U.S. awards $1.3 billion loan guarantee to wind project

(Reuters) – The Department of Energy has finalized a $1.3 billion loan guarantee to help finance the Caithness Shepherds Flat project, an 845-megawatt wind generation facility in eastern Oregon sponsored by Caithness Energy, LLC and GE Energy Financial Services.

Can Cash Boost Avert Australian Power Crisis?

Australia needs to invest $100bn over the next decade to avert brown-outs and power shortages in the country, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has announced.

Temporary Power Plant

According to Ferguson, investment is required to meet growing demand and replace ageing infrastructure, reports The Australian.

“We simply cannot maintain supply reliability for households and businesses if we don’t invest in electricity supply infrastructure,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson also said that investments would imply a steep rise in electricity prices.

The investments were also required for climate change energy-efficiency measures, renewables and other clean energy technologies.

Australia’s electricity prices have increased by around 35% in three years, and its demand for power is expected to rise over 40% by 2030.

Nuclear Power Deal for Bangladesh and Russia

The Bangladesh Government has given approval for a deal with Russia to build a 1,000MW nuclear power plant, officials have announced.

“The approval was accorded at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina late on Monday,” Hasina’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told Reuters.

It is not yet known when the deal will be signed.

Bangladesh plans to set up the nuclear power plants at Rooppur, 200km (125 miles) northwest of the capital Dhaka, to stave off growing power shortages.

The plant is expected to cost up to $2bn and to begin generating electricity by 2014, the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources said, according to Reuters.

Source: power-technology.com

World Bank backs South Africa Power Station

The World Bank has approved a $3.75bn (£2.45bn) loan for a huge new coal-fired power station in South Africa, despite environmental concerns.

Temporary Power Plant

Utility firm Eskom says the plant is needed to end power shortages, which have recently plagued South Africa.

But environmentalists say the World Bank should not finance plants which could increase carbon emissions.

The US, the largest lender to the World Bank, the UK and the Netherlands abstained from the vote.

Eskom said the 4,800 megawatt plant would help South Africa meet its increasing demand for energy, and even export to neighbouring countries.

World Bank vice-president for Africa Obiageli K Ezekwesili said South Africa needed a better power supply to help raise living standards.

“Access to energy is essential for fighting poverty and catalyzing growth, both in South Africa and the wider region,” the AP news agency quotes her as saying.

Some $475m of the loan will be used for renewable power, such as wind and solar projects.

This is the second major loan for the construction of the plant.

Last year, the African Development Bank $2.77bn (£1.81 bn) to the company to build the Medupi power plant.

A group of 125 campaign organisations had sent a letter to the World Bank, arguing that the project would not bring electricity to the poor but would benefit large mining houses and smelters, reports say.

A complaint submitted this week to the World Bank’s independent complaint body, on behalf of residents living near Medupi power plant, claims the project violates World Bank policies, reports Talk Radio 702.

The plant is expected to be commissioned by February 2012.

Source: bbc.co.uk

Energy Bills to Pay for Nuclear Plants

Energy secretary Ed Miliband denies plan is a subsidy for nuclear industry and insists all forms of green energy will benefit.

The government has officially confirmed plans for a new carbon levy on consumer bills which it hopes will make building new nuclear plants viable, as the Guardian revealed in October last year.

Nuclear Power Plant

Nuclear companies like EDF Energy have warned they will not make the billions of pounds of investment necessary in the UK without government financial guarantees.

Speaking to the Guardian, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, admitted that the energy market needed “radical reform”, but denied the plans amounted to subsidies for the nuclear industry. He insisted that all forms of low-carbon generation – nuclear plants, wind farms and clean coal plants – would benefit from the proposed changes.

“It’s important we make clear that this is about low-carbon generation,” he said.

Environmentalists like Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith and Greenpeace are opposed to nuclear, in part because of the industry’s history of relying on state subsidies to meet escalating costs.

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk