Seven Japanese companies have been celebrating the ground breaking of their solar and wind power project at a ceremony held today at the project site in Midorigahama, Tahara City, Aichi Prefecture in Japan. With a wind capacity of 6MW, the companies claim that the project represents Japan’s largest solar and wind power project to date. In October 2011, the seven participating companies — Mitsui Chemicals, M ...

In reaction to negative market forces, Gamesa are making major job cuts globally. The most employee reduction is, not surprisingly, happening in Europe, where the company will lay off 1,280 people. In the US, 505 Gamesa employees will need to look for other jobs. Asia is also affected, with China losing a huge chunk of the workforce. China — which for Gamesa is the only manufacturing hub other than its home ...

In an effort to move away from nuclear power, Japan is investigating the utilization of all kinds of new technologies to replace the energy deficit. Still haunted by last year’s Fukushima disaster, the resource scarce country is struggling to find suitable replacements for its nuclear program. Renewable energy sources offer the most attractive and safest option, yet Japan has decided that it should also loo ...

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd., one of the world's largest manufacturers of high-performance solar power products, today announced that it has launched its new 6-inch full-square monocrystalline module series. The modules have been certified by TUV Rheinland, one of the world's leading providers of technical services, as having a maximum conversion efficiency of 16.82% and a maximum power output of 275W. JA So ...

German PV project developer Conergy is set to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia after it secured an EPC contract for two PV plants in Thailand from Thai Solar Energy Company (TSE), a local investor. The plants will be located in both Suphanburi Province and Kanchanaburi Province and have a combined capacity of 21MW. As part of the contract, Conergy will be responsible for planning, engineering, designi ...

The politically powerful chief of China's State Grid Corp, the world's biggest utility, welcomes bids from foreign firms looking to supply equipment for its smart grid but says they face formidable competition from Chinese companies. Liu Zhenya, 61, State Grid's president, dismissed accusations of protectionism, saying China's smart grid market was open and transparent. Local suppliers held the upper hand b ...

Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co., a Japanese producer of energy fueled by organic materials, plans to cut its dependence on coal by using more biomass such as wood chips, a senior executive said. “As an industry that consumes a lot of power, we need to take measures to promote energy conservation,” Senior Corporate Executive Officer MasafumiNakao said in an interview at the company’s Tokyo headquarters. “Wood chip ...

Metso Oyi, a Finnish engineering company, plans to expand its biomass business in China and India as growing urban populations drive up energy demand, while European governments cut back support for clean power. The growth of Asian cities adds to waste as well as energy consumption, offering opportunities to use that waste as biomass, Martin Ridderheim, vice president of Helsinki-based Metso’s power busines ...

Phinma-led Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. is expanding its power generation portfolio in northern Mindanao, where it plans to build a P13-billion, 135-megawatt coal-fired power plant to address the growing demand on the island. According to Trans-Asia president Francisco Viray, the project was still in the early stages with the company still under the pre-engineering component. The company also ...

Given the government’s grand plan to build up power plants at mega capacity of 20,000 megawatt (MW) in two phases until 2018, Indonesian energy providers are keen to see it as lucrative business as they already had captive market and resources to fuel their business. Embracing private power provider firms, the Indonesian government has set ambitious plans to build new power plants in two phases, with 10,000 ...