Vu Chi Mai, senior project officer at Geman Technical Cooperation (GIZ), highlighted at a wind power forum hosted by the Asia Wind Energy Association last week that experts are now more optimistic regarding the foreseeable cost reductions in the industry. The newfound optimism, Mai noted, may be coming as a result of technological advancements that have yet to be implemented. The forthcoming advances sugges ...

South Korea will temporarily shut down 10 coal-fired power plants that are over 30 years old in June to mitigate air pollution, the office of President Moon Jae-in said in a statement on Monday. The measure comes as coal-fired power plants are being criticised for contributing to deteriorating air quality in South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Amid these concerns, new President Moon vowed during his ...

Asia offers the best business opportunities for the globally-declining gas turbine market, according to a new report. A recent study from analysts at GlobalData states that the worldwide gas turbine market is set to fall from last year’s $8.49bn to around $7.73bn by 2021. The report states that global economic recession and the decrease in the price of gas turbines has heavily impacted market value, with a ...

Just outside the Sci-Tech Complex, is a large solar field. Even though North Korea does not publish any figures on the use of such energy sources, solar panels can be found in many apartment buildings in Pyongyang. Many street lamps are also powered by the sun. In March, the government mouthpiece Arirang Meari had reported that North Korea is increasingly lighting Pyongyang with solar-powered street and gar ...

Lithuanian President Daila Grybauskaite is scheduled to visit Indonesia on Wednesday (17/05) to meet with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and discuss bilateral cooperation. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said on Friday (12/05) that the leaders will discuss opportunities in increasing economic cooperation, especially in trade, as Indonesia is interested in gaining access to the Lithuanian ...

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said their countries will cooperate further on infrastructure projects in areas such as urban development and energy. Kishida said he and Minh also pledged when they met Monday in Tokyo to promote free trade, including under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, of which both Japan and Vietnam are signatories. The fu ...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that developing Asia will need to invest $800 billion in water and sanitation infrastructure between 2016-2030. These massive investment needs make efficient financing mechanisms all the more crucial. The national asset holding company model being used in Malaysia is one that could be usefully replicated and adapted to generate low-cost, long-term financing for oth ...

A few weeks ago, Indonesia’s government approved the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Decree (MD) No. 12/2017, altering the calculation method for the renewable power projects’ feed-in tariff (FIT). So, whereas before the FITs were set by the government, the MD No.12/2017 allows the FITs to be the result of negotiation between the country’s state-owned power utility PLN and independent power producers ...

The Vietnamese power industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, and navigating it requires a full understanding of the entire energy ecosystem, experts say. At a conference titled “Powering Viet Nam” held in Ha Noi on Thursday, they said it was necessary to consider optimum exploitation of all power sources and deploy new technologies in storing and distributing it. Leaders of US multinational ...

For the past two decades, China has been in the midst of an unprecedented dam-building boom, developing over 300 gigawatts (GW) of hydropower. But coal-fuelled development in many of its cities has left them choking from air pollution and lent urgency to alternatives such as solar, wind, nuclear and hydropower. China has the world’s largest potential hydropower resource and could develop around 540 GW, as p ...