(EnergyAsia, November 17, Tuesday) — India’s state-owned power firm NTPC said it plans to develop five coal mines to provide up to 48 million tonnes of feedstock per year for captive use. The mines in Pakri-Barwadih, Kerandari, Chatti-Bariatu, Dulanga and Talaipalli were allotted to the company by the government which is increasingly concerned about rising...

(EnergyAsia, November 17, Tuesday) — Brazilian state oil and gas company Petrobras said it is studying the possibility of investing in a fertiliser plant in Saudi Arabia to produce ammonium nitrate. It will consider building a green petroleum coke calcining (CVP) unit in the kingdom to supply the Saudi aluminum industry. Petrobras made the announcement...

(EnergyAsia, November 17, Tuesday) — Qatargas Operating Company Ltd said it has signed separate memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two of China’s largest oil and gas companies, China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and PetroChina International Company Ltd, for additional long-term supplies of liquefied natural gas to China. Qatargas will supply an additional three million...

(EnergyAsia, November 16, Monday) — Providing off-grid charging solutions such as solar phones or external solar chargers could offer mobile operators a US$2.3 billion market opportunity, said GSMA in a report, ‘Charging Choices’. Commissioned by GSMA’s green power for mobile (GPM) programme, the study estimated that 485 million mobile users around the world are without...

(EnergyAsia, November 16, Monday) — Clenergen Corp said it has secured long-term leases on plantation land parcels in the Tirunelveli district of India’s Tamilnadu state for cultivation of feedstock for a biomass plant. Clenergen said it has begun detailed survey on the first parcel of 850 acres before designing the irrigation system and commercial planting....

(EnergyAsia, November 16, Monday) — German oil storage group Oiltanking said it has begun building another 450,000 cbm of capacity at its joint venture company in Oman’s Sohar port. Oiltanking Odfjell Terminals & Co LLC awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract to a consortium comprising Indian Oiltanking Engineering & Construction Services LLC and Larsen...

(EnergyAsia, November 16, Monday) — ExxonMobil said it and its partners, Sinopec, Fujian Province and Saudi Aramco, recently celebrated the completion and operation of China’s first integrated refining and petrochemical facility with foreign participation. They said the Fujian Integrated Refining and Ethylene Joint Venture Project, will help meet the region’s growing need for fuels and...

(EnergyAsia, November 16, Monday) — The following is an edited version of the Monetary Authority of Singapore annual lecture by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “We find ourselves at a pivotal moment in history. The last two years have revealed deep fissures in the global economic and financial framework, making...

(EnergyAsia, November 13, Friday) — A looming ban on exports of rare earth metals by the world’s biggest producer threatens to jeopardise the ambitious plans of governments and the auto industry to develop a global electric vehicle industry. A draft report by China’s Minstry of Industry and Information Technology suggests the government is planning to...

(EnergyAsia, November 13, Friday) — Singapore’s Economic Development Board said it has granted S$15 million for eight projects related to research and development of solar power technology. (US$1=S$1.38). One project will focus on tapping the 80% of solar energy that becomes heat to boil water, replacing electricity. Researchers are seeking to install a 10 kilowatt...

(EnergyAsia, November 13, Friday) — The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has warned that passenger ships sailing in EU territorial waters might be subject to three differing fuel sulphur limits from next July. The maximum allowable sulphur content of ship fuel in use in the Baltic and North Sea/English Channel emission control areas (ECAs) will...

(EnergyAsia, November 13, Friday) — CNPV said it is launching a new photovoltaic (PV) module series with power ranging from 190Wp to 200Wp made with high efficiency 125x125mm mono crystalline cells. CNPV said that, to date, it has shipped out 8MWp of these premium modules to key customers in Germany, France, Belgium and the Czech...

(EnergyAsia, November 13, Friday)— Greenpeace has called on US President Barack Obama, visiting Asia for the first time since taking office early this year, to help save Indonesia’s threatened rainforests as part of a bigger commitment to fight climate change. Accusing his government of blocking progress ahead of the critical UN climate negotiations at Copenhagen...

(EnergyAsia, November 13, Friday) — The Australian government has awarded A$235 million to support four commercial-scale renewable energy projects from the national Renewable Energy Demonstration Program (REDP). (US$1=A$1.08.). The companies leading the projects are MNGI Pty Ltd (Petratherm), Geodynamics Pty Ltd, Victorian Wave Partners Pty Ltd and the Hydro-Electric Corporation (Hydro Tasmania). Resources and Energy...

(EnergyAsia, November 13, Friday) — Dhaka, Manila and Jakarta are at the top of WWF’s list of the climate vulnerability of 11 major cities in Asia. As heads of states gather in Singapore for the APEC summit, WWF said that developed and developing countries must cooperate to prepare these cities for a brutal climate future,...

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — Singapore’s Anwell Technologies Limited said its wholly owned subsidiary, Sungen International Limited, last month signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with US-based Solargen Energy Inc to supply amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar panels for use in large scale commercial solar farm projects. Solargen develops, owns and operates large-scale commercial...

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — Anwell Technologies Limited, a Singapore-listed supplier of advanced manufacturing equipment and process technologies for the optical disc, OLED and solar industries, recently produced its first amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film solar panel at its 40MW plant in Henan province in China. Last month, Anwell announced that wholly-owned subsidiary Sungen International Limited...

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — Two Japanese companies, TonenGeneral and Toray Industries, have announced they will establish a global joint venture for the battery separator film business by next January. It will develop, manufacture and sell lithium ion battery (LIB) separator film and introduce next-generation films to the market. TonenGeneral, an ExxonMobil Chemical affiliate, and...

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — Tata Power, India’s largest integrated private power utility, and SN Power, Norway’s fast-growing international renewable energy company, have signed an exclusive partnership agreement to jointly develop hydropower projects in India and Nepal. Tata said this is the first time it has entered into an exclusive partnership with another hydropower company....

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — Amid the rave reviews, announcements of government support and rush of investment dollars, the electric vehicle industry is facing doubts about its viability—even from within its own ranks. Japan’s Toyota is going slow on developing an all-electric car, planning to introduce one only in 2012 or far later than rivals...

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — Just months before the world meets in Copenhagen in December to work out a new climate deal, China and India have signed a five-year agreement to improve cooperation on combating global warming. Under the bilateral pact, the countries will work together on energy conservation and efficiency, renewable energy and forest...

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — enXco, an EDF Energies Nouvelles company of France, said it has entered into a sales agreement with China’s Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, to supply up to 115 megawatts of photovoltaic modules in 2010. enXco said the agreement will enable it to execute on its growing portfolio of 2010 projects...

(EnergyAsia, November 12, Thursday) — Thai upstream company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) said it has deepened its push into Australia’s upstream sector with its latest agreement to buy an exploration block from two Australian companies. Anon Sirisaengtaksin, PTTEP’s CEO, said it has agreed to pay Stuart Petroleum Limited and Albers Group...

(EnergyAsia, November 11, Wednesday) — Alfa Laval, a Swedish engineering group provide heat transfer, centrifugal separation and fluid handling services said it has received a 100 million krona order from PetroVietnam Group to build an ethanol biofuels plant in northern Vietnam. (US$1=6.85 krona). The order includes the delivery of equipment and engineering solutions next year....

(EnergyAsia, November 11, Wednesday) — Singapore’s drive to become a clean and renewable energy centre has opened up opportunities for its institutions of higher learning and training to play an important role in helping to develop new industries as well as expertise and skills for the country’s youth. One of the key institutions, Singapore Polytechnic,...