Mixed Greens: Big growth in public charging stations for EVs

A new report suggests that the number of public charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles (EV) have surpassed 48,000 globally. Cleantechnica says that a study by Navigant Research found that a spike in EV demand had created more interest for EV infrastructure, and the number of public charging stations totaled 48,705 at the end of the March quarter. In the US, there was a 9 per cent lift in stations to 5,578, thanks to growing demand for EVs such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and the Tesla Model S. The US Department of Energy expects 7,400 charging stations on the road by the end of 2013.

The contest for a stake in Australian wind farm Boco Rock has lost some momentum this week with the reported withdrawal of China’s Longyuan Group. The Wall Street Journal yesterday quoted sources close to the matter who said the Longyuan – China’s largest wind power producer – would not submit a final offer for a share of the NSW wind farm. Thailand’s Egco remains in the running and is likely to submit a final bid by next Wednesday’s deadline, which could be for a 50-100% stake of Boco Rock, depending on whether GE Energy Financial Services exercises its option over half of the wind farm’s equity.

Ceramic Fuel Cells has announced it has received an order for 60 integrated mCHP units from German energy company EWE. Integrated mCHP generators – a combination of fuel-cell technology and a condensing boiler – will be Ceramic’s second product offering alongside its industry-leading BlueGEN units. Ceramic says the order from EWE – Germany’s fifth-largest energy company – kicks off the final phase of the development and demonstration program for integrated mCHP generators agreed with EWE in 2010. Ceramic says it will be using the new mCHP system to target “sizeable and resilient” residential demand for heating and heating-replacement units. Commercial product launch is expected in 2014.