(EnergyAsia, February 12 2010, Friday) — The efforts of Asia Pacific countries to meet their green energy objectives bode well for the smart grid market in the region as governments have issued regulatory mandates requiring utilities to modernise their grids. The utilities, spurred on by government funding and the cost saving benefits of the advanced...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) — Rapid industrial growth and urbanisation in China’s Yunnan province have caused serious pollution and environmental problems that are threatening its continued economic expansion. To address the issue, the provincial government will work towards striking a balance between economic development and environmental protection through a project supported by a $400,000...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) — Singapore has joined other countries in taking a less urgent stance in the fight to slow down global warming. The global economic recession, the failure of last December’s climate change summit in Copenhagen and the growing scandal implicating scientists for falsifying data to exaggerate the rate of global warming...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) — US-based Asia Energy Management Systems Inc has offered to buy a 21.4% stake in Sri Lankan hydro power company Vallibel Power Erathna PLC for 800 million rupees. (US$1=170 rupees). Accuity Partners, the offer manager, said in a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange that Asia Energy has an undertaking...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) — Germany’s Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG), together with French financier Proparco, said they have granted India’s Bhoruka Power Corporation Ltd (BPCL) a long-term loan of 15.3 million euros for the development of a wind farm. (US$1=0.73 euro). DEG will provide 8.3 million euro while Proparco will lend seven...
(EnergyAsia, Febraury 11 2010, Thursday) — Hawaii-based Hoku Scientific Inc said it has signed a letter of intent with Tianwei New Energy Holdings Co Ltd, a Chinese provider of silicon wafers, photovoltaic (PV) cells, modules and systems, to explore the establishment and capitalisation of an investment fund that would provide dedicated financing for PV power...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) —GE Energy Financial Services said it has granted Indonesia’s largest geothermal power producer a US$50 million loan for the construction of a 220-megawatt (MW) emissions-free plant located near the town of Pangalengan, 200 km southeast of Jakarta. The GE subsidiary made the loan to a subsidiary of Star Energy, a...
(EnergyAsia, February 11 2010, Thursday) — US-based Solar EnerTech Corp said it has secured an agreement with Aussie Solar Installations, a division of Carbon Management Solutions Pty Ltd, to distribute its solar panel modules in Australia. Carbon Management Solutions is one of Australia’s leading distributors of solar power equipment. Aussie Solar has specialised in the...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — A senior South Korean minister wants the government to “be cautious” on a proposed plan to cut the nation’s carbon emissions by 4% by 2020 from 2005 levels. Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Kyoung-hwan recently said the government will have to study the plan’s possible negative impact on jobs and...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Representatives from DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE), the University of Tennessee and Genera Energy have jointly launched one of the world’s first cellulosic ethanol demonstration facilities, located in Vonore in the US state of Tennessee. The 74,000-sq-ft plant has started producing ethanol and will deliver low-cost, fully-integrated technology for...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — A hot spring in Singapore’s Sembawang district could be tapped for geothermal power to potentially support the electricity requirements of 50,000 homes, a geologist has concluded. Grahame Oliver, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore, revealed his findings last year after studying the geological formation and the...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and US-based Weyerhaeuser Company said they have signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the possibilities of collaborating in the biomass-to-energy business. The companies are specifically interested in assessing the feasibility of jointly investing in and operating a commercial-scale bio-pellet production facility in the...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Singapore will do its part in curbing greenhouse gas emissions but it will not be at the expense of sacrificing economic growth, Yaacob Ibrahim, the country’s environment and water resources minister, has said. The position of the city-state is similar to that of other countries in the Association of...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — Facing fierce competition from their Chinese rivals and a slump in orders, South Korea’s shipbuilding giants are diversifying into manufacturing wind turbines. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, the country’s leading shipbuilder, has started up a wind facility manufacturing plant last October. Earlier, it signed a contract to provide US-based Wave...
(EnergyAsia, February 10 2010, Wednesday) — The carbon development market is expected to continue growing after achieving US$126 billion worth of transactions in 2008, almost double its value in 2007, said consultant Frost & Sullivan. By the end of the first commitment phase in 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol, the world is expected to have...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — Shareholders of CNPC (Hong Kong) Limited has approved the company’s proposal to change its name to Kunlun Energy Company Limited. The company said the new name will enable it to align with its new strategy to diversify into the natural gas downstream distribution and application businesses. “The board...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — China Wind Power International Corp (CWP), a company listed on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange, said it will be focusing its efforts on developing wind farms in China’s Heilongjiang province. The company said the province’s Development and Reform Commission recently approved a new and renewable energy industry development master plan...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — Iraq’s Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said his country will more than double its crude oil supply to 300,000 b/d to China this year. This would represent about Iraq’s planned export of 2.1 million b/d for 2010, and nearly a third of the amount that Saudi Arabia supplies to China....
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — The Philippines’ Department of Energy said it has approved the construction of seven biofuel projects worth a total combined cost of seven billion peso. (US$1=46 peso). The biggest project is a 3.4-billion peso bioethanol facility in Cavite, south of metropolitan Manila, by Cavite Biofuels Producers Inc. The plant will...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has awarded a $1 million technical assistance grant to pave the way for large-scale concentrated solar thermal (CST) power use in China. The grant will be used to implement a 1.5 megawatt (MW) CST pilot project and to carry out the prefeasibility assessment of...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — US-owned Independent Power Producer (IPP) Azure Power said it has commissioned half of a proposed two-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) project in the village of Awan in Punjab state in India. The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) provided the loan to finance the Rs190 million project. (US$1=Rs46). Under a...
(EnergyAsia, February 9 2010, Tuesday) — A Queensland state government consortium, which includes South Korea’s KEPCO, has launched a bid for A$100 million in federal funds to build a demonstration smart electricity grid for Australia. (US$1=A$1.1). Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Stephen Robertson said Queensland’s demonstration grid would show how promising new technologies...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — Indonesia said its biofuels production plunged 96% to 104,100 kiloliters last year as most producers ceased operations on account of the soaring price of crude palm oil and uncertainty over government policies. The price of palm oil, the main raw material for biofuels, surged by more than 57%...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — The recent inauguration of the Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran pipeline connecting Turkmenistan’s vast gas field to Iran’s northern Caspian region could improve Tehran’s gas export capabilities and energy security. The pipeline, the second between the two nations, will initially pump eight billion cubic meters (bcm) of Turkmen gas a year, rising...
(EnergyAsia, February 8 2010, Monday) — Husky Energy Inc and BP said they are making progress in developing their equally owned Sunrise oil sands project in Canada’s Alberta province. The companies said they have completed front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for the project’s first phase, and have obtained the regulatory approvals from the government...