(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — Google has launched a start-up company to produce scalable solar thermal power plants. Founded last year, eSolar Inc has raised a total of US$130 million from investors to build and deploy pre-fabricated power plants. “The eSolar power plant is based on mass manufactured components, and designed for rapid construction, uniform...

(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — US and European investments in biofuels, solar and windpower projects may already have peaked, at least temporarily, according to research firm Cleantech Group. Cleantech found that US and European investments in ethanol and wind power peaked in the third quarter of 2006 while investments in thin-film solar peaked in the...

(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — US-based Spire has won a contract from India’s Alpex Exports to build a 15-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic module assembly line near New Delhi. Financial terms were not disclosed. This will be the first solar energy project for Alpex, an international trading firm focussed on textiles. The project will support Alpex’s expansion...

(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — Electricity from solar energy is still too expensive in India. Analysts said it will take many years before it can make a meaningful contribution in meeting the country’s soaring energy needs. Even the incentives India’s federal and state governments offer for solar energy projects are not enough to make it...

(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — US-based Clear Skies Solar Inc said it has signed a $20 million agreement, subject to financing, with Power Cube, a company located in Utter Pradesh, India to develop and construct the first of several solar energy projects in that country. For its first project in the international markets, Clear Skies...

(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — ExxonMobil Chemical said it will introduce new co-extruded separator grades for hybrid and electric vehicle batteries at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) in Tampa, Florida on May 12-16, 2008. Pat Brant, chief polymer scientist, ExxonMobil Chemical, will present a technical paper titled: “ExxonMobil Co-extrusion Separator Technology Platform for HEV/EV...

(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — NYSE-listed Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited, a world leading vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) product manufacturers, said it has landed with Germany’s IBC Solar AG, a leading specialist in PV systems. Yingli Green Energy is expected to supply a minimum of 35 MW of PV modules to IBC from May...

(EnergyAsia, May 14, Wednesday) — The Kyoto Protocol should be considered just the first lap in a long race to reduce the environmental and economic risks associated with climate change, according to a scientist with Australia’s research agency CSIRO. In a keynote address at a Sydney conference, “Kyoto Policy in Practice”, Roger Jones said the...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — Keppel FELS Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited (Keppel O&M), said it has secured a contract to build a US$512 million ultra-deepwater semisubmersible (semi) drilling rig from a subsidiary of ENSCO International Incorporated (ENSCO). To be delivered in the second half of 2011, the ENSCO...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — India’s federal government is targeting to bring solar energy use to 60 cities to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. The Ministry for New and Renewable Energy will select the 60 cities with populations of between 500,000 and 5 million people. Power demand in India’s fast-growing cities is expected to...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — India’s Praj Industries, a builder of ethanol plants and technology, wants to develop non-edible algae as a feedstock for biofuels. The company has started research on converting algae into biofuels. It sees algae, with its high hydrocarbon content, as a key source for renewable fuels. Praj plans to employ another...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — Private equity firm Hudson Clean Energy Partners, which is backed by Credit Suisse, is looking to invest an average of US$100 million in individual wind, solar and biofuels projects around the world. Hudson will focus on renewable energy firms that have commercialised their technologies and processes, or are very close...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — NYSE-listed LDK Solar Co Ltd, a leading manufacturer of multicrystalline solar wafers, said it has signed a five-year contract to supply multicrystalline solar wafers to Germany-based Qimonda AG. LDK Solar will deliver approximately 540 MW of multicrystalline solar wafers to Qimonda, or its new joint venture with Centrosolar, from 2009...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — US chemicals giant DuPont said it will soon begin building a research center in Hong Kong and a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen to support the rapidly growing photovoltaic (PV) solar energy industry in China. The company expects growth in the photovoltaic market to exceed 30% per year over the next...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — With demand for energy in Asia soaring, governments urgently need to create the right environment to attract investments in clean energy, ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said at a recent climate change seminar in Madrid, Spain. Asia’s share of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions has tripled since 1973 and it is expected...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — Asia-Pacific countries recently agreed at a UN meeting in Bangkok to boost their collaboration on developing renewable energy to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels and enhance their long-term energy security. The decision to share experiences and disseminate developing renewable energy technologies was taken at the annual session of the...

(EnergyAsia, May 13, Tuesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending 800 million yuan in a partial credit guarantee program to support small and medium sized private sector energy-efficient projects in China. (US$1=7 yuan). ADB has selected Standard Chartered Bank as the first partner financial institution in the pilot programme that will initially target...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corporation Ltd said its net profit for the first quarter surged 60% to US$9 million over the corresponding period last year. It attributed the rise to interest savings as a result of full repayment of deferred debt, higher volume of jet fuel procured, an increase in...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Amid growing controversy over reports of world food price inflation and famines, the European Union (EU) has decided not to push ahead with plans to enforce a 10% biofuels blend in the region’s gasoline and diesel by 2010. The EU’s executive body, the Commission, has come under intense pressure from...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) vice chairman and CEO, Mohamed Al-Mady, gave the keynote speech at the Financial Times China-Middle East Summit, held in Riyadh last week. Speaking on the subject of “Saudi Arabia and China:  Natural Partners in the Global Economy,” he said that Saudi Arabia’s large hydrocarbon resources...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Canada’s Day4 Energy Inc, a leading manufacturer of high performance, cost-effective solar electric modules, said it has supplied its 48MC solar modules to Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co Ltd for an installation sponsored by the Japanese government’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Operated by NTT Facilities Inc, the...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will invest US$15 billion to help electricity generated from alternative low-carbon sources compete with conventional oil and gas-based power. Under the Masdar Initiative, the UAE will subsidise power prices from a planned solar power plant and a hydrogen project. The proposed 100 MW solar thermal...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — US HyPower Fuel aims to deploy its biodiesel process technologies in plants in Southeast Asia. Under an agreement with an unnamed Hong-Kong business development firm, three biofuels plants could be built in the region employing HyPower’s processes, the company said. HyPower’s processes to make biodiesel were more competitive than conventional...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — Biofuels should not become a political scapegoat for gasoline and diesel price increases, said the New Zealand Biofuel Manufacturers Association (NZBMA). The suggestion that biofuels will add 7 NZ cents litre to the cost of fuel comes only from an oil company submission to the Biofuels Bill. The NZ manufacturers...

(EnergyAsia, May 12, Monday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is establishing a new fund to slow the onset of climate change and to help the Asia-Pacific region adapt to the expected devastating impact of global warming. ADB will provide an initial $40 million to the Climate Change Fund, which will be open for further...