News

A national consultation workshop on the environmental and social impact assessments of the Nam Ou 2 dam in Luang Prabang province was held in Vientiane last week.

This is part of the country's road map to grab 10% share of the world's clean energy market by 2020.

Goldwind partners with Powercor Australia to connect 13 Goldwind 1.5 MW turbines to the Australian grid.

Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd and the Universiti Sains Malaysia signed an MoU aimed at increasing energy efficiency via lower cost methods.

Thailand's Electricity Generating Pcl or EGCO has submitted a bid for a stake in GS Power, a subsidiary of South Korea's GS Caltex, as part of an expansion drive.

Thailand's Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding will build power plants in Myanmar.

Areva T&  has bagged a Rs 200 crore contract from state-owned PowerGrid Corp for setting up a transmission network at Bareilly, in Uttar Pradesh.

Voith Hydro will supply turbines, generators and electrical and mechanical auxiliaries for Sikkim’s Rongnichu  Hydro-Electric Project.

Power Grid Corporation is exploring the possibility of setting up a ’smart grid’ on pilot basis to reduce transmission and distribution loss.

Electricity of Viet Nam is seeking loans from international finance organisations and domestic commercial banks to fund power transmission projects.

First Solar's decison to halt the construction of the solar panel in Ho Chi Minh City has raised a worry that it may  stop investing in  Vietnam or narrow the project scale.

SN Power, a Norwegian government-controlled renewable energy developer, is aiming to become an industrial investor in Vietnam within the next two years by targetting local hydropower assets.

The US Government-sponsored banks that have helped fund the takeoff of India’s fledgling solar industry may soon move to withdraw their support, according to an official at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). Peter Ballinger, OPIC’s director, has said that the agency is rapidly approaching its lending limit for PV projects in India and opined that multilateral lenders like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) could shortly be forced to reassess their aid packages. The ADB, WB and OPIC were among the first to invest in developing solar in India. However, such has been the success of the investment programme that projects in the country now account for 8.5% of OPIC’s total loan book, nearing its 10% limit for any one country. India hopes to complete its first round of large-scale PV installations by January, and is planning to hold an auction for a further 350MW of projects later this month. In October Moser Baer installed India’s largest system to date, a 30MW system in the state of Gujarat, and national capacity now stands at 125MW. Ballinger believes that, with the industry maturing, the time is right for development banks to start withdrawing support. “We’re supposed to be catalytic for new industries by providing financing at an early stage until more traditional lenders get comfortable with the risks of new technologies and businesses they’re unfamiliar with,” he said. “It may be time for commercial banks to step in to India’s solar sector now that it appears to be ramping up."  

Total net generation for the first ten months of 2011 increased by 19.9% to 92,398,706 MWh.

Anti-nuclear protesters held a series of large rallies in Japan's southwestern city of Fukuoka on Sunday.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is lending $170 million to build a new power plant in Thailand that will provide clean, affordable electricity to help meet the country’s increasing demand for supply. “This is the first large independent power producer (IPP) project to reach financial close in Thailand since the 2008 global economic crisis,” said Daniel Wiedmer, Investment Specialist in ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department. “It incorporates state-of-the-art technology to generate electricity far more efficiently than coal fired systems, which are the only domestic alternative for IPPs.” The 1,600 megawatt natural gas-fired plant, which will be built in Nong Saeng district north of Bangkok under a public private partnership arrangement, will help meet Thailand’s rapidly increasing appetite for electricity. By using clean burning, combined cycle technology to curb harmful carbon releases, the plant will avoid an estimated five million tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise be produced by coal-fired generators. Affordably priced power is crucial for supporting Thailand’s post global crisis economic rebound, for making Thai businesses competitive, and for expanding livelihood opportunities to help reduce poverty. A subsidiary of J-Power?Japan’s largest wholesale power supplier?will develop and operate the plant, with the electricity to be sold to the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Thai energy firm PTT Public Company will supply the gas, and a group of companies led by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build the facilities. ADB’s participation and willingness to provide a long-term loan helped draw co-lending support from commercial banks at a similar tenor. The availability of long dated finance gives J-Power the ability to pay down the plant’s high upfront costs over a longer term, allowing it to provide low-cost energy to consumers in Thailand. ADB is heavily involved in clean energy development in Thailand where it is helping to finance two private sector solar power projects, including one of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic plants in Lopburi. Alongside the investment by J-Power and ADB’s 23-year loan, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and commercial banks – Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., KASIKORNBANK PCL, and Siam Commercial.