(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Sunwell, a wholly owned subsidiary of Taiwan’s CMC Magnetics, has started mass production at its Taiwan-based thin film PV plant. Over the past month, more than 10,000 solar panels were produced with an Oerlikon Solar end-to-end fabrication solution. All contract parameters for SOP (start of production) were met nearly one...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Law firm Latham & Watkins said it advised an international consortium, Lion Power Holdings, on its successful bid for Singapore’s largest power company, Senoko Power Limited. Early this month, Lion Power, led by Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp, signed a share purchase agreement with Singapore’s Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited for...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — China is the world leader in installed renewable energy capacity, according to a report by non-profit Climate Group. The country’s installed renewable power capacity has reached 152 gigawatts (GW), due mainly to its large hydroelectric and wind power plants. This compares with around 101 GW of renewable energy capacity in...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Worsening shortages of coal, which accounts for 78% of China’s electricity generation, could cause major electricity blackouts in China this year. The country’s power plants have coal reserves for only 11 days of operations, China’s State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) said in a report. Another issue affecting operations at power...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) —Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum plans to pass on the country’s new tax on condensates to its customers in Western Australia state. Canberra expects to raise an estimated A$2.5 billion from the new tax over the coming four years. (US$1 = A$1.20). The government’s recent budget in May surprised everyone with...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Iraq’s Oil Ministry and a wholly owned affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc have signed a Heads of Agreement to establish a joint venture between the South Gas Company and Shell to  process and market all associated natural gas produced in the Basra in southern Iraq, an area covering some...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Singapore’s Wilmar International Limited said it and Star Medal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kerry Holdings Limited belonging to Kuok Group in Hong Kong, will each invest US$36 million for a 15% stake in Fortune Gas Investment Holdings Limited. Fortune Gas is the newly created gas subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Fortune...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — China’s Trina Solar said its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co Ltd, has signed a supplemental agreement to the long-term polysilicon supply agreement with a subsidiary of GCL Silicon Technology. Together with the original supply agreement announced in April, GCL Silicon Technology will supply Trina Solar with virgin polysilicon and...

(EnergyAsia, September 24, Wednesday) — Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) said it has officially opened an upstream branch office in China to operate and manage its growing operations in that country. SPC E&P (China) Pte Ltd is based in Shekou port in Guangdong province.SPC holds interests in three acreages in China, namely Block 26/18 in...

secured a US$43.9 million time-charter contract for the newly constructed lift boat, KS Titan 1, to support offshore wind power operations in the North Sea. The KS Titan 1, owned by Casadilla Group Pte Ltd, a joint venture company between KS Energy Services Limited and Ezra Holdings Limited, will be chartered to Siemens Wind Power...

terminal in the western province of British Columbia to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the energy-hungry markets of Asia. The terminal will be sited near Kitimat port in on the Calgary-based company’s existing site at Bish Cove. Rising natural gas demand in Asia and recent increases in supply throughout North America – including in...

agreements with experts in academic institutions across the world. They are part of a growing programme of agreements to complement Shell’s own biofuels research and development, and to accelerate results. The research programme investigates new raw materials and new biofuels production processes, with a focus on improving efficiencies and lowering costs.  The agreements will last...

owned subsidiary of Keppel Integrated Engineering Limited (KIE), has signed a framework agreement with China’s Guangdong GuangYe Environmental Protection Industrial Group Co Ltd for the joint development and investment of environmental infrastructure projects in Guangdong province. The agreement outlines the collaboration of the two companies for the development of a near-term pipeline of water and...

(PV) cell production facility in Yangzhou in China’s Jiangsu province. Suntech said it intends to complete the facility with a PV cell production capacity of 300MW by end-2009, expanding its total capacity to 1.4GW by end-2009 and 2GW by end-2010. The new plant is located near Suntech’s strategic silicon supply partner, Shunda Holdings Co Ltd,...

project in Fuente Alamo, Murcia, in southeastern Spain. Using PV modules mostly manufactured by Trina Solar, the project was installed by Gestamp Asetym Solar SA, a Spanish provider of solar system solutions. Trina Solar supplied 20 MW of mono and multicrystalline solar modules of the total 26 MW required for this key project as part...

issued a call to cooperate with China, South Korea and Japan on a scheme for joint oil stockpiling. As a first step, the nations’ energy ministers will set up a joint working group. The move comes amid high oil prices and tight supplies which have put the focus on energy security. Association of Southeast Asian...

300,000-tonne crude oil terminal in China’s northern city of Dalian. The terminal will be able to accommodate ships of up to 440,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt).   PetroChina, a major user of Dalian port, and DPC will be equal partners in the project.  Hong Kong-listed DPC recently announced a net profit of RMB534 million for the...

strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs) in the city ports of Dalian, Qingdao, Ningbo and Zhoushan by year-end. With a total storage capacity of 16.4 million cubic metres, the SPRs will help China deal with volatile oil prices and stock up to deal with times of tight supplies. By 2010, the tanks are expected to hold oil...

its Asia Pacific head office in Singapore in August 2006. The official opening by the Environment Minister seemed to herald a watershed event in Singapore’s move to become a ‘green energy’ centre for the region. Conergy, co-founded as a solar energy company by Hans-Martin Reuter in 1996, had quickly rose to become a star of...

(EnegyAsia, September 22, Monday) — India’s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said it has incorporated wholly owned subsidiaries in two key centres of the world oil markets, namely London and Singapore. Reliance Global Energy Services Limited London is headed by Peter Ward, the former President of Shell Trading’s Gas and Power division, while Reliance Global Energy...

(EnergyAsia, September 22, Monday) —As the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter brings four mega-trains online in the next five years, Qatargas’ chairman and CEO is forecasting stronger price levels as well as demand in the Atlantic Basin. In an exclusive interview in the debut issue of the Abraham Energy Report (AbrahamEnergyReport.com), Faisal Al-Suwaidi...

(EnergyAsia, September 22, Monday) — The rural city council of Ararat in Australia’s Victoria state is preparing trials to test algae as a feedstock for biodiesel. While still in an initial phase, the trials are aimed at determining which type of algae would produce the best biodiesel. If successful, Ararat may set up a plant...

(EnergyAsia, September 22, Monday) —South Korea’s steel giant Posco said it has started up a 50 megawatt (MW) fuel cell power plant in its home base of Pohang city. Claiming this as the world’s largest fuel cell-power plant with the capacity to power 17,000 households, the company said it is jointly building the project with...