(EnergyAsia, April 13 2010, Tuesday) — South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co (HHI) said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Datang Shandong Power Generation Co Ltd (DSPG) and Weihai City government for the construction of a 231,404 square metre joint wind turbine manufacturing plant in Weihai in China’s Shandong province. The plant...

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2010, Tuesday) — China Sunergy, a Nanjing-based high-end solar cell products manufacturer, said it has agreed to fully acquire two affiliated module manufacturers, CEEG (Shanghai) Solar Science & Technology Co Ltd and CEEG (Nanjing) New Energy Co Ltd. Both companies operate fully-integrated plants that combine R&D, production, and servicing of solar modules,...

(EnergyAsia, April 13 2010, Tuesday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corporation said it has completed installing a 62 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic (PV) system at Toyo Suisan Kaisha Ltd’s Kanto factory in Tatebayashi city. The installation, which is Toyo Suisan’s first, has also become the largest PV system at a business operation in the city. The electricity...

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2010, Monday) — DelSolar Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s switching power supplies giant Delta Electronics Inc, said its board of directors has approved the construction of a new 900 MW cell and module manufacturing facility in Jhunan, Taiwan. The total cost of plant and operations facilities construction combined with the purchase...

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2010, Monday) — Applied Materials Inc (AMI), a US capital equipment producer serving the semiconductor, TFT LCD Display, Glass, WEB and solar (crystalline and thin film) manufacturing industries, said it has opened its newly expanded manufacturing centre in Tainan city in Taiwan. Covering almost 15,000 square meters and employing 150 personnel, the...

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2010, Monday) — Investments and finance advisory firm International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, said it will be investing $10 million in Indian solar power company, Azure Power Pte Ltd, to facilitate new megawatt (MW) scale grid-connected solar plants to boost the country’s clean energy output. A...

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2010, Monday) — Several international aid agencies and multilateral banks have approved the allocation of $40 billion for country-led low carbon growth programmes under the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) at a meeting held at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila last month. Set up to help developing countries develop low-carbon...

(EnergyAsia, April 12 20010) — Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (RSIL) said they and the Uttar Pradesh state government will participate in a new venture to produce biofuels. The two Indian companies have signed a Limited Liability Partnership Agreement to form Indian Oil Ruchi Biofuels LLP to support the project...

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2010, Monday) — American Superconductor Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed global power technologies company, said it has received its largest grid interconnection system order to date for use in wind farm applications from Australia. Vestas Australian Wind Technology Pty Ltd placed the order for a large D-VAR-based grid interconnection system utilising 24 D-VAR modules...

(EnergyAsia, April 12 2010, Monday) — Two Asian companies have announced the start-up of their plants producing thin-film solar cells offering greater flexibility and cost savings. These cells allow thin layers of silicon to accumulate onto a glass substrate, enabling a dramatic reduction in the amount of silicon used. Anwell Technologies, a Singapore-based supplier of...

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2010, Friday) — The world’s solar energy industry achieved fresh records last year, with installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity up 6% to a record 6.43 gigawatts (GW) while solar cell output surged more than 36.3% to 9.34GW, said international market research and consulting company Solarbuzz, a division of the NPD Group, in its...

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2010, Friday) — OPITO, the Scottish body which sets safety and competency standards for the global oil and gas industry, recently held an industry briefing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 50 representatives from more than 36 local and international companies. The event was part of OPITO’s new international drive towards delivering common...

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2010, Friday) — By Yossef Bodansky for Oilprice.com The March 29 martyr-bombings in the two Moscow Metro stations served as a reminder of the escalating and evolving jihadist surge into Russia’s soft underbelly. The bombing took place at peak rush hour. The first martyr-bomber detonated herself at 7:56am in the Lubyanka station...

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2010, Friday) — Det Norske Veritas (DNV), a Norway-based risk management and sustainability solutions provider, has opened its new Clean Technology Centre (CTC) in Singapore to meet the rising demand for environmentally friendly technology and services in the Asia Pacific region. Located at the Science Park, the centre will focus on six...

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2010, Friday) — US automaker General Motors Co (GM) said it has signed a five-year partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to jointly develop biodiesel from the oil-bearing jatropha crop. GM said the project will aim to prove that jatropha can produce significant quantities of oil for conversion to biodiesel,...

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2010, Friday) — Australia-based Origin Energy said it and joint venture partners Genesis Energy, New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG) and Mitsui E&P Australia, have officially launched the NZ$1.3 billion Kupe gas project in Taranaki, New Zealand. (US$1=NZ$1.41). The project was inaugurated by Prime Minister John Key who highlighted the importance of...

(EnergyAsia, April 9 2010, Friday) — Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems A/S said it has secured an order for a total of 111 units of its V90-1.8/2.0 MW wind turbines for the Collgar wind farm in Australia. The 206 MW Collgar wind farm, located 25km southeast of Merredin in Western Australia state, is the largest order...

(EnergyAsia, April 8 2010, Thursday)— Canada’s Carmanah Technologies said it is partnering with UAE-based PTL Solar™ to manufacture solar LED lighting solutions for use at a facility under ENPARk in Dubai. The partnership will enable Carmanah to sell into the Middle East market as well as selected countries in Africa by bringing leading solar LED...

(EnergyAsia, April 8 2010, Thursday) — Sembcorp Marine said its fully-owned subsidiary, SMOE, recently won a $550 million contract from Norway-based ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS for the construction of accommodation topside to be located in the North Sea’s Greater Ekofisk Area. (US$1=S$1.4). To be located 300 km offshore Stavanger, the project includes engineering, procurement and construction...

(EnergyAsia, April 8 2010, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will be extending loans totalling $266 million to Bangladesh to address natural gas supply constraints to help spur economic growth and cut poverty. The bank said its board of directors approved a $261 million equivalent loan from its ordinary capital resources, and...

(EnergyAsia, April 8 2010, Thursday) — Shipowner and operator Golden Ocean Group Limited last month completed its secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), becoming the first to take advantage of the new scheme to promote dual listings of companies on the SGX and the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) of Norway. The two bourses signed...

(EnergyAsia, April 8 2010, Thursday) — The global wind power capacity rose by 31.7% to 159,213 MW last year, and is on course to exceed 200,000 in 2010, said the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA). Underlining its rapid growth, the sector reported a turnover of 50 billion euro and employed 550,000 workers worldwide last year....

(EnergyAsia, April 8 2010, Thursday) — BG Group said it has secured an agreement to supply 1.2 million tonnes per year (t/y) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 20 years from 2015 to Japan’s Tokyo Gas Co Ltd from the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility and from the UK company’s global LNG portfolio. The parties...

(EnergyAsia, April 8 2010, Thursday) — Wuxi, China-based Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd said it has been selected to supply solar panels for a new 4.7 megawatts (MW) solar plant in Young’an in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The power plant, owned and operated by the Taiwan Power Company, will be Taiwan’s biggest, nearly doubling the island’s current...