The rapid expansion of renewable technologies is one of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak assessment of global progress towards low-carbon energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in an annual report to the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM).
“The drive to clean up the world’s energy system has stalled,” IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven told the CEM, which brings together ministers representing countries responsible for four-fifths of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
Japan is considering at least 21 new geothermal power projects as it searches for alternative energy sources to replace at least some of its idled nuclear power plants.
Japan's generous feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme for renewable energy, together with the lifting of a moratorium on geothermal prospecting in national parks, has sparked a revival in interest in the sector which hasn't seen any new capacity added since 1999. The government is guaranteeing smaller geothermal plants a rate of JPN40 (40 US cents) per kWh after tax (the same level as the FiT for solar energy) while plants of over 15-MW capacity get JPY27.3 (27.4 US cents).
Geothermal company Ormat Technologies says that Sarulla Operations has signed joint operating and energy sales contracts for its 330-MW Sarulla geothermal power project in Indonesia.
Turkey’s Hitay Investment Holdings plans to invest USD2.5 billion in three geothermal power projects in East Java, Indonesia, with a total estimated power potential of about 1.1-GW.
Asia is at the center of the changes that will alter the global map of energy trade over the next five years. That's the official line from the International Energy Agency (IEA) as it calls the future changes in international supply and demand of energy “vast”.
The IEA adds that if Asian countries summon the political will to liberalize the energy markets and makes the investment environment attractive, and then then the region can be “rich” in renewable energy. It notes that huge hydropower projects have already boosted that capacity but points to geothermal power as being far from exploited to its full potential.
The Philippines is sitting on vast renewable energy potential of more than 250-GW of power that could save money, generate jobs and make electricity available and affordable to more Filipinos, according to Greenpeace.
In a new report, Green Is Gold: How renewable energy can save us money and generate jobs, the NGO says the Philippines economy stands to benefit from massive renewable energy investments and does not need to rely on outdated and destructive fossil fuels.
Philippine company Basic Energy Corp is reported to be on the verge of signing a USD2 billion deal to develop both renewable energy and oil and gas projects.
Australia’s Wasabi Energy has paid USD5.6 million as the first installment for its 50.5 percent stake of Shanghai Shenghe New Energy Resources Science and Technology (SSNE).
At least 600-MW of renewable energy projects have been awarded by the Philippine Government to private developers in the Central Visayas region as of September, according to Department of Energy supervisor of the environmental impact and monitoring division, Rey C Maleza, speaking to reporters on the side lines of an renewable energy forum in Manila this week.
Australia’s Wasabi Energy Limited, an emerging power producer, has announced that it plans to establish a new subsidiary, Wasabi New Energy Asia (WNEA), to market its proprietary Kalina Cycle power technology throughout the Asian region.
Indonesia's geothermal industry looks set to be the main beneficiary from reinvigorated diplomatic relations with New Zealand.
The two governments highlighted renewable energy projects and geothermal, in particular, as being a priority in strengthening ties. The statement came at a press conference after the fifth annual Joint Ministerial Commission meeting on Tuesday between visiting New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Marty Natalegawa, Indonesia's Foreign Minister.
China’s Ministry of Land and Resources has come up with a somewhat disturbing estimate of the country’s renewable energy resources, claiming in a newly issued repot that these amount to 860 trillion tonnes of coal equivalent, an amount 260,000 times greater than China's annual energy consumption.
In a bid to stake a bigger claim in the Philippines’ renewable energy sector, one of the country largest conglomerates, the Ayala Corp, is seeking to take management control of the 640-MW Unified Leyte geothermal facilities and the 150-MW Casecnan hydropower plant, according to local media reports
The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Eric T Francia, managing director and group head for corporate strategy and development of Ayala, as saying that the company was studying whether it would participate in the bidding for the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) contracts that were supposed to be conducted by state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) within the fourth quarter this year.
Japan’s environment Minister Goshi Hosono unveiled a new strategy Friday to boost power generation capacity of four primary renewable energy sources — offshore wind, geothermal, biomass and tidal power — by more than by 2030.
The plan, if successful, is aimed at eliminating all nuclear power plants.
Announcing the Innovative Strategy for Energy and the Environment after the day's Cabinet meeting, Hosono said his ministry plans to increase the combined annual capacity of electricity generation through the four key renewables to as much as 19.41 GW by 2030
The Tsuchiyu Onsen hotspring resort in the devastated Japanese city of Fukushima will set up the first geothermal power plant in a Japanese national park with initial capacity of 500-KW, local media has reported.
Sinopec, one of China’s top integrated petrochemical companies, is installing waste heat to energy and emission reducing system. To be online in 2013 at its Hainan petrochemical plant, it is UK-listed Wasabi Energy's first sale into China. The 4.0 Mw Kalina technology power plant will capture waste heat from the paraxylene (PX) process stream and turn it into zero emission electricity as well as reducing the overall greenhouse gas emissions from the petrochemical plant.
Indonesia's Technology Application and Study Agency (BPPT) has called on the government to increase the use of geothermal energy. It was more environmentally friendly and efficient in generating electricity.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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