(EnergyAsia, May 17 2010, Monday) — US investment bank JP Morgan has shut down its four-member Singapore-based Asian carbon trading and development operations and consolidating the business under recently acquired EcoSecurities. The bank has bought out carbon pioneer EcoSecurities, one of the largest investors in clean energy projects supported by the UN-run Clean Development Mechanism....

(EnergyAsia, May 17 2010, Monday) — The Russian government is seeking greater cooperation among the world’s leading natural gas producing and exporting countries to ensure that prices do not fall as sharply as they have over the past two years. Russia is interested in making the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, which is based in Qatar...

(EnergyAsia, May 17 2010, Monday) — The Chinese government has directed state energy firms to form consortia or avoid competing against each other when bidding for overseas oil and gas assets to ensure that they do not overpay or drive up prices of acquisition targets. The National Energy Administration and National Development and Reform Commission...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — Malaysia plans to identify 50 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take part in a project to commercialise biomass technology.   Ahmad Zaharudin Idrus, chairman of the Biomass Industries in Malaysia Sustainable Production (Biomas-SP) Project, said that firms with a good track record would be groomed to build capacity...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — Shipowners and operators who violate greenhouse gas emissions levels set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the shipping industry in 2012 may face fines of US$75 for each tonne of emissions above limit. The IMO said commercial vessels, which carry about 80% of the world’s goods, accounted for...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — Nasdaq-listed SunPower Corp said it began supplying Japan’s Toshiba Corp 32MW of high-efficiency solar panels from April. The panels are a vital component of Toshiba’s new residential solar offering in Japan. SunPower CEO Tom Werner said: “SunPower panels are particularly well suited to Japan’s residential market where the new...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — The Singapore government has stepped up its national drive to promote energy saving among the country’s largest consumers. Last month, three key agencies, the National Environment Agency (NEA), Energy Market Authority (EMA) and Economic Development Board (EDB), launched the Energy Efficiency National Partnership (EENP) programme to help industry improve...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — Sri Lanka’s investment promotion agency said it has approved a company’s application to invest in two mini-hydro power plants worth a total of US$8.78 million. The Board of Investment (BOI) said the investors will be given tax breaks and concessions like duty free raw material and machinery imports.  The...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a staff paper proposing the setting up a new green fund to invest US$100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries finance the costs of combating climate change. The paper’s authors, economists Hugh Bredenkamp and Catherine Pattillo, suggest that creation...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — China Hydroelectric Corporation (CHC), a developer and operator of small hydroelectric power projects, said it has completed the full acquisition of the 19MW Husahe Project in China’s Yunnan province for RMB106 million. (US$1=RMB6.82). The company said it paid a combination of cash and a seller note, all or a...

(EnergyAsia, May 14 2010, Friday) — Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said his country will aim to generate 9,500 megawatts (MW) or 5% of its total energy needs from tapping geothermal power trapped beneath volcanoes.   Indonesia, which has 265 volcanoes, currently generates 1,200 MW of electricity from geothermal sources out of an estimated potential...

(EnergyAsia, May 13 2010, Thursday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said its board has approved investment in a 73-megawatt solar power plant in Lopburi province in central Thailand. The plant, likely to be one of the largest solar photovoltaic projects in the world, will be central to Thailand’s efforts to generate much more of...

(EnergyAsia, May 13 2010, Thursday) — Japan’s Kyocera Corp said it will supply 9,000 solar modules for a total of 1.7 megawatts (MW) of capacity for the first stage of the Matsuyama solar power plant in Ehime Prefecture on Japan’s Shikoku Island. Planned by Shikoku Electric Power Co Inc with construction by Yonden Engineering Co...

(EnergyAsia, May 13 2010, Thursday) — A controversial hydropower project in northern Myanmar has been rocked by a series of explosions but no information on casualties or damage has been released. The hardline military regime has blamed dissident groups and separatist ethnic rebels launching the attacks. The hydroelectric project on the country’s main Irrawaddy River...

(EnergyAsia, May 13 2010, Thursday) — Japan’s Honda Motor has launched its latest electric scooter, which will initially target domestic business customers such as fast food delivery chains. The EV-neo, which uses a lithium-ion battery, can travel 30 km on a single charge and can be rapid-charged up to 80% of capacity in 20 minutes....

(EnergyAsia, May 13 2010, Thursday) — Car makers, rather than environmentalists, are prematurely promoting the production and use of expensive electric cars to take advantage of generous state subsidies even though the industry has a higher carbon dioxide footprint than the traditional auto sector, according to an industry report. The 168-page report, The Emperor’s New...

(EnergyAsia, May 13 2010, Thursday) — Industry participants believe biofuels would meet only a small portion of Australia’s demand for aviation fuel over the next 10 years. At an environmental conference hosted by US aircraft company Boeing in Sydney last month, some participants predicted that biofuels would supply less than 5% of the domestic aviation...

(EnergyAsia, May 13 2010, Thursday) — GE said its Jenbacher biogas engines will power China’s Liaoning Huishan cow farm, which when completed in September, will become world’s largest biogas project based on cow manure. The manure from the 250,000 cows at the farm in Shenyang city will be converted into biogas and is expected to...

  (EnergyAsia, May 12 2010, Wednesday) — Anglo Dutch Shell last week officially announced the completion of the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC) project in Singapore, its largest petrochemicals investment to date, and its second world-scale petrochemicals project in Asia in four years after its Nanhai joint-venture in Guangdong, China. The new plant, estimated to...

  (EnergyAsia, May12 2010, Wednesday) – US conglomerate GE and Japanese auto giant Nissan said they are jointly researching and developing technology and infrastructure for charging electric vehicles. The two companies have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore new technologies that are needed to build a reliable, dynamic smart-charging infrastructure. The MOU...

  (EnergyAsia, May 12 2010, Wednesday) — By Wayne Madsen for Oilprice.com. We have been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and BP, which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign — more than...

  (EnergyAsia, May 12 2010, Wednesday) — By Darrell Delamaide for Oilprice.com. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from a collapsed offshore drilling rig could affect White House plans to extend offshore drilling, press secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged as the oil slick threatened onshore sites from the Louisiana wetlands to the Sarasota beaches...

  (EnergyAsia, May 12 2010, Wednesday) — Japan’s lithium-ion battery sector, which dominates the world market, is poised for strong growth in the next 10 years, according to analysts at Macquarie Research. The battery-material market in Japan will grow to one trillion yen by 2010 from 200 billion yen in 2008 because of demand from...

  (EnergyAsia, May 12 2010, Wednesday) — Indian companies may see little yield from their investments of over US$5 billion in jatropha plantations to produce biofuels because they have been using poor quality seeds or had been led to expect too much from the ‘miracle’ crop. In the race to develop alternatives to fossil fuels,...