News

ABB won an order worth $15 million from Oyu Tolgoi LLC. to boost the capacity and reliability of existing transmission lines. 

Taiwan reduced the feed-in tariffs for solar power for 2011 by approximately 30 per cent from 2010 levels. This is due to the falling cost of solar photovoltaics installation equipment. State-run Taiwan Power will now pay US$ 0.2518 per kilowatt-hour for power generated from ground mounted solar installations, compared with US$ 0.3821 for 2010, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement on January 28th. The 2011 price for roof-top solar power is as high as US$0.3546. Solar cell prices may decline 10 to 15 per cent this year, said Chang Ping-heng, chief executive officer of Motech Industries, Taiwan’s biggest solar cell maker by market value. Global annual capacity to produce solar cells may climb to as much as 30GW in 2011, Chang said December 1st. “Solar power costs may fall further,” Hwang Jung-chiou, vice minister of economic affairs, said in a press conference in Taipei today. Feed-in tariffs are at least US$0.3821 for PV solar panels installed in 2010, the Bureau of Energy said in a statement on its website in December 2009.

India's Ministry of Environment and Forest okayed Chettinad Power's proposed 1,200 MW merchant coal based thermal power plant.

Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited will commission the first unit of its 1,000 MW hydroelectric power project in Himachal Pradesh in March. This will be six months ahead of schedule.

TEECL has diversified into non-conventional energy sector to produce 950 mw of wind power by 2017.

Youil Ensys subsidiary Youil Renewable Energy Corporation will invest around $160 million to construct two solar projects in the Philippines.

ADB has agreed to lend China WindPower $240 million to build and operate up to 800MW of new wind farms by 2013.

The state owned power utility  Neyveli Lignite Corporation would set up a 2,000 Mw power station at Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu.

Bank of China offered a credit facility to JinkoSolar worth approximately US$7.6 billion over a five-year period.

Reliance Power will infuse US$5 billion in two projects-one each in South Sumatra and Jambi provinces. The investment covers coal mining, setting up of railway lines, ports and power projects.

 

Japan is considering cutting the rate that utilities pay for surplus solar power by 12.5 per cent in April, according to financial newspaper Nikkei. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to lower the feed-in tariff from the current rate of US$0.584 per kilowatt to US$0.511 per kilowatt.

International Power will build the Uch II, an extension of the existing 572MW Uch plant in Pakistan.

First Solar has received a licence to construct a thin-film solar panel plant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

China Southern Power plans to increase investment in the country's grid networks by almost a third of its previous investment.

ADB has agreed to lend up to $100 million to a privately owned gas-fired power plant in Pakistan. It is meant that will help alleviate chronic power shortages which are undermining growth and poverty reduction.