Abengoa closes US $660 million in financing for Xina Solar One

Partners involved in the development of the 100 MW CSP plant Xina Solar One announced on Friday 13th March that they completed US $660 million in financing for the project.

The companies involved are Abengoa, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Government Employees Pension Fund represented by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and Kaxu Community Trust. The project’s total investment is approximately US $880 million.

The loan combines financing from development financial institutions such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the IDC and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. It also includes contributions from local investment banks such as Absa, Nedbank and Rand Merchant Bank.

Xina Solar One will supply electricity to Eskom, South Africa's power utility, under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed in late 2014.

The plant features parabolic trough technology with a five hour thermal energy storage (TES) system using molten salts. According to Abengoa’s statement it will “serve more than 95,000 households”.

Construction works at the site, located close to Pofadder, in the Northern Cape Province, began in December 2014. The plant is next to KaXu Solar One, a CSP project similarly developed by Abengoa and the IDC.

World carbon emissions stall in 2014, says IEA

According to a statement released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday 13th March, “global emissions of carbon dioxide in the energy sector stalled in 2014”. It marks the first time in 40 years in which the reduction was not tied to an economic downturn.

“Global emissions of carbon dioxide stood at 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014, unchanged from the preceding year”, says the IEA.

The think-tank added that the halt in emissions growth was linked to “greener patterns of energy consumption in China, the top carbon emitter, and in developed nations.”

“In China, 2014 saw greater generation of electricity from renewable sources, such as hydropower, solar and wind, and less burning of coal,” it said.

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol was quoted as saying that the data provided the “momentum” needed by negotiators in the run up for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change summit, to be held in Paris in December. It is expected that a deal to limit global emissions will be achieved during the meeting.

The IEA said that carbon emissions had been unchanged or fallen only three times since it started collecting data 40 years ago, previously always linked to economic slumps – in the early 1980s, 1992 and 2009. In 2014, however, the global economy expanded by 3%.

Germany seeks to boost renewable sources of heating

According to a Reuters report, Germany's government announced a series of changes to subsidy guidelines “to try and boost the renewable sources of energy used to heat buildings and offices,” in an effort to meet its ambitious climate targets.

The report states Germany’s renewable energy sources accounted for almost 28% of the country’s electricity production last year, but only 9.9% of its heating, “far below a target for a 14% share by 2020.”

The changes proposed include additional support for solar heat and the establishment of an “ambitious efficiency criteria”, coupled with the existing market incentive program worth EUR 300 million (US $318 million).

The program also encompasses a bonus for small- and mid-size companies that invest in renewable sources of heating as well as grants and loans for bigger companies.

Last December, the government announced a package of measures to cut CO2 emissions by up to 78 million tonnes by 2020. It included the implementation of a national efficiency plan, which aims to save between 25 and 30 million tonnes of emissions by modernizing buildings and improving insulation.