(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) —GE Energy Financial Services said it has granted Indonesia’s largest geothermal power producer a US$50 million loan for the construction of a 220-megawatt (MW) emissions-free plant located near the town of Pangalengan, 200 km southeast of Jakarta. The GE subsidiary made the loan to a subsidiary of Star Energy, a...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) — US-based Solar EnerTech Corp said it has secured an agreement with Aussie Solar Installations, a division of Carbon Management Solutions Pty Ltd, to distribute its solar panel modules in Australia. Carbon Management Solutions is one of Australia’s leading distributors of solar power equipment. Aussie Solar has specialised in the...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — A senior South Korean minister wants the government to “be cautious” on a proposed plan to cut the nation’s carbon emissions by 4% by 2020 from 2005 levels. Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Kyoung-hwan recently said the government will have to study the plan’s possible negative impact on jobs and...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Representatives from DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE), the University of Tennessee and Genera Energy have jointly launched one of the world’s first cellulosic ethanol demonstration facilities, located in Vonore in the US state of Tennessee. The 74,000-sq-ft plant has started producing ethanol and will deliver low-cost, fully-integrated technology for...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — A hot spring in Singapore’s Sembawang district could be tapped for geothermal power to potentially support the electricity requirements of 50,000 homes, a geologist has concluded. Grahame Oliver, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore, revealed his findings last year after studying the geological formation and the...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and US-based Weyerhaeuser Company said they have signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the possibilities of collaborating in the biomass-to-energy business. The companies are specifically interested in assessing the feasibility of jointly investing in and operating a commercial-scale bio-pellet production facility in the...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Singapore will do its part in curbing greenhouse gas emissions but it will not be at the expense of sacrificing economic growth, Yaacob Ibrahim, the country’s environment and water resources minister, has said. The position of the city-state is similar to that of other countries in the Association of...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Facing fierce competition from their Chinese rivals and a slump in orders, South Korea’s shipbuilding giants are diversifying into manufacturing wind turbines. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, the country’s leading shipbuilder, has started up a wind facility manufacturing plant last October. Earlier, it signed a contract to provide US-based Wave...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — The carbon development market is expected to continue growing after achieving US$126 billion worth of transactions in 2008, almost double its value in 2007, said consultant Frost & Sullivan. By the end of the first commitment phase in 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol, the world is expected to have...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — Shareholders of CNPC (Hong Kong) Limited has approved the company’s proposal to change its name to Kunlun Energy Company Limited. The company said the new name will enable it to align with its new strategy to diversify into the natural gas downstream distribution and application businesses. “The board...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — China Wind Power International Corp (CWP), a company listed on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange, said it will be focusing its efforts on developing wind farms in China’s Heilongjiang province. The company said the province’s Development and Reform Commission recently approved a new and renewable energy industry development master plan...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — Iraq’s Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said his country will more than double its crude oil supply to 300,000 b/d to China this year. This would represent about Iraq’s planned export of 2.1 million b/d for 2010, and nearly a third of the amount that Saudi Arabia supplies to China....
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — The Philippines’ Department of Energy said it has approved the construction of seven biofuel projects worth a total combined cost of seven billion peso. (US$1=46 peso). The biggest project is a 3.4-billion peso bioethanol facility in Cavite, south of metropolitan Manila, by Cavite Biofuels Producers Inc. The plant will...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has awarded a $1 million technical assistance grant to pave the way for large-scale concentrated solar thermal (CST) power use in China. The grant will be used to implement a 1.5 megawatt (MW) CST pilot project and to carry out the prefeasibility assessment of...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — US-owned Independent Power Producer (IPP) Azure Power said it has commissioned half of a proposed two-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) project in the village of Awan in Punjab state in India. The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) provided the loan to finance the Rs190 million project. (US$1=Rs46). Under a...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — A Queensland state government consortium, which includes South Korea’s KEPCO, has launched a bid for A$100 million in federal funds to build a demonstration smart electricity grid for Australia. (US$1=A$1.1). Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Stephen Robertson said Queensland’s demonstration grid would show how promising new technologies...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — Indonesia said its biofuels production plunged 96% to 104,100 kiloliters last year as most producers ceased operations on account of the soaring price of crude palm oil and uncertainty over government policies. The price of palm oil, the main raw material for biofuels, surged by more than 57%...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — The recent inauguration of the Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran pipeline connecting Turkmenistan’s vast gas field to Iran’s northern Caspian region could improve Tehran’s gas export capabilities and energy security. The pipeline, the second between the two nations, will initially pump eight billion cubic meters (bcm) of Turkmen gas a year, rising...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — Husky Energy Inc and BP said they are making progress in developing their equally owned Sunrise oil sands project in Canada’s Alberta province. The companies said they have completed front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for the project’s first phase, and have obtained the regulatory approvals from the government...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd, a Nasdaq-listed manufacturer of wind turbines, said it has delivered 10 units of 2.7 MW wind turbines to customers in China. Last September, the company signed a contract to develop a 49.5MW wind farm in the township of Saiwusu, Guba County, Inner Mongolia, for...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — GE said it has secured a new order to supply 88 wind turbines to HECIC New Energy Co Ltd, a leading Chinese wind energy developer, for three new projects in Hebei and Shanxi provinces. The projects will support the rapid growth of wind energy investments in China, which currently...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it and the Japanese government are providing support to landlocked, mountainous Bhutan to counter the harmful impacts of climate change on its rivers. The Japan Special Fund, financed by the Japanese government and administered by ADB, is providing a $700,000 grant for building up...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s biggest state refiner, is in talks with the Uttar Pradesh state government to acquire 50,000 hectares of wasteland for the cultivation of non-edible oil seeds such as jatropha and karanjia for biodiesel production. IOC now has access to 30,000 hectares of wasteland in Chhattisgarah...
(EnergyAsia, February 5 2010, Friday) — Players in India’s auto market have expressed doubts about the viability of the electric car. R. C. Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki, has questioned the objective of launching electric vehicles in India if the electricity is to be supplied from coal-fired power plants. The country derives 70% of its...
(EnergyAsia, February 5 2010, Friday) — Chinese auto and battery maker BYD Co may start selling a rechargeable electric car in the US in 2010, one year of schedule, the company has said. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc owns a 10% stake in the company, which is emerging as a key player in the electric...