(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — Rig builder Keppel Offshore & Marine said it expects to finalise a contract for the construction of a US$200 million semi-submersible drilling rig. The award-winning KFELS SSDT 3600E design rig is expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2011. Developed by Keppel O&M’s Deepwater Technology Group (DTG), the...

(EnergyAsia, December 15, Tuesday) — The Australian government has unveiled its vision for biomass innovation, describing it as a significant opportunity to address energy security.   Addressing a recent bioenergy workshop, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said biomass is an important part of the nation’s energy mix. The government has unveiled seven successful applicants...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Australia’s largest scientific research agency CSIRO said the staff of Victoria state energy distributor SP AusNet has been using a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle since October at work as part of a three-month joint trial. CSIRO said its engineers have modified the EVs to carry a 30Ah NiMH battery which...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Foster Wheeler AG, a Nasdaq-listed engineering firm said its global engineering and construction group has signed a memorandum of understanding with PetroAlgae to help oil refineries to produce biomass fuels. Foster Wheeler will combine its engineering services with PetroAlgae’s micro-crop biomass technology to enable customers to undertake large-scale production of...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Hong Kong Energy (Holdings) Limited said it has agreed with its parent company, HKC (Holdings) Limited, to acquire a 25% stake in HKE (Danjinghe) Wind Power Limited for RMB73.5 million. (US$1=RMB6.83). HKE (Danjinghe) Wind Power Limited previously held a 40% equity interest in the company that operated the Danjinghe wind...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — China Longyuan Power Group Corporation Limited, the country’s largest wind power company, said it raised more than HK$17.53 billion through an initial public offering to Hong Kong and international investors. (US$1=HK$7.75). The company said its Hong Kong offer at HK$8.16 per H Share was over-subscribed by around 235 times while...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management will have to deal with new problems stemming from climate change, said a new study by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation. Small island developing states, which depend on fisheries and aquaculture for at least...

(EnergyAsia, December 14, Monday) — With more than one billion people in the Asia Pacific region expected to join the urban population in the next 20 years, economic development will not be possible without sustainable urbanisation, said a senior official at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In his speech at the recent Regional Workshop on...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday) — The cost of solar energy will fall by 50% this year from last year due mainly to the decline in solar panel prices, London-based New Energy Finance said in a research note. The ‘levelised’ cost for solar electricity or the lifetime cost per kilowatt hour before government subsidies fell to...

(EnergyAsia, December 11, Friday)  — The Chinese government has announced that it will cut the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by between 40% and 45% from 2005 levels, the first time the country has declared an emissions target. “This is a voluntary action taken by the Chinese...

(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...