India's Apollo Green Energy plans a solar module plant and targets an IPO in 2025.
The chief executive of India's Apollo Green Energy said that the company, which is an engineering and construction company, intends to build a 500 Megawatt (MW), solar module plant within two to three years, and to tap into domestic public markets by 2025 for new projects. Sanjay Gupta, the CEO of the company that focuses on renewable energy projects, said the company has an order list of 35 billion rupees (416 million dollars) and wants to triple its size to 100 billion by the end this year. Gupta stated that "we…
Chinese solar firms are ever-nimble and go to places where US tariffs do not reach
The U.S. tariffs on Vietnam and three other Southeast Asian nations have prompted some of the largest Chinese-owned factories to cut production and lay off workers. In the meantime, a number of Chinese-owned solar power plants are being built in Indonesia and Laos. These are outside of Washington's protections on trade. Reports show that their planned capacity would be enough to provide about half of the solar panels installed in the U.S. Chinese solar firms have shrunk their output in existing hubs, while building new factories elsewhere. This has allowed them to avoid tariffs and to dominate the U.S.
US regulators reject amended agreement on interconnect for Amazon Data Center
A filing on Friday showed that U.S. Energy regulators had rejected an amended agreement to interconnect an Amazon datacenter directly with a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members said that the agreement to increase capacity of the Talen Energy Susquehanna nuclear generating plant's data center could affect grid reliability and raise electricity bills for consumers. As Big Tech race to expand its data centers to support technologies such as generative artificial Intelligence, the option of locating these centers on power plant sites is becoming more attractive.
U.S. regulators consider the issue of data centers in power plants
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission held a technical meeting on Friday to discuss the reliability and cost concerns associated with the growing trend of building data centers that are energy-intensive on the site of U.S. nuclear power plants. The technology industry is racing to build data centers to support technologies such as generative artificial intelligence. However, accessing the huge amounts of electricity required for these centers quickly has become a major problem. Co-location, the arrangement that connects data centers to power plants directly…
Data shows that Russian LNG exports in Jan-Oct are up by 6%.
LSEG data on Friday showed that Russia's January-October LNG exports increased by 6% compared to a year ago, reaching 26,4 million metric tonnes. Just over half of these were shipped to Europe. The data show that the October supply rose 10% over September, to 2,97 million tons. This is a record monthly volume for this year. The data for September was revised to 2.7 millions tons, down from the originally reported 2.81million tons. In the first ten months of this year, Europe imported around 13,4 million tons of Russian exports. The last month's supplies to Europe were 950,000 tons.
Meyer Burger talks to bondholders about injecting new capital
Meyer Burger, a Swiss solar panel manufacturer, said that it had entered into advanced negotiations on Thursday with a group holders of its convertible bond maturing in the years 2027 and 2029. The aim is to inject new capital into their business and restructure liabilities under some convertible bonds. The company said that it expects to achieve annual sales between CHF 350 and CHF 400 millions and EBITDA of approximately CHF 70millions by 2026. In its report for the first half of the year, which was published on Thursday…
Woodside and Tokyo Gas discuss stake in US LNG Project
Tokyo Gas and Woodside Energy are in discussions about a possible stake in the multi-billion dollar Louisiana LNG export project. Two people familiar with these talks confirm this. Woodside, a major Australian oil and natural gas company, closed a deal this month to buy Tellurian Inc., a developer that had put itself up for sale after running out of money while building a U.S. Gulf Coast plant capable of converting shale-gas into LNG at a rate of 27,7 million tons annually. Tokyo Gas Natural Resources, the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's biggest gas and electricity utility, is in talks to acquire a stake in the project.
TerraPower has held informal discussions with Turkey and other countries about small reactors
TerraPower, the Bill Gates backed company that is looking to build small modules reactors for nuclear power, has held informal discussions with several countries in Europe including Turkey. A company spokesperson confirmed this on Thursday. In an earlier report, it was reported that Turkey has been drafting a new law to encourage the construction of SMRs as a complement to plans to build nuclear power plants. TerraPower's spokesperson responded to a question by saying that they had "had informal conversations" with many European countries including some Turkish stakeholders…
Gates-backed nuclear company, ASP Isotopes, plans plant to manufacture nuclear fuel
TerraPower, a Bill Gates-funded reactor company, and ASP Isotopes announced on Wednesday that they had struck a deal for the production of a new fuel. This fuel is currently only produced in Russia in commercial quantities, but will be used in a future generation of nuclear power stations. Both major U.S. political groups support nuclear power, but Russia is the sole major supplier of fuel for the new reactors that companies are planning to build, which is called HALEU (high assay low-enriched uranium). Companies in the United States are racing to produce HALEU to meet the demand for next-generation small modules reactors…
Gazprom subsidiary claims $880 million against Linde
Court documents revealed on Wednesday that a subsidiary of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom filed a claim against Linde, claiming 879 million dollars. The Amur Gas Processing Plant, a subsidiary of Gazprom, filed the complaint on October 29 at the Arbitration Court in Amur Region in Russia's East. Linde has left Russia, and the Power of Siberia Pipeline plant that facilitates Russian gas to China exports, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022. In June 2021, the first technological line of the plant will be operational. Next year, the plant will reach its full capacity of 42 billion cubic meters of natural gas processing.
Canada's renewable fuel projects are hit by a surge in US imports
Canadian renewable fuel producers will see lower returns from new facilities as a result of a slump in British Columbia’s low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS). This trend is expected to continue amid an influx of US exports. The weakness in British Columbia's LCFS Credit Market reflects the growing pains of the international biofuels sector, where many regulators are clamping down on imports in order to protect their nascent national markets from an oversupply. Low-carbon fuels cost more to produce than gasoline or diesel based on petroleum. LCFS programs bridge the gap between fuels with low emissions and those that have higher emissions.
Hydro stops funding and cuts stakes in Vianode, a battery materials manufacturer
Hydro, a Norwegian metals company, announced on Thursday that it would reduce its stake in Vianode, a graphite materials firm, and cease to provide funding for the group. It joins other Nordic companies who have scaled back their ambitions in battery manufacturing. Vianode was originally owned by metals group Hydro and Elkem, along with private equity firm Altor. In 2022, they announced plans to build an plant that would provide two million electric cars a year with anode graphite. Elkem left the joint venture last March and Hydro announced on Thursday that it would reduce its stake from 30% to 19,9% and leave the board.
Italy's Lombardy will award two hydroelectric plant contracts by 2025
The local administration announced on Wednesday that the northern Italian region of Lombardy would award concessions to two small hydroelectric plants within its territory before the end of the next year. According to the region, the auction has attracted mostly Italian bidders. This could allow newcomers access to the capital-intensive industry. Five Italian bidders including ACEA Produzione, Ascopiave Group and the Italian subsidiary BkW Hydro, submitted bids to purchase a 4 Megawatt (MW), currently operated by A2A.
Flexible LNG supply is needed to meet the variable demand for electricity.
Industry executives stated on Tuesday that Japan and other major LNG buyers want more flexibility to adjust to changing power demands. Qatar and other LNG suppliers prefer long-term agreements with buyers, which can last for decades. This is to secure funding for multi-billion-dollar projects. In recent years, with more producers entering into the global market, buyers have sought shorter-term contracts that allow them to resell their cargoes if demand is low. Jonathan Westby said at an industry conference that JERA Global Markets in Japan…
Flexible LNG supply is needed to meet the variable demand for electricity.
Industry executives stated on Tuesday that Japan and other major LNG buyers want more flexibility to adjust to changing power demands. Qatar and other LNG suppliers prefer long-term agreements with buyers, which can last for decades. This is to secure funding for multi-billion-dollar projects. In recent years, with more producers entering into the global market, buyers have sought shorter-term contracts that allow them to resell their cargoes if demand is low. Jonathan Westby said at an industry conference that JERA Global Markets in Japan…
French and Benelux stocks: Factors to watch
Here are some company news and stories that could impact the markets in France and Benelux or even individual stocks. Documents dated Monday show that funds managed by Brazilian investment firm BTG Pactual were granted preliminary approval Friday by the country's antitrust regulatory body to purchase the hotel operations in Brazil of AccorInvest for 1.7 billion reais (300 million dollars). FDJ stated that it would retain 98.60% Kindred following the extension of the public tender offer. It also said that it planned to request a squeeze out procedure and delist Swedish company.
Nigeria approves Exxon Seplat after two years
Nigeria has approved the sale to Seplat Energy of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s onshore assets, said the chief executive of the country's Upstream regulator on Monday. This comes more than two years since the original $1.28 billion agreement.Since it was announced in February 20, 2022, the sale has been scrutinized as it awaits regulatory approval.Bola Tinubu, the President of Nigeria, said that the ministerial approval would be granted within a few days following the clearance by the regulator.Gbenga Komolafe, CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission NUPRC…
Tanzania builds grid interconnector to Zambia to mitigate power crisis
Tanzania's vice prime minister announced at the Singapore International Energy Week on Monday that Tanzania will build a grid-interconnector with Zambia in order to assist in reducing a power crisis caused by a drought. "We already have interconnectors in place with our neighbours Burundi and Kenya, but now we're putting up one with Zambia. This will allow us to help our neighbor, Zambia, who is suffering from a severe drought," said Doto Biteko. He is also the Energy Minister. "Tanzania is a member of Eastern African Power Pool... He said that the development of the grid-interconnector would take 36 months. Work began last month.
Sources say that India's HPCL will start a LNG terminal by the end of the year and seeks a long-term supply.
Three sources claim that India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp. (HPCL) has been in discussions with eight to nine companies about a long-term LNG supply. HPCL built the sixth LNG import terminal in India at Chhara, located in western India. New Delhi is trying to increase the use of cleaner fuels. It was the bad weather that prevented the company from commissioning the plant earlier this year. Two sources stated that the company intends to use the three month window of fair weather, which begins in November, to commission the LNG Terminal.
China's refinery output in September fell for the sixth consecutive month
China's refinery production fell 5.4% in January compared to a year ago, according to official data released on Friday. This is the sixth consecutive month of declines, despite the opening of a brand new plant, as low fuel consumption and thin refining margins slowed processing. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), according to its data, showed that refiners processed 58.73 millions metric tons of crude last month. This is equivalent to 14,29 million barrels of oil per day. As some refineries began to operate again after planned maintenance and a new refinery was opened in Shandong…
