India’s state-run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has signed an agreement with Madhya Pradesh Power Trading Company to supply electricity from a 50 MW solar plant, the biggest such unit in the country currently under implementation.
The Yomiuri Shimbun has reported that Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry (METI) has plans to require electric power companies to hold open bidding and compete with IPPs when they plan to build new thermal power plants or add generators to existing plants.
China’s Goldwind has announced that it has entered into an agreement to provide 23 low wind speed Permanent Magnet Direct Drive (PMDD) wind turbines to Mainstream Renewable Power for Mainstream Negrete project (phase one) in Chile.
China has ordered eight coal-fired power plants to pay fines after they were accused of violating pollution limits and falsifying emissions data, according to a statement from the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.
During October, construction of thermal power generation capacity in China was down by 21.22 GW (24.9 per cent) from the same period a year ago.
China and South Korea’s planned investment in offshore wind farms, amounting to close to $25 billion in the near future, could be hampered by pressure on the supply of rare earth materials.
Japanese firm Toyota Tsusho Corp and South Korean Hyundai Engineering Co of have won a bid to build new Kenyan geothermal plants worth Sh40 billion ($400 million), reinforcing north-east Asian involvement in Kenya’s geothermal power generation programme.
The Fukushima disaster might lead to a 15 per cent fall in nuclear power generation worldwide by 2035, according to a July draft of the International Energy Agency's 2011 World Energy Outlook. The report further predicts power demand could rise by 3.1 per cent a year over the same period, though.
According to a recent report from Pike Research, the installed base of smart meters in the Asia Pacific region will total over 350 million by 2016, with Japan, China and Australia achieving smart meter penetration rates among the highest in the world.
China’s State Grid Energy Research Institute (SGERI) and Vestas China have announced plans to cooperate on developing techniques to overcome the difficulties of large-scale integration of wind power to the grid by applying an integrated solution encompassing technology, management and policy.