Offshore wind gathers speed in Europe by Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Germany took a big step to addressing the bottleneck in its offshore wind roll-out last week, as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet backed a new liability regime for grid connection delays. Some of the costs will be passed onto consumers. “We lacked investments in wind parks and grid projects” because it was not clear who would pay for possible delays, minister of economy Philipp Roesler said in Berlin. “With this regulation, the likelihood that liability losses will arise is now minimised.” The bill is likely to be accelerated to ensure its enactment before the year's end.

There was also good news for offshore wind in the UK, as EDP Renovaveis applied for a permit in Scotland to build a 1.5GW offshore wind farm. That would be the world’s largest. The project is the first to seek planning permission under the UK’s Round Three of offshore wind development, which amounted to 32GW of licences awarded in 2010.

The world’s largest wind turbine maker, Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems, saw its shares surge 26 per cent last week after it said it is in talks with Mitsubishi Industries over possible “strategic cooperation”. It was the second biggest gainer last week on the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index, or NEX, after Hong Kong LED manufacturer Neo-Neon Holding, which announced a new production process. The NEX ended the week 0.9% down, however, as gains for wind and energy conversion stocks were offset by declines in solar and power storage stocks. First Solar fell 19.3% as it halted deliveries to Agua Caliente, the world’s largest PV project in Arizona. Its explanation was that construction is ahead of schedule, and it needed to slow down to meet contractual milestones.

In the US, President Barack Obama finalised new fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, doubling them to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The White House said the standards would add around $US1,800 to the average cost of a vehicle by 2025 but lead to fuel savings of more than $US8,000 over its lifetime.

The development became the latest joust in clean energy rhetoric in the US presidential race. A spokesperson for Republican challenger Mitt Romney said, “Governor Romney opposes the extreme standards that President Obama has imposed.” Obama first announced the new standards in July 2011, flanked by representatives of the auto industry. “These fuel standards represent the single most important step we've ever taken to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” he said.