Bloomberg: China Solar Project Delays Mean Japan Could Be Largest Market

China risks being displaced as the world’s largest solar market as measured by annual installations after some project approvals were postponed.

“There isn’t enough time to achieve the target,” Li Junfeng, director general of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, said in an interview in Beijing.

The delays mean China could fall short of its goal to install 14 gigawatts of solar capacity, Li said. Japan is expected to add 10.3 gigawatts to 11.9 gigawatts of solar power in 2014, Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts.

BBC: Renewables Overtake Nuclear in Scotland

Renewable power has overtaken nuclear to become the main source of electricity in Scotland, the latest figures suggest.

Wind and hydropower produced 10.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in the first six months of this year, U.K. government statistics showed.

Meanwhile, National Grid figures showed nuclear power stations generated 7.8 TWh over the same period.

Financial Post: OPEC Decision Ensures U.S. Shale Industry Will Crash, Says Russian Oil Tycoon

OPEC policy on crude production will ensure a crash in the U.S. shale industry, according to Leonid Fedun, vice president and board member at OAO Lukoil.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept output targets unchanged at a meeting in Vienna Thursday, even after this year’s slump in the price of oil, caused by surging supply from U.S shale fields.

Business Recorder: After Nuclear Phase-Out, Germany Debates Scrapping Coal

After deciding to scrap nuclear power, Germany is pondering saying goodbye to coal, its biggest energy source -- but also its top polluter and chief threat to ambitious climate goals.

With only weeks until her cabinet is set to present its next climate action plan, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is split on the issue, which pits a vocal environmental movement against energy giants and coal mining regions.

Associated Press: Rare Optimism Ahead of U.N. Global Warming Talks in Peru

Energized by new targets set by China and the U.S., the world's top climate polluters, United Nations global warming talks resume Monday with unusual optimism despite evidence that human-generated climate change is already happening and is bound to get worse.

Negotiators from more than 190 countries will meet in the Peruvian capital for two weeks to work on drafts for a global climate deal that is supposed to be adopted next year in Paris. Getting all countries aboard will be a crucial test for the U.N. talks, which over two decades have failed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

Tasnim News Agency: Iran’s Wind, Solar Energy Production to Double

Wind and solar energy generation in Iran is set to rise significantly, an Iranian energy official announced.

“By...March 21, 2015, the country’s wind and solar energy production will double compared with that of last year’s,” said Homayoun Haeri, managing director of Iran’s Power Generation Transmission and Distribution Management Company.