JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. has announced that it shipped 100MW of modules to the first large-scale solar farm in Pakistan. Occupying 500 acres of land, the solar farm is located within the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The Solar Park will serve to address the country’s energy shortage and is a key project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an under-construction development program for energy and infrastructure projects to connect China to southern Pakistan and develop a new gateway for trade. Energy demand in Pakistan has grown approximately 8 percent annually, leaving the country with an estimated deficit in energy production of 6 GW.- The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a third round of funding for the Alaska Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program, a competitive technical assistance program that helps Alaska Native corporations and federally recognized Alaska Native governments with accelerating clean energy projects. Applications are due by February 6, 2015. In addition, the White House Council of Native American Affairs Energy Subgroup launched a new Web page that provides a centralized repository of federal funding and technical assistance programs that can support energy project development for tribes and Alaska Native villages and corporations.
- The global market value for offshore wind turbine and foundation installation vessels will increase more than fivefold, from an estimated $0.56 billion in 2014 to approximately $2.93 billion by 2020, representing an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30%, says research and consulting firm GlobalData. The company’s latest report states that increasing installations will be the primary driver of market growth, as annual global offshore wind power capacity is forecast to rise rapidly from 1.78 Gigawatts (GW) in 2014 to approximately 7.85 GW by 2020.
- California is home to the largest advanced energy industry in the country, according to the first-ever industry-wide survey released by the Advanced Energy Economy Institute. At 431,800 jobs today, advanced energy is bigger by employment in California than the motion picture, television, and radio industries among others Advanced energy jobs grew 5 percent in the past year – more than double the overall state job growth rate – and is on track to grow 17 percent in the coming year, to more than 500,000 workers, based on employer hiring plans.
