Renewables to Build Economies | Green Energy News

October 12, 2003 – Vol.8 No.29

RENEWABLES TO BUILD ECONOMIES, IN A BUILT ECONOMY.

In developing countries state-of-the-art renewable energy is seen by government and industry as a way to build economies, create jobs, preserve the environment, ensure clean air and water, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet in the world’s most industrialized country, the U.S., it is only market forces, along with a small amount of government support, that is relied upon to do the same thing.

So which is more effective? It seems easier there. It’s an ongoing struggle here.

The main interest for BP Angola, a division of BP, is the $8 billion it will have or already has in the development in of oil and natural gas projects. Yet the company is also building and promoting solar energy as a way to bring much needed power to rural communities.

As a demonstration project, BP Solar is building a solar electric system that will provide power - day and night - for the 360 residents of Paranhos in the African nation.

The system, designed and manufactured by BP Solar, will be installed by a local contractor under BP guidance. Funding for the $250,000 system will come from BP Angola as part of its Social Investment Programme as well as the U.K.government.

The village of Chendebji, Bhutan, high in the Himalayas, will get electric power for the first time with a 70-kilowatt micro-hydro project to be built as an e7 Clean Development Mechanism demonstration project. The small facility on the Lamchela Chu River will supply power to the 100 residents of the village.

The e7 is an association of leading energy and electric utility companies from the G7 nations. Included in the project are e7 member companies American Electric Power (AEP, U.S.), Kansai Electric Power (Japan), Electricity de France (France), and Hydro Quebec (Canada) as well as the support of the Bhutan government.

In Memphis, Tennessee, 67 people are now employed at the new Sharp Electronics Corporation solar panel manufacturing facility, the company’s first outside of Japan. Sharp, the world’s solar photovoltaic leader, sees the U.S. market for solar power increasing to 120 megawatts (MW) by 2005 and up to 300 MW 2010, up from 48 MW in 2002. The new plant has a production capacity of 20 MW per year, but can be expanded.

Visit BP Solar at http://www.bpsolar.com/ , e7 at http://www.e7.org/ , and Sharp Solar at http://www.sharp-usa.com/solar .