news20091224reut3

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
SEOUL
Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:58am EST
South Korea's STX Group in $428 mln Europe wind power deal
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean shipping-to-energy business group STX said on Wednesday it had agreed to develop a 300 million euro ($427.6 million) wind power project in eastern Europe.

STX said in a statement that it had signed a deal with a Polish consortium to develop the 220-megawatt project, under which an STX unit will provide wind power generators to different eastern European countries between 2010 and 2013.

($1=.7016 Euro)

(Reporting by Rhee So-eui; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)


[Green Business]
SOFIA
Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:21pm EST
Bulgaria sends revised 2008-12 CO2 plan to Brussels
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's new government approved on Wednesday a long-delayed revision of its 2008-12 national plan that allocates carbon permits to industries to meet European Union requirements and sent to Brussels for approval.

Bulgaria, the only EU member state without an approved plan, hopes to get Brussels' nod in two months and distribute 42.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) permits a year to 132 installations, Environment Minister Nona Karadzhova said.

The new center-right government of the GERB party, which won July elections on promises to tackle rampant corruption and crime, has said it has tackled all shortcomings of the plan, which the European Commission has rejected two times.

"The plan has been revised in close co-operation with the European Commission so that we can be sure there will be no problems with its approval," Karadzhova told reporters.

Industry groups and carbon traders have criticized the previous Socialist-led government for lack of transparency, favoring certain companies over others and failing to respond to remarks by the EU's executive.

The Commission has rejected the plan two times, saying Sofia should exclude new industrial installations that were yet to become operational. It also demanded transparency in the way the quotas were allocated, saying some were treated preferentially.

The plan will allow Bulgarian industrial producers to join the EU's carbon trading scheme, the 27-nation bloc's main strategy to fight climate change.

It sets an overall cap on permits to emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) to energy-intensive industry, but allows companies to trade these permits among themselves.

Cash-stripped Bulgaria, hard hit by recession, is also seeking to sell its quota of Kyoto Protocol emission rights and is in negotiations with Japan and Spain, Karadzhova said.

Under Kyoto, signatory countries that are comfortably below their greenhouse gas emissions targets can sell excess emissions rights to other nations struggling to meet their own targets.

Bulgaria has about 200-250 million tonnes of such rights. Karadzhova has said Bulgaria may get about 1-2 billion levs ($731.5 million-$1.46 billion) in revenues from such deals.


[Green Business]
LONDON
Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:14pm EST
UK gas falls on warmer forecasts, power down
LONDON (Reuters) - Prompt British gas prices dropped due to forecasts for warmer weather next week, while power slipped because industrial demand was expected to fall due to the Christmas holidays.

Gas for Thursday was 32.50 pence per therm ($5.184 per mmbtu) at 1704 GMT, down 1.65 pence compared with day-ahead contracts late on Tuesday.

"There's a warming trend into Christmas, but we're not too sure after that," a trader said.

"It's basically a weather play at the moment, as people are seeing it coming in warmer into the Christmas break," another gas trader said.

Temperatures across northwest Europe, including Britain, were forecast to be three degrees Celsius above to seven degrees below norms in the next six to ten days, compared with being constantly between zero to minus six degrees below norms for the next five days.

Northeast Europe was also forecast to be milder over the next few days, decreasing gas demand for heating.

National Grid forecast Britain's gas demand for Thursday to be 379 million cubic meters a day (mcm), from around 425 mcm seen earlier in the week.

The system was a little short but traders remained confident that supply could comfortably meet demand. Flows were strong, with Dutch gas via the BBL pipeline at 34 mcm and Belgium gas via the Interconnector adding 21 mcm.

Norwegian gas via Langeled was 54 mcm, which suggested there was capacity to ramp up output if needed, while Rough storage was still adding 41 mcm and Milford Haven liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals were pumping 43 mcm into the grid.

But January was 32.60 pence, gaining 0.45 pence, and there could be some upside as cold weather was still prevalent in Europe and demand could pick up to refill gas storage.

"If we get into the start of January and it's cold, and it's certainly cold in Europe now, we could potentially see another spike," a trader said.

"Especially with the fact that we've withdrawn a lot of storage over the past week means they'll have to inject it back into the medium range."

Three LNG tankers were scheduled to arrive in Britain before the end of 2009, and three tankers were expected at Belgium's Zeebrugge in the beginning of the new year.

In power, prices eased on lower industrial demand as factories begin winding down for the Christmas holiday.

Baseload power for Thursday was 34.45 pounds per megawatt hour, compared with 36 pounds for day-ahead contracts on Tuesday.

"We're losing demand as we're getting closer to Christmas. Gas has something to do with it too," one power trader said.

Trade was thin on Wednesday, as traders began locking in positions.

January was quoted at 35.85 pounds versus 35.90 pounds on Tuesday, while February was 36 pounds.

(Reporting by Kwok W. Wan, editing by Anthony Barker and Sue Thomas)


[Green Business]
Koustav Samanta
BANGALORE
Wed Dec 23, 2009 2:01pm EST
ADA-ES shares rise after JV wins carbon supply deals
BANGALORE (Reuters) - Shares of ADA-ES Inc rose as much as 35 percent, touching a new 52-week high, after its joint-venture company ADA Carbon Solutions LLC said it signed two contracts with coal-fired power companies to provide activated carbon to control mercury emissions.

ADA-ES develops and implements environmental technology and provides specialty chemicals that enable coal-fueled power plants to enhance existing air pollution control equipment.

Under the contracts signed, ADA Carbon Solutions, which is a joint venture between ADA-ES and Energy Capital Partners, would supply about 25 million to 30 million pounds of activated carbon to the power plant customers.

On Monday, Clean Coal Solutions LLC, a joint venture between ADA-ES and NexGen Refined Coal LLC, had installed and commenced operations of two CyClean facilities that produce refined coal, thus meeting the year-end placed-in-service requirement for certain tax credits.

"I see the company moving along, working in three business lines -- activated carbon, clean coal solutions and carbon dioxide control, and having success with all three of these," Lazard Capital Markets analyst Graham Mattison told Reuters.

Mattison, who has a "buy" rating on the stock, said the company could benefit materially from its ongoing work on carbon capture technology for coal-fired power plants and from its refined coal joint venture.

"We see ADA-ES as one of the companies best positioned to benefit from the expected new rules for ACI (activated carbon injection) systems and the sale of activated carbon," Mattison said in a note to clients.

The analyst also raised his price target on the shares to $7 from $6, primarily based on valuation.

Shares of the company were up 26.2 percent, or $1.44, at $6.94 Tuesday afternoon on Nasdaq. They touched a high of $7.45 earlier in the day.

(Reporting by Koustav Samanta in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)