Energy

Changes to Mongolia’s mining legislation will open up vast new tracts of land for exploration and pave the way for new licence issuances. This should help restore the confidence of foreign investors made wary by government intervention in the sector.

The future of solar energy in Malaysia received a powerful boost on June 16 with the commissioning of the country’s largest solar power plant to date. The project’s operator, Malaysia-based Amcorp Group, awarded the production of the power plant’s solar panels to Chinese manufacturer Yingli Green Energy Holding Company. The project spans an area of almost 14 ha and will require some 40,000 photovoltaic (PV) units, which are estimated to produce 13.6m KWh of electricity annually.

Kuwait is to broaden its energy production, launching the first step in an extensive renewable energy programme intended to ease reliance on hydrocarbons while at the same time building awareness of the commercial and investment opportunities offered by solar energy.

Four years after Nigeria passed the Nigerian Content executive act (NCA) in April 2010, new government figures seem to indicate that it has helped stimulate a jump in activity by domestic firms in the country’s hydrocarbons sector.

Jordan’s high energy import bills and the frequent power cuts resulting from shortfalls in supplies from Egypt may soon become less of a problem as a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility at the port of Aqaba is set to come on-line by the end of the year.

President Jacob Zuma has announced a shake-up of the South African energy sector after signalling the government will push ahead with both nuclear energy generation and shale gas exploration, although revised electricity demand projections suggest consumption will nonetheless be slower than expected in the years until 2025.