Staff Reporter

Japan’s Sumitomo Group has bought a fourth of the 550 megawatt Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, now under construction in the Mojave Desert in southern California.

Foxconn Technology Group and GCL-Poly Energy Holding Ltd will put up and operate a solar-power plant in China’s Shanxi Province. The said companies will share revenue from selling electricity to the government utility at the 310-megawatt plant, which will use GCL’s solar cells to be assembled by Foxconn, according to Hong Kong-listed GCL’s executive president Shu Hua who told Bloomberg News Wednesday. He declined to specify the investment amount or revenue split for the facility, which is scheduled to be fully operational during the first half of next year.

A three-day power conference and exhibition will wrap up October 5 at the Challenger Hall 1, Impact Exhibition & Convention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.The conference highlights include the joint plenary discussion on strategy and technology trends for a power hungry region, panel discussions on current power developments in finance and investment and on fuel as a driver for choices in power generation as well as POWER-GEN Asia 2012 summary session.At the opening ceremony last October 3, Dr. Norkun Sitthiphong (permanent secretary of the Thailand’s Ministry of Energy), Pongdith Potchana (deputy governor of Corporate Social Responsibility, EGAT, Thailand), and Darryl Wilson (president and chief executive officer of GE Power and Water Aero Products, USA) were invited as presenters/lecturers.Among the topics discussed during the said meet were Steam Turbine Modernization, Emerging Energy Trends, Boiler Modernization, Gas Turbine Fuel Flexibility, Generation Portfolio Choices, Converting Waste-to-Energy Plants from Waste Destruction to Waste Utilization, Generator Life Cycle Technology, Combined Heat and Power, Managing Risks in the Power Sector, and IPP Market Focus, among others. (by Rogelio Constantino Medina)

Experts inspected the evacuation plan for people living in earthquake-affected areas near Song Tranh Hydropower Plant in central Quang Nam Province.

The 10th turbine in southern Bac Lieu Province's sea wind-power project has been installed.

Sumitomo will add wind farms and at least two biomass plants to take advantage of the market rates for electricity from renewable sources the government introduced in July.

New education and science minister Makiko Tanaka questioned the phasing out nuclear power generation by the 2030s without terminating the long-standing policy to recycle spent fuel.

Ralls Corporation, a Chinese-owned company, has sued U.S. President Barack Obama for blocking its wind farm project purchase deal.

Malaysia’s national energy research centre said the country will finance over 50% more green projects in 2013 compared to this year.

Reliance Power achieved the Boiler light up for the second of two units of its 600 MW Butibori Thermal Power Project in Maharashtra. Power generated from the plant will help reduce demand supply

Union power minister Veerappa Moily wants to give state-owned firm NEEPCO a chance to execute 10,425 MW of power projects in Arubachal Pradesh.

Bangladesh electricity prices are increasing due to government projects on quick-rental power.

South Korea stopped two nuclear reactors at two separate atomic power plants on Tuesday due to technical problems.

As customers increasingly push to adopt condition-based maintenance for Gas-Insulated Substations (GIS), new opportunities are arising for periodic or permanent measurement of partial discharge.

Castle Peak Power Company Limited, Hong Kong (CAPCO). A joint venture between ExxonMobil Energy Ltd. and CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd.

The South Korean firm building Abu Dhabi's first nuclear power plant says it is on track to meet its target date of 2017.