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Renewables Global Status Report - and Funding and Sharing Request

I thought you might all be interested in the latest status about renewable energy worldwide.

Please see the REN21 Renewables Global Status Report: Energy Transformation Continues Despite Economic Slowdown. See http://www.ren21.net/globalstatusreport/g2009.asp

Here are some of the facts:
* Global power capacity from new renewable energy (RE) sources (excluding large hydro) reached 280,000 MW (280 GW) in 2008 - a 16% rise from 2007 and three times the capacity of the United States nuclear sector
* 73 countries now have RE policies
* the US will invest over $150 billion over 10 years in RE
* RE investment in 2008 was $120 billion, up 16% over 2007
* Wind energy capacity grew by 29% in 2008 to reach 121 GW. (South Africa's total electricity capacity is 44 GW.)
* Grid-connected solar PV grew at 70% to reach 13GW
* Solar hot water in Germany (which has less sun than South Africa) set record growth in 2008, with over 200,000 systems installed. (South Africa installed a few hundred in 2007)
* By August 2008, at least 160 publicly traded renewable energy companies worldwide had a market capitalisation of greater than $100 million
* Feed In Tariffs were adopted in South Africa at the end of March 2009, but they only apply to large producers called Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and they currently exclude Solar Photovoltaics.

If you know anyone who would like to talk to me about a business plan I have in the RE sector in South Africa, please let them or me know. The business plan is already 30 pages long and I am now working on the marketing plan and the financial plan, but I really need to share and I really need some people to be involved. I also need finance to cover my cost of living and additional capital that I have already laid out and to cover the (research and development) costs that are involved in making this kind of project happen in South Africa. I am also involved with: a Centre of Green Learning; helping a Joburg based company put together an RE conference; helping to put together a one week training course; the Lesotho Rural Renewable Energy project; finding low cost solutions for Africa. All this requires funding, eg for the development and writing of manuals and presentation material for conferences and training, my time, other peoples time, etc.  Any help will be appreciated, especially financial help or help from people who want to add value in terms of contributing their time.

If you would like to get your feet wet, then:
* read about a 630MW wind farm, take a look at London Array 630MW off shore wind farm
* read about a small scale system at http://www.greenliving.co.uk/Articles/solarpvsystem.html
* look at photos of what someone is already doing in South Africa. If you decide to choose Andreas to do a design or installation for you, please let him know that the referral came from me.

Regards
David

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