government’s plan to set the ethanol content in gasoline, stating this should be left to market forces. In principle, the NSW Farmers’ Association said it supports the drive towards making ethanol blended gasoline available at service stations throughout New South Wales state. The NSW government recently announced that its ethanol fuel mandate would increase from...

to supply electricity to Wuwei city in the northwestern province of Gansu. With an annual output of 870,000 kwh, the one-megawatt Datang Wuwei Solar Power Station was developed by the China Datang Corporation, the country’s second largest power producer. The plant will be fully completed by end-2009. The company said it chose to develop the...

beef up its solar cell production backed by a budget of US$1.1 billion to expand manufacturing capacity 14-fold by 2015. The company expects global demand for solar energy to rise sharply. One of its landmark projects include the construction of a $225-million thin-film solar plant in Europe by 2011. It will have the capacity to...

plant in Yasu City in Shiga Prefecture. The plant will produce highly-energy efficient back-contact cells. Construction will start early this year with completion expected by the first half of 2010. With the new plant, Kyocera expects to more than double its overall solar cell production capacity to 650 megawattws (MW). “Kyocera’s 33 years of experience...

has begun to levy a tax on fuel sales. The move follows the sharp decline in oil prices on the world markets which have translated into sharply lower fuel prices. Officials said subsidies would cease once crude oil prices drop to around US$65 per barrel. It is now trading at just over US$40 per barrel....

has begun to levy a tax on fuel sales. The move follows the sharp decline in oil prices on the world markets which have translated into sharply lower fuel prices. Officials said subsidies would cease once crude oil prices drop to around US$65 per barrel. It is now trading at just over US$40 per barrel....

island state as a regional hub for clean energy, complementing its swing role in Asia’s oil and refining industry. Singapore is engaged in the full spectrum of alternative energy options – solar power, fuel cells, wind power, energy efficiency and carbon trading. Singapore still relies on a fossil fuel — natural gas —for 80% of...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — French industrial gas company Air Liquide said it is increasing investments in Singapore through its wholly-owned subsidiary Singapore Oxygen Air Liquide Pte Ltd (SOXAL). The new investments are in response to growth in Singapore’s petroleum, petrochemical and chemical industries. SOXAL has just completed its acquisition of all the shares of...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — China has started filling up the country’s third strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) terminal to take advantage of the sharp decline in crude oil prices on international markets. China has already pumped in 7.5 million barrels of Saudi crude into the terminal at Huangdao near Qingdao city on the east coast....

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — Russia’s Sakhalin Energy said it has started year-round oil and gas export from its new export terminal in Aniva Bay in southern Sakhalin that forms part of the Prigorodnoye port. It was purpose built for the year-round export of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The first cargoes of crude...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — Australia’s AGL Energy Limited (AGL) said it has sold off its oil and gas interests in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for a price of A$1,127 million after the close out of oil and currency hedges. (US$1=A$1.4). The sole buyer of the bulk of the interests for US$795 million was Merlin...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — Refex Energy, an India-based company, said it is teaming up with Germany’s IBC Solar to meet demand for utility-scale and stand-alone photovoltaic projects in India. The partnership will specialise in PV system integration that will include planning, engineering, implementation and maintenance of solar installations ranging from small scale systems to...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — China’s Yingli Green Energy said it has entered into sales agreements with two leading German PV system integrators, City Solar Kraftwerke AG and Wirsol Deutschland GmbH. Yingli Green Energy is expected to supply 20 MW of PV modules to City Solar, a leading developer and turnkey provider of large-scale PV...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — Canada’s Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation said it has entered into a commercial agreement to support the development of a pyrolysis plant in China based on its proprietary technology. The company will provide process and engineering support for the development of a plant to be located in Henan province. This will...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — Australia’s trade minister has welcomed the announcement by Spanish firm Union Fenosa to invest a total of A$1.9 billion in a portfolio of seven wind farms in his country. (US$1=A$1.4). The project’s phase one will see the construction of wind farms at Hawkesdale and Ryan Corner in Victoria and Crookwell...

(EnergyAsia, January 9, Friday) — Australian science agency CSIRO said it is working to help the domestic coal industry improve safety and efficiency and reduce its environmental impact. Their efforts have received a boost with the recent allocation of more than A$3 million in funding from the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP). (US$1=A$1.4). The...

much as US$30 million from investors to enable it to plant cassava for fuel production. The company is setting up its own cassava plantations. The bulk of the output will be used as feedstock for Basic’s biofuels plants, while the surplus will be sold to other bioethanol producers. The company plans to develop its first...

prices for polysilicon have plummeted 35% since October after years of shortages, said analysts. They predict a further 30% price decline in 2009. The plunge is expected to take place after many solar module makers locked in high contract prices when rampant fears about supply shortages drove the polysilicon market the last two years.  These...

efficiency solar cells, panels and systems said it will build a 505-kilowatt solar power installation for Horizon Power, a state-owned company providing power to remote and regional communities and resource operations in Western Australia. The ground-mounted installation will be located on two sites in Marble Bar and Nullagine in the east Pilbara region of Western...

technology company, said it has received its first order for a D-VAR system to meet dynamic reactive compensation requirements for a 220 kilovolt (kV) power transmission grid in Chifeng in China’s Inner Mongolia.  Reactive power compensation is necessary to stabilise voltage, relieve power grid congestion, improve electrical efficiency and prevent blackouts in power grids.   ...

has added a third stage production line at its production base in the Chinese city of Nanjing. It has started up four high-efficiency solar cell lines, boosting production capacity to 320 MW. The company’s 10 solar cell production lines include five for high-efficiency SE solar cells, four for HP solar cells (upgraded from common P-type...

its green energy business with completion of its 800-billion-yen takeover of rival Sanyo Electric by next month. (US$1=90 yen). Panasonic will aim to acquire the majority of Sanyo’s voting rights, and create one of the world’s biggest electronics companies. Panasonic will add Sanyo’s well-regarded solar panels and rechargeable batteries to its business.   Panasonic said...

reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions because of a flaw in the government’s climate change plan, critics have charged. They said that Canberra’s planned emissions trading scheme would simply enable polluting industries to raise their emissions to offset any carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions resulting from solar use by households. The criticism has the substantial backing...