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Hyundai Engineering & Construction will construct the main plant at the Mong Duong power project in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam.

Dhaka Electricity Supply Co Ltd (DESCO) and West Zone Power Distribution Co Ltd have sought the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) approval to their proposals for a hike in retail power tariffs. In the proposals, up to a 21.94 per cent tariff hike in the city areas and around an 18.99 per cent increase in tariffs for 21 districts in the south-western region have been mooted. If the DESCO and West Zone Power proposals were cleared, the average retail power tariff per unit (Kilo Watt Hour) would stand at Tk. 5.28 as against the present Tk. 4.33 in the city and the tariff for south-western districts would increase from the present Tk. 4.53 to Tk. 4.77. The proposals were discussed thoroughly at an open meeting of the commission chairman, members and stakeholders, held at the BERC office here on Sunday. The DESCO had submitted its proposal to BERC on June 19, 2011 for a 13.16 per cent retail tariff hike while the West Zone Power proposal, submitted on June 20, sought a 13.11 percent hike. Later, in August this year, the DESCO revised its proposal and sought a 21.95 per cent hike in tariff. On August 2, West Zone Power sought an upward revision of its tariff hike proposal at 18.99 per cent. Incidentally, on February 8, 2011, the BERC had for the last time raised tariffs for bulk and retail electricity by 11 and 5 per cent, respectively, with retrospective from February 1. BERC chairman Syed Yusuf Hossain said end-users, ranging from domestic consumers to industrial entrepreneurs, would be saddled with an extra burden if the two proposal wee cleared. The open discussion on the proposals was organised by the commission at its Karwan Bazaar office in the city. Hossain said common people could not cope with the additional inflationary pressure as the prices of essential commodities had already gone beyond their reach due to an increase in energy and fuel prices in recent months. He urged DESCO and West Zone Power to be guided by their own judgments before proceeding to seek an increase in retail power tariffs, especially at a time when the country’s economy is facing a sharp fall in the balance of payments and a liquidity crunch. “Wide inflation has already kept the government under pressure. A fresh hike in power tariffs would only worsen the situation. As it is, we are being condemned by people for allowing your tariff hike proposals to be discussed. Is it not embarrassing for us?,” Hossain said while he was delivering a speech at the discussion. When DESCO and West Zone Power officials present at the meeting cited the rising cost of distribution as a reason for seeking a fresh tariff hike, Hossain advised them to revise their proposal downwards and take other effective measures. The other measures included reducing system loss, preventing illegal tapping of power, improving distribution services and going for viable expansion in case of new connections. Time has come to categorise the domestic consumers, Hossain said adding, since moneyed people enjoy luxurious living in air-conditioned residents at the same tariff rate the low-income group people pay for their power consumption. Meanwhile, the commission has announced that it would hear the DESCO proposal on October 20 and take up the West Zone Power proposal on October 24. During the February 2011 tariff hike announcement, the commission had said that the hike would not be applicable to domestic consumption of electricity between 1-100 units monthly, irrigation and non-residential (religious, social and educational institutions) connections. The commission chairman had then said the tariff increase for bulk power (11 per cent) would be implemented in two phases on July 31 and from August. He had also said the commission would set a ceiling on the tariff hike, at five per cent over the previous per unit rate of Tk. 4 (prevailing before February 2011), for retail consumers. Incidentally, last month, BERC rejected a tariff-hike proposal of the Rural Electrification Board. Similar proposals moved by Dhaka Power Distribution Co Ltd and Power Development Board are under the consideration of the commission.  

India's Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde made a strong pitch for US investment in India's growing power sector.

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has set a target to ensure the safe shutdown of nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan by January 2012. Japan's economy, trade and industry minister Yukio Edano announced that it would be possible to safely shut down the three damaged nuclear reactors at the quake-hit plant. TEPCO plans to bring the tsunami-battered nuclear reactors to a temperature of around 100°C by January, under a nine-month road map stabilisation plan. The UN's atomic agency said the plant's nuclear reactors were stable and the shutdown could be achieved ahead of schedule.  

The two new units which will support China’s Yangtze Delta area are expected to come online in February 2012 and August 2012.

South Korea's government said Monday that there were a total of 91 failures in operations of nuclear reactors in the country over the past 10 years due to mechanical glitches and other problems. In a report to the National Assembly, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the Gori-1 reactor, South Korea's oldest nuclear reactor, went offline due to an electrical malfunction in April this year. Yonhap News

Chinese officials have ordered the closure of a Jinko Solar solar panel manufacturing plant in the Zhejiang province of China, over fears of flouride pollution. The move comes after local residents staged violent protests, accusing the plant of polluting the nearby river and killing large numbers of fish. Haining environmental protection bureau head Chen Hongming told Xinhua that the factory's waste disposal system has been failing pollution tests since April. Officials have ordered the company to stop production, and overhaul the production procedures that involve emission of waste gas and wastewater.  

Shanghai Electric Group develop large-scale power plants and wind power projects in India based on its agreement with CESC.

The pending resolution of contractual issues has led to severe time and cost overruns for completion of work related to the head race tunnel (HRT) and other critical activities at NHPC's Parbati-II hydro electric project (HEP). More delays are now expected since no solution seems to be in sight, despite numerous negotiations held between the state-owned equipment major, BHEL and NHPC. No progress on HRT overt lining works in August has forced NHPC to carry forward the balance quantity to be finished in the coming month. Barely half of the lining has been laid out during the month, with 16,012 m of overt lining still remaining to be completed for the project. Moreover, 4,915 m of HRT needs to be excavated as per schedule to avoid any further delay in project commissioning. Also, in the sphere of electro mechanical (E&M) works, the power house (PH) activities were suspended due to slide of backhill slope. Although the work has resumed, the progress is not up to the mark for the project. In contrast to this, the retendering of Manihar Pancha and Jiwa Nallah feeder tunnels has progressed smoothly. With the excavation done so far, 59 m and 1291 m for the two tunnels respectively, remains to be completed. Parbati-II HEP, in the state of Himachal Pradesh, entails the construction of a 85 m high, concrete gravity dam, a 6 m x 31.52 km Head Race Tunnel, a 17 m x 130 m surge shaft, 2 m x 3.5m x 2133 m pilot shaft, a surface power house, pelton turbine and a 400 kV switchyard.  

Generation at the 2,600-Mw NTPC’s Ramagundam Thermal Power Station further declined to 1,400 Mw due to disruption in coal supplies from Singareni coalfields, impacting power supply across the Southern grid.

The government of Korea launched an audit into the state power monopoly and distributor to find out the exact cause of the recent massive blackouts that left millions of homes without electricity for hours.

Tokyo Electric Power may decommission the Fukushima Dai-Ni nuclear power plan, Japan's industry minister Yukio Edano said.

South Korea and Colombia agreed to strengthen cooperation in the eco-friendly green energy sector, reports Yonhap News.

The U.N. atomic agency still expects significant growth in the global use of nuclear power over the next two decades after  Japan's Fukushima accident.

The Bangladesh-India cross border electricity trade is set to be delayed as the power purchase deal was not inked during the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Bangladesh.