2016-02-04 Energy Week

Update on a story from January 24:

• We had a story on January 24 about Lake Poopó going dry because the Chacaltaya glacier that fed it disappeared. This picture shows the world’s highest ski resort at the Chacaltaya glacier in La Paz, Bolivia. The glacier is gone. Skiing is a thing of the past here.

Photo by Ville Miettinen from Helsinki, Finland. CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.

Thursday, January 28: 

• Australia’s power sector is at risk of a “utility death spiral” due to its reliance on coal, according to a report by the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise. Utilities in the US, Japan and Germany are similarly exposed. The risk is partly from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. [Sydney Morning Herald]

The bad bets we have made on fossil fuels will haunt us for decades. Photo: Jonathan Carroll

• The American Wind Energy Association, the industry’s Washington-based trade group, reported that 2015 was its third-best year because of major expansions especially in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa. In a major shift, Iowa leapt ahead of California as the No. 2 wind-power state. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

Wind generators on a wind farm near Hartland, Minn. Minnesota. Photo by David Brewster.

Friday, January 29: 

• The past 30 years in Europe have likely been the warmest in over two millennia, new research says. The study used tree ring records and historical documents to reconstruct yearly temperatures going back 2,100 years. It says European summers have warmed 1.3° C between 1986 and 2015. [BBC]

Two thousand years of summer temperatures

• According to Global Construction Review, France is planning to pave 621 miles of its roads with polycrystalline silicon solar cells over the next five years. If the initiative is successful, it could produce enough power for about 5 million people’s homes — roughly 8% of the country’s population. [Mic]

Solar roadways in the Netherlands. Source: Peter Dejong/AP

• A group of companies has filed a proposal to diversify New England’s energy supply via the Vermont Green Line transmission project. The partners say the proposal, “The Wind and Hydro Response,” is designed bring clean power to Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. [North American Windpower]

Saturday, January 30: 

• Why cheap oil isn’t bad for the environment • A lot of opposing forces are shaking the old assumptions. In the jaws of bargain oil, the US DOE expects Americans to increase their use of renewable power this year by almost 10%. Why is this time different? There are many factors, and nearly all favor renewables. [The Daily Advertiser]
• The wave of optimism that followed last month’s climate change deal in Paris is wending its way down Wall Street. Investors and financiers meeting in New York this week vowed to harness their trillions of dollars in collective wealth to develop clean energy projects and curb the planet’s carbon emissions. [International Business Times]
• Duke Energy is seeking collaboration on climate change, a spokesman said. The company hopes North Carolina will start a less confrontational approach on the federal Clean Power Plan, working with the EPA and stakeholders in the state to develop a workable program for carbon reduction. [Charlotte Business Journal]
• As many US power companies fight the federal Clean Power Plan, Xcel Energy took a different path Friday, declaring the utility’s Minnesota operations are “nearly certain” to comply with the plan’s greenhouse gas reductions through cost-effective investments over the next decade. [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

Sunday, January 31: 

• Politicians take note: Iowa is the US’s most wind-powered state – and everyone loves it! • Wind supplies 30% of the state’s power, more than any other US state. Windpower also gets real bipartisan support in Iowa. A recent poll taken by Public Opinion Strategies shows an 85% approval rating. [The Ecologist]

Wind power in Iowa, where it’s big, getting bigger, and everyone loves it. Photo by Bill Whittaker. CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• A new design from Sandia National Laboratories, for wind turbines with gigantic blades longer than two football fields, could help bring 50-MW offshore wind turbines to the United States and the world. The design’s load-alignment is bio-inspired by the way palm trees move in storms. [Windpower Engineering]

Todd Griffith shows a model of the cross-section of a 50-meter blade. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

• Oregon’s two biggest electric utilities told state regulators that their compromise plan to eliminate coal-fired electricity and meet half their customers’ demand with renewable energy would be affordable, technically feasible and preferable to ballot measures that environmentalists propose. [OregonLive.com]
• The head of Hitachi has warned that the debacle surrounding the construction of Hinkley Point nuclear plant throws up “very serious concerns” about its own investment in the UK. He said the setbacks experienced by Hinkley’s developer EDF raised questions about how plants are funded. [Yahoo Finance UK]

Monday, February 1:

• A Goshen, Indiana, Green Cow Power Energy Center, has two anaerobic digesters that turn waste from the 1,500 cows on a nearby dairy farm into electricity. Its three engines produce 3 MW of electricity, and it transfers enough energy to power 1,900 homes for a year to NIPSCO’s substation in Wakarusa. [South Bend Tribune]

Andrew Sloat, at Green Cow Power in Goshen, walks through the engine room. SBT Photo/Becky Malewitz

• Exxon predicts our energy mix won’t change a whole lot over the next 25 years. In fact, Exxon Mobil projects that oil and gas will actually increase by 2040. This unfortunate future stems from the age-old conundrum of trying not to eat sugar when your pockets are full of candy. [Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide]

Gas flaring

Tuesday, February 2:

• Collaborating with Ecotricity, the Royal Society For Protection Of Birds installed a new wind turbine at RSPB Headquarters at the Lodge. A 100-meter wind turbine will deliver 1.85 million kWh per annum. The Director of Conservation says research shows the turbine is not in an area where birds will be endangered. [CleanTechnica]

It’s windpower for the Royal Society For the Protection of Birds.

• The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, deciding that demand response should be regulated at the federal level and ensuring that the demand response industry can continue its impressive progress. Demand response was a $1.4 billion market in the US in 2015. [CleanTechnica]
• Maine has New England’s biggest pipeline of wind projects in the works, and developers of nine projects have asked for long-term contracts with utilities in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The projects altogether would add another 2,140 MW, about 3.5 times Maine’s current capacity. [Bangor Daily News]

Wednesday, February 3:

• The more people know about fracking, the more likely they are to oppose it, a survey for the Government shows. Of those who said they knew a lot about fracking, 53% were against it. This compares to 33% who said they were in favour of it, the poll tracking attitudes to energy policies has revealed. [The Guardian]

An anti-fracking march in Sussex. Photograph: Natasha Quarmby / REX / Shutterstock

• Non-hydro renewable energy sources accounted for 63% of all new power generation capacity installed in the USA in 2015, the latest report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) shows. There were 7,977 MW of wind turbines installed in the country, which is 48.39% of the year’s total. [SeeNews Renewables]

2016-01-28 Energy Week

Thursday, January 21:

• Last year was the warmest since record-keeping began in 1880, according to NOAA and NASA. While many expected 2015 would finish in first place, the margin of victory was startling. Global temperatures were 1.62˚F (0.90˚C) above the 20th century average, passing the previous record by 20%. [CNN]

Arctic sea ice decline September 1979 to May 2015. Image by NSIDC. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

• Falling oil prices are driving investments in renewable power in oil-producing countries. With oil at below $30 a barrel, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Kuwait are looking to curb fossil fuel use at home to maximize export profits, and so they seek alternative energy sources for electricity. [The Guardian]
• Oil is in free fall. Last year, 42 US energy companies went bankrupt, owing more than $17 billion, according to a report from law firm Haynes & Boone. The four biggest US banks have set aside at least $2.5 billion combined to cover souring energy loans and may have to increase that amount. [Bloomberg]
• A climate change program including New York and other northeastern states won’t be enough for the states to reach 2030 goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions unless more is done, a report warned.The report coincided with an announcement that 2015 was the hottest year on record. [Albany Times Union]
• Local officials from communities around Vermont are demanding a greater say in the siting of wind and solar energy projects. The Vermont League of Cities and Towns on Wednesday brought local officials and activists from around the state to the Statehouse to express their concerns. [Beaumont Enterprise]

Friday, January 22:

• Tens of thousands of dead birds have washed up on the beaches of Alaska’s Prince William Sound, an unexplained mass die-off. They are a sign the ecosystem was being troubled by abnormally warm ocean water off the coast of Alaska, a sign that some experts say may be related to the changing climate. [CNN]

Common Murres are dying. Photo by Richard Crossley. CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.

• Green Mountain Power, in Rutland, Vermont, offers an “extreme energy makeover” that can go as far as customers want in scaling down their energy use, even going off the power grid, CEO Mary Powell said. At the same time, Green Mountain has lowered electric rates three times in the past four years. [Madison.com]
• The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied a request from Texas and other states to block President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, leaving the climate change rules in place while courts hear a legal challenge. The court wrote that the stringent requirements for a stay were not met. [Texas Tribune]

Saturday, January 23:

• Construction of the world’s largest floating solar power plant, set to cover an area of the Yamakura Dam reservoir the size of 37 football fields, has begun in Japan. The plant, scheduled for completion in March 2018, will generate an estimated 16,170 MWh per year, enough to power approximately 4,970 households. [Newsweek]

Rendering of the 13.7MW plant on the Yamakura Dam reservoir in Chiba Prefecture, Japan

• Global solar PV installation for 2015 increased 34% over 2014 numbers, reaching an estimated 59 GW by the end of the year. This, according to preliminary numbers from GTM Research published today. GMT expects the US and China to lead the way towards a total installation of 64 GW in 2016. [CleanTechnica]

Sunday, January 24:

• Lake Poopó is more than 12,000 feet above sea level on Bolivia’s semi-arid Andean plains. Even though the lake has dried up before, according to experts, this time the recovery will no longer be possible. “This is a picture of the future of climate change,” a glaciologist said. (The lake’s area was about 250,000 acres.) [Laurel Leader Call]

Fishing boats on what was once a shore.

• A broken submarine cable and a drought have left Tasmania with electric supply problems. Stakeholders point out that Tasmania is one of the best places in the world to harvest wind, hydro and solar energy. The Environment Minister said the government would consider adding renewable power. [Tasmania Examiner]
• This week voters in the village of Hyde Park and the town of Stowe each approved building community-based solar projects. Once online, the projects will help the small municipal electric departments meet the new renewable energy standards Vermont passed into law last year. [Vermont Public Radio]

Blue skies over the Village of Hyde Park, a welcome sight for a community that just approved a 1-MW solar project. Amy Kolb Noyes / VPR

Monday, January 25:

• A new study found that the melting Greenland ice sheet might affect a key aspect of global ocean circulation, which in turn could drive changes in Earth’s climate. It is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. It’s a massive ocean current system that’s critical to the stability of our climate. [Newsweek]

A map of the surface currents (solid curves) and deep currents (dashed curves) that form a portion of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. USGCRP / R. Curry / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

• Some researchers suggest northern sea ice can bounce back and continue its role as refrigerator of the world. One has shared a vision for restoring sea ice at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco last month. More than 20,000 scientists attend the weeklong meeting. [Alaska Dispatch News]
• The minister responsible for Germany’s energy transition from coal and nuclear to renewables says solar and wind energy have clearly won the technology race. He said Germany’s task now is to focus on integration, digitizing the grid, and on storage, efficiency, transport, and building and industrial heat. [RenewEconomy]

Tuesday, January 26:

• Energy storage costs could decrease up to 70% in the next 15 years, according to a report,E-Storage: Shifting from Cost to Value. The report also explains a number of previously unquantified values of energy storage, such as improved grid reliability and predictability of generation needs. [CleanTechnica]

Grid storage installation. Sandia.gov photo

• The UK faces a 40% to 55% electricity supply gap if the government implements its plans to close all coal-fired power stations by 2025 on top of retiring ageing nuclear power stations, according to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. It is unrealistic to fill the gap by building gas or nuclear plants. [reNews]

Wednesday, January 27:

• Bhutan is now generating electricity using the wind in addition to water. Wind powered electricity was provided for over 300 houses with the inauguration of two 300-kw wind turbines in Rubesa, Wangdue. The Asian Development Bank provided a grant of $2.7 million. [Kuensel, Buhutan’s National Newspaper]

Blowing in the wind: The two turbines will generate enough electricity to power 300 houses.

• Switch to Clean Energy Can Be Fast and Cheap • Even when optimizing to cut costs and limiting themselves to existing technology, scientists showed that renewables can meet energy demands and slash carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector by 80% below 1990 levels, while saving money. [Scientific American]
• The Hinkley Point nuclear plant could be delayed after EDF postponed yesterday’s meeting where the company was due to finally decide whether to invest. The decision to invest in Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in decades has been put off due to funding difficulties. [Central Somerset Gazette]

2016-01-21 Energy Week

Thursday, January 14:

• Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in his annual State of the State speech that the New York will phase out its dirtiest power plants, adopting renewable power. He said clean energy is a business opportunity for the state, as well as an important step to address increasing climate challenges. [Capital New York]

New York City’s first commercial-scale wind turbine at the Sims
Material Recovery Facility. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

• Oil prices briefly have fallen below $30 a barrel on international markets for the first time since April 2004, before recovering again. Brent crude, used as an international benchmark, fell as low as $29.96, but bounced back to trade at $30.22. Oil prices have fallen by 70% in the past 15 months. [BBC]
• Global clean energy investment in 2015 rose to the record-high $329.3 billion (€303 billion). A report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows record investments despite falling fossil fuel commodity prices, weakness of the European economy, and the increasing capacity per investment dollar of PVs. [SeeNews Renewables]

Clean energy investment globally 2005-2015. Figures by BNEF.

• The US has seen coal production levels fall to their lowest levels since 1986, dropping 10% in 2015 alone. Production in the Appalachian Basin fell the most last year. Lower natural gas prices and lower international demand for American coal are said to be behind the declining coal production. [CleanTechnica]

Friday, January 15:

• SunEdison announced it has signed solar power purchase agreements with 25 California elementary, middle, and high schools. SunEdison plans to install high-performance solar parking canopies at each of their campuses. The schools expect to save more than $30 million over the next 20 years. [IT Business Net]

Aston Field Solar Plant by Stausifr
via Wikimedia Commons (Some Rights Reserved)

• US utility-scale solar PV costs plummeted 17% in Q3 of 2015, and declining PV costs are fuelling greater demand. According to an EnergyTrend report, US utility-scale solar costs fell in the third quarter of 2015 to $1.38/W, compared to $1.66/W twelve months earlier. Further drops are expected. [CleanTechnica]
• Wind power in Denmark met 42.1% of national consumption in 2015 and the figure would have been even higher if not for cable issues at the 400-MW Anholt and 209-MW Horns Rev 2 offshore wind farms. This represents an increase of over 2014’s 39.1% share and is a new record for the country. [SeeNews Renewables]

Saturday, January 16:

• In a piece published on its website this week, the UK Solar Trade Association made it clear it believes that residential solar remains a good investment for householders, despite Government’s backsliding on their green policies, and in the wake of the recent modifications to the country’s Feed-in Tariff. [CleanTechnica]

Solar Power on a narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal in Hertfordshire. Photo by Colin Smith. CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.

• The Venezuelan government announced a 60-day economic emergency to deal with a crisis brought on by the huge fall in oil prices in the past 18 months, which slashed its revenues by 60%. The country has the world’s biggest known oil reserves, and oil exports account for as much as 95% of its revenue. [BBC]
• The Obama administration announced on Friday that it will suspend new coal leasing on federal lands and overhaul the program to better reflect environmental costs. This could be a turning point in climate policy. It is a concrete measure toward leaving fossil fuels in the ground, as the science demands. [InsideClimate News]

Coal is conveyed to a power plant in Wyoming. Credit: Reuters

Sunday, January 17:

• In 2009, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced that the Navy and Marine Corps would get half of their power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2020, and that the Navy would deploy an entire carrier strike group with biofuels replacing fossil fuels by 2016. Now, the “Great Green Fleet” is ready to deploy. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

Ships from the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group are underway
in the western Pacific Ocean. Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter W

• According to a report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency, Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring the Economics, increasing the global share of renewable energy to 36% by 2030 would increase global gross domestic product by up to 1.1%. This means about $1.3 trillion. [CleanTechnica]

Monday, January 18:

• Oil prices fell below $28 a barrel amid fears the lifting of Western sanctions on Iran could increase the oversupply. Brent crude, used as an international benchmark, fell as low as $27.67 a barrel, its lowest since 2003, before recovering slightly to trade at $28.17. The price of US crude fell to $28.86. [BBC]
• The North African country of Morocco has achieved a new low for wind energy costs, securing average bids of just $30/MWh from its tender for 850 MW tender of large-scale wind energy projects, with the lowest at around $25/MWh. Until recently, Morocco sourced all its energy needs from fossil fuels. [RenewEconomy]
• In its first year of operation, the so-named Shams 1 plant in Abu Dhabi beat expectations by a wide margin, and its second year figures are also better than predicted. The concentrating solar plant has a nameplate capacity of 100 MW, but in peak summer days during 2015, it often produced 125 MW. [CleanTechnica]

Photo by Tina Casey

Panoramic view at Abu Dhabi

Tuesday, January 19:

• Germany connected a record 2,282.4 MW of offshore wind capacity to the grid in 2015. Just 492.2 MW was installed in 2014, and the industry expects about 700 MW for 2016. At the end of 2014, 1,345 MW were fully installed in German waters and awaited grid connection due to delays. [SeeNews Renewables]

Adwen turbines at Alpha Ventus wind farm in the German North Sea. Copyright: Adwen GmbH / J. Oelker.

• China’s gross domestic product grew 6.9% in 2015 from a year earlier, the least growth since 1990, according to government figures. Power consumption rose 0.5%, slowing from a 3.8% advance the previous year. Coal imports fell about 30% last year, and approval of new mines may be suspended this year. [Bloomberg]

Wednesday, January 20:

• Carbon capture and sequestration is expensive because each step, capture, distribution, and sequestration, is expensive. According to an organization which promotes carbon capture and sequestration, it will cost $120-$140 per ton of CO2. This means 16.8¢/kWh to 19.6¢/kWh extra for electricity. [CleanTechnica]
• China’s emissions of carbon dioxide produced as a result of using coal for electricity generation probably fell 2% in 2015, as a push by the world’s most populous nation to tackle climate change resulted in less of the fuel being burned. Carbon emissions were reduced by 144.9 million metric tons. [Bloomberg]
• Green Mountain Power announced today the year-end operational results for Kingdom Community Wind in Lowell. In 2015, the 21-turbine project generated enough electricity to power 26,700 homes for a year. That’s an increase of 7% over the previous year or enough energy to power an additional 1,800 homes. [Vermont Biz]

Kingdom Community Wind. Green Mountain Power photo.

 

2016-01-14 Energy Week

Thursday, January 7:

• Enel Green Power and the mini-grid technology provider Powerhive are partnering on developing solar-powered mini-grids in rural Kenya. The $12 million project will involve work in 100 different villages in Kenya, with 93% of the financing for the project coming via Enel Green Power, and 7% via Powerhive. [CleanTechnica]

Image by William Warby (some rights reserved)

• SolarFest, one of Vermont’s longest running celebrations of solar power and renewable energy could be calling the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester a home for its annual 3-day festival this coming July. SolarFest has been a platform for renewable energy advocates, vendors, and artists for 20 years. [The Manchester Journal]
• TransCanada will sue the US government for $15 billion (US) for blocking its controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline linking Canada with the Gulf of Mexico. TransCanada said the denial of a permit to complete the pipeline “was arbitrary and unjustified,” and exceeded the president’s constitutional powers. [Business Recorder]
• California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency Wednesday for the Porter Ranch area in the wake of the ongoing gas leak from a facility in Aliso Viejo in Southern California. The massive leak began in October and has prompted the relocation of thousands of households from the area. [Inland Empire News]

Operations are underway to stop the gas leak.

Friday, January 8:

• German wind power generation jumped from 57.3 TWh in 2014 to 86 TWh in 2015. Renewables met 32.5% of Germany’s power needs last year, up by more than 5 percentage points on 2014. Onshore wind farms produced 39% more year-on-year, while offshore generation surged nearly fivefold. [SeeNews Renewables]

German renewable generation by type. Agora Energiewende image

• A massive report suggests a framework on how the US can get to 100% renewable energy sources by 2050. 100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water and Sunlight all-sector Roadmaps for the 50 United States suggests this is possible even within 35 years and what 100% renewable energy in the US could consist of. [CleanTechnica]

Saturday, January 9:

• The world’s largest operational offshore wind farm, London Array, has set a new record for power generated by an offshore wind farm. December 2015 saw its 175 turbines generate 369,000 MWh of electricity, beating a previous record of 317,000 MWh set last November. The capacity factor for the month was 78.9%. [Windpower Engineering]

The London Array set records. Image from londonarray.com.

• Tom Vilsack, secretary of the US Department of Agriculture, went to Vermont to announce a $46 million program funded by his agency to support energy efficiency investments in the state. The Vermont Energy Investment Corp will administer the loans to homeowners, small businesses, and towns. [BurlingtonFreePress.com]
• A report by the US government’s NREL and Berkeley Lab finds a 3.6% reduction in fossil fuel generation and up to $3.9 billion in net savings for electricity customers in 2013, as well as reduced water use and the creation of 200,000 jobs. State-level Renewable Portfolio Standards are important for the benefits. [pv magazine]

Sunday, January 10:

• California Governor Jerry Brown is back with his plan to cut petroleum use in California in half by 2030, despite its legislative defeat last year by a faction of pro-oil Assembly Democrats heavily influenced by a big money industry campaign. This year things may be different. [Huffington Post]
• When the Hoke County commissioners approved plans for a 200-acre solar farm last week, a signal was sent out across the state: North Carolina’s solar boom isn’t over despite the termination of a generous tax credit that sparked rapid growth over the last decade. [Fayetteville Observer]

Solar farm construction in North Carolina. Duke Energy photo

Monday, January 11:

• Data compiled from daily reports by California’s major grid manager indicate that in 2015, solar became the No 1 source of renewable energy in the state. Not only did solar beat wind power for the first time, but it also topped drought-depleted hydropower, the long-standing leader. [KQED]
• Power output from Scottish wind turbines rose to record levels in 2015, producing enough electricity to power 97% of the country’s homes, a report from WWF Scotland suggests. In six out of 12 months, wind supplied more than 100% of Scottish household needs. [Scottish Daily Record]

Pic: PA

Tuesday, January 12:

• The methane and other pollutants spewing from a gas well in California is invisible to the naked eye, making it hard to comprehend just how large the leak is. Fortunately, the California Air Resources Board has been taking periodic measurements, which we can use to make some comparisons. [BBC]

Equipment on a ridge in Southern California Gas Company’s vast Aliso Canyon facility, site of the gas leak. Photo by Scott L from Los Angeles, USA. CC BY-SA 2.0. Wikimedia Commons.

• Latin America is changing. Uruguay gets 94.5% of its energy from renewable sources, including solar. Costa Rica’s numbers are even higher. Brazil and Paraguay get most of their electricity needs from renewables, mostly hydroelectric power. But Chile is the solar leader. [Latin Correspondent]
• The renewable-energy industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors of Vermont’s economy. But as siting of solar and wind projects generates public outcry in the state’s communities, some lawmakers want to give municipalities more control over the fate of projects. [Vermont Public Radio]

Wednesday, January 13:

• America’s gathering offshore revolution • An article in Nature asserts that if the US were to exploit all its offshore resources, including in more difficult deep-water sites, it would be able to generate more than 4,000 GW of electricity, about four times more than it needs to power the country. [GCR]

The Walney wind farm off the coast of Cumbria, UK, in the Irish Sea.
The US wants to follow Europe’s lead on offshore wind. (Wikimedia Commons)

• China was the world’s leading market in 2015, bringing its renewable installed capacity to over 900 GW, says research and consulting firm GlobalData. China led the world for annual capacity additions in solar, biopower, small hydropower, and onshore wind in 2015. [Today’s Energy Solutions]