The U.S. Export-Import Bank board of directors voted on Thursday not to proceed with the financing of U.S. exports to help build a coal-fired power plant in Vietnam, following a plea from U.S. environmental groups to stop the project. The Ex-Im Bank board decision was made after a "careful environmental review" of the 1,200-megawatt Thai Binh Two power plant, according to a statement from the Ex-Im Bank, ci ...

The Ministry of Electrical Power has opened a tender yesterday to buy natural gas from local and overseas investors to meet growing domestic energy demands, according to official sources. The ministry plans to buy 150 or 200 million cubic feet of natural gas daily before March of 2014 to operate power plants needed to produce electricity. Later the ministry will increase the amount to 500 or 600 million cub ...

SoftBank and Bloom Energy announced today they will begin offering fuel cells this fall as an alternative off-the-grid power source in Japan. The 50-50 joint venture will target corporate offices, data centers, hospitals, government centers and other large buildings that would benefit from multiple power sources. Each fuel cell system generates enough electricity to power 500 homes. The cells also offer a w ...

The reorganisation of the NSW power sector has moved up a notch with the planned sale of the national electricity meter arms of Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy. The proposed sale comes hard on the heels of the industry regulator, the Australian Electricity Markets Commission, calling for metering to be hived off from the energy distributors as part of a broader industry overhaul. It also comes as Victoria's me ...

The Clean Development Mechanism’s (CDM) latest project is a 100MW concentrated solar power (CSP) installation to be constructed in Rajasthan. Despite countless delays in the construction process India-based Reliance Power will complete the project under Phase 1 of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), India’s renewable energy programme. Seven projects were awarded under Phase 1. A total of 47 ...

The abrupt cancellation of a $6.5 billion uranium processing project in southern China has left Beijing with a headache as it tries to secure the fuel required to sustain an ambitious nuclear reactor building programme. China has been buying stakes in uranium mines in Asia and Africa, but without the capacity to enrich and process the ore it will still be dependent on foreign firms to turn it into useable f ...

Currently the majority of Hong Kong's water (over 70%) comes from the Dongjiang river basin in Southern China. The rest comes from local catchments. An agreement is in place for the Dongjiang water supply but the river flows through Guangdong and industrial demand for this water is high in China. In 2012, the total water demand was 1,200 million cubic meters. About 23% of water supply is seawater which is u ...

Coal India, the world's single largest coal miner, wants to become a mega power producer and has sought the government's permission to start a new subsidiary. Coal India Limited chairman S Narsing Rao last month sought the coal ministry's approval to set up pithead-based ultra mega power projects at three large coal blocks saying the company would not be able to supply extra coal during the 13th five year p ...

South Korea will restart two nuclear reactors this week after the completion of regularly scheduled maintenance, the nuclear regulator and operator said on Thursday, easing fears of power shortages in the hot Korean summer. Of the country's total 23 nuclear reactors, six reactors will remain offline, including three units halted after parts were supplied using fake certificates in May. This week's restart m ...

The Asian Development Bank plans to give a second loan to upgrade state power grids in India to help solar plants sell electricity. The Manila-based lender approved a $100 million loan to western Gujarat state in 2011 to build transmission lines and equipment for the nation’s largest solar park. That encouraged private developers to build plants quickly as it saved them the cost of connecting to the grid in ...