Energy, Resources & Environment

China - China plans Asia's biggest coal-fired power plant

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, 27 December 2011

China's Shenhua Group will build the largest coal-fired power station in Asia over the next five years, the official Xinhua news agency said Tuesday, as the country struggles to meet its energy needs. China's biggest coal company and officials in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region signed a deal for the 8-gigawatt thermal plant on Monday, according to Xinhua and the local government's website.

The plant would be built in the southern port city of Beihai to help ease power shortages caused by drought, which has strained power supplies. Shenhua's plans come days after local governments were ordered to reduce emissions of "major pollutants" by as much as 10 percent by 2015, amid growing public anxiety over bad air. Shenhua and the Guangxi government will ensure the new plant's eight power generators get a steady supply of coal from company mines in Indonesia and Australia by building four 100,000-tonne deepwater loading docks, Xinhua said.

Japan - Fukushima province plans nuclear-free future

Source: The Poten Portal, 29 December 2011

The Japanese prefecture of Fukushima wants a nuclear-free future, according to a reconstruction plan adopted Wednesday, after suffering the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

Under the plan, the provincial government panel called on the federal government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) to shut down all 10 nuclear reactors in the prefecture. Six of them are at the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, and four are at the Fukushima Daini power station.

India - India Asks State-Run Firms to Build Renewable Energy Projects

Source: The Wall Street Journal, 29 December 2011

India has asked all state-run companies to set up renewable energy projects as part of efforts to combat climate change, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said Thursday. The companies can also buy renewable energy certificates "to offset their carbon footprints," the ministry said in a statement, adding that this can boost trading of such certificates in India.

The government's decision means that companies including Coal India Ltd., Steel Authority of India Ltd., and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. may well set up renewable energy projects as part of annual targets given by their administrative ministries.

Visit our Energy, Resources & Environment practice