energy business, a leading silicon maker has warned the trend could turn into a bubble and may not be sustainable. Japan’s Tokuyama Corp told Reuters that no one knows the strength of future demand for solar power, making it difficult for investors to gauge how much they should invest in the sector. The world’s second...

(EnergyAsia, November 14, Wednesday) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a report pointing to social and economic progress in the Middle East and Central Asia. Collectively, the regions are expected to register economic growth rates of 6.5% for this year and next. The IMF said life expectancy in the two regions has increased,...

high-tech solar manufacturing plant in Melbourne and a regional large scale Research and Development facility. The Melbourne-based company has developed high performance solar power station technology over the last 16 years and is now gearing up to install large scale, grid connected power stations. Solar Systems said its new headquarters and photovoltaic module manufacturing facility...

up to 240MW capacity at Kaiwera Downs near Gore town. The applications for the NZ$440 million project, to supply around 113,000 homes, have been filed with the Gore District and Southland Regional Councils. (US$1=NZ$1.35). The company said the project’s final cost would be determined by prices for turbines, which are in high international demand, and...

2011, along with a clean power target of 15% by 2020. The trading scheme is expected to provide incentives to promote the use and production of renewable energy sources. The renewable sector is expected to develop technologies that could bring savings of some A$800 million to the Australia economy by 2050. (US$1 = A$1.08). Renewable...

power project in Australia (US$1 = A$1.08). The wind farm, Australia’s largest, would include 500 turbines, with a combined capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW) to provide energy for some 400,000 homes. The company hopes to begin construction as early as 2009 as a follow-through on Australia’s plans to introduce tough and binding renewable energy targets....

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — Canada’s Carmanah Technologies Corporation said it has received an order to supply solar-powered portable airfield lights for use throughout Singapore. The C$600,000 order, made through distributor Power Force Technologies Pte Ltd, will support emergency preparedness efforts by providing users the capability to quickly install complete airfield lighting systems. As...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — Greenpeace has praised the decision by Swedish oil giant OKQ8 to abandon plans to use palm oil in their new biodiesel fuel. The announcement comes after prolonged campaigning by Greenpeace and other environmental groups against palm oil production, which destroys native rainforest in Southeast Asia, often by burning, to...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — Gujarat Fluorochemicals (GFL), India’s largest refrigeration gas producer, is venturing into the wind power business. The Inox group subsidiary has set aside a budget of Rs60 billion to set up wind farms to produce 1,000 MW of electricity by 2012. The company has appointed a UK-based consultancy to undertake...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — India’s Tata Chemicals (TCL) said it expects to start up its first biofuels manufacturing unit at Nanded in Maharashtra state by the first quarter of 2009. Executive Vice-President R Mukundan told reporters the $100 million plant will mark the company’s entry into the biofuels industry. Tata Chemicals had raised...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited, a leading vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturer in China, said it has signed an agreement to sell 16.5 MW of PV modules to Spain’s Aplicaciones Técnicas de la Energía SL (ATERSA). ATERSA and its parent company, the Elecnor SA, are leaders in...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) —- Thai state-owned PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) said its third quarter net income rose 3.4% to 7.046 billion baht while revenues edged up 1% to 24.03 billion baht compared with the same period last year. (US$1=S$1.45). Its expenses fell 0.2% to 11.339 billion baht. For the...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — Greenpeace may soon call for consumers to boycott food companies and retailers it says are destroying Indonesia’s rainforests and peatlands to produce palm oil. In a damning report, “Cooking the Climate”, Greenpeace has named Unilever, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble among several international firms as accomplices in destroying Indonesia’s...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — Tata Power Company (TPC), India’s largest private power firm, has announced plans to more than triple its wind power capacity to more than 210MW.  The company, with 62MW of windpower capacity now, said it will invest a total of Rs7.5 billion to set up three wind farms of 50...

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — India’s privately owned Reliance Power Limited plans to raise Rs764.73 billion to build 12 new power plants with a total capacity of 24,200 MW. (US$1=Rs40). The projects include the 4,000MW coal-fired Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Madhya Pradesh state and hydro power plants in Arunachal Pradesh state....

  (EnergyAsia, November 12, Monday) — Climate change will inflict major macroeconomic and fiscal impacts on society and negatively affect sectors such as tourism, agriculture and fisheries, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In the October issue of its World Economic Outlook (WEO), the IMF set the scene for a review of the economic impact...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — Australia’s AGL Energy Limited (AGL) said it will sell its 33% interest in AlintaAGL Pty Ltd to Alinta 2000 Limited for A$522 million. (US$1=A$1.07).The sale will be made pursuant to an agreement made as part of the merger and subsequent demerger of AGL and Alinta in 2006.((adsense)) AGL said the...

  (EnergyAsia, November 7, Friday) — The US Energy Information Administration expects West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price to average $87 a barrel in the fourth quarter as world oil demand continues to grow at a faster rate than supply. The agency noted the demand spurt is putting pressure on OPEC and inventories to...

  (EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — Guangzhou, China-based Zhongke Hengyuan Energy Technology Co Ltd said it begin manufacturing magnetic levitation (maglev) wind power generators with capacities ranging from 400 to 5,000 watts next year. The company has invested 400 million yuan in what it claims is the world’s largest maglev wind generator plant in central...

  (EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — AGL Energy Limited (AGL) said it is planning to invest A$166 million in a wind farm in the Hallett area in South Australia state.  The 71MW wind farm at Hallett Hill is expected to create 150 jobs during the construction which will start in January. Hallett Hill is located...

  (EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — Malaysia’s light sweet Tapis crude, Asia’s leading benchmark, became the first to cross the psychological $100-per-barrel mark, making it more expensive than the better known Europe’s Brent and US WTI.  On Wednesday, November 7, when WTI surged past $98 a barrel, Tapis was valued at more than $100 a...

  (EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — Conergy AG, a Germany-based international supplier and producer of renewable energy solutions, recently launched its charity project for rural electrification in India. Using funds collected at the Conergy Renewable Energy Golf Cup Tournament last week, Conergy will supply and install environmentally-friendly solar lighting solutions for 350 people in Garh,...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is expanding cooperation with the private sector to address the impact of changing climatic conditions on Asia and the world.ADB Vice President Ursula Schafer-Preuss said the need for action in Asia is even more pressing, noting Asia now accounts for 27% of the...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — Kolkata, India-based Environment Energy-Tech Service Limited (EESL) has acquired the solar business units of Shell Overseas Investments BV in India and Sri Lanka.EESL, a solar engineering solutions provider, would operate under the new name of Bhaskar. The acquisition, completed on October 26, gives the company a skilled workforce of 600...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Friday) — Photovoltaic cell and module manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd said it has signed a $1.5 billion contract to purchase high purity polysilicon from Asia Silicon Co Ltd over a seven-year period.Suntech said the contract provides for the delivery of a volume range of polysilicon each year at fixed prices,...