Staff Reporter

India gave environmental clearance for a nuclear power plant to be built in collaboration with French firm Areva. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh said the go-ahead for the Jaitapur plant in Maharashtra state, which will use nuclear reactors supplied by Areva, was granted with 35 conditions and safeguards.

ADB will inject up to $40 million in two new private equity funds that supports clean energy development.

Goldwind is eyeing an 85 percent stake in Golden Concord Wind Power and a 25 percent stake in Golden Concord Xilinhot. These will be purchased from Golden Concord Wind Equipment Holdings. according to powertechnology.com. In addition, Goldwind intends to acquire a 15 percent stake in Golden Concord Jiangsu from Shanghai Guoneng Investment through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Goldwind Investment Holdings. The stake purchases will cost approximately US$29.9 million in total for Goldwind. Upon the completion of the transactions, Goldwind will hold a 100 percent stake in both Golden Concord Jiangsu and Golden Concord Xilinhot. Goldwind expects to obtain advanced technology for the design and production of wind turbine blades and to lower its production costs. Furthermore, Goldwind will inject US$82.4 million into a wholly-owned subsidiary, Jiangsu Goldwind Wind Equipment Manufacturing, for the research of 6MW wind turbine direct drive permanent magnets, an offshore wind turbine test site and engineering work on ocean wind power.

India’s ONGC will invest US$109.4 million on research and development of non-conventional energy sources. According to the Business Standard, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation chairman and managing director R. S. Sharma stated that India has only 0.5 per cent of the world's hydrocarbon reserves and will find it difficult to meet its growing energy demand without utilising alternative and renewable sources.

Bangladesh will lease two gas-fired power plants from UK firm, Agbeko.

An anticipated rise in sea level is likely to affect the Madras Atomic Power Station in Kalapakkam.  It may also affect a plant under construction in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, India.

South Australia will get a new $750 million gas-fired power station to meet its demand in peak summer.

Cameco will supply 29 million pounds of uranium concentrate to CGNPC under a long-term agreement through 2025. China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co., Ltd. or CGNPC, China's largest clean-energy enterprise, operates three nuclear power stations and has the largest number of nuclear power plants under construction in the world. CGNPC indicates it has about 17,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity under construction and expects to have over 50,000 MW on line by 2020. "This long-term supply agreement with China Guangdong Nuclear Power is a significant step for our company in the world's fastest growing uranium market," said Cameco CEO Jerry Grandey. "China Guangdong Nuclear Power has 14 nuclear power units currently under construction and is commencing preliminary work on another nine units. This deal leaves us well positioned to serve the company's growing uranium requirements." Reports from China indicate the country plans to increase its nuclear capacity from the current 11 gigawatts (GW) to at least 80 GW by 2020. A further increase to 120-160 GW or more is planned by 2030. "This agreement is further evidence that our plan to double uranium production by 2018 aligns well with China's remarkable nuclear reactor construction program," added Grandey.

Chinese engineers have developed large reactor systems based on the French model and may be able to export by 2013.

China’s nationwide power generation volume rose 14.9 percent year-on-year to 3.422 billion kilowatt hours in the first 10 months. The growth rate was up 11.7 percentage points year-on-year. According to Capital Vue citing the National Development and Reform Commission website, in the first 10 months, thermal power generation rose 14.4 percent year-on-year, with the rate of growth up 12.6 percentage points from a year ago. Hydropower generation rose 16.2 percent year-on-year, with the rate of growth up 8.1 percentage points year-on-year. Power generation in October rose 5.9 percent year-on-year to 332.9 billion kilowatt hours. The growth rate was down by 11.2 percentage points year-on-year. Thermal power generation fell 0.6 percent while hydropower generation gained 43 percent year-on-year. In the first 10 months, power consumption nationwide totaled 3.485 trillion kilowatt hours, including 84.1 billion kilowatt hours used by primary industries, 2.593 trillion kilowatt hours by secondary industries, 376.8 billion kilowatt hours by tertiary industries and 431.1 billion kilowatt hours by rural and urban households. Power consumption in October totaled 340 billion kilowatt hours.

The Sri Lankan government is eyeing a High Capacity Power Transmission Link in a joint venture with India.

ADB will extend $120 million in loans to Papua New Guinea for renewable energy facilities. The country suffers critical electricity supply gaps in provincial urban centers.

Four nuclear power plants are in the works in the Henan cities of Nanyang, Xinyang, Luoyang and Pingdingshan. This was revealed by Zhang Dawei, vice governor of Henan Province, according to the Global Times.

Chhattisgarh will get 50 per cent power from the NTPC's upcoming 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant in the Raigarh district.

Chugoku Electric Power Co would restart the 820-megawatt No.2 reactor at its sole Shimane nuclear plant around Dec. 2. Power generation is then expected to resume on Dec. 6.

Taiwan will have its first offshore wind farm in Changhua County, central Taiwan by 2013.