Anti-corrosion specialist Gemini Corrosion Services has completed a £1/4 million contract ahead of schedule for Japanese company Sumitomo, securing jobs at its Montrose base in Scotland and raising the possibility of future expansion.
Data shows Japan’s cumulative installed capacity will rise from 317.5 Gigawatts (GW) last year to an estimated 389.8 GW by 2025. The jump represents a moderate compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.9%, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData. The company said while thermal sources are likely to contribute to the majority of installed capacity other renewable sources, including hydropower, will more than double by the end of the forecasted period.
Oil prices fell today after weak Japanese data sounded alarm bells over the prospects for global growth, outweighing the bullish impact of a bigger-than-expected decline in US crude oil stocks.
Japanese stocks fell, dragged down by energy explorers as oil prices declined and mobile carriers after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for lower phone rates. Mobile carriers NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. sank at least 5.5 percent after Abe said reducing the burden on households from mobile phone fees is an important issue to tackle. Energy explorer Inpex Corp. declined 6 percent as crude oil traded below $45 a barrel. Kansai Electric Power Co. climbed 1.9 percent as utilities led gains on the Topix index. Shipper Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. jumped 1.8 percent after Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. raised its investment rating. The Topix slipped 0.9 percent to 1,466.37 as of 12:58 p.m. in Tokyo, swinging from a gain of 0.5 percent after last week capping its biggest weekly increase in almost two months. Volume was 34 percent below the 30-day intraday average. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 1.4 percent to 18,001.12. Both the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan are holding policy meetings this week.
Oil prices fell in early Asian trading on Monday as Japan's economy contracted on the back of falling exports and consumer spending, adding to fears that Asia's biggest economies are starting to slow at the same time. U.S. crude was trading at $42.07 per barrel at 0012 GMT, 43 cents below their last settlement and close to more than six-year lows. Brent futures were at $48.69 a barrel, down 50 cents but still some way off from their 2015-low of $45.19. Japan's economy, the second biggest in Asia and number three in the world, shrank at an annualised pace of 1.6 percent in April-June as exports slumped and consumers cut back on spending.
A power plant operator in southern Japan has restarted a reactor - the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster. Kyushu Electric Power said it had restarted the No 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant in Satsumasendai, southern Japan, as planned. The restart marks Japan’s return to nuclear energy four and a half years after the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in the north east following an earthquake and tsunami. National broadcaster NHK showed plant workers in the control room as they turned the reactor back on. Tomomitsu Sakata, a spokesman for Kyushu Electric Power, said the reactor was put back online as planned without any problems.
GE Power Conversion has delivered conversion technology to support the Japanese solar industry.
China said on Friday it had every right to drill in the East China Sea close to waters disputed with Japan, adding that it did not recognise a "unilateral" Japanese median line setting out a boundary between the two in the waters. Japan this week called on China to halt construction of oil-and-gas exploration platforms in the East China Sea close to waters claimed by both nations, concerned that Chinese drills could tap reservoirs that extend into Japanese territory. Patrol ships and aircraft from both countries have been shadowing each other in the area over the past couple of years, raising fears of a confrontation and clash.
Welcome to Japan, land of cherry blossoms, sushi and sake, and 17,000 metric tons of highly radioactive waste. That’s what the country has in temporary storage from its nuclear plants. Supporters of atomic power say it’s cleaner than fossil fuels for generating electricity. Detractors say there’s nothing clean about what’s left behind, some of which remains a deadly environmental toxin for thousands of years. Since atomic power was first harnessed more than 70 years ago, the industry has been trying to solve the problem of safe disposal of the waste. Japan has been thrown into the center of the conundrum by its decision in recent months to retire five reactors after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Japan's average price for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell to its lowest since September 2009, dragged down by declining oil markets, offering relief to the countries' utilities which had been burning record amounts of the fuel after the Fukushima disaster. LNG import prices averaged $8.84 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in May, the lowest since $8.28 in September 2009, Reuters calculations based on finance ministry data showed on Monday.
Japan’s $405million offshore wind project is set to gain a 7-megawatt turbine. The turbine, which will be the largest of its kind ever to be used at sea, will generate power 12 miles (20km) off the coast of Fukushima.
Japan is proposing to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 26% by 2030 amid international efforts to set a new framework for addressing climate change. The final draft of the government target, released today, says Japan will aim to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 26% by 2030 compared to 2013 levels, or 25.4% from 2005 levels. That is below the US target of a 26-28% cut by 2025 from 2005 levels, and the European Union’s target of 40% from 1990 levels.