Australian prime minister Julia Gillard today announced the approval of a $104.7 million project to integrate solar energy into one of Queensland’s largest fossil fuel power stations. The 750 megawatt (MW) coal-fired Kogan Creek Power Station in South West Queensland will be integrated with a new 44 MW solar thermal system, making it the largest project of its kind in the world.

In recent times, Gia Lai Power Company has taken many measures in propagating the economic and effective use of electricity, thus saving not only an energy source for the country but also expenses for agencies, businesses and households. Thereby Gia Lai Power Company has made a good use of the electric energy source allocated for production and social-economic development in the province, contributing significantly to the electric energy saving movement.

100% of the barracks and households in Truong Sa District (The Spratly - Khanh Hoa Province) can now use electric energy for their work and life, with the continuous supply for 24 hours a day. The whole district is now under television and telephone coverages. It is special that all the electric energy used in this island district is produced from wind power and solar energy. So far, Truong Sa has been the first district in the country to use clean energy sources.

Deputy Prime Minister confirmed this would be an important legal basis for investors to implement projects exploiting potential renewable energy sources, especially a series of wind power projects in the South Central Province, on islands and in remote areas. He also signaled the views and encouragement on increasing the promotion of renewable energy exploitation and utilization to meet the demand of national energy balance and sustainable development at present.

French scientists are looking at the possibility of submerging small nuclear power plants deep underwater to supply low-cost energy to isolated countries or islands that cannot afford a major inland atomic plant. France pioneered the mass development of nuclear power stations in the 1970s and now sees a possible use in the industry for technology adapted from nuclear submarines, a top engineer said.

Dubbed the ‘Solar Soldier’ project the two-year research and development mission aims to produce a power pack where the energy is gathered from a combination of solar cells and thermoelectric devices. The team of approximately 15 scientists and researchers from Glasgow, Loughborough, Strathclyde, Leeds, Reading and Brunel University will also work on investigating ways of managing, storing and using heat produced by the system.

Under the plan, the Economics Ministry would use its fast-track powers to expedite the approval process for building transmission routes, among other planned measures. To date, one of the main obstacles of upgrading Germany’s network to carry energy generated by solar and wind has been the country’s patchwork approval process.

Currently, each day, Ninh Hoa Sugar Joint Stock Company processes 3,000 tons of sugar cane without using grid power. The entire electricity needs are met by the thermal electric unit with the capacity of 6 MW, the fuel for boiler is bagasse. From Dec 2010, the company installed one more bagasse generator with the capacity of 3 MW.

With strong propagation, awareness of people and power users has improved considerably; in the last 3 months, Ho Chi Minh City has saved 6.9 million kWh of electricity, 30% higher than same period of 2010. According to Mr. Nguyen Van Ly, Deputy General Director of HCM City Power Corporation, amid difficulties in the current power supply, promoting energy saving is one of the most positive solutions.

Vietnam Electricity Group has assigned Power Corporations to direct power companies to perform power supply in April 2011 under the motto of no power reduction. Besides, EVN has required Power Corporations to continue to closely monitor the daily load situation, report to the Group to assess the situation of power supply in April and report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade on power supply plans in May and June 2011.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the most technologically advanced and oil rich countries in the Middle East; however, oil is not enough to meet the country’s expected energy demand in coming decades. In preparation, the UAE is following suit with neighboring Saudi Arabia and pursuing a nuclear power program of their own, with Australia as yellow cake uranium supplier of choice.

The second generator of Son La hydropower plant on Tuesday successfully started its test operation, paving the way for its official commissioning with a capacity of 400MW on April 20. With the forthcoming operation of Generator 2, Son La will supply some 20 million kilowatt hours of power for the national grid a day to ease the power shortage for the country in this dry season, said the management board of Son La plant.

Only the very poorest countries would be eligible to receive funds for building new coal-fired power stations under proposed new rules. The World Bank is planning to restrict the money it gives to coal -fired power stations, bowing to pressure from green campaigners to radically revise its funding rules.

Google is helping build a massive undersea power cable along the East Coast that's designed to ferry clean power from offshore wind farms to the country's most populous region. Starting off in southern Virginia and ending in northern New Jersey, the cable would lay on the sea floor some 10 to 20 miles offshore. It could carry up to 6,000 megawatts of clean electricity, enough to power nearly 2 million homes.

Citing the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, environmental activists at a U.N. meeting Sunday urged bolder steps to tap renewable energy so the world doesn’t have to choose between the dangers of nuclear power and the ravages of climate change.

In a move, which is set to face severe opposition from motorists, the EU is planning to ban petrol and diesel powered cars from European cities by 2050. The decision is seen as an attempt by the 27-nation bloc to force people to adopt ‘green’ cars and reduce their dependence on oil. The plan will also help in protecting the environment.

In Paris they met Eric Besson, France's minister of industry and energy, and took part in a round-table discussion with both countries' energy and industrial leaders aimed at exchanging experience and developing partnerships. One result was the creation of a high level group jointly chaired by GDF-Suez CEO Gérard Mestrallet and Guillermo Luksic of the wide-ranging Quiñenco conglomerate.

Senator Joe Lieberman called for a temporary halt on the building of nuclear plants in the U.S., and many news organizations have reported that it could cause a major setback for U.S. nuclear policy. Last year, the Department of Energy announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of two nuclear plants in Georgia. The plants are part of a major push by President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu to support nuclear power in the United States.

Restoring power and government reconstruction spending are crucial to Japan's economy resuming growth, the IMF said Thursday, after Tokyo put the damage of the March 11 earthquake at $309 billion. International Monetary Fund officials said they expected a short-term slowdown, but growth would "rebound" to pre-quake levels and more.

Poland's government approved two bills creating a legal framework for the nuclear power industry and taking another step towards building the country's first nuclear plant, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. The bills, which now will be sent to parliament, create grounds for oversight of the investment process by National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) as well as instruments for state-controlled PGE to choose technology supplier.