(EnergyAsia, November 10, Tuesday) — The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has sent a representative to Beijing this week to meet with buyers and sellers of carbon credits as part of its efforts to facilitate a new agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. According to the Center for Energy...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) last week celebrated the progress in the construction of their equally owned 3.2-million-ton-per-year petrochemical complex in Tianjin city in China. Their joint venture company, SINOPEC SABIC Tianjin Petrochemical Co Ltd, is investing RMB18.3 billion complex to produce ethylene,...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) — Camstar Systems Inc has announced that Q-Cells SE, the world’s largest solar cell manufacturer, has selected its SolarSuite™ enterprise platform to drive down cost per watt through improved process quality and cell efficiency. Germany’s Q-Cells will deploy the solution in two new production lines in Bitterfeld-Thalheim, Germany, and in its...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) — Delta Electronics Plc, Thailand’s largest publicly-listed electronics firm, expects to finalise the acquisition of US and European solar equipment makers before the end of this year. The company has earmarked as much as $200 million for the acquisitions, designed to help the company diversify its sources of income. The target...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) — Investors have firmed up plans for several biofuel projects in the Philippines, said the country’s Department of Agriculture. The department announced it has signed agreements for biofuel feedstock projects with Korean firms Environmental Plasma Co Ltd (EPCL) and Eco Solutions Co Ltd (ECOS). EPCL has pledged to invest $425 million...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) — A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd, a Nasdaq-listed provider of distributed power generation systems in China and a manufacturer of wind turbines, said it has won a contract to develop a 19.5MW wind farm in Donggang in Rizhao city in China’s Shandong province. The $36.2 million contract was awarded by the...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) — The world’s 40 leading industrialised countries increased their greenhouse gas emissions by one percent in 2007, continuing a six-year rising trend, said the UN Climate Change Secretariat. The 2007 emissions are about 4% below 1990 levels, but showed a 3% growth for the period from 2000 to 2007. For the...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) –– American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), a Nasdaq-listed global energy technologies company, said another two wind farms under construction in Australia have purchased its D-VAR grid interconnection solution. These are the 50th and 51st wind farms to have purchased the D-VAR systems worldwide and AMSC’s 6th and 7th wins in Australia.   The...

(EnergyAsia, November 9, Monday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said they are seeking to strengthen their partnership toward the sustainable management of natural resources in the Asia Pacific region. At the ADB headquarters in Manila recently, WWF International director general James Leape discussed existing programmes and...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) — Japanese electronics giant Sharp Corp has claimed to achieve the world’s highest solar cell conversion efficiency of 35.8% using a triple-junction compound solar cell. Unlike silicon-based solar cells, the most common type of solar cell in use today, the compound solar cell utilises photo-absorption layers made from compounds consisting of...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) — India’s estimated eight-million-tonne sugar production shortfall threatens to drive up the price of ethanol and biodiesel. Local production usually meets India’s annual demand for 22 million tonnes of sugar. But dry weather this year could sharply reduce the country’s sugar production to 14 million tonnes. The ethanol market could also...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) –– Greenpeace said 50 of its activists acted this week to prevent the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and called on world leaders to end global deforestation, which is responsible for about a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions. The call came as negotiators met in Barcelona, Spain for the final round...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) — Jaiprakash Hydro-Power of India’s Jaypee Group has unveiled an ambitious plan to increase its combined hydro and thermal power generation capacity by 13,520 megawatts (MW) within seven years. Company founder Jaiprakash Gaur said it plans to complete the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo project in Himachal Pradesh in northwestern India by...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) — The slump in the solar panel market may get worse next year with expectations that the current supply glut would persist as solar equipment makers drive large volumes to offset low margins. The prices of silicon-based solar panels have dove by as much as 50% from their peak last year...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) — Karnataka State Women’s University has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Bio-Diesel Society to establish a bio-diesel park on a plot of barren land at the Toravi campus in Bijapur city. The park is expected to encourage farmers to grow trees for bio-diesel production and introduce them to...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) — Malaysia’s Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry is considering raising hydropower’s contribution to the country’s power supply mix to 30% by 2030, up from 8% now. Minister Peter Chin said the government is looking to tap the vast hydropower potential from Sarawak state to supply Peninsular Malaysia from 2015. The...

(EnergyAsia, November 6, Friday) — China’s LDK Solar said it has secured a contract to supply Enfinity for the largest rooftop solar energy installation project in Belgium. LDK Solar will provide approximately 18,000 solar modules to be installed on the Balta Group’s factory rooftop in Sint-Baafs-Vijve, Belgium. The project will be the country’s largest solar...

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — Singapore’s Keppel FELS Ltd said it has delivered two rigs safely, ahead of schedule and within budget to owners. The KFELS B Class jackup rig, Greatdrill Chitra, was delivered to India’s Greatship Global Energy Services Pte Ltd (Greatship) 12 days ahead of schedule, earning Keppel FELS a bonus of S$300,000....

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — US-based Clenergen Corporation said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Clenergen Corporation India Private Limited, will invest a total of $236 million in developing a 16MW-per-hour biomass power plant in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and a 64MW-per-hour plant in Karnataka state. It has also agreed to acquire and start up a dormant 1.5MW-per-hour...

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries will be the fastest growing category for utility-scale applications, growing to become a $1.1 billion worldwide business by 2018, said Pike Research, the US-based cleantech industry analyst firm. In a special report, Pike Research forecasts that revenue from Li-ion batteries will represent 26% of the $4.1...

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — Sinohydro Corporation, China’s largest hydropower plant builder, has signed a deal with Electricite Du Laos to jointly construct two hydropower stations and a power transmission line in Laos. The companies will build the 130,000-kW Nam Kham 2 hydropower plant southeast of Laos’ Luang Prabang city and the 47,000 kW Nam...

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — China’s Huaneng Group has broken ground for a giant 10-gigawatt wind farm in Jiuquan city in the country’s northwest province of Gansu. The complex is expected to have 5.16 GW of wind power capacity by the end of next year and 12.7 GW by the end of 2015. Huaneng Power...

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — The lack of expertise and experience among Chinese solar equipment manufacturers in project installations could open up opportunities for foreign firms hoping to break into this fast-growing market, said industry insiders. As an example, they cite the growing collaboration between Shanghai-based JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd and BP Solar in...

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — China-based ENN Group and Duke Energy of the US have announced that they will jointly develop commercial solar power projects in the US. The companies said they will concentrate on two types of solar photovoltaic designs: large “utility-scale” solar farms and commercial distributed generation solar projects. Distributed generation systems produce...

(EnergyAsia, November 5, Thursday) — Australia’s Southern Gold Limited said its economic modelling study has shown “very positive” preliminary findings for its Roxby geothermal project, making it eligible for a A$7 million grant under the state Geothermal Drilling Program. (US$1=A$1.1). The company said it will use the fund to develop two deep geothermal wells, undertake...