A USD150 million hydropower deal has been signed in Vietnam. A joint venture between South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation and Vietnamese firm Construction Company 47 is to build and equip the Trung Son Hydropower Plant, in the first contract signed for the project.
Developers of the Xayaburi hydropower plant in northern Laos expect to complete the redesign of the first run-of-river dam planned for the lower Mekong within the next few months, aiming to mitigate any negative impacts on neighboring countries.
While diplomacy struggles along over environmental concerns over the Mekong Xayaburi Dam in Laos, Vietnam's legislators have demanded new reports into two of its own dam projects.
Huaneng Tibet Power Generation (HTPG), a subsidiary of the state-owned China Huaneng Group, has signed multiple agreements with the Tibetan autonomous regional government to develop clean energy projects worth 100 billion yuan (USD15.87 billion) over the next 10 years.
Japan is giving further support to renewable energy in the Philippines. While no dollar figures have been given for the new investment by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), it is extending a grant to for two separate hydropower systems for the provinces of Ifugao and Isabela.
Officials from China and the Netherlands have signed an agreement that could result in the development of a 15-GW “hydrokinetic” power plant off the Chinese coast. The project would involve the construction of a 30-km by 60-km T-shaped dam that would be fitted with turbines.
This long T-dam would interfere with coast-parallel oscillating tidal waves which run along the coasts of continental shelves, containing powerful hydraulic currents, a phenomenon that is common along the coast of China, Korea and the UK amongst other places.
China has announced the largest hydropower station so far on Mekong River, the Nuozhadu hydroelectric station in Yunnan Province, has started trial operations with the first of it 650-MW turbines now generating power
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.
Sources of clean energy generated 106.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in July, up 31 percent from a year ago, according to figures released by China’s State Electricity Regulatory Commission on Tuesday.
Vietnamese experts have once again called for a moratorium on dam building on the Mekong River yesterday, saying the lives of as many as 60 million people would be adversely impacted.
This comes on the heels of a report by Reuters that work had resumed on the most controversial of the 11 dams now under consideration for the mighty Mekong, the USD3.5 million Xayaburi Dam in Laos, despite assurances from the Laotian government to the contrary.
Singapore-based Armstrong Asset Management, a newly-established independent clean energy asset manager, is creating a USD150 million fund to invest in renewable-power projects in Southeast Asia as countries in the region offer incentives to expand the industry.
Thai residents and conservationists have launched a legal action to stop the controversial USD3.6 billion Xayaburi hydropower project on the Mekong river. The action aims to block the Thai state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) from buying power from the Laos project.
Dutch free-flow hydro specialist Tocardo International has established a joint venture with Nepalese renewable energy specialist Glow Tech Solutions to set up an assembly and production facility for Tocardo turbines in Nepal.
Investors have been disappointed by the level of feed-in-tariffs (FiT) announced by the Philippine Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) several years after the implementation of the Philippines Renewable Energy Act.
Two companies building an Indian hydro-electric power project have sold the near 85 per cent completed 100 MW power station.Located on the river Sorang in Himachal Pradesh it was scheduled to come online at the end of the year but the two infrastructure firms, NCC and IL&FS Engineering, have said they have sold the uncompleted project.
The World Bank has blacklisted an arm of the Finnish company that carried out a much-criticized study into the Xayaburi hydro dam project, the Phnom Penh Post reported Friday.
Those investing in the controversial Xayaburi dam have said they will be spending an additional USD100 million revamping its project. "We have redesigned the dam and we expect an increase to the investment cost," Xayaburi Power Company deputy managing director Rewat Suwanakiti told the Vientiane Times.
A new report has demanded that Japan's regional power monopolies must give way to competition and promote greener energy. The draft conclusion from an expert panel, set up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, says that the overhaul of the electricity network is necessary to stabilize the nation's supply.
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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