The World Bank reports that China is making progress in meeting targets to generate 15 per cent of its electricity from non-fossil fuels by 2020, though it needs to improve and expand hydro generation and deal with inefficiency in its wind-power sector.
India’s Tata Power will invest around Rupees 50bn ($1.1 bn) in wind energy over the next seven years as it prepares to generate at least a quarter of its total power generation from clean sources by 2017.
Shares in Weir Group recently surged to a record high as the Glasgow-based engineering company announced the acquisition of American Hydro Corporation, which makes turbine components for hydro power generation.
Ontario Power Generation’s third-quarter profit increased to $333 million, compared with $259 million for the same quarter last year. Reports say this increase was likely caused by higher electricity prices this year.
India-based Mahindra Group is reportedly making plans to move into the solar energy generation business, according to an industry source. It is also looking for a partner in order to bring in domain expertise as well as extra funding for the venture.
Chinese power generation grew 14.9 per cent year-on-year to 3421.6 TWh in the first 10 months of 2010, including 563 TWh from hydropower, 2737.7 TWh from thermal power and 59.7 TWh from nuclear power.
The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has signed a contract worth SAR 1.43 billion to expand the electricity power generation plant in Qassim to meet the growing demand for energy in the province.
US power producer AES Corp. plans to spend as much as $15 billion to increase capacity in India. The Arlington, Virginia based company has operations in 29 countries and hopes to earn 10 per cent of its revenue from its Indian projects in five years.
The Dubai government is to allow the private sector’s role in power generation to rise to 49 per cent by 2030, as part of a strategy to diversify the emirate’s utility sector, according to Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Council of Energy, Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer.
India’s Reliance Power has agreed a $2.2 bn deal with General Electric after securing a $5bn loan from the US Export-Import bank for buying US goods and services over the next three years.