(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...

(EnergyAsia, December 8, Tuesday) — Indian utility firm NTPC will seek to tie up long-term contracts with international coal suppliers in its next financial year beginning March. For FY2010, NTPC has forecast it will need to import 12.5 million tonnes of better quality coal at a favourable price. Like other Indian utilities, it prefers coal...

(EnergyAsia, December 8, Tuesday) — A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd, a Nasdaq-listed provider of distributed power generation systems in China and manufacturer of wind turbines, and its subsidiary, Shenyang Power Group (SPG), have agreed to develop two power projects with Amraas International Private Limited in Pakistan. The first contract, valued at $120 million, involves the...

(EnergyAsia, December 7, Monday) — Solargiga Energy, a China-based monocrystalline silicon solar ingots and wafer manufacturer, said its 300kW photovoltaic (PV) pilot project in Jinzhou city, Liaoning province, has started generating power. Solargiga said the RMB12 million project in Jinzhou’s Binhai New District was developed by subsidiary Jinzhou Jinmao Photovoltaic Technology Co Ltd. (US$1=RMB6.84). The...

(EnergyAsia, December 7, Monday) — Enfinity, a global renewable energy developer, and Titan Energy Systems, a manufacturer of PV modules, said they will collaborate on developing, financing and constructing 1 GWp of PV installations on 3,000 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh state over the next five years. The partners will establish a special purpose...

(EnergyAsia, December 7, Monday) — The association representing tanker owners, Intertanko, has published a new guide book on how ship operators can implement an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) circular on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The association said its Guide for a Tanker Energy Efficiency Management Plan (TEEMP) will provide practical advice for operators to implement...

(EnergyAsia, December 7, Monday) — Siemens Energy, a subsidiary of the German engineering giant, said it has secured a new order for the supply of 28 SWT-2.3-101 wind turbines for a wind power project near Hamilton city in New Zealand.   The buyer, Meridian Energy, will use the turbines for the 64MW Te Uku wind...

(EnergyAsia, December 7, Monday) — Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) has launched the Smart Energy Challenge (SEC) to provide seed funding of up to S$5 million per project for innovative energy ideas that meet the nation’s energy needs. (US$1=S$1.38). The challenge is aimed at supporting new solutions that enhance the nation’s energy security through fuel...

(EnergyAsia, December 7, Monday) — Western Australia state has launched a new centre for researchers, industry executives, investors and government officials to design and develop geothermal energy technologies to provide modern cities with air conditioning, power and desalinated water. Supported by the state government, the Western Australian Geothermal Centre of Excellence (WAGCOE) in Perth is...

(EnergyAsia, December 7, Monday) — The world’s leading international financial institutions have promised to coordinate their financing of climate actions and use their combined expertise and resources to assist the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) parties and private firms to confront challenges posed by climate change. The promise was contained in a joint...

(EnergyAsia, December 4, Friday) — China Huaneng Group’s newly acquired Tuas Power has broken ground on a S$2-billion utilities complex comprising a clean coal and biomass cogeneration plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island. (US$1=S$1.38). The Tembusu Multi-Utilities Complex (TMUC) is being promoted as Jurong Island’s latest draw by contributing to its electricity supply and keeping down...

(EnergyAsia, December 4, Friday) — US-listed GC China Turbine Corp (GCHT) said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Yancheng regional government in China’s Jiangsu province to build a wind-turbine manufacturing plant. The plant will produce large utility scale turbines for offshore and coastal use, which GCHT will use for developing wind farms...

(EnergyAsia, December 4, Friday) — GE said it and China’s Shenhua Group Corporation have agreed to a framework for an industrial coal gasification joint venture to combine GE’s expertise in gasification and cleaner power generation technologies with Shenhua’s expertise in building and operating coal gasification and coal-fired power generation facilities. The venture will aim to...

(EnergyAsia, December 4, Friday) — Reducing the amount of energy required to produce a unit of gross domestic product (GDP), particularly in the service sector, has been by far the greatest contributor to curbing emissions growth, according to a new World Bank study on changes in CO2 emissions. Entitled ‘Changes in CO2 Emissions from Energy...

(EnergyAsia, December 4, Friday) — The World Bank Group said it is working with Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop a waste-to-energy project using rick husk as a feedstock. The bank and the ministry recently hosted a seminar, “Rice Husk Biomass: Turning Waste into Energy and Profits,” to key findings from a study...

(EnergyAsia, December 4, Friday) — An additional 1,582 megawatts of electricity generation capacity powered by alternative energy sources was added to the Australian grid in the six months to October 2009, said state research agency Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE). The new capacity came onstream following the completion of one coal, one...