News

January 31, 2010

The Week In Alternative Power: Ted Turner And BlackRock Get Behind Solar, And Carbon Markets Weaken

By Sally White

As President Obama struggles to get a climate bill through the US Senate, flamboyant billionaire Ted Turner has announced that he is putting his money into solar power. He has joined forces with Southern, an Atlanta-based power utility, for a further foray into the space after his sale of Turner Renewable Energy to First Solar for US$34 million two years ago. As the largest individual land owner in the US, with more than two million acres, he is certainly in a position to offer sites.

Meanwhile, the US$3.9 billion BlackRock New Energy Fund has also announced new investments in the solar space. “We are focusing a bit more on the Asian producers”, said Robin Batchelor, co-head of the fund, adding. “Manufacturing in China gets a big subsidy on power, cheap land, and you’ve got cheap employment….all your environmental issues taken care of, these things which all cost a lot in the western world.”

But elsewhere in solar there was less positivity. Italy’s solar companies let out a...