(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — Lanka Maritime Services, a unit of Sri Lankan conglomerate John Keells Holdings, said it has expanded its floating storage with the acquisition of an 8,800 DWT double-hull tanker to provide bunkering services at Sri Lanka’s Colombo port. Lanka Maritime Services said it was prompted to acquire the ship because of...

(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — ABB, the Switzerland-based power and automation technology group, said it has won orders worth $28 million from India’s Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited for substations to help improve the efficiency and reliability of the state’s network. The 220kV and 132kV substations will be located in the Nashik, Amravati and...

(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — NXP Semiconductors of the Netherlands said it is partnering Tata BP Solar India Ltd, a joint venture of BP Solar and India’s Tata Power, to jointly develop solar energy solutions. Tata BP intends to use various electronic solutions for solar applications developed by Eindhoven-based NXP. These solutions have been developed...

(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — The solar energy revolution is within reach with module price now poised to reach the parity price of US$1 per watt sometime next year, said Chinese manufacturer QS Solar. This means that electricity generated by solar energy, even without the support of subsidies, will cost less than electricity from the...

(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — The number of jobs in America’s emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007, according to a report released by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Pew said it developed a clear, data-driven definition of the clean energy economy and conducted...

(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — The Ion Exchange Resins business unit of German specialty chemicals group Lanxess AG recently unveiled its premium products for biodiesel production at the 1st Biofuels Roundtable Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The focus was on its ion exchange resin Lewatit GF 202, which a part of the “Lewatit Green Fuels”...

(EnergyAsia, August 17, Monday) — Worldwide sales of biodiesel and ethanol markets are expected to reach US$247 billion by 2020 from US$76 billion in 2010, according to a report from Pike Research, a US market research and consulting firm. Biofuel and ethanol production and consumption are rising on account of government mandates, environmental concerns, technological...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — German specialty chemical firm Lanxess said it has decided to postpone the construction of its 400-million-euro butyl rubber facility on Singapore’s Jurong island due to the global economic crisis. (US$1=0.7 euro). The Leverkusen-based company had originally planned for the 100,000-tonne-per-year plant to start up in 2012. “We expect the new...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — India’s largest hydropower company, state-run NHPC, said it raised US$1.25 billion through a fully subscribed initial public offering (IPO) on the Mumbai-based National Stock Exchange. The money raised will finance the construction of seven hydropower plants by 2012. At the end of its first trading day last Friday, the company...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — A Philippine non-government organisation has asked Japanese prime minister Taro Aso to cancel an agreement between the Philippine government and a UK-based Japanese firm for a 600,000-hectare biodiesel project. In his letter to Mr Aso, Fernando Hicap, chairman of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) described the...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — Avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change demands that global temperature increase is kept as far below 2°C as possible. This is still possible, but time is running out and we are in danger of overshooting, said Greenpeace. To stay within this limit, global greenhouse gas emissions will need...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — China’s Zhaoheng Hydropower said it has raised US$57.5 million to help finance new projects and expansions. The largest contributors were two funds controlled by US private equity firm Olympus Capital Holdings Asia. Zhaoheng, which owns 11 hydropower plants with a combined 200MW capacity, said it will use the money to...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal producer, said it expects to hit its 2009 sales target of 20.5 million tonnes with higher sales in the second half helping to compensate for a slower first half of the year. The company, which owns the fourth largest coal miner in Indonesia, is looking to...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — The Chinese government has set the tariffs for wind-generated power at between 0.51 yuan and 0.61 yuan per kilowatt hour depending on the region, but these may be too low to attract new investments, said analysts. (US$1=6.82 yuan). The powerful National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s leading economic agency,...

(EnergyAsia, August 14, Friday) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it is providing a $3 million grant to help design and deliver renewable energy products for the development of small pilot projects in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The planned activities include the development of a mini hydroelectric project in Papua New...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Thursday) — Construction work has started on a 20 million kilowatt (KW) wind power station in Gansu province. The project at Jiuquan will have an initial capacity of just over 5 million KW by end 2010. It is expected to be gradually expanded to 20 million KW by 2020, and up to...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Thursday) — India’s Jaiprakash Associates plans to raise more than 15 billion rupees by merging two of its power units in a deal valued at up to Rs 40 billion. (US$1=Rs48). The deal combined Jaiprakash Power Venture Ltd with listed company Jaiprakash Hydro Power. The move is aimed at helping Jaiprakash to...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Thursday) — Singapore-listed marine fuels supplier Chemoil said it will continue to provide sustainable marine fuel solutions to help ship operators reduce emissions to meet new requirements proposed for waters off the US and Canada. This follows a joint application to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) by both the US and Canada...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Wednesday) — Dynamic Engineering, a leading US engineering firm in chemical production technologies for polysilicon, said it has signed a multi-level contract with Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China’s GCL Solar Energy Technology Holdings Inc. The contracts represent DEI’s most comprehensive polysilicon services relationship to-date and the...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Thursday) — UK energy major BP and Nasdaq-listed Martek Biosciences Corp said they have signed an agreement to jointly work on the production of microbial oils for biofuels applications. The partnership combines a broad technology platform and operational capabilities to advance the development of a step-change technology for the conversion of sugars...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Thursday) — Plantation owners will likely stop producing ‘green’ palm oil owing to poor European demand, and instead focus on the output of cheaper, uncertified oil.   Yusof Basiron, the chief executive of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, said there is still robust demand for palm oil without the green certification because...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Thursday) — Taiwan has unveiled an ambitious five-year programme backed by a NT$245 billion investment plan to become a green energy economy. (US$1=NT33). The Taiwanese government said it contribute NT$20 billion to research and development while the private sector will contribute NT$200 billion under the Xusheng Project to fight climate change and...

(EnergyAsia, August 13, Thursday) — Vienna, Austria-based Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) said it has provided 667,500 euro in seed funding to support eight new clean energy projects in the developing world. (US$1=0.7 euro). Piloting innovative finance methods is one of the non-government organisation’s (NGO’s) key priorities in its small-scale project funding. Microfinance...

(EnergyAsia, August 12, Wednesday) — Asia’s telecommunications firms are launching more energy-efficient and recyclable models in response to growing consumer awareness of energy and environmental issues. Cost is a major consideration too. In India, cell phones can only be sold if they are energy-efficient, thus offering low recharging costs to poorer households. Despite its widespread...

(EnergyAsia, August 12, Wednesday) — Sumitomo Corp of America (SCOA) and its parent, Sumitomo Corp of Japan, said they plan to invest $240 million in a 120MW windfarm in Martin County in Texas, the US, marking the group’s entry into the US wind energy business. Sumitomo said it bought a 42.5% stake in Stanton Wind...