There were ripples last week in the carbon capture and storage sector, which aims to make coal-fired plants friendlier to the environment by whisking away CO2 emissions and storing them deep in the earth. A minister in the Netherlands proposed that the emissions should be stored under the seabed rather than under populated areas. The move puts a question mark over projects planned in the Dutch territory, and brings the controversial issue back on the table at a time when the European Union is allocating CCS project funding.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has already predicted a tough 2011 for CCS, which faces funding and implementation challenges, especially as governments look to tighten their belts. In the US, CCS development was to have been funded via a new cap-and-trade scheme, which Congress failed to pass last year and stands virtually no chance of advancing this year. Using CO2 to enhance oil recovery remains viable but it too faces challenges, particularly if oil prices dip.

The seabed is also attracting greater attention from wind turbine makers, which are seeing margins narrow back on land. The average price of an onshore wind turbine has dipped below EUR 1m per megawatt for the first time since 2005, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Wind Turbine Price Index, which is based on confidential data provided by 28 key players in the global wind turbine market. The good news is that this has also brought the cost of electricity generated from wind to record lows, almost on par with that of coal-fired power in some regions.

The development focus of the turbine manufacturers has willy-nilly shifted offshore but the pressure is now on them more than ever to improve performance and to innovate. Vestas, the world’s largest turbine maker, announced that it would soon unveil its biggest offshore turbine of 6MW. It will also test a floating turbine this year off the coast of Portugal.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s utility Dong said it is working to cut the costs of producing power from offshore wind turbines by as much as 30% by 2020. Under an agreement with Siemens, Dong procures turbines to test them, including the 6MW models. Chinese turbine maker Sinovel is both working on a 6MW model and researching a potential 10MW device.

The other highlight of the week was the projection of a 50% sales jump in the current year from Tesla Motors, the electric car maker backed by Daimler and Toyota. Last year, the company’s revenue totaled USD 116.7m. CEO Elon Musk said that he expected the company to be profitable by 2013.

Infrastructure to make and support electric vehicles is slowly being rolled out around the world. Londoners will have access to 1,300 new charging points by end of 2013, according to a statement from the office of the Mayor of London. DesignLine, the US-based manufacturer of hybrid and electric buses, announced that it would set up a production unit in Abu Dhabi to make all-electric buses. South Korea’s Hyundai Motor is working with four European countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland - to test a fleet of its fuel-cell electric vehicles under the Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership. In the US, the Obama administration has said it wants to end a clean-diesel grant programme and cut research funding for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. However, the White House also supports making current subsidies supporting electric vehicles more easily accessible to consumers at the point of sale.

For its part, China has identified electric vehicles as one of its seven “strategic emerging industries” for the coming years. Along those lines, the State Grid Corporation of China will have 144 battery charging and replacement stations by the end of the year, according to a report in the Shanghai Securities Journal.

And for those who are keen on the numbers that come out of China, here is another one - China’s subsidies to the clean energy sector totaled CNY 7.9bn in the 9-month period from January to September last year, according to a joint statement by the National Development and Reform Commission and State Electricity Regulatory Commission. This contrasts with CNY 3.7bn provided in the second half of 2009.