Renewable Energy

Earlier this week, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued a proposed rule to revise (and make stricter) the unique sourcing requirements applicable to certain photovoltaic devices that are used in the performance of DoD contracts.  Specifically, unless an exception under the Trade Agreements Act applies or a contractor secures a waiver based on public interest…

The new year may only be a few months old, but 2015 has already ushered in a number of exciting developments in the solar power space in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Solar projects coming online across the continent and more in the pipeline. Riding the momentum of 2014 in which it brought online the largest photovoltaic (PV)…

On February 25, 2015, the European Commission presented three communications on:

  1. a Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy;
  2. Achieving the 10% Electricity Interconnection Target: Making Europe’s Electricity Grid Fit for 2010; and
  3. The Paris Protocol: A Blueprint for Tackling Global Climate Change Beyond 2020.

These…

Last week, London-based firm EnergyNet held its “Powering Africa Summit” in Washington.  The Summit, opened by U.S. Secretary of Energy Moniz, attracted project developers, equipment suppliers, financiers, the U.S. Government’s Power Africa team, and African government officials.  Unfortunately, due to the African Union Summit that was being held at the same time in Ethiopia, no…

Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen recently decried “the failure to develop a framework for assessing the comparative costs of different sources of energy . . . inclusive of the externalities involved.”  As if on cue, the European Union (EU) issued an interim research report by an outside consultancy last month that purported to do just…

Residential rooftop solar energy continues to expand at a rapid pace in many states. This growing market dynamic is affecting the business model of traditional electric utilities. Some utilities have sought to impose obstacles to the growth of competing solar rooftop providers, citing concern that as more homes produce their own electricity, the corresponding loss…

Last Thursday, the 28 Heads of State of the European Union meeting at the European Council reached a political agreement on the EU’s climate and energy framework for 2030.  The compromise is intended to send a signal in anticipation of the next United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCCC”) Conference of Parties scheduled for…

A Colorado federal district court Friday rejected a constitutional challenge to the state’s renewable energy portfolio law, concluding that it did not impose an impermissible burden on interstate commerce. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have enacted renewable portfolio standards, which typically require that a specified percentage of energy supplied by state utilities…