The government of Turkey, with IBRD support, is transforming its energy sector to increase competition, expand private investment and promote sustainable use of its renewable energy resources.

The two-day Turkey Business and Investment Summit 2010: Investing in Turkey’s Regions is scheduled for on 3-4 March 2010 in Istanbul.

Emphasizing the significance that renewable sources of energy have, Minister of Economy, Mr. Fatmir Besimi pointed out: “The use of renewable sources of energy is one of the priorities in the energy sector of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, and Republic of Macedonia has potential for development of renewable sources of energy, especially of the small hydro power plants. Ongoing is the fourth international call for granting concessions for water for generation of electricity from small HPPs and is planned construction of 36 locations with total installed capacity of about 19 MW.

Romania is set to significantly expand its wind energy capacity over the coming years, improving on its position as one of the European countries with the lowest amount of wind farm capacity installed. Currently the country has 14 MW of wind power installed capacity, but the European Wind Energy Association, in its recently published Pure Power report, predicts this will rise to 3,500 MW, all of that onshore wind power.

Megajoule developed and tested a methodology for mapping wind resources in any location on the globe, using the WRF (weather research and forecasting) model. Amongst its projects, Megajoule made the first wind resource map for East Timor in cooperation with Martifer Renewables in 2008, as well as many studies of micrositing wind parks in Central and Eastern Europe using Mesoscale Modelling data. Guilherme Chagas, head of the Mesoscale unit, believes that “the high-quality Mesoscale results produced at Megajoule|Inovação can significantly reduce the time to market of wind development projects. By complementing measurement campaigns with our accurate Mesoscale data, we can also help to reduce the uncertainty associated with short-term measurement campaigns and have a much better picture of the wind behaviour over the lifetime of a wind farm.” The next possibility to meet and talk with the managing directors of MEGAJOULE and Megajoule|Inovação will be the EWEC 2010 that will take place this April in Warsaw. http://www.ewec2010.info/

The Government of Albania and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are proposing this technical cooperation assignment aimed at conducting a feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the Ulza HPP, however without increasing the dam capacity. The rehabilitation measures, identified in the Feasibility Study shall be taken into account in a potential rehabilitation Project, which will be implemented.

The bank said that 43 small potential hydropower sites had been identified across Azerbaijan, analysed and crosschecked, and 21 of them had been considered as technically feasible. Of these, four projects have been deemed extremely attractive and recommended for inclusion in a proposed investment project.

ARLINGTON, VA, March 1, 2010 /Cambridge Who's Who/ -- Andrei G. Filotti, retired Technical Advisor of the United Nations has been recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for demonstrating leadership and excellence in engineering.
With 52 years of experience in his field, Dr. Filotti is an expert in water and environmental engineering. He started his career serving as water engineer and chief engineer for the Research and Design Institute for Water Management (now Aquaproiect) of Bucharest, Romania, from 1952 to 1982 being in charge of planning the country's water resources development. He was also a professor of water management and river training at the Faculty of Reclamation and Environmental Engineering of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest from 1973 to 1978 and served on the editorial board of the "Hidrotehnica" technical magazine. He attributes his success to his passion for his profession, hard work and being a lifelong learner. He hopes to continue sharing his knowledge with new generations, especially in developing countries.

Europe's research driven clusters in sustainable forest management and wood based industries got new co-operation opportunities within the ROKFOR project which started 23 February 2010.

This cooperative action project ‘Sustainable Forest Management Providing Renewable Energy, Sustainable Construction and Bio-based Products' (ROKFOR) will join forces in which five European regions in order to create both individual and regional research agendas and action plans in the fields of renewable energy, bio-based products and sustainable construction.

The regions involved are Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Aquitaine in France, Basque country in Spain, Catalonia in Spain, North Karelia in Finland, as well as Croatia and Serbia. The three-year project is based on each region's current strengths in the forest sector. The project also aims to strengthen and promote competitiveness within the forest sectors without jeopardizing sustainability.

Roland Kobia, head of the European Union mission to Azerbaijan, outlined Azerbaijan's alternative energy potential at a session of the Caspian-European Integration Business Club (CEIBC) March 1st.

The Bank’s SLOVSEFF was launched in 2007, when the EBRD provided €60 million to encourage Slovak enterprises and housing associations to make better use of energy resources. The funds were distributed via four local partner banks Slovenska Sporitelna (Erste Bank Group), VUB Banka (Intesa Sanpaolo Group), Tatra Banka (Raiffeisen International) and Dexia Banka Slovensko.

The new €90 million will be on-lent to the four participating banks as well as to new partner institutions in Slovakia. The proceeds of the EBRD funds will be used to finance efficiency and renewable energy projects implemented in the industrial and residential sectors.

6th INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING, ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES & WASTE MANAGEMENT TRADE FAIR REW ISTANBUL is the only international exhibition in Turkey, dedicated to all sub-branches of environmental technologies. Turkey is not only big country with 70 million population, but is the geological and historical gateway to the Middle East, Caspian & Central Asian Regions. REW ISTANBUL is the MEETING POINT for the international environmental technology suppliers with the local and regional industrialists & decision makers.

Alternativa Ltd. and GreenShift Corp. have entered into an exclusive supply and cooperation agreement for the purpose of designing and developing sustainable integrated feedstock and renewable energy production facilities. The first facility is planned for Ukraine, and will be designed to process rapeseed into substantial quantities of renewable fuels, edible oils and animal feed in an environmentally-friendly fashion.

The international scientific conference titled "Issues related to the use of alternative energy sources in Turkmenistan" started in Ashgabat today. The conference brought together guests from 27 countries including Australia, Japan, Asian, European, American, Africa and other countries. The list of foreign participants feature scientists, members of the Academies of Sciences, heads of universities, research organizations and companies, representatives of the International Solar Energy Center, the International Council of Solar Energy and others.

Japan is strengthening cooperation with Russia in the energy conservation and renewable energy fields. Public and private sector participants from both countries will attend the meeting of a joint committee that will be held on March 2 to discuss the forms of collaboration.

Due to the fact that 2010 is declared as the Year of Ecology in Azerbaijan, JSC Azerenergy (production and distribution of electric power in Azerbaijan) envisages the beginning of construction of a number of small hydroelectric plants in mountainous regions of the republic, JSC President Etibar Pirverdiyev said today.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) support the idea of Kyrgyzstan in expansion of renewable energy sources production, Ms. Shigeko Hattori, Director of ADB's Regional Cooperation Division said Friday at the press conference.

A new hydropower plant on the Danube to be constructed by Romania together with Bulgaria could be financed from European funds, Secretary of State with the Romanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business Environment Tudor Serban told an ISPE seminar.

International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, has approved a US$15 million loan to Armenian bank Ameriabank to help finance the development of small hydropower projects in the country.

BudaSolar Technologies, a Hungary-based thin film solar cell maker, has signed a deal with China City Investments Limited, a project company set up by Chinese investors, to provide technology for the turnkey delivery of production lines at the capacity of 85MWp/year using Silicon-based thin film PV technology.

Hydropower Aggregate 2 of the Lotru-Ciunget Electric Power Plant, the largest on the inland waterways of Romania and the second largest in level terms after the Iron Gates, was officially inaugurated on February 18, 2010, after overhauling works that started in the spring of 2007.

Romania has a third of all geothermal waters in Europe. This is one of the fields where investments could be made,” said Borbely.

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The Agency for Renewable & Alternative Energy Sources under the Ministry of Industry & Energy of Azerbaijan has requested international technical assistance. Baku-based resident office of German development bank KfW asks technical assistance to fill in gaps in legislation and standard-legal acts concerning use of renewable and alternative energy sources in Azerbaijan.

 

Russia has high quality wind resources on the Pacific and Arctic coasts and in vast steppe and mountain areas. But at the end of 2009, total installed wind power capacity in Russia was only 9 MW.
Large-scale wind energy systems are suitable in Siberia and the Far East (east of Sakhalin Island, the south of Kamchatka, the Chukotka Peninsula, Vladivostok), the steppes along the Volga river, the northern Caucasus steppes and mountains and on the Kola Peninsula, where power infrastructure and major industrial consumers are in place. There is an unsurge in the amount of large-scale wind development activity, but there are many hurdles.

The World Bank will help to re-equip Kyrgyz Hydrometeorological service with modern equipment. The statement was voiced by the WB representatives at the meeting with members of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has announced it plans to build new power stations worth a few billions of euros, Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) reports.
The Federal Minister of Energy Vahid Heco said on Monday that the government intended to construct six thermal power stations and wind power stations and 16 water power stations. Heco added that an international competition could be opened this spring to select a strategic partner for the project. 

According to Transparency International’s 2008 report on Georgian Renewable Energy policy, energy generated from wind, solar, geothermal and biomasses sources can be as much as 15-17 billion kilowatt/hr. annually, compared to the current use of approximately 8 billion kilowatt/hr. annually.