Electricity production
Non-renewable energy production
Asia swaps coal for wood fuel, but emissions still a threat
The rebuke of coal has pushed countries like South Korea and Japan to embrace the harvesting of trees to be processed into wood pellets, but environmentalists are warning that this fuel might prove as damaging as the black mineral it is replacing. Some critics focus on ...
LIEN HOANG
Oil spill threatens corals in eastern Thailand
Authorities are rushing to prevent an oil spill in eastern Thailand from damaging fragile corals, after officials said on Sunday (Jan 30) the leak that began last week was drifting towards more coastal areas. Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Varawut Silpa-archa said it was ...
Reuters/vc
Unraveling the Mystery of Laos U-Turn from Renewables to Coal to Power the Battery of Southeast Asia
After years of hydropower supercharging Laos’ successful ambition to become the key power exporter in the region, Laos’ energy export market has taken a surprising turn towards coal. According to most international analysis from Carbon Tracker to Bloomberg, carbon is dying. Yet in Laos, energy carbon production went ...
Kannikar Petchkaew
Cambodia's Coal-Fueled Power Plants and their Environmental Costs
Cambodia’s move to approve new coal-fired power plants has prompted concern about potential environmental and health costs despite the government pledging to strictly enforce environmental regulations. The Cambodian government Friday greenlighted the construction of two more coal power plants in Koh Kong and Odor Meanchey provinces, ...
Sao Phal Niseiy
Finance firms plan to close coal plants in Asia
Some of the world’s biggest financial institutions are working on a plan to speed the closure of coal-fired power plants in Asia, the BBC has been told. The initiative was developed by UK insurer Prudential, is being driven by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and includes ...
Ethnic communities in Myanmar opposing a coal plant see their fight get harder
Almost two decades ago, Myanmar’s largest coal-fired power plant was built as a joint venture by a group of military-affiliated businessmen and the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation. Since then, it has disrupted the socioeconomic lives of the Pa’O and Taungyo people who are Indigenous ...
Robert Bociaga
Hundreds of Families Forced to Move for Lao Coal Plant Expansion
Authorities in northwestern Laos are forcing hundreds of families to relocate to make way for the expansion of a lignite power plant, setting the stage for a dispute over compensation with residents who say they will be shortchanged by the communist government’s ambitious development plans. A ...
RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Coal-powered developments threaten Cambodia’s largest national park
Cambodia’s government has granted permission for a new special economic zone (SEZ) and coal-fired power plant within the lush Botum Sakor National Park in coastal Koh Kong province. The SEZ would create another loosely regulated industrial area within a biodiverse primary forest. Late last year, Koh ...
Danielle Keeton-Olsen
Total: “We have taken the call to limit the income going to the military junta. We have tried everything to reduce this.”
Energy giant, Total was forced to justify its response to the Myanmar coup to shareholders yesterday amid growing pressure from international campaigners to halt payments to the military regime. Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting, Total’s chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said the company ...
Myanmar Now
CDC approves Royal Group’s 700MW coal-fired power plant
The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) on December 8 approved Botum Sakor Energy Co Ltd’s (BSE’s) more-than-$1 billion 700MW coal-fired power station in Koh Kong province’s southwestern Botum Sakor district. Based in Thma Sar commune’s Chamlang Ko village, the CDC noted that the facility ...
Thou Vireak