News

Meralco seals 3 power supply deals

Meralco entered into power supply agreements with three major generating firms involving an initial total capacity of 1,720 megawatts. Meralco said it had signed an eight-year power supply deal with South Premier Power Corp for the full 1,180-MW net capacity of the Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas, south of Manila. It also sealed a seven-year power supply deal with a wholly owned unit of Semirara Mining Corp, the country's biggest coal producer, for an initial volume of 210 MW. The contracted volume under the deal with Semirara's SEM-Calaca Power Corp unit, which owns a 600-MW coal-fired thermal power plant in Batangas, will increase to 420 MW when another power plant unit begins commercial operation.

Meralco seals 3 power supply deals

Meralco entered into power supply agreements with three major generating firms involving an initial total capacity of 1,720 megawatts. Meralco said it had signed an eight-year power supply deal with South Premier Power Corp for the full 1,180-MW net capacity of the Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas, south of Manila. It also sealed a seven-year power supply deal with a wholly owned unit of Semirara Mining Corp, the country's biggest coal producer, for an initial volume of 210 MW. The contracted volume under the deal with Semirara's SEM-Calaca Power Corp unit, which owns a 600-MW coal-fired thermal power plant in Batangas, will increase to 420 MW when another power plant unit begins commercial operation.

KITEX allowed to sell wind power to Kerala for 20 years

KITEX Limited has been allowed to sell power from its two wind energy plants to the Kerala State Electricity Board.

Indian power projects to be hit by imminent coal shortage

Projects will have to resort to imported materials and the projected the debt service coverage will probably cost INR4.41/kwh.

Rajasthan raises tariff for newly-commissioned wind plants

Rajasthan has raised the tariff for wind power plants commissioned during fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Electrification now reaches 91% of Indian villages

According to India's Central Electricity Authority, a total of 5,40,469 villages have been electrified as part of the ongoing rural electrification programme in the country.

S. Korea's industrial electricity sales rise in Nov

Electricity consumption by increased by 5.2 percent in NOvember compared to the sawe period last year.

Energy high on Indian PM’s agenda in Russia

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said India would enhance ties in a host of areas such as energy with Russia.

Indonesia's Medco strikes $122M deal to raise funds

Medco Power sold a 51 percent stake to Saratoga Capital to help fund its plan to quadruple its power generating ability in the next four years.

India says Russia-built nuclear plant to start soon

India plans to start up a Russian-built nuclear power plant within weeks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday, expressing confidence that the government can ease safety concerns that have prompted protests by local residents. After talks in Moscow with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose country is eager to build more nuclear power plants abroad, Singh said the first two reactors at the Kudankulam plant were close to being activated. The power station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu is one of several planned power projects that are seen as vital to plugging huge electricity shortages that have damaged economic growth. However, protests by local people against the power station gathered pace after the Fukushima accident in Japan in March. "We are confident that we will be able to persuade some of these people that their concerns are adequately taken care of, that our nuclear plants are safe and sound and there is nothing to worry about with regards to their safety," Singh said. "I am therefore confident that in a couple of weeks we should be able to go ahead with operationalising Kudankulam, and thereafter, by a period of six months, Kudankulam 2." The two countries have been in talks to build two more reactors at Kudankulam. Russia's Itar-Tass news agency cited the head of state nuclear power firm Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, as saying Russia would provide India with a multi-billion dollar loan for the project, though no agreement was signed on Friday. Russia is keen to exploit its nuclear know-how, having already built two reactors in China and one in Iran that was plugged into the network in September. Rising tensions over Tehran's nuclear programme were on the leaders' agenda. Both countries urged Iran to cooperate with U.N. efforts to ensure it was not seeking nuclear arms, Russia and India said in a statement, but agreed that sanctions could be counterproductive. here

NTPC to set up 50-Mw solar plant in Madhya Pradesh

State-owned power major NTPC is going to set up its biggest solar (green) power station of 50 megawatts next year at an estimated cost of around Rs 700 crore in the electricity-starved state of Madhya Pradesh. “We are setting up our biggest solar power project at an estimated cost of around Rs 700 crore in Rajgarh district next year. NTPC will sell the entire power generated from this project to Madhya Pradesh,” NTPC official said today. “The government will soon ink a power purchase agreement with NTPC to procure energy from this project,” the official said. According to NTPC officials, it has kick-started the process of setting up 5 Mw and 15 Mw solar stations in Orissa, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, but the company’s biggest non-conventional energy project would be set up in Madhya Pradesh. “In all, we are working on generating over 100-Mw solar power energy projects across the country right now,” they said.

Sinopec won’t raise its bid for China Gas yet

Looks like it will stay at HK$15.3 billion for now.

Nuke shortfall forces Japan to burn more fuels

Japan's utilities burned 200,000 bpd more crude and 136,000 bpd more low-sulphur fuel oil in October than a year earlier to compensate for the loss of nuclear power capacity.

Joint venture unit to boost Tepco's summer supply

The TEPCO-Nippon Steel joint venture plans to test start a new combined-cycle gas-fired unit in April.

India's Tata Power seeks 130,000 T LSFO in rare term tender

Indian utility Tata Power has issued a rare term tender seeking up to about 130,000 tonnes of mostly low-sulphur (LSFO) fuel oil in up to five deliveries starting next month, traders said on Thursday. The tender, which follows another rare term requirement by Taiwan's CPC for more than 700,000 tonnes, is expected to keep sentiment for LSFO bullish, holding premiums for 0.3-percent sulphur lots at strong levels of around $100.00 a tonne to Singapore spot quotes. The tender closes on Dec. 19 and is valid until Dec. 23. It is for the delivery of up to five 25,000-tonne lots of 0.3 percent sulphur and 1,200-tonne parcels of high-sulphur between January and September to Mumbai on a cost-and-freight (C&F) basis. "The LSFO market has been strong since July, stemming from post-Fukushima Japan, and exacerbated by Taiwan needing more than their usual volumes as well," a Singapore-based Asian trader said. "Tata's requirement, though not at larger volumes than they usually take in a year, will further fan the bullish sentiment as they have departed from their usual practice of buying spot. This signals that they may see the market strengthening and want to lock in lower premiums." The first parcel is slated for delivery on Jan. 21-30, with deliveries for the remaining cargoes to be declared 40 days before the delivery dates. Tata typically buys 4-6 cargoes of 25,000-30,000 tonnes each annually from Singapore-based sellers. Sentiment in the LSFO market has been bullish since July, driven by strong demand from Japan in the wake of the March earthquake that crippled much of its power-generation capacity, due to damage to its nuclear plants. Its ravenous demand went beyond the country's peak summer period, with weekly import LSFO volumes averaging about 115,000 tonnes since July, the highest week-average levels since 2006 and up from last year's average of about 32,000 tonnes, official data show. Sentiment was further boosted by CPC's rare term tender for nine 80,000-tonne cargoes for delivery between April and December next year, which closed on Tuesday and will remain valid till Friday. The Taiwanese refiner is also seeking 40,000 tonnes of LSFO, for Feb. 1-29 delivery, via a spot tender that also includes 40,000 tonnes of HSFO, which closes next Tuesday. Premiums are also boosted by the global reduction of sulphur levels for marine fuels to 3.5 percent from Jan. 1, down from 4.0 percent now, by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).  

9MW solar park to be built in Thailand

The new park is expected to supply power to nearly 4,000 households.