India’s power sector reforms in 2013 would be led by the distribution segment, armed with the newly-announced debt restructuring package for state utilities. The Centre has backed the package with measures to ensure it does not meet the same fate as the one-time-settlement scheme of 2001. Also, most states have defeated political interference on revising retail rates, which will show in healthy balance shee ...

Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) has signed a joint venture (JV) agreement with the national electricity carrier Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) to strengthen transmission network. The joint venture agreement, would also execute transmission projects worth Rs 2,000 crore in the state. The JV would have 50:50 stake which is the first of its kind in the state, Energy Secretary ...

Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), India's largest power transmission utility, announced it would invest Rs 16,300 crore in two phases in Bihar to ramp up the electricity grid system of the state. The investment would be done through a new Joint Venture (JV) company between PGCIL and Bihar State Power Holding Company Ltd (BSPHCL) called Bihar Power Grid Company Ltd. The two sides had signed an agre ...

State Grid Corporation of China, the world’s largest State-owned utility, plans to invest $30 to $50 billion in overseas assets until 2020. Liu Zhenya, general manager of the State-owned power grid, said that by 2020 the company’s overseas assets will increase to 10 percent of the total from the current 2 percent. The company’s overseas assets are now worth more than $8 billion, and their investment return ...

China is currently in the midst of an ambitious, government-backed five-year plan to develop more clean energy resources, and now the government is looking to overhaul its solar panel industry to fix some notable weaknesses. In recent years, the country's solar panel providers have suffered some major losses due to price wars and excessive production. China's new plan will seek to encourage mergers and will ...

China Sunergy opened a factory in Istanbul with Turkish partner Seul Energy Investment Corp. as it seeks to expand access to European customers. China Sunergy will make solar modules in a 150-megawatt production line starting next month, it said yesterday in a statement. A 100-megawatt solar-cell facility is also being built and is due to start in March, while 200 megawatts of production capacity will be mo ...

India is on the cusp of a solar energy revolution. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) kick-started the development of large, mega-watt scale, solar plants. In combination with the Gujarat solar power programme, JNNSM has resulted in an installed capacity of 1047 MW as on November 31, 2012. What was crucial for the success of phase-I (2010-13) of the JNNSM was a realistic price discovery thr ...

China's solar problems stem from rapid expansion over the past decade and issues with the U.S. and Europe In response to troubles with its solar panel manufacturing, China is trying to get producers to merge. Beijing, in particular, is facing problems with its solar panel industry and plans to fix it by reducing government support for the industry, encouraging mergers and blocking local leaders from support ...

SMA Solar Technology, Germany’s biggest solar company by market value, agreed to buy a majority stake in Jiangsu Zeversolar New Energy Co. to gain access to the Chinese market. SMA Solar will get 72.5 percent of the inverter maker in a deal that gives Zeversolar an enterprise value of 319 million yuan ($51 million), Niestetal-based SMA said in a statement. The agreement is subject to Chinese regulatory appr ...

Billing-systems vendor Orga Systems has been asked to contribute its expertise to an EU-funded smart-grid project in Thailand. The company has been running a series of training sessions about introducing cost-effective and user-friendly smart grids to the Thai market as part of the SmartThai initiative. Owing to the success of those workshops, Thailand’s Ministry of Energy has asked Orga (Paderborn, Germany ...