Ethiopia has announced the completion of construction of electricity transmission lines to enable the country to supply electricity to neighbouring countries.
In the USA, Senate Democrats have abandoned plans to pass a broad energy bill this summer.
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), South Korea’s state-run power company, said that it will buy a 20 per cent stake in PT Bayan Resources, Indonesia’s eighth-largest coal producer by output, for $515 million.
The European Commission has launched a smart grids initiative, which is intended to upgrade and equip Europe’s electricity network by building intelligence into the existing passive delivery system.
Enel, Italy’s largest utility, has said that it has not yet reached a decision on selling its 73 per cent stake in Bulgaria’s Maritsa East Three coal-fired power plant.
The Vietnam Energy Association has said that the country’s power sector needs to charge consumers more and to rethink its pricing mechanisms in order to attract necessary investment. It estimates that the power sector needs an additional $80 billion of capital investment over the period 2010-15.
The World Bank has forecast further rises in the power tariff in Pakistan to bridge the gap between the cost of producing electricity and the revenue earned from consumers.
The Middle East’s electricity providers have been urged to introduce variable tariff schemes that charge consumers more for usage during peak hours in an effort to ease demand.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission in the USA has approved an electricity rate settlement that will result in a 17 per cent rate rise for typical residential electricity customers of Kentucky Power Company.
The UK Government has announced a drop of nearly 7 per cent in the share of electricity generated from renewable sources. Despite a year-on-year increase of nearly a third of onshore wind power generation, the total amount supplied in the first quarter of 2010 as part of all sources fell by 6.6 per cent.