(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric said it has completed a 2,906-kilowatt photovoltaic installation for a new logistic centre in Prato, Italy. Of the 15,710 lead-free solder PV modules used for the 2,906kW system at CNNA-Prato’s centre, 15,650 modules (2,895kW) have been installed on the warehouse roof, covering a surface of 21,000 square...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — Two Chinese investment firms recently bought strategic stakes in separate solar businesses. Jiangxi International Trust and Investment Co Ltd has agreed to pay RMB1.5 billion for a 15% stake in LDK Solar’s 15,000-metric ton polysilicon plant in Xinyu city. (US$1=RMB6.83). Xiaofeng Peng, chairman and CEO of LDK Solar, said: “We...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — Singapore’s retail electricity market will next be opened up to competition completing in the divestment of the city-state’s three main power generating companies by previous owner, Temasek Holdings. One of Singapore’s two sovereign wealth funds, Temasek, began the privatisation process of SenokoPower, PowerSeraya and Tuas Power, more than a decade...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has launched a $60-million programme to help mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture in developing countries. Finland is the first country to contribute to the multi-donor programme which aims to promote sustainable low-emission agriculture in developing countries over the next five...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — Australian scientists have released a major report detailing their case for promoting bioenergy, which includes biomass and biofuels, as a sustainable long-term source of energy. While relatively small, bioenergy’s contribution has “very significant growth potential” as the country strives to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and increase its energy supply...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — PNOC Renewables Corp (PNOC-RC), a subsidiary of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co, plans to invest $550 million in building 11 mini hydroelectric power plants in partnerships with local and foreign firms. The plants, with a combined power generating capacity of 276 megawatts, will be located in Benguet, Iloilo, Isabela, Kalinga,...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — The US government has officially classified greenhouse gases (GHGs) as a threat to public health, potentially opening up the way for new taxes and increased costs on hydrocarbon production and use. The move will help reduce US oil consumption already weighed down by the economic recession. Predictably, the oil industry...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — A consortium comprising China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGas has acquired the Central Asian country’s fourth-largest oil producer, MangistauMunaiGas, for US$2.6 billion. MangistauMunaiGas controls oil reserves estimated at about 500 million barrels, and produces 110,000 b/d. State-owned Export-Import Bank of China helped finance the acquisition of the stake...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — Suniva Inc, a Georgia, US manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells and supplier of solar modules, said it has collaborated with Titan Energy Systems Ltd to launch India’s first large-scale project in Jamuria, West Bengal state. Suniva said its cells power the 1MW solar electric power plant which will...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — The China Council of International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), a think tank comprising local and international experts from various fields, has proposed that the Chinese government set a target for the country to reduce its carbon intensity by 4% or 5% per year to achieve low carbon development...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — Northern Mindanao Biofuels Corp (NMBC), a subsidiary of the Philippines’ publicly listed Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc, is setting up a 2.5-billion-peso ethanol manufacturing plant in the country’s southern region. (US$1=46 peso). NMBC is waiting for environmental compliance clearance for the project and is hoping to start building the plant by...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — Germanischer Lloyd (GL) said it has signed a contract with Shanghai Electric Wind-power Equipment Co Ltd (SEWIND) to provide type certification services for the Chinese firm’s 3.6 MW offshore wind turbines. GL will also provide development accompanying assessment (DAA) and design assessment services. “The export chances of certified wind turbines...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — The US-China Electric Vehicle Initiative has been criticised for being a piecemeal project narrowly focused on product development that fails to consider the bigger strategy needed for urban development. Energy analyst Lee Schipper said that a zero-carbon car for China will not solve the much bigger problems of urban congestion,...

(EnergyAsia, December 10, Thursday) — DuPont Apollo has started up its silicon-based thin-film PV module manufacturing facility in China. The 538,000-sq ft manufacturing facility will have an annual capacity of up to 50 MW with a thin-film-on-glass PV module production line. Full-scale commercial production is targeted for the first quarter 2010. In addition to providing...

(EnergyAsia, December 9, Wednesday) — Analysts and academics have given a variety of reasons for the sharp run-up in oil prices from around US$30 in March 2003, when the US-led military invaded Iraq, to a record $147 in July 2008. Stockpiling and panic buying. When the US military invaded Iraq, it sparked off worldwide concerns...

(EnergyAsia, December 9, Wednesday) — The Indian government has estimated that the country will suffer a coal supply shortage of 81.03 million tonnes for the fiscal year ending March 2012. This represents a 15.8% rise over the projected shortage of 70 million tonnes for the current year ending March 2010. To meet expected annual shortfalls,...

(EnergyAsia, December 9, Wednesday) — Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp has agreed to pay $400 million for a majority stake in China Longyuan Power Group, Asia’s largest wind power producer. CIC will be the fifth key investor in Longyuan following earlier buy-ins by US billionaire Wilbur Ross, China Life Insurance Group, Value Parnters Ltd...

(EnergyAsia, December 9, Wednesday) — The rapidly melting icebergs in Greenland and Antarctica are increasing the threat of rising sea levels and coastal flooding just as the world’s oceans are unable to further absorb greenhouse gases. A study sponsored by Clean Air-Cool Planet, an environmental group, projects that climate change will lead to a one-meter...

(EnergyAsia, December 9, Wednesday) — Trane, a business unit of US$17 billion NYSE-listed Ingersoll Rand which designs and produces heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, said it has achieved Singapore’s most energy efficient chiller plant retrofit. The company said the retrofit enabled The Galen building at Singapore Science Park to achieve energy efficiency of...

(EnergyAsia, December 9, Wednesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will channel around $700 million from two new investment funds to its developing member countries as part of an initiative to help developing countries meet the cost of actions needed to combat climate change. Donor countries including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway,...

(EnergyAsia, December 8, Tuesday) — The Indian government is looking to adopt competitive bidding for the allocation of coal blocks to encourage domestic production in the face of rising demand. Power generating companies have expressed growing concern that the country will face more blackouts and brownouts if it fails to secure more coal supplies. Coal...

(EnergyAsia, December 8, Tuesday) — Japan’s Sharp Corporation said it has achieved 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 two or...

(EnergyAsia, December 8, Tuesday) — Two strategic oil facilities on Daxie island in the Chinese city port of Ningbo in Zhejiang province have started operations. The Daxie Development Zone is along the Yangtze River Delta, about 40km away from downtown Ningbo. Local authorities have started up a 300,000-ton oil terminal at the same time that...

(EnergyAsia, December 8, Tuesday) — The value of electricity traded in Singapore dropped significantly to just over S$4 billion in the first three quarters of the year, the Energy Market Company (EMC) said. (US$1=S$1.38). The wholesale electricity market operator said the nine-month figure pales in comparison against the record S$6 billion registered last year, reflecting...

(EnergyAsia, December 8, Tuesday) — China Integrated Energy Inc (CIE), a Nasdaq-listed energy company operating in China, said it is building a 50,000-ton-per-year biodiesel plant adjacent to an existing facility in Tongchuan city in Shaanxi province. The $15 million plant, due to start up in the third quarter of 2010, is expected to boost CIE’s...