Staff Reporter

Nuvia India is eyeing around 20 million euro, around Rs 120 crore, in revenues from the country over the next two to three years.

The Board of Directors of the United States Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has recently announced a $150 million financing to expand the use of solar energy to power telecommunication towers in India, a project that will significantly reduce CO2 emissions.

The construction of a 2x500 MW capacity coal based plant in Tamil Nadu is likely to see an extension of a minimum of eighteen months.

China electricity industry has been restructured by separating the design and construction businesses from power grids and firms and establishing two new companies. The two new firms, PowerCorp China and China Energy Engineering Group Co. Ltd., are both solely funded by the state, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. The separation of auxiliary businesses from the nation's power grids and power generating companies was part of the country's efforts to reform the power industry as formulated by the State Council in 2002, said Wang Yong, head of SASAC. After the restructuring, the state-owned Sinohydro Corporation, HydroChina Corporation, together with the design and construction units previously affiliated with the State Grid and the China Southern Power Gird in Shanghai, Hebei, Jilin and 11 other regions, will merge into PowerCorp, with assets totaling 196 billion yuan or US 30.63 billion U.S. dollars and 202,700 employees. CEEG has also taken over the other two state-owned enterprises, the China Gezhouba Corporation and the China Power Engineering Consulting Group Corporation, along with auxiliary units previously operated by the State Grid and the China Southern Power Gird in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi and 13 other provinces or regions. CEEG has assets totaling 120 billion yuan and 160,000 staff.

The Burmese government has suspended a highly controversial hydroelectric dam project due to growing public opposition.

French power and transport engineering group Alstom won several contracts worth around 240 million euros or $322 million to limit emissions from coal-fired power plants` includiing one from Taiwan.

Former Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan concluded in March that nuclear power was no longer worth the risk after the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years. His successor seems less convinced. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's month-old government let a panel of experts begin debate on Japan's energy policy on Monday, but Noda has already signaled that nuclear power could play a role for decades. Six months after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant, which is still leaking radiation, critics say powerful pro-nuclear interests are quietly fighting back. "It's been a real bad year for the 'nuclear village' but I don't think they are down and out," said Jeffrey Kingston, Director of Asian Studies at Temple University's Japan campus, referring to the utilities, lawmakers and regulators who long promoted atomic power as safe, clean and cheap. Public concern about safety leapt after the Fukushima accident, which forced 80,000 people from their homes and sparked fears about food and water supply. Some 70 percent of voters polled in July backed Kan's call to phase out nuclear plants. A series of scandals in which regulators and power companies tried to sway hearings on reactors has also dented public trust. Noda has acknowledged that public safety concerns will make it tough to build new reactors, but on Friday stopped short of saying atomic power would play no role at all by 2050. He said decisions on reactors already under construction would have to be made "case-by-case." The panel is led by the chairman of steel industry giant Nippon Steel Corp, a heavy user of electricity and considered partial to nuclear power, but also includes those opposed to atomic energy. Public safety fears remain high. Tens of thousands rallied in Tokyo last month urging an end to nuclear power, a hefty showing in a country where taking to the streets is rare. Their concerns include how to deal with increasing nuclear waste, such as the Fukushima reactors. Japan, the world's third-biggest nuclear generator, has postponed a decision on where to build a nuclear waste repository. The operator of the crippled reactors, Tokyo Electric Power Co, faces a huge compensation bill, estimated at 4.5 trillion yen ($58 billion) for the two years through March 2013 alone, and will need funds from a government-backed scheme to stay solvent. The government, analysts say, has made clear it views Tokyo Electric as too big to fail. "That rickety scheme, though it is not explicit, would see the monopoly maintained and nuclear plants continue to be used," said Andrew DeWit, a Rikkyo University professor who writes about energy policy. Yet Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who was chief cabinet secretary for former leader Kan and now oversees energy policy, said on Monday the panel should take into account a change in public views for atomic power. "The debate should not start from the current status but rather show what the country should be in the future, then discuss how it can quickly approach there," he told the panel. Reuters.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's month-old government begins debate on Japan's energy policy, but Noda has already signalled that nuclear power could play a role for decades. Six months after the world's worst radiation crisis in 25 years erupted at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima plant, critics say powerful pro-nuclear interests are quietly fighting back. "It's been a real bad year for the 'nuclear village' but I don't think they are down and out," said Jeffrey Kingston, Director of Asian Studies at Temple University's Japan campus, referring to the nexus of utilities, lawmakers and regulators who long promoted atomic power as safe, clean and cheap. Public concern about safety leapt after the Fukushima accident, which forced 80,000 people from their homes and sparked fears about food and water supplies. Some 70 percent of voters polled in July backed Nato Kan's call to phase out nuclear plants. A series of scandals in which regulators and power companies tried to sway hearings on reactors has also dented public trust. In an effort to tap in to that sentiment, Kan floated ambitious targets for renewable energy and embraced a future without nuclear power. He promised an overhaul of a government plan approved last year to build 14 new reactors and raise the share of nuclear power in Japan's electricity mix to 53 percent by 2030 from about a third prior to the Fukushima accident. "It chilled me to the bone every waking moment of each day," he told his last news conference as premier of the battle to contain the disaster. "How should we deal with the risk that nuclear power might cause our country to perish? This question is what led me to propose the creation of a society free from dependence on nuclear power." Noda, in contrast, has acknowledged that public safety concerns will make it tough to build new reactors, but on Friday stopped short of saying atomic power would play no role at all by 2050. He said decisions on reactors already under construction would have to be made "case-by-case". He was also vague about the criteria that an advisory panel, which will make recommendations on a new energy plan by next summer, should use in reaching its conclusions. "Naturally, we are aiming at the best energy mix that can allay the concerns of the citizens about safety," Noda told a news conference.

San Miguel Corp will not pursue a $1 billion conversion of a 620-megawatt power plant it acquired in 2009 and is now looking to sell it.

The contract is for the extension of two 500 kV substations at Kembangan and Muara Tawar and delivery of a new 150 kV substation in Muara Tawar.

Tokyo Electric Power Co expects to be able to supply 53,000 megawatts of power this winter, around 6 percent of a meet projected peak demand of about 50,000 MW., reports Reuters.

E Hitachi told nuclear operators to conduct tests to determine what conditions would prevent the reactors from shutting safely during an earth quake.

South Korea will instruct domestic utilities to secure high calorific steaming coal to prevent blackouts in winter, the economy ministry said.

A Japanese consortium and state utility Vietnam Electricity has signed an agreement to cooperate on the Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power plant project in Vietnam.

Tohoku Electric Power Co aims to accept more than triple the capacity of wind power to its grid at 2 gigawatts by 2020.

Nalco plans to diversify into nuclear power investing Rs 11,450 crore. Nalco CMD BL Bagra said his firm has dentified Kakarapar Atomic Power Station – 3 & 4 Project for development, jointly with Nuclear Power Corporation of India at a cost of Rs 11,450 crore. The recommendation for the investment is under consideration by the Government. Bagra said the company had been pursuing to set up a smelter and power project in Orissa. However, considering uncertainty on location, company might have to explore for an alternate location elsewhere in the country, he said.