Japanese life insurance firms invest in green bonds to support climate action

Projects that will be supported include renewable energy, energy efficiency and new technologies in waste management and agriculture that reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Energy storage company re-energised with £25m Japanese investment

Zenobe Energy is backed by the former boss of National Grid and has around 73MW of operational assets

Japanese firm invests €100m in Irish renewable company

A Dublin-based energy company which plans to build a wind farm in Scotland has secured a €100 million (£86.5m) deal from a Japanese trading firm. Marubeni Corporation confirmed it would pay cash for a holding in Ireland’s Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd and take a 25% stake, becoming the second largest shareholder in the firm. The […]

Honda to build wind farm in Brazil

Japanese automotive giant Honda is set to invest around 100 million Brazilian reals (£32m) to develop a wind farm in Brazil. The project will include nine turbines with a total capacity of 27MW and will be built in the city of Xangri-la in the southern Rio Grande do Sul state. The plant is expected to […]

UK to gain more control of civil plutonium

The UK’s nuclear authority is to conduct a series of plutonium swaps and transfers in a bid to allow the nation to gain more control of the chemical element. The Department of Energy and Climate Change said the transactions will offer a cost-effective and beneficial arrangement and avoid the need to physically transport plutonium – […]

Mitsubishi buys 50% stake in EDF’s solar plant

Japanese technology giant Mitsubishi has agreed to buy a 50% stake in a French solar plant from EDF Energy’s renewable arm. EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) developed and built the 115MW Toul-Rosières plant located in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in eastern France, which it claims is one of the largest PV power plants in the world. […]

Horizon deal a ‘vote of confidence’ in UK’s energy future

Hitachi’s bid for the Horizon nuclear project is a “vote of confidence” in the UK’s energy future. That’s the view of the energy industry’s trade body, whose comment follows the deal made by the Japanese giant and its plans to build two to three 1300MW nuclear plants at each of Horizon’s sites in the UK. […]

¥70m for wave energy technology in Japan

A US wave energy technology firm has received a ¥70 million (£547,000) contract towards using its technology in Japanese sea conditions. Under the agreement with Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (MES), Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) will use its ‘PowerBuoy’ technology, which is a wave generation system that uses a “smart” floating device to capture and convert […]

Nuclear power to grow at a slower rate to 2030

Nuclear energy up to 2030 will grow at a rate slower than estimated a year ago. That’s the latest projection from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which said the world’s installed nuclear capacity is expected to grow from 370GW right now to 456GWe in 2030, a 9% reduction from the level predicted in 2011. […]

Cost of nuclear accidents to energy firms jumps seven-fold

Energy firms in Britain will pick up much more of the cost of a nuclear accident under new rules agreed last week. Nuclear operators will now have to have seven times the amount of insurance than they have previously. The Government confirmed it will increase the third party liabilities of operators in the event of […]