels. When fully operational, the Zaragoza solar installation will generate about 12 megawatts of power at its highest output. The installation will generate about 15.1 million kWh of power annually, which is equivalent to the demand of 4,575 households with an average annual consumption of 3,300 kWh in Spain. "The Zaragoza project demonstrates proof that GM is actively accelerating our efforts to be part of the solution to the environmental issues and challenges facing our world," said Gary Cowger, GM group vice president of global manufacturing and labor relations. "We are proud to be a global leader in the usage of renewable energy."

Thin-film solar company Nanosolar has been sitting on a big secret for much of this year, it turns out: The company took a $300 million financing this March, and has remained mum ever since, only detailing it on the company's blog this morning after VentureWire reported the funding. While Nanosolar hasn't been entirely secretive about its technology, with chief executive Martin Rosencheisen showing off a rapid manufacturing technique early in summer, but apparently it didn't want details leaking on this giant-sized investment until necessary. Word slipped out in April about $50 million of the total, but at the time, Nanosolar didn't want to talk - and it's now clear why. The race for funds, and ever-larger production targets, is definitely on for thin film. Secretive thin-film silicon company Optisolar has raised over $200 million this year, and Nanosolar's thin-film CIGS competitor Miasole is trying to close on a similar amount. And while dozens of other startups are also on the hunt, large companies like Oerlikon Solar and Applied Materials are pouring money into ventures of their own. In many ways, it looks like an overheated sector. But on the other hand, Optisolar's recent deal with PG&E to provide 550 megawatts of electricity suggests that the potential for thin film panels is larger than previously expected, even when considering one analyst firm's prediction earlier this year that the sector will grow at 45 percent annually. That figure could now be much higher, especially for a few big winners - of which Nanosolar will likely be one. The company will be doing some utility-scale projects of its own, Rosencheisen tells us, with experienced partners. It also has a panel built specifically for use by utilities. And one of the backers of this funding, AES Corp., is also one of the world's biggest power companies. At the moment, Nanosolar is still working toward a gigawatt of annual manufacturing capacity, but it will grow be

The Chinese Henan Province has announced that it plans to invest in key regional projects. According to the plans, nine projects are related to the non-ferrous metals industry, two of which are copper semis plants. The first is a high precision electronic copper sheet and coil project of Chalco Luoyang Copper Co., Ltd. with annual capacity of 100,000 t. The second is a copper sheet and coil project of Henan Sanfeng Copper Co., Ltd. with annual capacity of 50,000 t.

Jinglong Electric Material Co. Ltd. has started a special type enamelled wire project in Tongling City, Anhui Province. The company was established in 2003, engaging in the production and sale of enamelled wire. Capacity was restricted to 10,000t per annum due to dispersed plants. But by consolidating operations, Jinglong will reach annual capacity of 25,000t, also meeting local copper demand. The new project occupies 53,000m2 whilst its investment amounts to 80M yuan (US$11.7M). It is anticipated that upon reaching full capacity, the company will realise annual revenues of 950M yuan (US$139M).

Annual copper mine output will grow at a slower-than-expected average annual rate of...

ICSG 1 Feb 09 - Based on existing facilities and announced project developments, annual mine production capacity in the period 2009-2013 is expected to grow at an average rate of around 4.3% per year (%/yr) to reach 23.1 Mt in 2013, an increase of around 3.6 Mt (19%) from that in 2009. Of the total increase, copper in concentrate capacity is expected to increase by 2.7Mt (4.3%/yr) to reach 17.9 Mt and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) production by 820,000t (4.4%/yr) to reach 5.2 Mt. Most of the new mine projects and expansions are located in Brazil, Chile, Congo, Mongolia, Peru, the United States and Zambia, which together account for around 2.6 Mt (73%) of the projected mine capacity increase during this period. Annual smelter capacity is projected to grow by an average of 2.6%/yr to reach 20.2 Mt in 2013, an increase of 2 Mt (11%) from that in 2009. Asia will be the leading contributor to growth (1.8 Mt), with expansions and new projects expected mostly in China, but also in India, Indonesia and Iran. Africa is the second leading contributor owing to developments in Zambia. North American smelting capacity will fall by 12% (250kt) due to closures of plants in Canada. The ICSG tabulations indicate that world refinery capacity will reach 26.6 Mt in 2013, an increase of 3.2 Mt (13%) from that in 2009. About 2.3 Mt of the expansion is expected to come from electrolytic refineries and 820,000t from electrowinning capacity. Electrolytic refinery capacity growth is projected to average 3.1%/yr, exceeding the projected growth in smelter capacity, and electrowinning capacity growth (at the refinery level) is expected to average 4.3%/yr. About one half (1.5 Mt) of the world refinery capacity increase during this period is expected to come from electrolytic refineries in China; about 25% (830,000 t) from electrolytic capacity increases in India, Indonesia and Iran; and about 20% (600,000 t) from electrowinning capacity increases in Congo, Peru and Zambia.

"According to a recent report from Navigant Research, the worldwide installed capacity of distributed generation is expected to more than double in the next 9 years, growing from 87,300 megawatts annually in 2014 to more than 165,000 megawatts in 2023."

"And the continent's energy demand will continue to rise, with experts anticipating that electricity requirements will increase by approximately 6% annually from around 600 terawatt hours in 2010 to more than 3,000 terawatt hours in 2040. This approximately corresponds to an increase of the annual German electricity consumption to the level of China. "

"Power Segment highlights The Power products and solutions business revenues stood at Rs. 461 Crores, up 61% Q-O-Q as conductor volumes at about 27,000 MT have started showing signs of improvement In the Power products and solutions segment, we have added new accounts in the European markets for power conductors and in India for OPGW products. Order book at Rs 2400 crores in Power products segment remains healthy and well diversified with exports nearly accounting for 40% of total order book. Power Transmission Segment East-North Interconnection Company Ltd. (ENICL) became fully operational with completion of the second 400 KV double-circuit quad transmission line connecting Bongaigaon in Assam to Siliguri in West Bengal which makes us the only private transmission utility to successfully commission the first private mega transmission project in the country. In Bhopal Dhule Transmission Company Ltd. (BDTCL) project, few more milestones were achieved with commissioning of two more lines and two substations taking us to nearly 60% completion for the project The current revenue generating elements of the first three projects have an annualized revenue run rate of Rs 287 crore which has shown a major increase from the annualized revenue run rate of Rs. 68 crores at end of previous quarter With Sterlite's investments completed in these projects, we expect the other 2 projects BDTCL and JTCL to be fully operational progressively in next 2 quarters."

"Geographic regions will vary significantly in their rates of investment. Emerging markets will represent the largest growth in T&D spending, with Africa and Southeast Asia the fastest growing regions as they build out new infrastructure to boost their electrification rates. However, North America and Europe will see lackluster growth in traditional T&D infrastructure spending of around 1%, but will account for the majority of smart grid spending. The individual country with the largest amount of traditional T&D spending will be India, which will outpace China by 2024. Smart grid annual spending on distribution automation will be concentrated in Europe ($11.5bn per year), followed by North America ($7.5bn) and East Asia ($6.1bn), as these regions modernize their existing electric infrastructure."

An official from SDI La Farga LLC's said on 11th December that the company is producing limited amounts of wirerod at its new US $39M plant in New Haven, Indiana. The new facility, a joint venture between Spain's La Farga Group and Steel Dynamics Inc, produces wirerod from number 2 scrap copper rather than cathode. The company official said "we've produced quality rod and are in the process of getting approval of customers and we have done so with several customers." He added that plant officials are "waiting for more customer orders to start producing more".

Anhui Jincheng, the Shanghai-listed producer of copper PSSF, said on 26th March that it produced 93,872t of copper PSSF in 2012, a 13% y-o-y increase from 2011. Despite the increase in output, the company made a net loss of RMB57M in 2012 from a profit of RMB24M in 2011 (loss of US$9M from a profit of US$3.8M). Remarking on the results the company said that "uncertainties in the global economy, the euro debt crisis, plus the weak Chinese economy, has negatively impacted demand by the downstream processing sector last year."

Talking at the annual CESCO/CRU World Copper Conference, CRU Principal Consultant Vivienne Lloyd said that up to 2Mt of copper demand could be lost over the next five years due to substitution and consolidation amongst Chinese semis producers. Lloyd said that the areas under the greatest threat from substitution are the automotive wiring harness sector and the HVAC sector. However, CRU believes that the aluminium/copper price ratio is likely to have peaked in 2012 at around 4:1, and will fall back gradually to 2017 reaching 3:1, which should relieve some of the substitution pressures.

South Korean makers of copper pipes, who are continuously implementing a policy to intensively promote their exports due to the weak demand for the products in the domestic market, renewed the annual record high for third straight year in 2013

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB) has recommended that the controversial Carmacks copper mine project can go ahead, providing that the Western Copper Corporation (TSX: WRN) complies with 148 conditions to mitigate potential adverse impacts. The tiny community of Carmacks with a year-round population of 500 is still considered an important service center for mining and for transportation, a century after it was a popular rest stop for the Yukon gold rush. However, members of the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation want Western Copper to negotiate a better environmental engineering solution as part of an Impacts Benefits Agreement with the community. Located 38km northwest of the Village of Carmacks and 192 km north of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, the Carmacks copper project is planned to be an open-pit operation that will yield about 14,000 tonnes of copper cathode annually. Western Copper has targeted production to begin during the fourth quarter of 2010. Among the comments and concerns raised with the YESAB were routing of mining-related traffic, the heap leach detoxification process, sludge management, heap leach liner performance, and the estimates of closure costs. Among the comments and concerns raised with the YESAB were routing of mining-related traffic, the heap leach detoxification process, sludge management, heap leach liner performance, and the estimates of closure costs. The YESAB Executive Committee said it was satisfied that: Western Copper adequately consulted with the First Nations in whose territory, and the residents of any community in which the project will be located or might have significant or socio-economic effects; The project proponent provided sufficient information in the project proposal to allow for the assessment of potentially significant effects; Significant adverse environmental or socio-economic project and cumulative effects identified within the scope of the scre

"China's Xiangguang Copper completed an expansion in April that has lifted annual refining capacity up 70 percent to 600,000 tonnes, a company manager said on Friday."

""What is happening now is not related to supply-demand in copper - it's more related to the economic crisis in Europe," Mr Hernández told the Financial Times in a video interview on the sidelines of LME week, the largest annual gathering of the metal and mining industry."

According to CRU's Copper Group Manager Vanessa Davidson, annual copper consumption growth will average 4.4% y-o-y during the period 2012-2017 driven by strong consumption in China and the rest of Asia. The Group Manager said she does not see the rising stocks on the LME as being as bearish as it seems, saying it is the result of stocks being transferred into visible locations. The speech was part of the annual CESCO/CRU World Copper Conference held in Santiago, Chile.