11th plan target could not be met due to environmental problems

The Planning Commission and Power Ministry are believed to have reached a consensus over fixing the capacity addition target at 90,000 MW for the next five years. Earlier, Power Ministry had proposed a target of adding 76,000 MW in the current 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), keeping fuel constraints in mind. On the other hand Planning Commission wanted the target to be 1,00,000 MW, as the power demand is very high.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil-fuel combustion rose by 3.2 percent last year to a record high of 31.6 gigatonnes, the IEA said in preliminary estimates released on Thursday.

China made the biggest contribution to the global rise, seeing its emissions increase by 9.3 percent, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said.

U.S. emissions fell 1.7 pct in 2011, mainly due to a switch to natural gas from coal in power plants and also a very mild winter that cut heating demand, the IEA said.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, may finally be getting serious about overcoming the technical and financial hurdles for tapping its other main resource: sunshine.

Thousands of solar power panels have sprung up across Europe over the past few years, thanks to generous subsidies that make the technology an attractive alternative to conventional energy.

Saudi Arabia too, wants to generate much more solar power as it lacks coal or enough natural gas output to meet rapidly rising power demand.

Turkmenistan agreed on Wednesday to supply natural gas to Pakistan and India in deals that offer major economic benefits but depend on building and defending a US-backed pipeline across chronically unstable Afghanistan.

The route, particularly the 735-km leg through the Afghan provinces of Herat and Kandahar, will need billions of dollars in funding.

It faces significant security problems as the Western Nato alliance plans to hand control of Afghanistan to Kabul’s own security forces by the middle of next year.

New Delhi: Kicking-off work on the long discussed US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, India and its new energy partners on Wednesday signed agreements that will pave way for laying of the 1,680-km line. Turkmenistan — which holds more than 4% of the world’s natural gas reserves signed agreements to sell gas to India and Pakistan through the $ 7.6 billion pipeline at the Caspian Sea resort of Avaza.

India on Wednesday signed the gas sale purchase agreement (GSPA) for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) gas pipeline, which upon completion would diversify its gas basket. With domestic gas output stagnating, the $7.6-billion Tapi gas project provides a ray of hope.

In five years, the country would have access to imported natural gas, in addition to imported liquefied natural gas and domestic sources, including coal bed methane gas.

Turkmenistan on Wednesday signed agreements with India and Pakistan to deliver gas through a new pipeline that will transit Afghanistan, the first contracts in the ambitious project.

The 1,700-kilometre (1,050-mile) TAPI pipeline aims to transport more than 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually from Turkmenistan to energy-hungry consumers in Pakistan and India as well as relieving shortages in Afghanistan.

Final round of talks among the four participating counties of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project would be held in Kabul on April 19 to finalise the structure of the much-needed energy project for India and Pakistan. Federal Secretary Petroleum Mohammed Ejaz Chaudhry, after his return from India where he attended 7th Asia Gas conference, stated this while talking to a group of journalists here on Wednesday.

The U.K. government Tuesday published its long-awaited draft Energy Bill, which contains mechanisms and incentives designed to encourage some GBP110 billion investment in low-carbon energy such as offshore wind and new nuclear power stations.

With around a quarter of the U.K.'s power generating capacity closing by the end of the decade as aging nuclear and old coal plants are shuttered, the legislation is part of government plans to keep the lights on while meeting binding climate change targets.

Bangladesh has discovered oil in two old gas fields in the country's northeastern region with an extractable reserve worth $5.5 billion, the chairman of state-owned Petrobangla said Monday.

Hussain Monsur told AFP the two finds at Kailashtila and Sylhet contain proven reserves of 137 million barrels of low sulphur crude oil, of which 55 million barrels can be lifted commercially.

Low sulphur, or "sweet", crude oil is highly sought after and is more easily processed into gasoline than high sulphur crude.