Energy

Bloomberg An isolated gold mine in Western Australia plans to become the first in the country to get its power from combined wind and solar generation on site, as projects increasingly look to co-locate the two technologies as a way to overcome intermittent renewable power. Stage one of the hybrid renewable project at Gold Fields Ltd’s Agnew mine, located nearly ...

Bloomberg Sweeping changes to Mexico’s clean energy regulations by president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration has sparked a legal backlash from the industry. In October, Mexico’s energy ministry said it would grant older, government-run projects the same energy certificates — known as CELs — as the new projects the certificates were designed to support. Now, clean energy companies representing 14 ...

Bloomberg After selling three green project bonds in the US and marketing a new one in Canada, Brookfield Asset Management’s renewable power business is setting its sights on South America and Asia. The Toronto-based company is selling bonds to refinance the existing debt of a pool of four hydroelectric facilities located in Ontario, according to a S&P Global Ratings. The ...

Bloomberg Bangchak Corp, one of Thailand’s top oil refiners, is targeting the bioplastics and plant-based meat industries to diversify its business. The move is part of a strategy of focussing on value-added products rather than just commodities sectors, president Chaiwat Kovavisarach said. “The market has really picked up for alternatives for plastic,” Chaiwat said, adding that a unit producing compostable ...

Bloomberg After recent typhoons ravaged Japan’s grid and disrupted power to almost 1.4 million customers, the government is encouraging homeowners to invest in storage systems, seeking to marry batteries with existing rooftop solar capacity to create backup electricity networks. The backbone would be the 2.3 million rooftop solar installations across the country.

Bloomberg Two decades ago, when coal ruled US power generation, a Florida utility plowed some of its extra cash into a wind farm atop a desolate Oregon plateau. It was the start of an unimaginably successful bet. This year, that company — now named NextEra Energy Inc — became the world’s first utility with a market capitalisation of more than ...

Bloomberg South Africa appointed Andre de Ruyter as chief executive officer of Eskom Holdings SOC, the debt-strapped utility that provides about 95% of the nation’s electricity and poses the biggest threat to its economy. De Ruyter, who is currently the CEO of Nampak Ltd, will take up the post on January 15, the Department of Public Enterprises said in a ...

Bloomberg After at least a decade of preparations, coal-reliant Poland may be one step away from embarking on its biggest power project ever, with talks on securing the $60 billion in financing entering the final stretch. The country is seeking a foreign investor for a 49% stake in the company that will be responsible for building and operating six reactors, ...

Bloomberg Royal Dutch Shell Plc has made $1 billion from trading fuel oil this year, making it one of the standout winners from rules designed to make the shipping industry greener. Shell said last month that it made substantial money in fuel-oil trading in the third quarter, but the company didn’t disclose the size of the profits. Shell traders celebrated ...

Bloomberg Uniper SE is preparing to switch on more natural-gas plants as higher costs for carbon allowances shifted the economics of the power generation business away from coal. Gas plants also are benefiting both from a slump in the price of the fuel. Uniper, one of Europe’s largest utilities, will bring back on line as much as 3.5 gigawatts of ...