News
Category:
General and Asia
Beijing covers up a crackdown
June 27, 2006 by Howard W. French, The New York Times in International Herald Tribune
June 27, 2006 by Howard W. French, The New York Times in International Herald Tribune
The protest erupted over plans for a wind-power plant that used village lands and required significant landfill in a bay where the people have for generations made a living fishing. Before that, nearby village land had been used for the construction of a coal-fired power plant.
Hudi Hastowo told reporters that while there would be no technical or economic problems with building a nuclear plant, achieving public acceptance would still be difficult.
"We'll hold a public awareness campaign, since we don't have any other options to deal with future power shortages (apart from nuclear energy)," he said.
"Remote villages may use solar panels or wind turbines but those technologies can't generate the massive amounts of power needed for industry."
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
The Environment Ministry has decided to ease restrictions on wind power generation within national parks and promote clean energy supplies in an effort to combat global warming, government officials said Friday.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plans to work with US conglomerate General Electric on nuclear and wind power generation ventures, a newspaper said on Saturday.
Under the plan, the two firms will jointly bid for a $300-million project to boost capacity by 20 per cent at the 1.36-million-kilowatt Laguna Verde nuclear plant in Mexico, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported.
Also filed under [
USA]
$34m failure: FEA admits lack of study in wind farm project
August 23, 2009 by Maneesha Karan in Fiji Times
August 23, 2009 by Maneesha Karan in Fiji Times
The Fiji Electricity Authority has admitted that its $34million Butoni Wind farm in Sigatoka was a failure.
And this was because of insufficient study of the area. ...It was also revealed that one of the joint venture partners of the FEA, Pacific Hydro Limited, pulled out in 2003 after seeing the project as financially uneconomical based on its development cost and expected cost of energy generation.
“I want to say a word of caution here. I know the excitement [over renewable energy or alternative energy] but it’s not the only solution. Practically, alternative energy would not alter fossil fuel use,” said Medabalmi.
He said it is important to note that “the existing power grid will never be completely replaced in the foreseeable future.”
As such, he said that, although focus is given on the options presented by alternative energy, the focus must also remain on the stability and reliability of the existing infrastructure.
Asia is turning to plants for fuel
April 29, 2006 by Michael Casey, AP Environmental Writer in Seattle Post-Intelligencer
April 29, 2006 by Michael Casey, AP Environmental Writer in Seattle Post-Intelligencer
FARIDABAD, India -- Indians know better than to eat the plum-sized fruit of the wild jatropha bush. It's poisonous enough to kill.
Asia turns to plants for fuel - Governments seek crops to cut oil dependence
June 11, 2006 by Associated Press in Baltimore Sun
June 11, 2006 by Associated Press in Baltimore Sun
Most experts also believe that, using current technologies, there isn't enough land to make a serious dent in oil consumption. Some scientists say production will consume more conventional energy than it will save, and environmentalists came out this month against plans by Indonesia to convert millions of acres of rain forest on the island of Borneo into palm oil plantations.
Also filed under [
Technology]
Australian policy to benefit Suzlon, Tata Power
August 20, 2009 by PB Jayakumar in Business Standard
August 20, 2009 by PB Jayakumar in Business Standard
Domestic power majors Suzlon Energy and Tata Power, which have renewable energy projects in Australia, will benefit as that country is implementing a law to ensure 20 per cent of the country's electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020.
Sources said the expanded Renewable Energy Target (RET) Bill will be enacted as a law by the Australian Parliament in a few days and will come into force by September 2009.
Also filed under [
Australia / New Zealand]
BP Alternative Energy has pulled out of a partnership with a subsidiary of Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind Science & Technology Co. BP Alternative Energy had originally signed a framework agreement to jointly develop three wind farms in Inner Mongolia.
In a statement posted on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Goldwind said that BP was suspending its wind power business in Asia.
BP expands wind power footprint in the U.S., sheds unit in India
September 16, 2009 in UPI International
September 16, 2009 in UPI International
BP is expanding its wind power electricity generation capacity in the United States but is shedding an Indian unit, which has been sold to Green Infra Limited of India.
BP said Green Infra Limited purchased its subsidiary, BP Energy India Private Limited, for a total cash-free, debt-free enterprise value of about $95 million.
Tsukuba, the town that prides itself as Japan’s most hallowed scientific research centre, is the site of perhaps the world’s worst electricity wind farm: in the 12 months it has operated, its windmills have consumed 43 times more power than they have generated.
Also filed under [
UK]
Can planting trees really give you a clear carbon conscience?
October 7, 2006 by David Adam, environment correspondent in Guardian Unlimited
October 7, 2006 by David Adam, environment correspondent in Guardian Unlimited
Carbon offset schemes are designed to neutralise the effects of the carbon dioxide our activities produce by investing in projects that cut emissions elsewhere. They work through the rapidly growing trade in carbon credits, each worth the equivalent of a tonne of carbon. Offset companies typically buy carbon credits from projects that plant trees or encourage a switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. They sell credits to individuals and companies who want to go "carbon neutral". Some climate experts say offsets are dangerous because they dissuade people from changing their behaviour.
Chasing the power of wind in Asia
September 20, 2006 by Angela Macdonald-Smith, Bloomberg News in International Herald Tribune
September 20, 2006 by Angela Macdonald-Smith, Bloomberg News in International Herald Tribune
China and India are accelerating development of wind power, which is luring companies like the turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems as restrictions hamper wind farm construction in traditional markets like Australia.
“The biggest markets in the next decade will probably be India and China in particular,” said Achim Hoehne, a manager based in Sydney at the PB Power unit of the engineering services company Parsons Brinckerhoff. “Australia had a good market until about a year ago. Since then, companies are looking for other opportunities.”
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Chinese developers unveiled the world’s first full-permanent magnetic levitation (Maglev) wind power generator at the Wind Power Asia Exhibition 2006 held June 28 in Beijing, according to Xinhua News..
Also filed under [
Technology]
China, the world's third-largest economy, has made green energy a priority.
The country has doubled its capacity for wind-generated power every year for the past four years, and President Hu Jintao pledged last week to turn to more sources of renewable energy in coming years.
However, many wind farms have been built far from populated areas or transmission grids, making their output largely useless for now. The China Electricity Council, a national industry group, says 28% of the country's wind power equipment sat idle at the end of 2008.
China speeds up renewable energy development
September 12, 2006 by Yang Jianxiang, China Features in China View
September 12, 2006 by Yang Jianxiang, China Features in China View
China's National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on June 30 a plan to raise consumer electricity rates by 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour (KWH). A tiny fraction of the additional charge, 0.1 cent per KWH, will be used to develop renewable energy (RE), a senior NDRC official told Xinhua a few weeks later.
This was unprecedented, the official said. The money would be used to cover the portion of RE development costs that are higher than the average for conventional energies. The practice complies with the principle enshrined in the Renewable Energy Law (REL) that the extra costs of renewable energies should be shared by all end users of electricity across the country.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
Energy Policy]
BEIJING - China acknowledged Monday that it soon may become the world's biggest source of harmful greenhouse gases but said the United States and other advanced countries must take the lead in fighting global warming because they had been polluting heavily for longer.
China is expected to overtake Germany and the United States to become the world's largest wind power producer by 2020, a report forecast.
The 2006 Annual Report on China's New Energy Industry says that the 10th Five-Year Plan (2000-2005) period saw a rapid development of wind power industry, with the installed capacity rose by 30 percent on an annual average, rising from 350,000 kw in 2000 to 1.26 million kw in 2005, ranking 7th in the world.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
China to supply turbines and funding for $1.5bn Texas wind farm
October 30, 2009 by Yvonne Chan in BusinessGreen
October 30, 2009 by Yvonne Chan in BusinessGreen
A Sino-US consortium yesterday announced plans for a US$1.5 billion, 600MW wind farm in Texas, with China supplying all the turbines and most of the funding.
The 36,000-acre wind farm ...is a joint venture between state-backed Chinese firm Shenyang Power Group, US wind farm developer Cielo Wind Power and private equity firm US Renewable Energy Group.
Most of the funding for the project will come from Chinese banks, with loan guarantees and grants provided by the US federal government's economic stimulus package.