双语新闻：可再生能源革命挑战行业旧秩序

2014-10-28 16:55:34来源：网络

　　A Threat to Business

　　企业面临的威胁

　　The decline in the cost of renewable power spells potential trouble for companies thatgenerate electricity. They make a lot of their money at times of day when demand for power,and therefore power prices, are high. Solar power, even a small amount, could be especiallydisruptive, shaving wholesale prices during those peak periods.

　　可再生电力成本的下降，对电力生产企业构成了威胁。让这些企业大赚特赚的，是一天当中电力需求大、电价也随之升高的时段。而太阳能就算规模不大，也有可能给市场带来极大的冲击，把用电高峰期的趸售电价拉下来。

　　Though growing rapidly, solar power still accounts for less than 1 percent of American powergeneration, so the disruption has not yet been seen on a large scale in the United States. Butsome utilities, fearful of losing out as the power mix changes, have started attacking rules thatencourage solar panels. Others are taking the opposite tack, jumping into the solar marketthemselves.

　　尽管光电产业发展得很快，但光电产量在美国电力总产量中所占的比重还不到1%，因此美国市场尚未受到大规模的冲击。不过，有的公用事业公司担心自己因电源结构的变化而遭受损失，已经开始攻击那些鼓励使用太阳能面板的规则了。另外一些公司则采取了相反的策略，干脆投身到了光电市场之中。

　　Nipping at the heels of those utilities are fast-growing start-up companies that are putting tensof thousands of panels on rooftops and leasing them to homeowners for no money down, withWall Street banks providing the financing. The hot spot is California, which is aiming for 33percent renewable power by 2020 and seems increasingly likely to get there.

　　紧随这些公用事业公司之后的，是高速成长的初创公司，它们正把数以万计的太阳能板安在人们的屋顶上，并和屋主签下无需付押金的租约，为其提供资金支持的是华尔街的银行机构。加利福尼亚州被卷入了这股热潮之中，该州计划在2020年之前把可再生能源电力上网比重提高到33%，现在看来，实现这一目标的可能性正逐步加大。

　　In Germany, where solar panels supply 7 percent of power and wind turbines about 10percent, wholesale power prices have crashed during what were once the most profitabletimes of day. "We were late entering into the renewables market — possibly too late," PeterTerium, chief executive of the giant utility RWE, admitted this spring as he announced a $3.8billion annual loss.

　　在德国，太阳能面板和风力涡轮机的发电量分别占总发电量的7%和10%，一度最有利可图的用电高峰期的趸售电价已经大幅下降。公用事业巨头莱茵集团(RWE)的首席执行官彼得˙特里乌姆(Peter Terium)于今年春天宣布该集团亏损了38亿美元时承认：“我们进入可再生能源市场的时间有些晚——也许是太晚了。”

　　The big German utilities are warning — or pleading, perhaps — that the revolution cannot beallowed to go forward without them. And outside experts say they may have a point.

　　德国的这些大型公用事业公司提醒说——也许可以称之为恳求——这场革命要想进行下去，就得带上它们。外部专家称，他们的话或许有点道理。

　　The Achilles' heel of renewable power is that it is intermittent, so German utilities have had todial their conventional power plants up and down rapidly to compensate. The plants are notnecessarily profitable when operated this way, and the utilities have been threatening toshut down facilities that some analysts say the country needs as backup.

　　可再生能源有一个致命的弱点，即供电的间歇性。因此，德国的公用事业公司不得不通过迅速调高或调低传统发电厂的发电量来保持供需平衡。以这种方式运营的传统发电厂未必有利可图，公用事业公司一直扬言要关闭这些电厂，但有分析人士认为德国需要用它们来应对不时之需。

　　The situation is further complicated by the government's determination to get rid ofGermany's nuclear power stations over the next decade, the culmination of a long battle thatreached its peak after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. As that plan unfolds, shuttingdown a source of low-emission power, Germany's notable success in cutting greenhousegases has stalled.

　　由于德国政府决意放弃核能，情况变得越发复杂。2011年日本福岛核泄漏事故发生后，在德国存在已久的核电站存废之争终于有了结果：该国政府宣布将用10年时间关闭国内的核电站。随着这一计划的实施，清洁电能的一个来源将被切断，德国在温室气体减排方面取得的令人瞩目的成绩已经停滞不前。

本文关键字: 双语新闻可再生能源革命挑战行业旧秩序