Europe
Touted when first announced in January of 2010 as “likely to create hundreds of jobs”, the world’s largest wood pellet plant – a joint effort between German firm RWE Innogy (ETR:RWE) and Swedish firm BMC – cost $170 million to build and occupies about 300 acres in the Waycross (Georgia) Industrial Park. RWE Innogy delivers renewable energy in Europe. BMC is a project and technology development company vested in wood-based biomass.
Iceland's state-run energy company, Landsvirkjun, is considering manufacturing the world's longest sub-sea electric cable so it can bring its abundance of geothermal energy to interested parties in Europe.
College and university students from all over the world are preparing for the Solar Decathlon Europe 2010.
Once selected, students from nine countries will design and build real self-sufficient, solar-powered homes. The teams have 10 days to assemble their solar homes onsite at the Solar Village.
Europe's first commercial smart-charging station for electric vehicles (EV) has opened for business in The Netherlands.
SunEdison, headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland, will soon start construction on the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in Europe in Rovigo, Italy.
In early 2010 the Ensus Group enters full-scale production at Europe’s largest wheat-based ethanol plant.
The numbers demonstrate the European Union's commitment to wind power:
- Around 60% of the world's wind power generating capacity is in Europe
- Europe's installed wind capacity is around 64,949 MW, equivalent to just over 4% of Europe's demand.
We have Smart Grids and we have SuperSmart Grids (SSG).
According to a recent report called Concentrating Solar Power: Global Outlook 2009 [pdf] here's the current state of play for Concentrated Solar Power technology in Europe:
