Taiwan's government says it will freeze the construction of a fourth nuclear power plant, until a national referendum is held. In response to a mass protest, Taiwan will hold a referendum to decide if a fourth nuclear plant will be built. (Photo: Michael Dalder) (Credit: Reuters) Audio: Taiwan puts new nuclear plant on backburner A date has yet to be fixed on the referendum, to endorse the fourth plant. The ...

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US-based Trilliant on a smart grid technical exchange collaboration. Trilliant is a leading smart grid platform company and the MoU follows the recent US-Asia Pacific Comprehensive Energy Partnership’s High-Levels meeting. TNB president and chief executive officer Azman bin Mohd said he was delighted to have the technical exchange ...

The bidding battle between General Electric and Siemens over Alstom seems to have found a preferred winner. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Alstom’s board had agreed not to seek out alternatives to GE’s proposed $13 billion takeover of its power and grid businesses. WSJ also reported that Alstom had agreed to sign a clause that prevents it from seeking competing offers to GE’s, which would pay ...

Over the past couple of decades, natural gas (NG) has become a fuel of choice for power generation. One way of increasing the availability of NG is through the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Global LNG trade is expected to grow by 30% in the coming few years. In connection to LNG production growth, receiving and re-gasification capacity must grow as well.   A substantial part of this growth will c ...

The government will unveil a plan for mothballing the controversial fourth nuclear power plant by the end of June, when a safety inspection of one of the plant's two reactors is scheduled to be completed, an official said Monday. Vice economics minister Duh Tyzz-jiun told a legislative committee that his ministry and state utility Taiwan Power (Taipower) expected to unveil a plan to maintain the plant while ...

Villagers of the Laem Hin village in the southern province of Krabi on Monday brought more than 50 boats to block the construction site of a coal pier by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). The latter eventually bowed to the protesters’ demand and decided to put off the construction. One of the villagers said they objected to the coal pier due to fears over its impacts to their liveliho ...

A return to economic growth in Thailand is expected to drive greater demand for electricity, hastening efforts to look for alternative sources of energy, although continued political uncertainty could slow public investments in power plants and transmission lines. On February 2, the governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), Soonchai Kumnoonsate, said electricity demand was forecas ...

Electricity consumption in Thailand reached a record 26,942.1 megawatts on Wednesday afternoon, as the temperature touched close to 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) in Bangkok, the Electricity Generation Authority of Thailand (Egat) said. The record electricity used occurred at 2.36pm, breaking the old mark of 26,598.1 Mw on May 16 of last year. Power usage on Wednesday was also higher than Egat’s own projection ...

Australia - Indonesia’s decision to start cancelling investment treaties with 62 countries has passed with little comment, but the move may have a greater impact than the recent banning of mineral ore exports. Indonesia last month kick-started the process of terminating all of its bilateral treaties by notifying the Netherlands that its agreement to protect and promote investment would end in 2015, and sign ...

The project will be built in Thatta District in Sindh province and will cost about $132 million, IFC said in an investment proposal in August. The 50-megawatt project will be developed by Karachi-based Metro Power Co. and generate enough electricity to supply about 270,000 people a year, according to a statement on IFC’s website. Metro Power is owned by the Iqbal Alimohamed family and InfraCo Asia Keenjhar ...