China

Just as China's solar companies started the new year with improving share price, there have also been some appointments of new senior staff, also boosting their presence in overseas markets, especially Europe.

Though hindered by the Japan nuclear crisis, China's first AP1000 nuclear power reactor is expected to come into operation by the scheduled time of 2013, a Chinese nuclear company executive said in Beijing on Saturday.

Despite reports to the contrary, China remains undecided whether to tax carbon emissions, as the government weighs how it could impact plans to launch an emissions trading scheme and whether it is feasible given current high domestic tax levels, a senior official said in the US on Wednesday. The statement contrasts with earlier media reports saying China will introduce a tax before 2015 and underscores global interest in how China plans to address climate change in the years ahead, according to a report in Reuters.

In a classic manifestation of “the more you have, the more you worry” syndrome, China's energy chief said this week that the country is under greater pressure to ensure energy supply this year as both demand and international competition for resources grows. Of course China is not the only country worried about energy supplies but it is the world's largest energy consumer, surpassing the US in 2010. Year-on-year China's power consumption rose 11.7 percent to 4.7 trillion kWh in in 2011 but this year growth is expected to slow to 8.5 percent amid the country's economic slowdown.

China is considering a proposal to create an energy "super ministry" as part of a sweeping cabinet reshuffle in 2013 - a step that would help Beijing impose its will on an industry beset by bureaucratic infighting, according to Reuters, quoting two independent sources.