(EnergyAsia, September 11, Friday) — China’s LDK Solar said it has entered into an agreement with Yancheng city in Jiangsu province to develop 500MW of PV power projects over the next five years. The projects include PV ground-power stations, and roof and building integration systems. The terms, including financing, design and specific location of each...

(EnergyAsia, September 11, Friday) — Canadian Solar said it has obtained rights to design, install, operate and maintain a 500 MW solar power plant system in Baotou in China’s Inner Mongolia region. The company said it has signed a letter of intent with the Administration Committee of Baotou National Rare Earth Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone...

(EnergyAsia, September 11, Friday) — Astronergy said it has won a 2 MW rooftop photovoltaic (PV) project in the Hangzhou Energy and Environment Industrial Park in Zhejiang province through a competitive and selective bidding process. Fully financed by China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation, the project is the province’s first large-scale on-grid PV plant. The 23.8-sq...

(EnergyAsia, September 11, Friday) — Bouyed by the entry of new players and a new generation of biofuels, the bioethanol market in Southeast Asia is expected to earn revenues of $6.17 billion in 2015, up sharply from $529.7 million last year, said consultant Frost & Sullivan. The industry will benefit from the capacity expansion undertaken...

(EnergyAsia, September 11, Friday) — Melting Himalayan glaciers and other climate change impacts pose a direct threat to the water and food security of more than 1.6 billion people in South Asia, according to preliminary findings of a new study financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Analysing current trends and scenarios based on projected...

(EnergyAsia, September 10, Thursday) — Cavico Corp, a Vietnam-based infrastructure development company, said its wholly owned subsidiary, Cavico Transport Construction JSC, and its joint venture partners, General Construction and Infrastructure Development Company (Licogi) and Song Da Corporation, have secured a project with the Dakdrinh Hydropower Company Joint Stock Company. Cavico said its portion of the...

(EnergyAsia, September 10, Thursday) — A Philippine-listed firm, Energy Development Corporation, has placed a bid for two geothermal plants with a combined capacity of 304.5 megawatts in the central Philippine province of Negros Oriental. “We will bid for Tongonan 1 and Palinpinon 1 geothermal assets that the government will be auctioning off on August 12....

(EnergyAsia, September 10, Thursday) — State PetroVietnam has begun work on its second bioethanol plant in the Dung Quat economic zone in the country’s central Quang Ngai province. When completed in early 2011, the $80 million plant will process cassava to produce 100,000 cubic metres of ethanol per year that the company believes will provide...

(EnergyAsia, September 10, Thursday) — US-based First Solar said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Chinese government to build the world’s largest solar power plant in Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. The agreement was signed in the presence of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress...

(EnergyAsia, September 10, Thursday) — Anwell Technologies Limited, a Singapore-listed supplier of advanced manufacturing equipment and process technologies for the optical disc, OLED and solar industries, said it has produced its first amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin-film solar panel at its 40MW plant in Henan province in China. Anwell said the plant used proprietary technology for...

(EnergyAsia, September 10, Thursday) —Nasdaq-listed Evergreen Solar Inc, a manufacturer of solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost silicon wafer technology, and its contract manufacturing partner, Jiawei Solarchina Co, have begun building their new 100-megawatt manufacturing plants in Wuhan in China. Evergreen Solar chairman, president and CEO Richard M. Feldt was joined by Qing-Quan Lo,...

(EnergyAsia, September 10, Thursday) — AE Biofuels Inc, a US-based vertically integrated biofuels producer, said its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, Universal Biofuels Pvt Ltd, has completed a $3 million shipment of biodiesel to an unidentified European customer. The customer is licensed to sell biodiesel both domestically and internationally. Universal Biofuels said it completed construction and commissioning...

(EnergyAsia, September 9, Wednesday) — Two New Zealand companies, Aquaflow Bionomics and Solray Energy, have joined forces to work on developing algae-based biofuels for commercial production. Aquaflow will combine its methods of harvesting algae grown from wastewater streams with Solray’s process of turning algae into fuel, the companies said. Aquaflow produces algae in open ponds...

(EnergyAsia, September 9, Wednesday) — Celullosic ethanol can be economically viable if the price of oil hovers above US$90, a study by US-based Sandia National Labs says. The study argues that cellulosic ethanol can become a 75-billion-gallon-a-year business, which could cut petroleum-associated emissions by 25%. For the fuel to become a viable business, the study...

(EnergyAsia, September 9, Wednesday) — Japan’s Toshiba said it has won a major contract to develop a 7.5MW photovoltaic project for Chubu Electric Power’s Taketoyo Thermal Power Station in Taketoyo in Aichi prefecture. The plant is scheduled to come on line in autumn 2011. The order is the first that Toshiba has secured for a...

(EnergyAsia, September 9, Wednesday) — As Australia’s contribution to global greenhouse gases is relatively small, its economy will not be jeopardised if the country acted to reduce its carbon footprints, said the CEO of one of Victoria state’s leading power stations. Loy Yang power station’s Ian Nethercote said Australia should seek to be among the...

(EnergyAsia, September 9, Wednesday) — Singapore’s leading science agency A*STAR said it has awarded S$27.5 million in research funding for 28 sustainable development projects covering carbon capture and utilisation, bioenergy and biofuels, sustainable construction, and sustainable materials. (US$1=S$1.43). A*STAR said the funding from its Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) will support research teams from...

(EnergyAsia, September 9, Wednesday) — Already reeling from the worst recession since the Great Depression of 1930, US manufacturers and job seekers have been given further cause for worry with proposed legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a study by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Council for Capital Formation, proposed...

(EnergyAsia, September 9, Wednesday) — Solar power is shifting away from the West to the Asia Pacific region, said consultant Frost & Sullivan. The global solar power industry is going through turbulent times, with reports of slowdown in expansion programmes, restructuring, lower revenue and profit forecasts, and cuts in production levels. According to consultant Frost...

(EnergyAsia, September 8, Tuesday) — Chevron Corp, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA) said they have formed a new partnership to support Angola’s continued focus on developing a diversified and sustainable economy. They signed a memorandum of understanding in Luanda, Angola during last month’s visit by...

(EnergyAsia, September 8, Tuesday) — Singapore’s Keppel Corporation Limited said it and subsidiary Keppel Land Limited will each acquire equity in a 36.8-ha site in the four-sq km start-up area of an eco-city in Tianjin city in China. Keppel Corp will have a 45% stake while Keppel Land will take up the majority 55% share...

(EnergyAsia, September 8, Tuesday) — Decentralised, small-scale production of biofuels offers the potential to provide energy to half a billion rural poor in developing Asia in a commercially viable and socially beneficial manner, according to a report sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The report, “Biofuels in Asia: An Analysis of Sustainability...

(EnergyAsia, September 8, Tuesday) — Australia’s Senate has passed a bill requiring the country to generate 20% of its power from renewable energy sources, potentially attracting US$22 billion of investments into the sector. It is estimated that about 11,000 megawatts of new capacity would have to be built to achieve the target.  The new act,...