(EnergyAsia, March 9, Monday) — Contact Energy Limited, one of New Zealand’s largest publicly listed companies, said it is seeking to raise NZ$300 million through a retail bond offer, with the ability to accept unlimited oversubscriptions. (US$1=NZ$1.65). The offer opened last week and will close on March 31 2009. The bonds offer investors an interest...
(EnergyAsia, March 9, Monday) — Australia’s Origin Energy said its underlying profit rose 38% to A$277 million for the six months to December 31 2008. (US$1=A$1.55). Revenue was up by about 10% to A$4.216 billion compared with the same period last year. The comapny said it significantly strengthened its balance sheet through the establishment of...
(EnergyAsia, March 9, Monday) — Engineering firm KBC Advanced Technologies plc (KBC) said it has opened a branch office in Bahrain. From its new presence in the Almoayyed Tower in Manama city, about 15 minutes from Bahrain International Airport and 45 minutes via King Fahd causeway to Saudi Arabia KBC said it can now provide...
(EnergyAsia, March 9, Monday) — To assist China in meeting its goals of increased energy efficiency and reduced emissions, GE Energy said it recently signed service and maintenance agreements totalling $128 million for two power plants, including the largest gas turbine combined-cycle power plant in Zhejiang province. GE Energy said it will provide inspections and...
(EnergyAsia, March 9, Monday) — In a unique project financed by the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), Indian lawyers and project developers met recently in New Delhi to learn about legal issues surrounding clean energy projects. The project was implemented by the government of Canada’s RETScreen International in association with The Energy +...
(EnergyAsia, March 6, Friday) — Chloride Group, a UK-based world leader in secure power solutions, aims to beef up its Singapore operations as the regional headquarters and R&D centre to serve customers in Southeast Asia. The company, which last year opened its Singapore and regional headquarters and training academy in Jurong, is targeting to raise...
(EnergyAsia, March 6, Friday) — Singapore’s power market will further open up to competition when a section of its residential users will be allowed to choose their electricity suppliers under a trial next year. The Energy Market Authority (EMA) will offer a portion of the island’s residential electricity market for bidding by the power industry,...
(EnergyAsia, March 6, Friday) — TA Oil said it is looking to invest in a wind farm on Guimaras Island in the Philippines. The island is one of 12 sites identified by the Philippine government as suitable for setting up wind farms. TA Oil President Francisco Viray said he expects to launch studies into the...
(EnergyAsia, March 6, Friday) — New Zealand-based biodiesel firm Solid Energy may not go ahead with a second stage expansion of its facility in Christchurch. The company said that its subsidiary, Biodiesel New Zealand, is unable to proceed with expanding its one-million-litre-per-year plant to 15-million due to the challenge of raising financing and poor market...
(EnergyAsia, March 6, Friday) — The Middle East is not likely to make much progress in advancing solar energy technology as governments have reined in their R & D spending and investment in renewable energy. Analysts said it would take at least five year before meaningful progress would be achieved in the region. Currently, the...
(EnergyAsia, March 6, Friday) — TUV Rheinland said it is offering testing services and design qualification for the IEC 61646 thin film terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules at its new competence centre in Yokohama in Japan. The new service complements both the PV outdoor testing facilities and the crystalline PV module competence centre already in place...
(EnergyAsia, March 5, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will fund a pilot project to help cities in the region develop transport systems that are better for the environment and affordable to the poor. ADB will provide a project preparatory technical assistance grant of US$2.8 million to fund studies for sustainable urban...
(EnergyAsia, March 5, Thursday) — UK-based Argus said it is the only global energy media to offer daily price assessments for Vietnam’s Sutu Den (Black Lion) crude oil. Sutu Den is likely to become Vietnam’s flagship grade this year, with exports projected to exceed 100,000 b/d in 2009 following a boost to production from the...
(EnergyAsia, March 5, Thursday) — US conglomerate GE will be an anchor partner in Abu Dhabi’s ‘zero-waste’ Masdar city. In a joint statement, GE and Masdar said they will develop a new Ecomagination Centre focused on sustainable business solutions and form a broader R&D relationship that will support the development and deployment of new and...
(EnergyAsia, March 5, Thursday) — Japan’s Sanyo Electric said it will increase production capacity for HIT solar cells by building new production facilities at its Nishikinohama factory in Osaka’s Kaizuka city. The factory currently produces Sanyo’s proprietary HIT solar cells for export to meet rising demand for solar power generation equipment. Construction of the 260MW...
(EnergyAsia, March 5, Thursday) — Sembcorp Industries, a Singapore-listed utilities and marine group, said its 2008 after-tax profit excluding a tax write-back rose 6% to S$507 million from 2007’s S$478 million. (US$1=S$1.55). The write-back of S$48 million was recorded in 2007. Sembcorp said its revenues surged 15% to S$9.9 billion, while its return on equity...
(EnergyAsia, March 5, Thursday) — The Australian government has launched an A$435 million fund to boost renewable energy projects. (US$1=A$1.55). The fund is aimed at promoting the production and use of solar, wind and other renewable technology. Australia has set a long-term target to generate 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. However,...
(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — International energy futures and commodities exchange Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) and CME Group, the world’s largest and most diverse derivatives exchange, said they recently completed the migration of DME’s contracts to the CME Globex® electronic trading platform. The transition enables the world’s three crude oil benchmarks – WTI, Brent and...
(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — UK energy media group Argus said it has launched daily price assessments for Malaysian crude grades Kikeh and Labuan. Starting March 2, the new assessments are included in Argus Crude – a widely used market report providing daily information on the global crude markets. Kikeh is a light sweet crude...
(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) —Suzlon Energy Limited, India’s leading wind turbine manufacturer, said it has established the first wind farm site to utilise solar energy to power site operations in Adwadi, Nasik. As most wind farms are located in remote and often underdeveloped regions, small back-up diesel generators are sometimes needed for basic requirements at...
(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — The government of India’s Orissa state said it is planning to sign MoUs with the National Hydro Power Corp (NHPC) to set up 12 medium- sized hydro power projects worth a total of Rs 100 billion. (US$1=Rs51). Orissa’s energy minister, Surjya Narayan Patro, said the new plants to be sited...
(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — MF Global Ltd, a NYSE-listed intermediary of global cash, derivatives and related markets, said it has expanded its over-the-counter energy brokerage in Singapore as well as its equity derivatives team in Hong Kong. Mikal Boe, formerly with Imarex, is head of MF Global’s commodities unit including energy. The company said...
(EnergyAsia, March 4, Wednesday) — Chinese state oil firm CNOOC said it expects to start up a 60,000-tonn-per-year jatropha-powered biodiesel plant on Hainan island in May. Scientists will use the plant to conduct research to develop commercially viable biodiesel. CNOOC has also set aside land to develop jatropha seed and plant the crop in several...
(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp said it has improved its world’s highest conversion efficiency rate for a 150 x 150 millimeter practical-size multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell by 0.3 points from 18.6% to achieve a new world record of 18.9%. The efficiency is measured in terms of solar light energy converted...
(EnergyAsia, March 3, Tuesday) — US energy research firm Energy Security Analysis Inc (ESAI) has predicted that there will be a “substantial increase” in the gasoline crack in the coming six months, much higher than the negative margins seen at the end of 2008. The culprit is zealous refining run cuts in the face of...