Cement Energy and Environment

' market made a comeback, adding 740 MW between 2007 and the end of 2010, with more than half of this capacity installed during 2010. Parabol·ic · trough plants continued to dominate the market. Solar hot water heating capacity increased by an estimated 25GW 1h in 2010 to reach approximately 185GW 1h (excluding unglazed swimming pool heating). China continued to dominate the world market for solar hot water collectors, with Europe ranking a distant second. A number of solar industrial process heat installations came online during 2009 and 2010 in China, Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. Biomass and biofuels: An estimated 62 GW of biomass power capacity was in operation by the end of 2010. Biomass heat markets are expanding steadily in Europe, US, China, and India. China leads the world in the number of household biogas plants, and gasifiers are used increasingly for heat applications in small and large enterprises in India and elsewhere. Liquid biofuels provided about 2.7 per cent of global road transport fuels in 2010. Global ethanol production increased by 17 per cent in 2010 with the US and Brazil accounting for 88 per cent of the production; with the US becoming the world's leading exporter. The EU remained the centre of biodiesel production. Other renewables: Geothermal power plants were operating in at least 24 countries in 2010, and geothermal energy was used directly for heat in at least 78 countries. Although power development slowed in 2010, global capacity reached just over 11 GW. Global hydropower production made up about 16 per cent of global electricity production in 2010. An estimated 30 GW of capacity was added during the year, with existing global capacity reaching almost 1,010 GW. Asia (led by China) and Latin America (led by Brazil) are the two major active players in new hydro development. Wave and tidal technologies saw significant progress towards commercial generation during 2010 and by the end of the year, an estimated total of 6 MW of wave (2 MW) and tidal stream (4 MW) capacity had been installed, with most of this capacity in Europe. Other Major Highlights Green jobs: Worldwide, jobs in the RE sector was in excess of 3.5 million in 2010, with China, Brazil, and India accounting for the lion's share of the total. Most of the jobs in these countries were in the wind power, solar water heater, and/or biofuel industries. While biofuels offered 15,00,000 jobs worldwide, wind power offered 630,000, solar hot water 300,000, and solar PV 350,000 jobs. Policy landscape: The number of countries with renewable targets or support policies doubled between 2005 and 2011 , from 55 to 119, with at least 98 countries having set national RE targets (half of which are in developing countries). These targets exist mainly in the form of shares of electricity production (typically 10% - 30%), total primary or final energy, heat supply, installed capacities of specific technologies, and shares of biofuels in road transport fuels. Renewable power generation policies implemented in 95 countries represent the most common type of renewables support policy. The feed-in tariff is the most widely implemented policy in place in at least 61 countries and 26 states/provinces . worldwide. Renewable portfolio standards have been enacted at the national level in 10 countries and in at least 50 provinces and net metering exist in at least 14 countries. Other policies to support renewable power generation include direct capital investment subsidies, gral)ts, or rebates; tax incentives; energy production payments or credits; and public financing . RE growth forecast: The RE industry is poised for continued strong growth in the coming years, with projects at various stages of development around the world. China alone plans to install more than 30 GW of wind power capacity during 2011 and 2012, and significant capacity addition is expected in India, US, UK, and other countries. Nearly 5.4 GW of solar PV capacity was under contract in the US by the end of 2010. Globally, nearly 2.6 GW of additional CSP capacity was under construction by year's end, with all plants expected to be operational by 2014. Significant geothermal power capacity (and CHP) was in project pipelines around the globe by year-end , with 46 countries forecast to have new geothermal capacity installed within the next five years. Major developments are under way for hydropower, ocean energy, and other renewable technologies as well. Courtesy: Green Energy, Vol. 7, May-June & July- Aug 2011, Pp 6-7. 25