Alternative Energy Limited

Alternative energy competes in the following markets:

Power Generation
Hot Water and Space Heating
Transportation Fuels
Rural (off-grid) Energy.

In 2004, renewable energy supplied over 18% of total electricity generated globally. Hydropower was the largest renewable source, contributing over 16% of total electricity generated globally, or about 89% of the share from renewable energy. The large hydropower plants supplied the bulk of electricity, with small hydros accounting for about 1% of the sector's 16% contribution to global electricity supply. Other alternative energy sources supplied smaller volumes to total global electricity, with biomass and waste contributing just over 1%. Solar PV, solar thermal, and the other alternative sources accounted for the balance. In the heating market, solar, biomass, and geothermal now provide energy for space and water heating in tens of millions of buildings worldwide. About 45 million houses are fitted with solar thermal systems. In 2005, biofuels accounted for 3% or 37 billion liters of the 1,200 billion liters of gasoline used globally. Ethanol is a major motor fuel source in Brazil, accounting for 41% of non-diesel fuel used.

The following are some of the more active renewable energy markets :

⇒	Solar PV, grid-connected. Grid-connected solar PV installations are concentrated in Japan, Germany, and the United States. By 2005, more than 650,000 homes in these countries had rooftop solar PV feeding power into the grid. This market grew by about 1.1 GW in 2005, from 1.8 GW to 2.9 GW cumulative installed capacity.

⇒	Wind power. Wind power markets are concentrated in a few primary countries, with Spain, Germany, India, and the United States leading expansion in 2005. India now has half of the wind power capacity of the United States and accounted for 15 percent of global installations in 2005. Several countries are now taking their first steps to develop large-scale commercial markets, including Russia and other transition countries, China, South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico.

⇒	Small hydropower. More than half of the world's small hydropower capacity exists in China, where an ongoing boom in small hydro construction added 4 GW of capacity per year in 2004 and 2005. Other countries with active efforts include Australia, Canada, India, Nepal, and New Zealand.

⇒	Solar thermal power. The concentrating solar thermal power market has remained stagnant since the early 1990s. Recently, commercial plans in Israel, Spain, and the United States have led to a resurgence of interest, technology evolution, and potential investment. New projects were under construction in 2006 in Spain and the United States. Some developing countries, including India, Egypt, Mexico, and Morocco, have planned projects with multilateral assistance.

⇒	Solar hot water/heating. Solar hot water/heating technologies contribute significantly to the hot water/heating markets in China, Europe, Israel, Turkey, and Japan. Dozens of other countries have smaller markets. Total installed capacity worldwide was 88 gigawatts-thermal (GWth) in 2005. China accounts for 60 percent of this total, followed by Europe (13 percent), Turkey (7 percent), and Japan (6 percent). Total sales volume in 2005 in China was 15 million square meters (10.5 GWth), a 23-percent increase in existing domestic capacity.