NEWS FLASH 9 JUNE 2010
iStockAnalyst
India to hold talks with Australia on nuclear fuel
India will hold bilateral talks with Australia during the next two days for purchase of nuclear fuel besides increasing its import of coal and gas even as Canberra has announced a controversial plan to impose windfall tax (super profit tax) on domestic coal producers.
Australia exports coal worth $6 billion a year to the Indian companies, including Tata Steel
Read More (6/6/2010)
Energy Business Review
Second 800MW Coal-fired Unit At Oak Grove Plant Goes Upstream
Luminant has started operations of its second 800MW coal-fired unit at the new Oak Grove power plant near Franklin in Robertson County, Texas.
Read More (4/6/2010)
New Era on-line
Namibia should think nuclear
By Veikko Nekundi
A few weeks ago, NamPower announced that it planned to increase the price of electricity by about 35% to which the nation objected, but eventually the ECB approved an 18% increase.
Read More 4/6/2010
An Illusion Called the Carbon Capture and Storage
By Brenda Sorensen
COPENHAGEN (IDN) – High expectations are being placed on a new technology that would capture and store carbon and help mitigate climate change. But a new report says that the technology known as 'Carbon Capture and Storage' (CCS) cannot work wonders and bring about required reductions in CO2 emissions that are known to contribute to global warming.
Read More 4/6/2010
Business Report
Big users not in on modelling for energy mix - DG
The government will hold long-awaited public hearings in Pretoria next week as it finalises a blueprint for South Africa's energy mix for the next two decades. Read More 3/6/2010
SteelGuru
Distance and logistics no problem for India coal supplies
India’s largest power company has warned that while it is looking at alternative fuel sources for future electricity generation, the country is compelled to rely on coal for at least the next 3 decades as the major energy source while it struggles to meet demand
Read More 7/6/2010
Bloomberg
South Africa Coal Stays Near 18-Month High on European Demand
By Alistair Holloway
Prices for coal shipped from South Africa’s Richards Bay, the continent’s biggest export facility for the fuel, were little changed near an 18-month high because of strong European demand in May.
The New York Times
New South African Coal Plant Seeks Emission Credits for 'Cleaner' Coal
A South African utility company that recently won a $3.75 billion World Bank loan to build the world's fourth-largest coal-fired power plant now is seeking international carbon credits for making the plant more efficient.
Read More 2/6/2010
Extracts from Creamer’s “Mining Weekly”.
Continental Coal signs South Africa deal with EDF Trading
Australia's Continental Coal has signed a $40-million thermal coal offtake deal with EDF Trading for production from Continental's South African mines, the company said in an announcement on the ASX website.
Read More 7/6/2010
COAL & ENVIRONMENT
Exxaro applies technology to expand coal mine under wetland
South African-based resources group Exxaro said on Friday that it was rolling out a wetland conservation project at its Matla coal mine in Mpumalanga, which would enable it to expand its underground operations while preserving one of the larger and ecologically valuable wetland systems in Mpumalanga's Highveld. The project has been approved to continue until 2017, and forms part of the mine's approved environmental management plan and water use license, the company said in a statement Full Article 4/6/2010
Extracts from Creamer’s ‘Engineering News”.
NUCLEAR
PBMR future now in very grave doubt
South Africa’s pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR) programme appears to be at death’s door. Sources have told Engineering News Online that the PBMR Company is in grave danger of being reduced to a staff complement of just 25, which would put into a “care-and-maintenance” status. Officially, the PBMR Company is still busy with the restructuring – and downsizing – process announced early this year, in terms of which the workforce of 800 was to be cut by 75%, to 200, and is still….
Full Article 4/6/2010
ELECTRICITY PRICES
Big disparities in municipal power charges to businesses
Municipal power tariffs for businesses consuming about 1,5 MVA are 26% less expensive in Richards Bay, on South Africa's east coast, than the country's next cheapest metropolitan area, Tshwane, and 45% lower than the tariffs levied over a 12-month period in Johannesburg, a new report shows. The disparities have been unearthed by the NUS Consulting Group, which recently compared the ‘Highest Voltage Maximum Demand' tariffs available to this category of energy-intensive consumer in 12… Full Article 4/6/2010
SOLAR POWER
Solar TV follows World Cup fever into rural South Africa
Solar power technology company SolarWorld Africa together with sustainable development group MamaEarth is in the process of rolling-out the Sun-TV Station project that constitutes the installation of solar-operated television units in rural regions and at social hot spots in the conurbations of South Africa. The project spearheaded by Solarworld Africa that is donating photovoltaic (PV) systems and television units to communities who would otherwise not have access to the FIFA World Cup Full Article
