Energy, Resources & Environment

India - Bangladesh signs deal for first nuclear plants

Source: AFP, 02 November 2011

Bangladesh on Wednesday signed an agreement for Russia to build the first two nuclear power plants in the energy-starved South Asian nation, an official told AFP. The two 1,000 megawatt plants  set to cost between $1.5 and $2 billion each  are expected to generate power by 2018 and help ease chronic power shortages that have hit industry hard.

The deal was signed in Dhaka by Yeafesh Osman, the minister for science and technology, and Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's state-owned nuclear energy giant Rosatom, after a framework agreement secured in Moscow last May. Officials said the country needed to build the plants because reserves of the country's main source of energy  natural gas  were fast depleting and could run out in a decade.

Japan - Japan restarts first nuclear plant since disaster

Source: AFP, 02 November 2011

Japan restarted its first nuclear reactor since the Fukushima disaster in March, in a boost to its beleaguered atomic power industry faced with a deeply sceptical public. Power began flowing from the Genkai nuclear power plant reactor in the south of Japan, Kyushu Electric Power said, less than a month after the facility automatically shut down following a safety alert.

Saga Governor Yasushi Furukawa told reporters: "If the state made the judgment after a full examination, we'll accept it," Kyodo reported. Before the disaster at Fukushima, Japan relied on nuclear power for around a third of its electricity, and has since had to ramp up its imports of thermal fuels to plug the supply gap as the number of active reactors dwindles.

China - Rising coal prices to worsen China’s winter power crunch

Source: London Commodity News, 02 November 2011

The rising price of coal is fueling concerns about a power crunch set to plague China this winter, analysts said. A 26-million-kilowatt power shortage is expected during peak periods in the coming winter and spring, said Tan Rongyao, chief supervisor of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. The power squeeze situation will be grim, especially in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and the provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan and Hunan, Tan said.

The country’s recent moves to support small and medium-sized enterprises will increase power demands because of resumed production, which will then push up demand for coal, said Xing Lei, a professor at the Institute of China Coal Economy of the Beijing Central University of Finance and Economics. The continuing rises in coal prices and the supply shortage will make the situation even worse as coal is China’s cornerstone of power generation, analysts said. About four-fifths of China’s electricity comes from thermal power plants.

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