ORF ENERGY NEWS MONITOR - Observer Research Foundation

Development Co., an investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign funds hold a
combined $500 billion. BP produces oil in the sheikhdom, where it is a partner with state-run Abu Dhabi
National Oil Co., known as Adnoc, in a venture that dates back to the first oil concession granted in the 1930s
in what is now the U.A.E.
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International: Power
Generation
Russia eyes SE Asia nuclear power plant development
July 20, 2010. Russia aims to help Southeast Asian countries build nuclear power plants and develop its safe
use in the fast-growing region. Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation, or ROSATOM, would cooperate with
the ASEAN Centre for Energy to organise a seminar in Hanoi in September to introduce officials from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the safe use of nuclear power, a draft to the Russia-ASEAN official
meeting said. Several countries in the 10-member ASEAN such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have
plans or have decided to move forward to build nuclear power plants to offset electricity shortages. The
International Energy Agency (IEA) had said that ASEAN would see an average annual increase of 2.5 percent
in its primary energy demand until 2030. Vietnam plans to start building its first nuclear power plant in 2014
using Russian technology. ROSATOM is among several foreign firms, which included Westinghouse Electric, a
unit of Japan's Toshiba, France's EDF and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group, to have been courting
Vietnam to help build nuclear power plants.
China to build new nuclear power plant
July 19, 2010. China has approved plans to build a nuclear power plant in the southwestern region of Guangxi
as Beijing makes good on a pledge to boost renewable energy sources. The first phase of the project in
Fangchengchang city will involve investing 24 billion yuan (3.5 billion dollars) in two Chinese-made 1.08
gigawatt reactors. Beijing has stepped up investment in nuclear power in an effort to slash carbon emissions
and reduce the nation's heavy reliance on coal, which accounts for 70 percent of its power needs but is highly
polluting. The world's third largest economy aims to get 10 percent of its power from renewable sources by
2010 and 15 percent by 2020. The CPR 1000 reactors have been designed by China Guangdong Nuclear
Power Company based on foreign technology. 80 percent of the materials used to make the reactors were
produced in China.
Transmission / Distribution / Trade
GE, ABB lead $106 mn investment in `smart-meter' developer Trilliant
July 15, 2010. General Electric Co. and ABB Ltd. led a group investing $106 million in closely held Trilliant Inc.,
which is benefiting from U.S. stimulus funding of so- called smart meters for electric utilities. Trilliant plans to
use the money to increase development of the meters, which allow utilities and consumers to more efficiently
manage power use, the Redwood City, California-based company said. Trilliant also won a contract to build a
$200 million smart-meter system for the 610,000 customers of Augusta, Maine-based Central Maine Power Co.
Trilliant and competitors such as Itron Inc., the largest U.S. maker of utility meters, are beginning to benefit from
the $4.5 billion in stimulus funds the Obama administration directed toward smart grids to improve efficiency
and accommodate electric vehicles and rooftop solar panels.
Policy / Performance
Philippines "seriously" considering nuclear power plant
July 20, 2010. The Philippine government is "seriously" considering the construction of a nuclear power plant in
the country to address the looming power crisis. President Aquino said earlier that he had ordered the energy
chief to study the possible construction of a nuclear power plant in the Philippines. But reviving the mothballed
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which was erected during the time of then-President Ferdinand Marcos, could not
be considered because it would be very costly, Aquino said.
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