Vestas applauds President Obama

In a speech given Tuesday at Georgetown University, President Obama calls for the nation to double its use of renewable energy.

President Obama’s plan would cut carbon emissions that cause climate change and endangers public health. His goal is to double the amount of renewable energy permits approved on public lands which would power more than six million households by 2020. Obama also aims to increase federal government procurement of renewable power from 7.5 per cent by 2020 to 20 per cent.
Vestas Wind Systems CEO Ditlev Engel supports President Obama’s call to help combat climate change through the increased deployment of renewable energy.
I commend the president for laying out a set of executive actions to address climate change,” Engel said. “Emission-free wind energy is playing — and will continue to play — a major role in meeting this challenge.
Vestas supports these efforts not just in the United States but also globally.

We’re also pleased President Obama is calling for free trade in environmental goods and services and to reduce subsidies for fossil fuels,” Engel said. “These are measures Vestas and other businesses have recommended to G20 countries, in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and we are happy to see these recommendations being followed. With the right climate and energy policies, we will have the opportunity to create a sustainable, secure and economically strong future around the world”.

First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the world’s largest maker of solar power-plants, and SunPower Corp. (SPWR) stand to gain from President Barack Obama’s proposal to curb emissions from coal-fired utilities.

Obama directed the Interior Department today to issue permits for 10 gigawatts of renewable energy on public land, doubling renewable-energy generation by 2020. The Defense Department, the largest U.S. energy consumer, also plans to install three gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025, enough to power to 2.4 million homes.
By focusing on power plants, Obama’s administration is confronting one of the largest contributors to greenhouse-gas emissions. Forty percent of U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions and one-third of all greenhouse gases come from electric power plants, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“First Solar and SunPower have led the way with these large, utility-scale projects and this should provide a benefit to them long-term,” Sanjay Shrestha, a New York-based analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, said in an interview today. “Everyone has been wondering where the next big solar projects will be and 10 more gigawatts on federal land shows the way.”
First Solar, based in Tempe, Arizona, rose 7.8 percent to $44.48 at the close in New York, the most in a month. SunPower, based in San Jose, California, climbed 5.7 percent to $18.91.
More solar was added to the grid than any other source during the first quarter of this year, according to Rhone Resch, chief executive officer of the Washington-based Solar Energy Industries Association. More than 30 utility-scale solar projects are under construction, he said today in a statement.
Rules for new power plants proposed by the EPA, under authority granted by the Clean Air Act, have been indefinitely delayed. Obama plans to put new deadlines on the agency, setting a deadline of Sept. 20 for new power plants and the release of a proposal for existing plants by June 2014.