On the GreenBeat: Range Fuels and Evergreen Solar lay off workers, China to double wind power

Here’s the latest action we’re following on the GreenBeat:

China to double installed wind power — The country has been aggressively pursuing renewable energy and plans to more than double installed wind capacity by 2015, from 40 gigawatts in 2010 to 100 gigawatts, Bloomberg reports. It will promote the development of offshore wind, and expects solar capacity to be five gigawatts by 2015.

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Production of natural gas to get a lift — We’ve written before about how natural gas is forecast to take over coal as an energy source and potentially even threaten the appetite for wind and solar projects. Bloomberg reports that prices for natural gas byproducts like propane have hit an 11-month high this week and increased 42 percent since July. The result is natural gas companies are boosting production.

Evergreen Solar to close plant — The troubled solar company, which has come under threat of being unlisted on the Nasdaq and is trying to restructure its debt, is closing its Devens Plant. It will lay off 800 employees after receiving $58 million in state incentives for the Massachusetts factory, Greentech Media reports.

Range Fuels lays off workers — The cellulosic ethanol producer confirmed it has laid off a “handful” of people in Colorado and Georgia, but did not give reasons, Earth2Tech reports. The company says it will meet its 2011 ethanol production goal set by the EPA.

5N Plus acquires majority stake in Sylarus Technologies — 5N plus produces metals and semiconductor compounds and does the vast majority of its business with global solar panel leader First Solar, Greentech Media reports. It took a majority interest in Sylarus, which produces germanium substrates used in solar cells for concentrating solar, where mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight onto a small point, yielding more sunlight harvest and heat than traditional photovoltaics.