Speaking on the sidelines of his visit to Beijing Oil Industry University, Gholamreza Rashed said the two countries will take practical steps to launch joint educational and industrial projects before October 2012.

He added that the two sides have agreed to carry out joint research on oil and gas industries and launch post-graduate (PhD) courses in relevant fields of study.

Rashed also signed an agreement with president of the Beijing Oil Industry University, Zhang Laibin who said Iran had as an important role in supplying energy to developing countries.

Iran’s Oil Industry University is currently working with similar universities in France, Canada and Australia and holds joint educational courses with them.

Iran is OPEC’s second largest oil producer and the fourth largest crude oil exporter.

The country holds the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves.

Source: www.tehrantimes.com

The reason for this dramatic turnround? Shale gas. It has been known for decades that gas exists in shale rock, says Andy Steinhubl, co-head of the North American oil and gas practice at Bain, but it was only recently with advances in the technology of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling – and an increase in energy prices – that it became viable to extract it.

The shift in the US market, where gas prices have fallen from $10-$13 per million cubic feet to $4-$5/mcf, has led to great excitement in other parts of the world as governments savour the prospect of reducing their energy dependence and perhaps building an export industry of their own.

Significant shale reserves have been discovered in Europe, Australia and China, among others. In Europe, the biggest reserves are believed to be in Poland, Ukraine and France, and a significant source has also been discovered in the UK.

It has also led to fears that the discovery of this new source of gas will hit investment in other, cleaner forms of energy such as nuclear and renewables.

However, there are a number of reasons to be cautious about the likely impact of shale outside the US, where a number of factors combined to help the industry take off.

The country had 2,000 land rigs involved in drilling in declining oil fields and thus readily available to switch to shale gas exploration, a dense service sector and a highly skilled workforce, along with supportive economics, says Luis Barallat, head of gas and LNG at Boston Consulting. “Almost none of this applies in Europe,” he adds. “There are fewer than 50 rigs operating in Europe today. The amount of resources in terms of drilling rigs, human capital and know-how are not comparable with the US.” Similar considerations apply in Asia and Australia.

Another stumbling block is property rights. “In the EU, landowners do not generally own rights to the subsurface so the willingness for landowners to permit the carrying on continuous drilling could well prove an impediment as compared to the US, where the landowners share in the financial benefits of the development through royalty payments and similar arrangements,” says Martin Stewart-Smith, a partner at law firm Morgan Lewis.

In addition, the geology of most reserves outside North America is less conducive to development because deeper drilling is required. Drilling for shale gas requires a large number of wells, which is more problematic in densely populated Europe than in the US.

“And if anyone thinks China is suddenly going to emerge as a major shale gas producer, just look at where their shale gas basins are,” points out Ben Caldecott, head of European policy at Climate Change Capital. “They are in the most water constrained parts of the country. The Tarim basin, for example, is literally underneath a desert.”

Finally, environmental fears over drilling may also hold back the development of the industry. There have been concerns about fracking fluid getting into the water table and France, for example, has imposed a moratorium on shale gas exploration. However, this stance may have more to do with the preponderance of nuclear power in its energy mix than safety concerns.

The safety concerns have been overstated, suggests Elizabeth Shepherd, head of environment at law firm Eversheds. “Hydraulic fracturing has been conducted in developed countries since the late 1940s and it has never been found to contaminate underground sources of drinking water. The technology has been safely applied so far to more than 1.2m individual wells, mostly in North America, but also in thousands of wells (including geothermal energy wells) across Europe.”

Nonetheless, Europe is still some years away from developing shale gas at significant scale, says Ronan O’Regan, a director at PwC. “Most of the work happening at the moment is around drilling to establish the size of the resource and there has been no real confirmation of the quality or quantity of resources.”

But if the growth of the industry will not be as rapid as in the US, it will develop in time into a significant source of supply with implications for energy markets. However, its main impact will be on other fossil fuel sources such as LNG, Russian gas and coal rather than on renewable energy and it will largely hit individual markets.

“We think Poland will be among the countries with the best opportunities for shale gas development,” says Rafa? Dudzinski, vice-president of PGNIG, the Polish oil and gas group. Poland is keen to develop shale gas both to move it away from dependency on Russian gas and to help it shift its power sector, which is 95 per cent coal-powered, to less polluting gas. It has the additional advantage that in the areas where its shale reserves are located, population density is much lower than in western Europe.

Spending on clean energy is unlikely to be affected because it is so linked to national and EU climate targets, backed up by incentives such as feed-in tariffs. “At an EU level I don’t think shale gas will have a negative impact on renewable investment as the primary drivers for renewable investment is government commitment to renewable energy as a means to achieving carbon reduction,” Mr O’Regan says.

But if it brings down gas prices, shale gas will compete directly with nuclear as a supplier of baseload power, that is generation capacity that runs continuously, and at an expected lower cost, so it may add to the pressures on the nuclear industry.

The bigger danger from the point of view of meeting emissions targets is that fossil fuel production gets “locked in” for another 20-30 years because of the advent of this new source of supply.

“In Europe there is a real risk that we lock in more gas infrastructure than is desirable” on the basis that gas prices will be permanently low, warns Mr Caldecott, even though it is more likely that lower prices in the near term will give way to rising prices in the longer term “given global demand and supply fundamentals”, he says.

However, Mr O’Regan says shale gas supplies could help the transition from fossil fuels to low carbon energy by switching from the provision of baseload power to being used as back up for intermittent power sources such as solar and wind as these sources make up a larger part of the energy mix. “If gas plants built in the 2015-2020 period are designed to run baseload and convert to more flexible operation in later life, this will minimise the risk of lock in,” he says.

Source: www.ft.com

China will raise development targets for renewable energy such as wind power and solar energy for the five-year period through 2015. China is targeting 3GW of roof-top solar energy capacity by 2015 and 25GW by 2020, according to a Chinese press report. China is targeting 3 gigawatts of roof-mounted solar power generating capacity by 2015 and 25 GW by 2020. If the goals are confirmed, they suggest a third of China’s solar power capacity would be roof-mounted by 2015 and a half by 2020, making rooftop solar panel installations a key direction in solar power expansion.

China had only about 300 megawatts of rooftop solar power capacity at the end of 2010. Other main solar power installations include ground-mounted, utility-scale photovotaic power stations and concentrated solar thermal power plants.

China has doubled its target for installed solar power capacity over the next five years to 10 GW by 2015 and 50 GW by 2020, state media reported.

The country aims to have 100 gigawatts (GW) of on-grid wind farm generating capacity by the end of 2015 and to generate 190 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of wind energy annually, the China Securities Journal reported, citing a government plan. The goal was higher than a target of 90 GW proposed earlier by the National Energy Administration.

Of the planned 10 GW of solar power capacity in 2015, photovoltaic power installations will account for 9 GW and concentrated solar thermal power capacity will make up the rest, the report said.

Last month, the country set unified grid feed-in tariff for solar power generation for the first time ever, giving clearer guidance for solar power project developers when making investment decisions.

Source: www.evwind.es

At the same time, recent unrest and the risk of further conflict in the Middle East and North Africa region have highlighted crucial issues around energy supply security and oil price volatility. European governments have slashed budgets and reduced feed-in tariffs (FiTs), causing solar cell prices to fall while solar manufacturers’ margins are being squeezed due to rising silicon and other commodity costs.

RANKINGS OVERVIEW

China has climbed to its highest ever score in the Index, principally by diversifying its renewables portfolio through an increased focus on offshore wind and CSP.

While China surpassed the US to become the world’s largest energy consumer in 2010, environmental targets set out in the 12th Five-Year Plan include an increase in the proportion of energy from non-fossil fuels to 11.3 percent by 2015, from the current 8.3 percent. To meet this target, China says it intends to build at least 70 GW of new wind farms and 5 GW of new solar farms.

According to the report, the latest statistics indicate that, in 2010, the China Development Bank (CDB) made around $35 billion in low-interest credit available to Chinese renewables companies. This compares with the $4 billion of grants and $16 billion in loan guarantees awarded to clean-tech companies in the US.

China overtook the US at the end of 2010 to become the world leader in wind power, having installed around 16 GW in 2010 or almost half of global installations – taking cumulative installed capacity to 42 GW. This is contrasted with an additional 5 GW installed in the US last year and a total of 40 GW.

However, China ranks second globally in terms of grid-connected capacity; more than a third of wind capacity had yet to be connected to the national grid at the end of 2010.

China’s PV market also experienced strong growth in 2010, installing around 1 GW and taking cumulative capacity to 2.6 GW. The latest figures also show that the US now has 17 CSP plants, totaling 507 MW. The DOE has set a goal of reducing the cost of solar to $1 per watt (parity) in the next decade.

India continues to slowly climb the rankings, leaving Germany in fourth position, a sign that developers are favouring countries with high economic growth. In order to meet the government’s ambitious plans for wind and solar, Suzlon Energy intends to invest $1.3 billion to develop 1 GW of new wind in Gujarat by 2013.

Germany has dropped a point due to the solar benchmarking exercise. In addition, the long-term horizon for wind power growth in Germany has been revised down as the industry matures and space for new development becomes limited.

Italy has dropped two points in light of the new decree on phased reductions to FITs for solar PV from June 2011 onward.

In the UK, the results of the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s “fast track review” of FITs for solar PV has resulted in dramatic cuts for installations over 50 kW, due to come into effect on August 1, 2011. This, coupled with additional market uncertainties, have caused the UK to fall three points.

France has slipped a point due to continued uncertainty over its tendering system for large-scale solar. First Solar Inc. and EDF Energies Nouvelles SA have placed a 120-MW project on hold until more clarity has been unveiled.

The fall of Portugal’s government, the downgrading in sovereign credit rating and that of the Portuguese utility, Energias de Portugal, combined with an EU bailout, have all dampened the outlook. As a result, Portugal has fallen four points. However, it has benefited from the CSP benchmarking.

Brazil has risen four places as it seeks to reduce its reliance on large-scale hydropower and take advantage of strong Atlantic trade winds to develop offshore and build its onshore development pipeline of 5 GW to 2014.

Australia has fallen three points in the aftermath of the Queensland floods. The government has reduced spending on renewables by AU$1.8 billion (US$1.87 billion), including a reduction in the Solar Flagship Program intended to support large-scale solar.

Japan has dropped three places as the short-term focus on natural gas and fuel oil imports to replace lost nuclear power capacity is likely to hamper renewable energy investment. The long-term horizon is less clear, with analysts predicting that the government could favour distributed generation based on renewable technologies.

China installed 16 GW in 2010 or almost half of global installations NORDEX.

Source: www.renewableenergyworld.com

Uncertainties connected with the continuing global financial crisis have not hindered investment in renewable energy. According to the latest industry report from Ernst & Young (Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices), investments in 2010 reached an unprecedented level: $243 billion (181 billion euros), a 30% increase over the previous year.

China still leads the ranking, thanks to new wind installations, which registered a 64%increase compared to 2009, raising the total domestic capacity to over 42,000 MW.

The US follow, though wind power registered a sharp slowdown, with 5,100 MW installed, approximately half of what had been achieved the previous year. By contrast, the US actively developed the concentrating solar power market.

Europe shows a highly diversified scenario. Onshore wind power attracted less investments, with a 14% reduction of additional capacity. On the other hand, offshore installations increased significantly (51%).

The solar energy photovoltaic industry kept on attracting investment and installed capacity has grown considerably, particularly in Germany and Italy. Investment in biomass remained fairly stable, also confirming outside of Europe the levels it had reached in 2009.

Source: www.evwind.es