Energy

  Bloomberg The start-up of a nuclear power plant south of Shanghai later this year has a lot riding on it. It’ll be the first to use a new reactor designed by Westinghouse Electric Co., and its success is critical for the embattled company’s future. Development of the same AP1000 model has been disastrous for the firm in the US, …

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is hoping its solar-power program will generate 7,000 jobs and build a local manufacturing industry that can export products to the world, reducing domestic demand for its crude oil in the process. The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources requires bidders seeking to build about 3.45 gigawatts of solar and wind plants by 2020 to spend …

  Bloomberg South Africa hasn’t complied with the constitution in seeking bidders for a nuclear-energy program and must cancel any deals that have already been signed, the Western Cape High Court ruled. The government must hold public hearings and debate the estimated 1 trillion-rand ($76 billion) program in Parliament, according to a ruling read out on Wednesday by Judge Lee …

  Bloomberg After more than four decades of relying on subsidies, Denmark’s renewable energy industry is ready to survive on its own much sooner than expected. The Danish energy minister, Lars Christian Lilleholt, says that “in just a few years,” renewable energy providers won’t need state support anymore. He says it’s a development he couldn’t have imagined as recently as …

  Bloomberg Saudi Arabia will offer as much as 1 gigawatt of contracts to buy renewable electricity by the fourth quarter of this year, a government official said, putting more detail on a program designed to stimulate the kingdom’s wind and solar industry. The government will auction power-purchase agreements covering 620 megawatts of photovoltaic installations and 400 megawatts for wind …

  Bloomberg A group of companies and non-profit agencies that includes energy giants Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BHP Billiton said global greenhouse gas emissions could be cut in half by 2040 without impeding economic development, in part by converting grids to use mostly renewable power. The declining costs of wind, solar and batteries will make it possible within 15 …

  Bloomberg Oil rose for the first time in six days as an OPEC-led committee was said to back prolonging supply cuts and as other markets rallied after the first round of French presidential elections. Futures climbed as much as 0.9 percent in New York after slumping 6.7 percent last week, the first drop in four weeks. A six-month extension …

  Bloomberg Australia’s competition regulator said the possible sale of natural gas intended for the country’s domestic market to overseas customers instead must be reviewed amid high wholesale prices at home. Ahead of a meeting Wednesday between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and energy producers over Australia’s potential gas shortages, the regulator said the ability of the Santos Ltd.-led Gladstone LNG …

  Bloomberg US oil drillers slowed the pace of a months-long expansion as invest- ors worry that growing shale production will ruin OPEC’s efforts to prop up prices. Drillers added 5 rigs targeting crude this week, bringing the total to 688, according to Baker Hughes Inc. data reported. While all four of the biggest oil basins boosted activity this week, …

  Bloomberg BP Plc’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused damage to beaches, animals, fish and coral that the public values at $17.2 billion, according to a financial accounting released on the seventh anniversary of the disaster. The tally, published in the journal Science, is based on a survey of thousands of Americans that asked what they’d be willing …