In 2012 China surpassed the US and is now the world’s leading nation in terms of installed wind power generating capacity. In six years China has installed more than 50,000 MW of wind power generating capacity. This represents an annual growth rate of 87 percent for the last six years.

In 2011, China generated 70.6 terrawatt hours (TWh) of wind power, a 96 percent increase. In 2010 the 600,000 workers of the wind industry put up a new wind turbine every 30 minutes – one in three of those turbines was erected in China.

The Chinese government projects that China’s wind generating capacity would be more than 100,000 MW in 2015 and 200,000 MW in 2020. The IWED report in 2010 predicted that China could create up to 230 GW of wind power capacity by 2030. By 2030, the market could be three times bigger than today, representing an investment of more than a quarter trillion dollars. This means a new turbine will be erected every seven minutes.

Despite this exceptional growth, the power grid is one of the China’s major weaknesses. To address this problem the country needs to fast track construction of trans-regional power grids.

AUTHOR: Richard Matthews
URL: http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com
E-MAIL: smallbusinessconsultants [at] gmail.com

We are talking about leveraging the significant market opportunities on the horizon for renewables and efficiency in the region. These opportunities will be driven in part by existing state laws including portfolio standards and efficiency requirements that will be ramping up in the near future. These expanding markets will make the region, a hub of activity for project and business development, positioning us as a national leader in clean energy growth.

Conference sessions will discuss strategies to help sustain and prepare clean energy businesses for upcoming opportunities while exploring policies that will maintain healthy clean energy markets. There will also be ample time for one-on-one conversations with those who can help your business most.

For more information click here.

AUTHOR: Richard Matthews
URL: http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com
E-MAIL: smallbusinessconsultants [at] gmail.com

Click here to download a facts sheet.

AUTHOR: Richard Matthews
URL: http://thegreenmarket.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: smallbusinessconsultants [at] gmail.com

Power lines over buildings in Cameroon, 2008. Photo by Zzilch on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

After his reelection in November 2011, President Paul Biya of Cameroon announced [fr] that the country would soon become a giant “construction site”. The goal for his new term is for Cameroon to reach emerging market status by 2035 through a series of “great achievements” in transport and energy infrastructure development [fr]. It’s a deadline that fails to convince [fr] many commentators, if only because the challenges are so great.

Energy, and specifically electricity, is especially problematic.  Like many other African countries, Cameroon suffers from insufficient electricity supplies.

Journalist Leopold Nséké explains in an article published in Afrique Expansion Magazine:

Underequipped, the African continent is awash in the obsolescence of its facilities and bore the brunt of poor management of available resources. Representing 15% of the world population, Africa consumes paradoxically only 3% of the total world production of electricity.

According to some estimates (fr) only 20% of Cameroon’s population has a regular access to electricity supplies. Indeed, those who have access to power tend to experience cuts in supply as often as every three days. Electricity is also increasingly expensive commodity for most of the country’s citizens. The privately-owned AES Sonel, for example, recently announced a 7% rise in prices[fr] starting from June 1, 2012.

Limited access to electricity also represents a threat to the industrialization of Cameroon, which in turn could undermine Cameroon’s ambition of becoming emerging economy by 2035. A study [fr] conducted by the Polytechnic National High School of Yaounde outlined that:

Production losses were estimated at EU91.5 million per year in industrial enterprises because of the difficulties in supplying electricity. These results indicate that inadequate and poor quality of electricity supply has slowed industrial development.

There is no electricity in Mafa Kilda village, it's just passing by (and going from Ngong to Garoua). By Philippe Semanaz on Flickr in 2006 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

As Cameroon essentially relies on hydro-energy production, the Government also launched the construction of the Lom Pangar dam in the east of the country. The project – funded by the World Bank and other international organizations – is considered to be integral to Cameroon’s aspirations to become an emerging economy.

The dam is expected to the increase energy production of Cameroon with a planned capacity of 7.250 billion cubic meters for a reservoir that will cover 610 km2. Water supplies will also be held in reserve for the dry season at two damns further downstream of the Sanaga River, thereby enabling them to generate more electricity.

Christiane Badgley’s blog highlights some of the shortcomings of the project. She is concerned that the electricity produced will mainly prioritize the needs of Cameroon’s industries :

…the urban and rural poor do not appear to be the primary beneficiaries of the Lom Pangar project. Instead, the dam is designed to regulate the flow of the Sanaga River in order to increase energy production from existing and proposed downstream hydropower plants serving the southern electricity grid and the country’s single largest electricity consumer, the Alucam aluminum smelter. Jointly owned by the government of Cameroon and the Canadian-based company Alcan, Alucam plans to more than double its production and needs new sources of cheap energy to do so.

This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide.Visit the ISN blog and see more related stories.

First published at Global Voices Online.

AUTHOR: Julie Owono
URL: http://bantupolitics.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: info [at] www.NL-Aid.org

The abductions of an opposition politician and his driver last month have sparked Bangladesh’s biggest crisis in years, raised hostilities between the most prominent leaders of its fragile democracy and highlighted a series of seemingly political disappearances.

The opposition has blamed the government, launched nationwide strikes and fought with police in street clashes that have killed five people and injured scores. Homemade bombs have exploded on the streets of Dhaka, including one inside a compound housing government ministries. The government has charged 44 top opposition leaders in connection with the violence.

On Wednesday, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its 17 allies would demonstrate across the country to restart its paused protests.

No one has claimed responsibility for Elias Ali’s abduction, and no ransom has been demanded, the usual practice of criminal gangs in Bangladesh.

Security forces told the High Court this week they had no role in Ali’s disappearance, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accused the opposition of hiding Ali to create an excuse to cause mayhem.

Hasina, however, later pledged to do everything possible to find Ali, when his wife and children met her seeking her intervention.

“The conflict is pushing Bangladesh toward a dangerous situation,” said Adilur Rahman, secretary of Odhikar, a rights group.

Hasina and her archrival Khaleda Zia have alternated in power since a pro-democracy movement ousted the last military regime in 1990. Zia leads Ali’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

The abductions of Ali and his driver as they returned home from meeting supporters at a hotel April 17 also has highlighted an increasing number of disappearances that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have blamed on security forces.

At least 22 people have disappeared this year, according to a local human-rights group, Ain-o-Salish Kendra. Odhikar reports that more than 50 people have disappeared since 2010. Many of the disappeared were politicians.

During her visit to Bangladesh last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton raised Ali’s disappearance and the killing of labor leader Aminul Islam with the government, reflecting international concern over the issue.

Islam, who recently led a campaign for higher wages for the country’s 3 million garment workers, was found dead along a highway April 5. His family blames the killing on law enforcement agencies.

Even before Ali’s disappearance, tensions were high between Hasina and Zia over the conduct of the general election due in 2014.

Hasina has scrapped a constitutional provision requiring the government to step down before polls and transfer power to a neutral caretaker administration to oversee the voting within 90 days. The government says it acted to comply with a court ruling that the caretaker provision was undemocratic, but it means Hasina will be overseeing the next balloting.

Zia has refused to take part in any election overseen by Hasina, fearing fraud. The government says it is open to discuss alternatives, but the opposition says they will sit across the table only if the previous sytem will be restored. The government rejects that.

A similar dispute in 2006 prompted the powerful military to declare a state of emergency that remained until the 2008 election. Both Hasina and Zia were put behind bars during the emergency rule.

Many businessmen also were jailed pending tax evasion and fraud trials, and some fled to avoid arrest. But the cases were withdrawn or not heard when the political government took office.

“We don’t want to return to any emergency rule,” said A.K. Azad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Commerce and Industry. “What we want is our leaders to work together so there is no more strikes and clashes.”

Ali, 50, has lived dangerously since becoming a student at Dhaka University, considered a breeding ground of Bangladesh’s politicians.

He was recruited into a student political group by the country’s last military dictator Hussein Muhammad Ershad, according to friends. He then joined a group allied with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, sparking feuding and occasional gunfights among rival factions of Zia’s party.

He was briefly arrested, later elected to Parliament and then swept out in 2008 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party.

The opposition, which suspended its street protests in a gesture of goodwill during Clinton’s visit, has vowed to resume strikes if Ali is not found.

His family wonders if he is even alive.

“We have left his fate to Allah,” said Ali’s teenage son, Abrar Elias, “The Almighty is our last resort.”

First published by Associated Press, published on May 09, 2012 by Fox News.

AUTHOR: Saleem Samad
URL: http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: saleemsamad [at] hotmail.com

In February, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology posted a plan that calls for certain polysilicon producers to reach 50,000 tons of annual production capacity by 2015; it also wants solar cell and panel makers to reach 5 gigawatts of annual capacity in the same time frame.

Like the rest of the solar sector the stock prices of Chinese solar companies have declined in the last half of 2011. However, domestic installations are expected to boost Chinese solar companies in 2012.

In 2010 China had only 893 MW of installed solar capacity, that number grew an additional 1.7 GW in 2011. Based on annual installed capacity China is expected to surpass the US in 2012 to become the third largest PV market in the world.

According to the 12th Five Year Plan, targets for installed capacity are expected to be set at 10 GW by 2015 and 50 GW by 2020. This 2015 target implies an annual growth of over 1000%.

The Chinese government said the new 5-year plan aims to promote domestic solar energy use and bolster Chinese manufacturers’ competitive edge in the global market that is marked by intensifying competition and trade disputes.

To make solar more competitive with conventional sources of power, the plan also calls for reducing the price of solar panels to 7000 yuan per kilowatt, or around $1 per watt, by 2015.

As part of the plan China is promoting the development of smaller-scale distributed solar projects in populated areas. This will attract private small and medium enterprises to the installation market, and large players will focus on bigger projects.

To guarantee market demand for the solar power produced, China has mandated minimum prices for FiTs grid operators of at least 15 cents/kWh. This is expected to be paired with clean energy quotas for grid operators.

AUTHOR: Richard Matthews
URL: http://thegreenmarket.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: smallbusinessconsultants [at] gmail.com

“If you look at the records then most of the streams and rivers have been booked for hydro power. The so called investors, they take the license and

wait for years paying a nominal amount of taxes to the government and the government in the name of lack of management waits and watches. What a worst situation” said Nirupam Dhoj Karki an activist

According to the organizer, “It is a simple effort to raise awareness regarding the current situation we have been silent from past 5 years, what did they do? It is high time that the public ask few questions and we are doing that as we have the rights?”

Different popular band like Abhaya and the Steam injuns, Tripitak, Anuprastha, Albatross band also performed in raising awareness.

With the high time and high rates of power cut, few of the facebook activists and rock stars came in action to raise the issue of power shortage. The concert “Let there be Light” was organized by a L.A.M.P.S which aim to raise awareness regarding the short cry of power.

AUTHOR: Shreedeep Rayamajhi
URL: http://www.shreedeeprayamajhi.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: weaker41 [at] gmail.com

Energy activists protest contracts to energy giants

An Australian energy corporation has struck huge gas reserves in off shore Bay of Bengal, which is commercially viable. The president of Santos Bangladesh John Chambers briefed journos on Wednesday that they are confident to start supplying gas from the reserve from the first week of April. John Chambers, said that the Aussie company will be able to quantify Sangu-11′s reserves in the next couple of weeks when necessary assessments are completed.

From the new well in shallow water block 37.2 miles from the Bangladesh coast, at least 25-30 million cubic feet of gas per day will be available for Chittagong’s energy starved industrial customers within March – April, the official added. For the second time, commercially viable gas reserves have been found in offshore Bangladesh, following the previous discovery by the U.K’s Cairn Energy in 1996. Cairn, the previous operator of the Sangu field, found gas in the same block.

Unlike other energy giants globally, Santos has agreements to sell gas from its well to private consumers at market price, the Santos official said. The Aussie company has already received expressions of interest from over a dozen large privately owned companies in Chittagong to buy gas at market price due to a growing gas shortage in the country.

The energy crunch has forced Petrobangla, state energy regulatory agency to suspend new gas connections to industries since July 2009, squeezing industrial growth. Gas rationing is widespread and CNG filling stations are closed four hours a day. Bangladesh economy is entirely dependent on gas and electricity for production of the huge export industries.

Earlier, energy activists have been protesting the government ink a deal with Santos and other American energy giants for allowing them to sell gas privately, which they term is anti-nationalism, said its leader Professor Anu Mohammad of a state university.

AUTHOR: Saleem Samad
URL: http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: saleemsamad [at] hotmail.com

Justice Shri K.G. Balakrishnan,
Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg,
New Delhi, PIN 110001
INDIA
Fax No. 23384863
E-Mail: covdnhrc@nic.in, ionhrc@nic.in, jrlawnhrc@hub.nic.in

Re: Tirunelveli: Assault and stone-pelting on Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Protestors including women activists

Dear Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission,

I am a Human rights activist and journalist. I am sharing my deep concern regarding   the attack and stone pelting on the representatives of Peoples Movement against Nuclear Energy including 15 women.

Incident:
A civil group spearheading the protest against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) called off talks with the central government-appointed experts’ panel, after the former’s members were assaulted in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu on January 31, 2012 when they were on their way for the talks.

According to the information received, the Central government-appointed expert group was scheduled to have its fourth round of talks on 31st January 2012 (Tuesday) at 11.00 a.m. in the District Collector’s office, Tirunelveli.  The representatives of Peoples Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) – Pushparayan and Jesuraj and 20 women accompanying them have been attacked by Goondas (hired thugs) near Tirunelveli Collecotrate on their way to attend talks with the Central Government Expert Panel. The women who tried to shield the PMANE representatives were also beaten up and they are in hospital now. The goons were said to have been hired by some local Congress leaders.

The activists came to meet the Central government-appointed expert group for the fourth round of talks but after stones were pelted at them, they decided to boycott the meeting. The Koodankulam Anti Nuclear protest has stood out as a symbol of non-violent protest. This move of attacking movement leaders is a strategy of trying to create tension and turn the movement violent. The PMANE movement has withdrawn from the talks after the incident which gave clear indications of the Central Government’s backdoor working. Protests are happening in Tirunelveli and other southern Tamilnadu districts condemning the attacks.

It is note-worthy that for the past three months the activists have been said to receive threats from the goons of Congress Party. On the eve of the crucial talks, anti-nuclear activists had said that their representatives would not engage in any dialogue, despite promising their attendance.

Additional Information:

The coordinator of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) stated “We have no faith in the talks. None of the questions we had asked were answered and the documents we had asked for were not furnished. Meanwhile, our members have been assaulted when they had gone to participate in the talks. We are calling off the talks”.
A representative of the protestors in the expert panel formed by the State Government said that they would go to the meeting but would not engage in any dialogue with them. They also demanded that they needed to talk to the people living within a radius of 30 km (around the Plant) and to the expert panel.

The anti-KNPP agitators’ intensifying their stir, has come a day before the fourth and possibly, the final round of talks between the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) nominated panel of experts and the state government’s committee, slated to be held in Tirunelveli on Tuesday, as part of a long-drawn exercise to dispel local people’s fears about KNPP.

It was expected that M Pushparayan, convener of Coastal People’s Federation and M P Jesuraj would represent the anti-nuke protestors as part of the state panel in the talks with the Central panel headed by E Muthunayagam. PMANE had initially protested that they would boycott the talks, but changed the stance.

The previous three rounds of talks between the panels held on the 7th and 18th of November and 15th of December 2011 had failed to make any headway towards commissioning of the first unit at the KNPP as local people protesting against the project were not satisfied with the answers given by the expert group to their queries.
The Central Government Panel has failed to answer most of the questions raised by the movements own panel and whatever answers given, were all unsatisfactory. Moreover the central panel and central government have also refused to meet the movement’s expert panel and have an open discussion.

The Indo-Russian joint venture ran into trouble with activists and local people going on protest citing safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima Disaster in Japan early last year. Simultaneously, pressure from various quarters including industry is mounting on Tamil Nadu government and the Central team to resolve the deadlock as the state’s power situation is taking a turn for the worse. We are concerned that the attack on the activists was pre-planned and aimed at suppressing their genuine voices of protest against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.

Appeal
I, therefore, urge you to immediately take necessary steps to

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all the activists of anti-Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Campaign who were protesting in a peaceful manner;

2. Initiate a departmental enquiry against the perpetrators who pelted stones and attacked the group of activists which included women and those behind them;

3. Conform to the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, especially:

• its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”;
• and its Article 12.2, which states that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

4. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by India.

Looking forward to your immediate action in this regard.

AUTHOR: William Nicholas Gomes
URL: www.williamgomes.org
E-MAIL: williamgomes.org [at] gmail.com