Tawanai

I have been hearing this claim for many months. While all these claims are being made the infrastructure is crumbling and 18 hour loadshedding continues. How can we believe such statements?

Minister for Water & Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf has reiterated again here on Thursday that load shedding would be eliminated by the end of 2009 through the combined efforts of PPIB, Pepco and other private sector investors.

He was chairing the 82nd board meeting of the Private Power & Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and reviewed the progress of private sector power projects under various stages of construction.

The Minister stated that present government has been facing many challenges since its accession to power in March 2008. The minister said that efforts were being made to add the required number of megawatts by the end of this year and for this purpose several fast and medium track power projects were under process.

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Electricity, Energy, power

We have been discussing the meetings regarding the Pak-Iran gas pipeline and now it has been reported that the government has made a decision and signed the accrod. Federal cabinet, without taking the matter to parliament or getting the consent of the government and people of Balochistan, agreed to allow the import of one billion cubic feet of gas from Iran at the rate of 80 per cent of the price of crude oil. However, Iran, desperate to export its gas and other energy resources to regional countries, held a detailed debate on the deal in its parliament. Dawn adds:

Officials from the newly formed Inter State Gas System (ISGS) signed the controversial gas sale-purchase agreement silently in Istanbul. According to the price accord, Pakistan will purchase Iranian gas on various prices; there isn’t a fixed rate, which clearly extends great leverage and benefit to Iran to procure a high price for its exported gas. Iran will sell its gas to Pakistan for $7 per MMBTU, if the Japanese Crude Cocktail (JCC) price is $50 per barrel, $9.4 per MMBTU and $13 per MMBTU if the JCC price touches $70 and $100 per barrel respectively. The price does not include infrastructure, security and other costs.

The imported gas price would be 10 to 20 times more costly than the gas being extracted from Balochistan and Sindh by the central government. Pakistan Petroleum Limited is currently paying only 63 cents per MMBTU for Balochistan’s high heating value gas. However, those 63 cents go straight to the kitty of the central government and Balochistan receives only 12.5 per cent royalty against the gas produced. The level of discrimination and exploitation of Baloch wealth can only be gauged by these figures — Balochistan produces $1.4bn worth of gas annually but receives only $116m in royalties.

There are concerns about the pricing and if Pakistan paid too much.

The price formula and the gas deal with Tehran indicate a great level of injustice as well as the inability of the political and official leadership of the country to negotiate a reasonable price formula with Iran; a country faced with immense global and economic pressures caused by international sanctions.

ISGS officials have said that this rather costly gas will be used for power generation. If this is true, then instead of placing thousands of kilometres of pipelines, the Pakistani establishment could save billions of dollars by simply importing cheap and surplus electricity from Iran which has been offered by the Iranian government. Pakistan could also encourage electricity-generating units to be installed within Balochistan near the border towns and supply the produced electricity through the existing power transmission system to the rest of the country.

There are several other unresolved issues which have been ignored and which will minimise the chances of success for the gas pipeline project. These include Balochistan’s unresolved political conflict in Pakistan and Iran, Tehran and Islamabad’s uneasy relations with the Baloch and Balochistan’s role in the overall gas pipeline project.

Via: Dawn

Gas, Infrastructure, Investment, Pakistan

Orange, the UK telecom company has come up with a phone charger which works by using your feet!

Orange Power Pump, an ecologically-sound phone charger will make its debut at this summer’s bash in UK.

Created by renewable energy experts GotWind and no bigger than a pack of wet wipes, the airbed pump is fuelled by legwork alone, harnessing the power from your foot-stomps to drive a turbine that converts energy into an electrical current, no socket required.

It’s not the first time Orange has introduced green methods to keep your mobile juiced up. Last year’s Dance Charger and Recharge Pod were popular successes, showing innovation in the pursuit of phone-power and staying in line with the ethos of the festival.

“As official communications partner of Glastonbury,” adds Ian Smith, head of sponsorship at Orange UK, “we pride ourselves on creating innovative, fun and ecologically aware products which enhance the Glastonbury experience by allowing festival goers to stay in touch with their friends onsite.”

Clean Technology, Consumers gadgets, phone charger

As a part of its drive to secure foreign investments and overcome energy crisis, a two‑day conference on oil and gas exploration in Pakistan is being organized in London (of all the places) next month. The July 23‑24 conference will comprise a series of events and interactive sessions between the various stakeholders for a share in Pakistan’s natural resources. Pakistan Exploration Promotion Conference has been arranged by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources

Similar moots have also been planned during the month of July at Houston in USA and Calgary, Canada, the two important oil cities in the western hemisphere.

Officials at the Pakistan High Commission said these events will provide an excellent platform for the international companies  to be informed about the upstream oil and gas business in Pakistan and highlight potential investment opportunities in the country.

“The agenda of the events will be based around the recently approved Petroleum Policy 2009 which offers attractive incentives to potential foreign and local investors and companies,” Saira Najeeb Ahmed, Commercial Counsellor, told APP Thursday.

The latest Basin Study of April 2009,confirms the rich oil and gas potential of the country where 934 million barrels of oil has been exploited against the potential of 3675 million barrels.

Similarly, the south Asian country has gas potential of 67 trillion cubic feet of which 54 tcf has been exploited so far.

The official noted that there are still abundant reserves in Pakistan that are yet to be explored and to ramp up production from existing wells and tap into the unexplored reserves, the Government has decided to take serious measures.

Furthermore, in light of the current energy crisis, the Government has introduced a flexible and attractive package for onshore and offshore petroleum exploration through the Petroleum Policy 2009.

In last five years, the Petroleum & Natural Resources Ministry has granted 88 licenses to various Exploration and Production (E&P) companies including 16 international groups such as BP of UK, Eni of Italy, MOL of Hungary, OMV of Austria, BHP of Australia, NIKO Resources of Canada, amongst many others.  The E&P industry has also committed an investment of US $ 486 Million US$ in the oil & gas sector.

Via: APP

Energy, Gas, Investment, Oil, Pakistan

You may think that data centers can be located wherever real estate is cheap. Tech Review writes about the value of water to conserve electricity and improve efficiency. Check out the placement of data centers in very particular geographic locations.

In addition to bandwidth, data centers need electricity. Lots of it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that U.S. servers and data centers were responsible for a total of 1.5 percent of America’s electricity consumption in 2006 (about 61 billion kilowatt-hours), at a cost of $4.5 billion, and that their consumption will double by 2011. Not surprisingly, data-center owners have searched out sources of cheap electricity in the hydroelectric dams that dot the Rockies and the Northwest. Washington and Oregon, America’s top two hydroelectric-­producing states, have electricity costs 20 to 30 percent lower than the national average. As a result, small towns in places like the Columbia River basin are enjoying a data-center gold rush, often helped by local authorities who are willing to provide owners with fiber-optic connections to the rest of the world.

Clean Technology, Electricity, IT, Infrastructure, Water

It looks like that online energy management startups are in favor these days – read more about a new company, AlertMe.

AlertMe, maker of a system that allows homeowners to measure and control the energy used by their appliances, has raised $13 million in a second round of funding. By hooking into a household’s broadband connection, the Alertme.com Energy Kit transmits power consumption data recorded from individual appliances to a centralized web interface where customers can view the information and actually control use. For example, they can flip switches, alter settings during peak energy periods, and adjust their thermostats from a remote location.

The recent round of funding came from Good Energies, Index Ventures, SET Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners (a firm that’s on a roll with the cleantech investments and just backed similar company Tendril). In the past, U.K.-based AlertMe raised $8.3 million.

Clean Technology, Consumers, Electricity startups

The whole world is looking at what the US will do for the green technology and solar power. Here’s a point of view from Examiner blog.

The debate over future energy alternatives continues as countries deliberate on government subsidies and clean energy companies develop new technology, while fossil fuel companies adjust supply based on market pricing of oil, natural gas and coal. However, energy stocks have been recently outperforming the market according to several market analyst firms.

One of the myths of government subsidies for green energy or the clean tech sector is that U.S. or state legislation will fully support domestic companies and jobs, which is not the case. Actually, a bill designed to offer incentives for consumers to install solar panels on their homes and hoped to create a certain number of green jobs may lead to environmental benefits for the U.S.; yet the panels may ultimately be manufactured overseas in a country where the cost of labor is significantly less than the U.S.

Another misconception pervasive in the general pubic is that solar panel installations on homes are the most efficient way to harness solar energy. In contrast, “solar farms” represent an underutilized source for solar energy. It has been documented in Semiconductor International that the United States could supply its entire energy demand by covering just 1.6% of its land area with solar cells. Furthermore, putting solar cells on 1% of the area of global deserts would be sufficient to produce electricity for all the people in the world.

The United States may be able to remarkably reduce foreign oil imports and pollution-oriented sources of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas over the next 20 years; however, the nature of emerging legislation at both the federal and state level will dictate how well the country capitalizes on the green revolution, including job creation and the trade deficit, and the transformation from high carbon emission industrialization to clean alternative energy sources such as solar power.

Clean Technology, Green, Policy US Policy

Session III
The Stimulus Act: The Impact of Government Policy on Cleantech Start-ups and Investors

In one of the most difficult funding environments in decades, government funds may potentially be critical to startups’ success. Both startups and their investors need to understand how the stimulus act may affect their business, as well as the opportunities it offers for non-dilutive financing. VCs and their portfolio companies are already jockeying for position to get it.

How does a Silicon Valley VC navigate Washington, D.C.? Which Cleantech projects has the government thrown its support behind? Does it make sense to hire a lobbyist? How about a consultant?

A panel of experts answers these questions and fields Q&A from the audience.

Clean Technology, Energy

Session II
Innovations in Energy: Viable business propositions after Market Corrections

Cleantech is top of mind across the world for entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, and innovators. The factors of commodity prices and scarcity, global climate impact, and energy independence and security set the stage for diversification. An entrepreneurial approach to solving this problem creates and enables new opportunities.

The challenge is not a lack of ideas or exuberance but constructing and connecting a value chain that will accelerate the formulation, funding, adoption, and wide spread implementation of technologies and methods to build the Cleantech ecosystem. Experts will discuss opportunities and innovations in power generation (wind and solar), distribution and Smart Grid, and Electronic Vehicles.

Energy

Read more about OPEN Forum at TelecomPk.Net

Session I
Where’s the Green in Clean? Investment Opportunities, Valuations and the Funding Gap in Cleantech

Traditionally, early stage company executive and investor financial expertise has been focused on company financing. Yet, in many cases, Cleantech demands more.

Many Cleantech executives will be shepherding technologies to commercialization that will require large amounts of capital. Cleantech companies and capital sources will need to build well-informed financial relationships and new financial structures to facilitate capital deployment and allow Cleantech companies to tap into the appropriate financial sources. This need for information and collaboration is more important than ever, given the current state of traditional credit and financial markets.

This discussion will feature a wide range of investors (venture capitalists, private equity investors, hedge fund managers, public financiers, and investment bankers) to delve into the full range of financing the Cleantech industry – from seed financing of nascent inventors, venture financing of emerging-stage companies through international and cross industry joint ventures, from first commercial demonstration to utility scale project development and finance, to IPO, PIPEs and beyond.

The panelists will discuss the capital flow implications for the Cleantech sector. Where Cleantech money is really coming from, what the investment criteria is for each type of investor, where the money is going and why, and how the money is being spent.

Clean Technology, Consumers, Energy, Events, Green, Innovation