Finland’s Neste Oil says Singapore biodiesel plant to be operational in 2010

January 16, 2008 (Thomson Financial) – Finnish oil refiner Neste Oil said Tuesday that its biodiesel plant in Singapore, its largest, will be operational 2010 and initially cater to Europe’s growing biofuel requirement.The company’s investment of 550 million euros to build the plant, which will have an annual capacity of 800,000 tons, is in line with its strategy to become the world’s leading producer of diesel from renewable feedstock.

It is anticipating that demand will grow rapidly in developed economies.

Demand for biodiesel in Europe is currently around 6-8 million tons annually and is expected to grow to 13-15 million tons by 2010.

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LDK Shares Jump 30% on Q-Cells Deal – signs a decade-long deal to supply solar cell-maker Q-cells with wafers

December 10, 2007 (GreenTechMedia) – Chinese giant LDK Solar’s (NYSE: LDK) shares jumped 28.55 percent Monday after the company said it signed a 10-year deal to sell 6 gigawatts worth of silicon wafers to Germany solar-cell maker Q-Cells.

Although financial details were sparse, the contract calls for Q-Cells (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: QCEG.DE) to pay a fixed price for the wafers for the first two years. After that, pricing will be adjusted in relation to market conditions.

LDK will deliver 1,000 metric tons of silicon in 2009, rising to 5,000 tons per year as early as 2013.

Merkel asks India to do more on climate change

October 30, 2007 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged India, one of the world’s biggest polluters, to do more to combat climate change on Tuesday, saying her country was willing to help New Delhi make progress.

Merkel, a former environment minister who has pushed global warming to the top of her international agenda, said rich nations and emerging economies needed to strike a balance over the amount of responsibility they need to shoulder to prevent climate change and not fight over it.

“We have to prove that we are willing to strike a balance,” Merkel told business leaders in New Delhi during a four-day visit to India. “Multilateral agreements are of the essence.”

Energy MOU on cards during Merkel’s visit to India

October 29, 2007 (Times of India) – Climate change and energy will be key elements of discussions between Germany and India when German chancellor Angela Merkel makes her maiden visit to the country between October 29-November 1. The two countries will also sign an MoU on energy efficiency and renewable energy with Germany committing 150 million euros.Germany has a pact with India on energy effiency under which it provides support to the Indian government on industrial and building energy efficiency.

China Power Investment, Germany’s KfW sign carbon credit deal

October 24, 2007 (XFN-ASIA) – BEIJING: China Power Investment said it has signed a carbon credit agreement with Germany’s KfW Bankengruppe involving 4 mln tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The credits will be purchased from China Power’s 11 wind power farms, which have installed capacity of 420,000 kilowatts.

China Power Investment has also signed carbon credit deals with France’s Total and the Austrian government, involving a combined 25 mln tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2012, the company said.

RWE Buying Coal Mine Methane CERs in China

September 19, 2007 (Reuters) – RWE Power, an arm of German utility RWE (RWEG.DE), expects to start collecting emissions reduction credits from its first coal mine methane project in China in 2008, and is eyeing others, a company official said. Andreas Feldmann, director of the firm’s Climate Protection Projects in China, said he expected to get up to 350,000 tonnes of credits a year from the venture in northern Shanxi province.

RWE is also considering another four or five large coal mine methane projects in China, and expects to sign some deals later this year, he added. He declined to comment further.