Hyderabad, home to several information technology, pharmaceutical and construction companies, goes without power for more than eight hours every day, making the state capital akin to a very large and crowded furnace in these days of summer. The crowds may not stay quiet about this when elections to the state assembly come around next summer.

Paris, May 23 -- The controversial Jaitapur nuclear power project, against which local residents and activist groups have been protesting, may only be commissioned by 2021 at the earliest. That's if the contract for the two European pressurized reactors (EPRs) between state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd(NPCIL) and France's Areva SAis inked in the current calendar year. This looks ambitious, given that the two companies still need to iron out critical issues such as India's Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill, credit arrangements for the construction and the final cost of the project located in Maharashtra. The Euro7 billion general framework agreement signed in December 2010 during former French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India deals with the supply of two EPRs, each with a capacity to produce 1,650MW of electricity, and uranium supply for a period of 25 years for the Jaitapur project.

Industry responds to challenge from Government to provide solutions to 'green the grid'

CALGARY, May 22, 2013 /CNW/ - Alberta can once again be a leader in renewable energy development and address global concern about the province's environmental record by meeting rising electricity demand with new clean wind energy. WindVision 2025: A Strategy For Alberta, released today by the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), makes the case for the strategic deployment of more wind energy in Alberta in a direct response to a challenge by Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes for the renewable industry to put forth policy solutions to help "green the grid".

Since the country's first wind farm was constructed in southern Alberta in 1993, the province has installed 1,100 MW of wind energy - but this represents just a small fraction of the available resource. Alberta currently sits in third place for total installed wind energy capacity - behind Ontario and Quebec. WindVision 2025 makes the case that Alberta is well positioned to take strategic advantage of its significant wind resource, access to skilled trades, and interest by independent power producers.

Japanese regulators are in the process of deciding which nuclear reactors are not safe enough to operate because of the existence of active faults, but the task has proved tough with clear room for improvement.

Assessments of suspicious faults at three nuclear power plants have been proceeding in parallel so far, and the first evaluation finalized by a panel of experts was accepted by the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday.

At a press conference, NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka gave full support to an assessment that a fault beneath the No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga plant in western Japan is active.

KUWAIT CITY, May 22: Recording one of the highest energy consumption rates per capita in the world, Kuwait is keen on pursuing a sustainability plan that includes generating 15 percent of electricity from renewable resources by 2030. At the rate Kuwait is consuming energy, with the average Kuwaiti using 22 times more resources than the country provides per person, experts believe it will need as much as 20 percent of its oil production capacity just for energy generation by 2017 - a consumption pattern deemed unsustainable given that 66 percent of the country's GDP is dependent on the oil industry. On June 2-3, 2013, Kuwait's senior government officials, policymakers and influential private sector stakeholders will gather at the Kuwait Energy & Efficiency Conference at the Hilton Kuwait Resort to start mapping a national energy efficiency strategy. Organised by MEED Events and supported by the Ministry of Electricity & Water and Kuwait National Petroleum Company, Kuwait Energy & Efficiency 2013 will provide an excellent platform to debate and discuss a sustainable energy plan for Kuwait, including identifying concrete solutions that will help energy consumption in Kuwait. Kuwait's increasing energy consumption has been driven by a number of factors.

The office of Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., issued the following news release:

In a letter to President Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) joined five of his Missouri Republican colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to express their continued concerns surrounding the Obama Administration's proposed regulations, which would effectively ban the construction of new coal fired power plants.

The proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would establish unprecedented Greenhouse Gas (GHG) New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for power plants. In the letter, the Missouri lawmakers called on President Obama and his administration to amend the proposed rule and utilize a technology-based approach to reduce carbon dioxide emissions - an option that would not harm the economy or endanger the nation's electricity supply.

NEW DELHI, May 22 -- The government of India issued the following news release:

As per the re-assessment studies carried out by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) during 1978-1987, the hydro power potential in terms of Installed Capacity (I.C.) is estimated at 148701 MW out of which 145320 MW of the potential consists of hydro electric schemes having I.C. above 25 MW.

The following information was released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA):

On April 15, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance clarifying the eligibility for the recently extended renewable electricity production tax credit (PTC). Congress passed the extension on January 1, 2013 as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA). EIA expects this extension could result in significant wind capacity additions over the next three years, leading to higher generation from wind.

The following information was released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA):

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly.

Note: Other includes petroleum, purchased steam, nonbiogenic municipal solid wastes, batteries, and other sources of electric generation.

The following information was released by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce:

The U.S. House of Representatives today approved H.R. 271, the Resolving Environmental and Grid Reliability Conflicts Act by voice vote. The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX) and Mike Doyle (D-PA), will ensure America's power companies are able to comply with Department of Energy emergency orders to maintain grid reliability without facing penalties for violating potentially conflicting environmental laws.

The following information was released by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Democrats:

Today the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of the policy implications of enactment of a carbon tax. The CBO report makes a compelling case for inclusion of a carbon tax in any legislation to reduce the deficit or reform the tax code.

(600401) "Hareon Solar Technology Co., Ltd." (the Company) -- Announcement on Outward Investment of Establishing Gucheng Hareon Photovoltaic Power Generation Co., Ltd. and Building 50 MW Photovoltaic Grid-connection Power Generation Project

The abstract is for reference only. Please refer to the full text of the announcement on the very day.

United States Patent and Trademark Office has received an application no. 20130115069, on May 09, 2013, by WIND POWER SYSTEMS, LLC, titled as "Vertical Axis Wind Turbine" for the registration of patent.

Using a radically new, proprietary power generation cycle, NET Power's technology promises electricity generation from fossil fuels that is not only cost competitive with the current lowest-cost, pollutant-emitting, technologies, but which can also eliminate all emissions to air from the power generation process without degrading the plant's overall economic performance.

NET Power's cycle, which can be seen as a breakthrough in power generation technology, addresses the primary shortcoming of "conventional" carbon capture concepts: they are intrinsically additive (or parasitic) processes that increase capital costs and reduce overall plant efficiencies. Despite efforts to reduce the cost of these technologies, by their very nature they will always result in an increase in the cost of electricity when applied to traditional power systems.

The NET Power approach, in contrast, was designed from the ground up to overcome these limitations by using a high pressure, highly recuperative, oxyfuel, supercritical CO2 cycle that makes carbon capture part of the core power generation process, rather than an add-on. The result is high efficiency power generation that inherently produces a pipeline-quality CO2 byproduct at no cost to the system's performance.

ContourGlobal announced that it has acquired 100 percent of the shares of the company holding the wind and diesel power generation assets on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire from the administrator of the company's shareholder.

A 90-ACRE solar park could be created on agricultural land in Dundry. Renewable energy firm Green Energy UK Direct has revealed plans to build a solar energy park on land at Downs Farm at Dundry Downs in the village.

South Wales, United Kingdom, May 22 -- Ethx Energy, Glasgow, has filed the trademark "ETHX" on April 19 for multiple goods and services.

The trademark application (journal number: 2013/020) was published on May 17. The description of the mark registered is: "Electrical energy;Energy (Electrical -);Fuel briquettes;Fuel pellets;Wood heating pellets [fuel];Wood chips for use as fuel;Fuel in the form of brickettes;Fuel pellets;Fuel;Fuel gas. Uninterruptible power supplies [machines] for the generation of electrical energy;Waste energy utilising installations. Energy control devices;Energy regulators;Thermal energy measuring apparatus;Heat detecting apparatus;Heat regulating apparatus.

Mr Sartaj Aziz, senior vice president of PML-N, in his article in this newspaper on April 23, has rightly argued that generation capacity is not the cause of the present energy crisis and his explanation of the circular debt is eminently reasonable. However, his position on the 1994 energy policy is untenable. In particular, the figures that he has mentioned on hydel-thermal mix in 1994 as part of his critique of the 1994 policy are incorrect.

The 1994 power policy was framed in the backdrop of power shortages which date back to 1982. In 1985, the government of Pakistan announced an initiative to encourage private participation in power generation which led to the development of Hub Power Project in 1987. Construction of the power station began in December 1992, financial close was achieved in January 1995, and the project started operation in 1996. The experience from Hub Power Project cleared the way for attracting more private investment in the power sector.

In 1994, electricity shortage was 2000 MW during peak demand, and electricity was available to only 40 percent of the population. The 1994 power policy projected an eight percent annual increase in energy demand over the next 25 years.