It could be a lively annual general meeting of the Clean Energy Council in Melbourne this afternoon, with nearly half the board seats up for election and the major dynamic reflecting an attempt by the solar industry to boost its representation and influence over the country’s peak clean energy body.

A total of 16 candidates are vying for six positions on the 13-member board, with around 4 of those representing the solar industry, four from wind, and the rest from a mixture of geothermal, utilities, hydro, energy consultants and energy suppliers. The seats are being vacated by three companies with mostly wind interests in Australia - REPower (formerly-Suzlon), Vestas and Pacific Hydro, along with Hydro Tasmania, CSR, and Transfield.

The voting will be interesting. While solar companies dominate the CEC membership in absolute numbers (around 74 per cent), they only account for 51 per cent of the vote. The largest corporate sponsors – many wind and large energy companies - get 20 votes each, other corporate members get six votes, while associate companies get two votes and 300 installers get one vote each.

The solar industry is also aggrieved by a recommendation to reduce the board size from 13 to 11 over two year. The CEC has recommended that the automatic seats reserved for a network member and an associate member be removed. Both these seats are normally filled by solar industry representatives, and the industry fears that its board influnce could fall to as low as 23 per cent, or it could rise to more more than 70 per cent if the voting goes its way.

The CEC will also vote on a new chairman, with AGL managing director Michel Fraser expected to get the nod. The CEC is also about to begin its formal search for a new CEO, following Matthew Warren’s announced departure to the Energy Supply Association of Australia.

Renewable boost

New analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance says the annual value of installed renewable energy capacity is set to double to $US395 billion in 2020 (and $US460 billion in 2030), up from $195 billion in 2010. The research, “Global Renewable Energy Market Outlook,” published for BNEF’s clients, says that Europe will remain one of the biggest markets for money spent on renewable energy projects for the next three years, but that this share will dwindle due to sovereign debt problems. BNEF also predicts that China will take the lead in renewable energy asset finance from Europe in 2014, with an annual spend of just under $50 billion. The US and Canada are also expected to see no lasting slowdown in project construction, together hitting $50 billion of investment in 2020.

But BNEF forecasts the most rapid growth to come from the rapidly developing economies of India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, with projected growth rates of 10-18 per cent per year fom 2010 to 2020. In the cleantech stakes, BNEF sees cost reductions boosting the rollout of solar, which it sees undergoing the second-fastest percentage growth of all technologies (after offshore wind) from 51GW in 2010 to 1,137GW by 2030 – an effort that will require an annual average of $130 billion in capital outlay over 2010-30, compared with $86 billion in 2010. Wind (on- and offshore) is expected to continue to expand, attracting $140 billion in 2020 and $206 billion a year by 2030 (2010: $82 billion). And investment in biofuels, biomass and waste-to-energy is projected to increase from $14 billion in 2010 to $80 billion in 2020.

“These results indicate that last year's record renewable energy investment was no one-off despite the recent economic gloom,” said Guy Turner, director of commodity market research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Big winners over the next 20 years will be the emerging renewable energy hubs in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa – by 2020 the markets outside of the EU, US, Canada and China will account for 50 per cent of global annual investment in renewable energy capacity.”

Obama boost for solar

The visit to Australia by US President Barack Obama has yielded good news for the solar industry, with the US joining Australia to announce upwards of $32 million in funding for collaborative solar research projects between the two nations. The Australian Solar Institute on Thursday welcomed the announcement, with chair Jenny Goddard saying the Australian government had committed nearly $12 million for seven Foundation Projects under the United States-Australia Solar Energy collaboration (USASEC) to accelerate the widespread rollout of solar energy technologies in both countries.

“This has leveraged a combined private-public investment of over $32 million, including in-kind contributions from universities in both countries and the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) national laboratories,” Goddard said. ASI CEO Mark Twidell added that the projects would improve the efficiency, reliability and application of solar technologies, giving them real commercial potential. “The combined world leading solar research expertise of Australia and the United States will hasten our efforts to drive down the cost of solar energy technologies to make solar a competitive energy source for Australia’s electricity needs,” Twidell said.

Rising tidal for Siemens

German engineering giant Siemens boosted its stake UK-based tidal energy developer Marine Current Turbines from under 10 per cent to 45 per cent this month, citing the predictability of marine power as its main attraction. Michael Axmann, chief financial officer for Siemens's solar and hydro division, told Technology Review that, with the gravitational pull of the moon and sun controlling tidal cycles, "power output of the systems could be calculated for centuries in advance." And the result of this consistency, says TR, could be higher revenues. "Axmann notes that tidal power is 'not subject to volatility. This increases the value of the energy produced, and hence makes the business case more reliable for the investor and operator'." And while Axmann declined to say how much value would be added by that predictability, he also told TR that, by 2020, he anticipates marine turbines will deliver power at a cost that's competitive with today's offshore wind farms – and that's factoring in the challenges involved in engineering underwater operations.

Marine Current Turbines CEO Andrew Tyler says cost reductions and government incentives will ensure the profitability of the company's first two offshore power parks: a proposed four-turbine array off Scotland's Isle of Skye and a five-turbine array off the northwest coast of Wales. Future cost reductions, he says, will come mainly from increased production and logistical efficiency, coming off the back of Siemens' engineering expertise. Tyler estimates his first power parks will produce 15,000-20,000MWh per year, and potentially gather £3.75 million ($US6 million) in incentive payments annually. He also tells TR that Siemens's backing will be crucial to raising the £100 million in private investment needed to finance the projects, adding that it completely changes investors' perception about the company's credibility.