Category: Highlights

This week the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan for the second time in two decades giving it access to the country’s vast mineral deposits worth trillions of dollars, which are in high demand by countries such as China and essential for the production of electric vehicles amid a global pivot to clean energy. But can this wealth transform the country and help with the global pivot to clean energy? War-scarred Afghanistan’s valuable resources remain largely untapped, due to decades of conflict and corruption and any international ventures to extract Afghanistan’s mineral wealth…

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Leading into COP26 climate negotiations, China announced a new goal of net-zero emissions by 2060 including reaching 1,200 gigawatts (GW) total wind and solar by 2030, more than doubling current capacity. But despite this pledge, China continues citing reliability concerns to expand its coal fleet, which risks dangerous climate change. New Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) research shows new coal plants are not necessary for a reliable power system in China. In fact, the opposite is true: China can deliver reliable, affordable electricity by accelerating its clean energy transition. In…

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Dalrymple Bay, the second-largest coal export facility by capacity in Australia’s Queensland state, is targeting to become an export hub for green hydrogen, after owner DBI Group signed an agreement with North Queensland Bulk Ports, Japanese trading house Itochu and US infrastructure fund Brookfield Group. The deal for now will look at potential options to export through Dalrymple Bay green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy with no emissions. DBI is looking to diversify and is seeking to capitalise on government assistance to move into hydrogen exports. The Queensland…

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The movement of heavy machinery for the Tarbela Dam fifth expansion project is posing a serious threat to the dam’s spillway gates. On August 12, Prime Minister Imran Khan had performed the ground-breaking of the fifth extension project of the Tarbela Dam. According to sources, while transporting the heavy machinery to the construction site, laid down rules and procedures were being violated, posing a direct threat to the existing dam and its spillways. The excessive weight of heavy machinery might damage the spillway gates of the world’s largest earth-filled dam,…

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The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet which is scheduled to meet on Monday (Aug 16) is expected to extend concessional tariffs of electricity and gas for industry including export-oriented sectors, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. The meeting to be presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin will approve continuation of RLNG to export-oriented industry at $6.5/MMBTU including Karachi and cents 9 per unit for electricity. Previously, the tariff for export-oriented industry was cents 7.5 per unit. The ECC will also extend flat electricity tariff to industrial consumers across the…

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