News Flash 11 January 2011  

Reuters

Main climate policy steps likely for Asia in 2011

China has already launched a major effort to boost hydropower and helped drive rapid expansion of wind and solar power to wean industry off fossil fuels and to meet an insatiable appetite for electricity.Full Article

The New York Times

High Food Prices Threaten Growth of Energy Crops in Britain

Record high world food prices threaten to limit the use of land for low-carbon energy crops just as British efforts to pioneer growth of the giant grass miscanthus in Europe are poised to gather pace.

Burning biomass returns to the atmosphere the same carbon dioxide that the plants took in when they were growing and so can cut net emissions compared with fossil fuels.Full Article 9/1/2011

Green Chip Stocks

EU to Meet - and Surpass - 2020 Energy Goals

The front-runner for renewable sources in the EU's plan is wind; fourteen percent of the total energy demand will be met through wind energy.

Other top sources of energy include biomass (6.6%), solar (2.7%) and hydropower (10.5%).http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/eu-to-meet-and-surpass-2020-energy-goals/1210 7/1/2011 Full Article 9/1/2011

New York Times  

Carbon Dioxide, the Bane of Environmentalists, Is in Demand in the Oil Industry

The Obama administration views carbon dioxide as a pollutant that warms the earth, and it imposed new regulations at the beginning of the year to begin to control CO2 emissions. But to Texas oilmen, carbon dioxide is a useful — and scarce — commodity that is vital to extracting hard-to-reach oil reserves. 7/1/2011 Full Article 8/1/2011

Gizmag

New dyes to benefit solar electricity and hydrogen fuel production  

Researchers have made a two-fold breakthrough in advancing renewable energies with the development of a light sensitive dye which transfers electrons more efficiently than conventional technologies. The new dyes stand to be used in solar electricity generation and in creating hydrogen fuel, which in the past has proven expensive and energy hungry. Full Article

Business Report

Eskom complaints about ‘inferior coal’

Eskom warned last week that the country was at risk of power rationing and now the utility is playing hardball with local coal suppliers it accuses of supplying low quality fuel.Full Article

Extracts from Creamer’s Engineering News  

Eskom casts wide power buy-back net to deal with two years of acute tightness

State-owned power utility Eskom is casting a wide power buy-back net as part of efforts to close a possible supply/demand shortfall of 6 TWh this year and 9 TWh in 2012/13, without having to resort to rotational load-shedding– 9 TWh is equivalent to the electricity consumed by a large city such as Cape Town in a year. CEO Brian Dames indicated on Thursday that the utility was even going so far as to approach large shopping malls and hospitals with generation capacity to offer them... Full Article 7/1/2011

Eskom aims to renegotiate underperforming coal contracts by end March  

South Africa ’s coal-intensive State-owned power utility Eskom, which is renegotiating a number of coal contracts to narrow its quality requirements and improve plant performance, is already buying in some higher quality coal to deal with load losses. But CEO Brian Dames insists that these short-term purchases will not blow its primary energy budget and effectively accelerate the implementation of what will become long-term contracts from the beginning of its next financial year, beginning... Full Article 7/1/2011

Riversdale JV to take full control of Benga power project

ASX-listed Riversdale Mining and its joint-venture (JV) partner Tata Steel said that they would take full ownership of the $1-billion Benga power plant, in Mozambique. The JV acquired an option to buy another 50% interest in the Benga plant from Elgas, Riversdale said on Thursday Full Article 7/1/2011

South Africa power consumption, output up

South Africa ’s power consumption increased by 2,6% to 19 742 GWh in November, data published by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) showed on Thursday. In the first 11 months of 2010, power consumption increased by 4,1% compared with the same period in 2009 Full Article 7/1/2010

Extracts from Creamer’s Mining Weekly

Australia floods shut 8% of global thermal coal export supply

Flooding in Australia's Queensland state has resulted in the temporary closure of 8% of the global thermal coal exports supply, ANZ Bank said in a note on Thursday. The north-eastern state produces mostly coking coal used for steelmaking, but also produces some thermal coal used for power generation. Full Article

Australia floods cause months, possibly years, of damage

Australia 's flood-stricken coal industry may face months of disruptions as reports emerge of key rail and road links being washed away, while some infrastructure may take years to repair, authorities said on Friday. "There are some aspects of the rebuilding of infrastructure that will take, potentially, years," Major-General Mick Slater, chief of the flood recovery operation in Queensland state, told a news conference in Rockhampton. Full Article

Cockatoo expects production delay of ‘some weeks’

Coal miner Cockatoo Coal is unlikely to resume mining at its Baralaba mine in Queensland for some time, it said on Friday. The company reported that its key capital assets, including offices and coal processing equipment, at the Baralaba coal mine were not damaged by the floodwaters Full Article 7/1/2011