(Energy Asia, June 14 2010, Monday) — Indonesia and Norway have signed a US$1 billion agreement to conserve the Southeast Asia nation’s rainforests aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Under the agreement signed in Oslo last month between Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Norway has pledged to invest US$1...
(Energy Asia, June 14 2010, Monday)—India’s Orissa state government has approved another nine solar projects with a combined 57MW of power generation capacity as it continues to encourage investments into the state’s renewable energy sector. The new projects will raise Orissa’s solar power capacity to 351 MW. The companies approved to build the new power...
(Energy Asia, June 14 2010, Monday)—China and the US have agreed to invest in clean energy projects such as new energy and electric vehicles, energy-efficient construction, and clean coal technology, according to China’s vice minister of science and technology Cao Jianlin. The countries will jointly invest in building new laboratories as well as support research...
(EnergyAsia, June 14 2010, Monday) — US-based Ferro Corporation said it is expanding the capability of its photovoltaic (PV) technology centres in Suzhou in China and Taipei in Taiwan as part of a wider plan to support growth in Asia. The Cleveland, Ohio-based company said it is expanding its existing technology centre in Suzhou to...
(EnergyAsia, June 11 2010, Friday) — Undeterred by profitability and environmental sustainability concerns, Finnish oil refining and marketing company Neste Oil is focused on completing and starting up what will be the world’s largest renewable diesel plant in Singapore in the fourth quarter. When completed, the 800,000-metric tonne-per-year plant on a Tuas site on the...
(EnergyAsia, April 4) — The large investments into green energy projects by China, India and other major developing economies are putting rich countries on the defensive in relation to climate change issues. According to a recent report by the Pew Environment Group, China is now the world’s leader in investing in green energy, having pumped...
(EnergyAsia, June 11 2010, Friday) — Global photovoltaic cell production last year surged 51% from 7.1 gigawatts (GW) in 2008 to 10.7 GW in 2009, according to a research note published by GTM Research. PV panel production also grew strongly by 41% to 8.9GW. According to the US-based research group, the bulk of these panels...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Friday) — The global trade and shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) may rise signficiantly this year despite what could be a decline in demand from the world’s largest importers, said analysts at JP Morgan Chase. In a recent report, the bank’s energy analysts noted that LNG exports reached a record...
(EnergyAsia, June 11 2010, Friday) — The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has issued new guidelines tightening the sulphur content requirement on ship fuel to 3.5% from 4.5% from 2012. The organisation also decided last year to aim for a sulphur emission content of 0.5% by the beginning of 2020. The Marpol Annex VI restriction on...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — South Korea’s STX Energy said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Senai High Technology Park (SHTP) to establish solar cell module plants and solar farms worth a total of RM1.5 billion in Malaysia’s Johor state. The facilities and the 100MW solar farm will be located in...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — Prices in the world’s US$2.8-trillion petrochemical business reached six-month highs in early April before tapering off to register a price decline for the month, said global energy media group Platts. The Platts Global Petrochemical Index (PGPI), a basket of the most widely-used petrochemicals prices expressed in US dollars per...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — Solar Frontier, a fully-owned subsidiary of Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, said it will install photovoltaic power generation equipment totalling two megawatts at its third plant in Japan’s Miyazaki prefecture. The company said it will be using its proprietary CIS thin-film solar panels at the plant, now under construction and...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — China Huaneng Group said it has signed an agreement to buy wind turbines from six domestic suppliers in a deal worth 8.06 billion yuan to meet rising demand for clean energy. (US$1=6.83 yuan). Huaneng said Sinovel Wind Group Co., Shanghai Electric Group, Dongfang Electric Corp., China Shipbuilding Industry Corp.,...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — China’s BYD Automobile Co and Germany’s Daimler AG have signed an agreement to form a 600 million yuan joint venture to develop electric vehicles in China. (US$1=6.83 yuan). The joint venture called Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co plans to introduce its first electric vehicles in 2013 to be...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — A research report by Houston University of Texas state in the US has cast doubts on the viability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a weapon to fight global warming. The report said that it would take a reservoir the size of a small US state to capture...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — Norway’s Scatec Solar and China’s Sanhe Group have established a joint venture firm, SanSca, to partner with China’s Datang Renewable Energy Corp (DREC) build a green energy farm and solar power plants in several Chinese provinces. Scatec Solar, the Norwegian developer and supplier of PV solar parks, and Sanhe...
(EnergyAsia, June 10 2010, Thursday) — Australia’s Solco and Israel’s SolarEdge have announced a partnership agreement to supply a distributed power harvesting solution that will maximise power generation throughout a solar photovoltaic system’s lifecycle, while dramatically reducing complexities and costs. The SolarEdge power harvesting solution includes PowerBoxes, which are PV module-integrated power optimizers, solar PV...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and DNV’s Clean Technology Centre (CTC) said they have signed a partnership agreement to initiate and promote research, development and test-bedding projects in the areas of maritime environment and clean technologies. The two organisations aim to demonstrate their commitment to Singapore’s...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — Robert Bosch (SEA) Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of leading global technology and services supplier, the Bosch Group, last month officially opened its environmentally-friendly state-of-the-art Southeast Asian headquarters in Singapore. The Singapore office functions as the Asia Pacific hub for several Bosch divisions, including Corporate Research and Advance Engineering, Corporate...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — Taiwan’s Pihsiang Machinery Mfg Co Ltd is building the country’s first electric car manufacturing plant in the Sua free trade port in the northeastern part of the island. The plant, slated for completion by the end of this year and to be operational by the first quarter of 2011,...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — American Superconductor Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed global power technologies company, said it and Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Group Co Ltd are expanding its strategic partnership to include additional wind turbine designs for both the onshore and offshore markets. Sinovel and AMSC’s wholly-owned AMSC Windtec™ subsidiary will design and jointly develop a...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — NYSE-listed AU Optronics Corp said its board of directors has agreed to establish an equal joint venture to construct and operate a US$700 millionsolar cell manufacturing facility in Malaysia with SunPower Corp., the largest manufacturer of residential and commercial solar systems in the US. AUO said it needs to...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — By Fawzia Sheikh for Oilprice.com. As the US edges closer to issuing a fresh round of sanctions against Iran, foreign investors so far unmoved by international pressure will end up doing business with a Revolutionary Guard that makes even local firms nervous, an analyst warns. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — Changzhou National Hi-Tech District (CND) said it is building a new industrial park in China’s Jiangsu Province for the research and development (R&D), and production of electric passenger cars, low-speed micro-pure electric vehicles, power battery series and related industries. The park, which will comprise an industrialisation base, a technological...
(EnergyAsia, June 9 2010, Wednesday) — Nicholas Stern, author of the influential Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, spoke recently at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) headquarters on what the international community needs to do to make progress toward a meaningful global pact at 2010 UN climate change conference later this year in...