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September 15, 2015

by AEA

Race to renewable: five developing countries ditching fossil fuels

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is well on its way to becoming the first developing country to have 100% renewable electricity. Thanks to our hydro, wind and geothermal resources, 98% of our power is already renewable according to official data (Spanish website). This year, Costa Rica had 100% renewable power for 94 consecutive days. This achievement took several decades to build and the next milestone is to ensure that our electricity system is 100% renewable the whole year. This will require us to replace distributed diesel generators – that are used as a back-up source – with distributed, renewable energy resources.

The state-owned Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) plans to add more hydro, wind and geothermal power plants and retirie the heavy fuel oil-powered Moin plant in 2017. ICE also plan to improve the efficiency of existing plants that run on fossil fuels. For example, by using German technology to increase efficiency at the Garabito plant, it will go from producing 200MW to 280MW.

With Costa Rican citizens and entrepreneurs excited about solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and bioenergy, the country is now on track to have a fossil-free power system by 2025 – probably earlier.

Afghanistan

Ironically, some of Afghanistan’s most challenging characteristics support the growth of renewable energy. The fragmented nature of the country – geographically and politically – means that it will always be a big ask to build and maintain the sort of large-scale electricity grid typically powered by coal or gas. Such things depend on good governance and a central authority – not much in evidence in Afghanistan. So decentralised power generation – owned and controlled by local people – which can harness local sources of energy, is more favourable.

Secondly, Afghanistan has renewable energy sources in abundance. Much of the country enjoys high levels of sunshine; its upland areas have decent wind potential, and its rivers can be harvested by small-scale hydro plants. These don’t involve large, damaging dams, but small diversions of enough water to drive turbines producing electricity for a few villages.

China

China has emerged as the world’s renewables superpower in less than a decade of highly focused development – the country is the world’s largest producer and user of renewable energy technologies. The official target of the Chinese government is for non-fossil fuels to grow to 20% of total energy consumption by 2030, rising from the current level of 11%. Meanwhile coal consumption is to becapped at 4.2bn tons by 2020. China is also committed to a significant increase of the electricity generating capacity based on renewable sources, doubling wind and quadrupling solar by 2020.

Those targets are likely to be achieved, given China’s track record to date. In fact consumption of coal has already started to decline, a Great Reversal of the trend for the past decade. As a result, revenues, profit, and stock prices of coal and oil companies have all fallen sharply.

Solar panels on the roof of greenhouses growing mushrooms in Neihuang county, Henan province

There are divergent views in China over the future for renewables beyond 2030. A recent study by the Energy Research Institute within China’s central planning body has made a strong case for renewables to account for 60% of the total energy consumption and 85% of electricity by 2050; while the China Academy of Engineering projects that renewables will account for just over 40% of total energy consumption by 2050 (Chinese article). One conclusion is clear across many studies, though, that it is both technically and economically feasible for China to phase out fossil fuels with cleaner energy sources such as solar and wind.

The trajectory of China’s future energy system is determined by competitive dynamics between the old and the new. China’s coal-fired power stations, currently of about 900GW of capacity, need to be decommissioned over the next decades. China is also building projects such as pipelines that transport oil and gas from all over the world, and the lock-in effect will be a challenge for renewables to overcome.

On the other hand, China continues to invest in renewables at a scale that dwarfs that of other countries. China invested nearly $90bn in clean energy in 2014, or 73% more than the US, building large solar parks in Qinghai and wind farms in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, just to name a few. China also leads the world in some key areas of infrastructure, such as high speed railways and smart grid technologies, which will facilitate a new model of energy consumption and supply, and one that makes a break with the system based on fossil fuels.

Hao Tan is a senior lecturer at the faculty of business and law, University of Newcastle, Australia.

India

With more than 20% of India’s population currently coping without access to electricity, the government has promised to provide all households with constant power supply before the next national election in 2019. Meanwhile, the Make in India campaign seeks an expansion of manufacturing capabilities in the country, which will also depend heavily on – and increase the demand for – access to power.

Off-grid solar power station in West Bengal

Development for all is dependent on electricity for all, which will simply not be possible without decentralised solutions, best served by renewable energy sources. Earlier this year, the central government announced an ambitious target of 175GW of renewable energy of which 100GW would come from solar alone, by 2022. But growth in the sector has been relatively slow, considering the immense potential: according to the Indian ministry of renewable energy, the total installed solar capacity crossed over 3GW for the first time in December last year, adding only 886MW in 2014 – in contrast, Tata Solar Power, in a report released in 2014, estimated that India could reach 145GW of solar by 2024. This good news has further positive implications: as solar power rapidly becomes a mainstream energy option, the industry could create over 670,000 new, clean-energy jobs in India.

These positives however, would be impossible to achieve without a paradigm shift in policies that boost the rapidly improving business of renewables. It will be important to ensure that this shift from polluting power to clean renewables is done in a way where citizens are in greater control over their own power supply, as virtually infinite potential from wind and solar energy can truly democratise the generation of, and access to, power.

Albania

Albania, a small country of 2.77 million inhabitants, has big potential and an exciting future for renewable energy. Driven by a desire to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and promote a secure supply of energy, the government of Albania has been very eager to encourage increased investment in renewable energy and in 2013 a law was passed to promote renewable energy.

The new renewable energy law sets a nationally binding target for renewable energy (non-hydro) of 38% by the year 2020. In addition, it provides for priority grid access for renewable energy projects, for streamlined licensing procedures, for the ability to sign sale and purchase agreements for renewable energy for up to 15 years and for preferential feed-in-tariffs, to be established by the regulator. This package of measures should provide greater confidence to investors that their investments in renewable energy in Albania offer an attractive rate of return in a country that, for its size, has abundant renewable energy resources.

Water is Albania’s most important natural resource. At least eight large rivers run through the country, fed by hundreds of smaller streams and total hydropower resources are estimated at 4500MW. In addition, solar energy potential (for both photovoltaics and solar hot-water heaters) is excellent as the country has among the highest number of sunshine hours per year inEurope (an average of 2,400). Wind energy potential for Albania is also very good along the Adriatic coast.

Over the longer term, the potential for increased investment in renewable energy in Albania is excellent as the country becomes an energy exporter. Albania plans to spend over $200m to build power cables to Italy, a country with excess energy demand. This should help drive additional investment in renewable energy.

September 15, 2015

by AEA

Bankers Petroleum, Albania to pick auditor to settle tax spat

Canada’s Bankers Petroleum has agreed with Albania’s national resources watchdog to pick a third-party auditor to resolve a tax dispute over its 2011 spending, the company and Albanian officials said on Monday.

Bankers Petroleum has been extracting oil for 11 years in the Patos-Marinza oil field under an output-sharing contract which allows it to recover costs before paying profit tax. It has paid royalties and other taxes but no profit tax.

An audit of Bankers’ books for 2011 by the Agency for National Resources (AKBN) disputed some $250 million dollars in expenditure, triggering a $57 million profit tax demand by the Finance Ministry.

The international auditor is expected to be selected in a matter of weeks but its ruling will take several months.

“This represents a significant step towards enhancing transparency in the administration and regulation of oil and gas activities in Albania,” David French, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bankers Petroleum, said in a statement.

“Bankers views this commitment by the authorities as an important milestone in the ongoing improvement of our operations,” French said, adding he expected it to resolve the tax demand dispute.

Dael Dervishi, the head of Albania’s National Resources Agency, said the two sides had agreed to turn to a third-party and take all other steps before taking the dispute to an international arbitration court.

“We agreed to allow a third party to review all the audit findings for 2011 to advise both parties, because either we were too harsh or the company was not diligent enough”, Dervishi told Reuters. The third party would tell them “which of us should give in,” he added. //Reuters

September 14, 2015

by AEA

Albania gasification, interested expressed by SOCAR..

While TAP pipeline construction has started, Albania will become part of the international gas network, paving the need for gasification of the country with a network of special and brand new. This project requires huge investments that lie in years, while the master plan for the gasification is underway and expected to be ready next October.

Official sources at the Ministry of Economy of Albania stated that the Azeri company has expressed interest to implement the gasification infrastructure, since it is one of the main shareholders of the oil field and gas transmission by TAP.

The same sources indicated that the master plan ends in autumn next year. Then, they provided the financial support to continue with the detailed planning, which means you will study potential areas of Albania where possible will be the construction of gas distribution networks.

Experts at the Ministry of Energy of Albania say that Albania can have a consumption of about 1 billion cubic meters of gas, an amount one tenth of the initial capacity of the pipeline.

The goals of the Master Plan and further feasibility studies aimed at introducing the element of gas consumption by households.

Sources in the Ministry of Energy stated that the law on public-private partnership leaves room to find strategic investors for the gasification process. The same sources indicated that SOCAR Azerbaijan has expressed interest, but other countries have expressed interest, as have the opportunities because of the possession of gas.

September 9, 2015

by AEA

Approved the law for the natural gas sector that paves the way for TAP

Productive Activities Commission today approved the draft of the natural gas sector, which aims to improve the management of this strategic sector for the Albanian economy. This law also will ensure the development of strategic projects in the gas sector, such as the TAP project, IAP project, etc.

During the design phase are taken into account and are reflected recent developments in the Albanian legislation that directly or indirectly related to the gas sector.
It is especially taken into consideration and found reflection legal and regulatory framework for the development of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP project), ensuring in this new bill continuity and stability in legislative terms.

As concerns the gas sector legislation, the scope of its activity is not included for the production of gas, in terms of a regulated activity and to be licensed by the ERE. In the case of gas, given that we are dealing with a natural energy source involved in hydrocarbons (whether natural gas or as accompanying gas) for its production activity is regulated by law “On the research and production of hydrocarbons”.

The draft law “On Natural Gas Sector” aimed at amending the existing law of 2008, under the implementation of the Third Energy Package of the European Union, in terms of development, liberalization and market sector and the interconnection of natural gas. This legislative initiative was prepared with the assistance of the Energy Community Secretariat, but has been considered and included almost entirely existing gas law.

This bill (with 9 chapters and 117 articles) consists of two main pillars:

-. The organization and functioning of the gas market as a regulated market, which according to the Third Energy Package of the EU’s natural gas sector, will be a market “fully open / liberalized”.

-. Construction and operation of infrastructure and installations of gas (including technical and technological) for the supply, transportation, storage and distribution of natural gas, which is essentially the main role in terms of organization and the executive but also has supervisory Ministry and the structures and institutions composed and under its supervision.

Through this new bill are predicting significant changes in the legal framework for the gas sector, changes that include:
– Conservation and ensuring legal and institutional stability.
– Specification of responsibilities and powers of the PM and the Ministry responsible for energy sector.
– Increasing the role and responsibilities of Commissioners mainly about the monitoring of the market, competition and consumer protection. ERE in this bill is designed in a new dimension by cooperating closely with the Ministry in connection with monitoring the market but always without interfering with the powers of another institution.
– Review and revision of some articles of the current gas law (eg “Combined operator”, “Measurement of natural gas”), also due to considering the specifications, connections and size of developments that may this gas sector in Albania.
– Definitions for the preparation of regulations for the activity of underground gas storage and liquefied natural gas.
– Regulation of ownership issues in the activity of natural gas, setting exactly the rights group affected, as dealing with infrastructure and related installations.
– Increased cooperation between the entities, state bodies involved in this law.
– Re-evaluation of the report of the central executive bodies in some activities more clearly defining the authority of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry responsible for energy, or ERE.

– Determination Program Officer and compliance, which is a new and more important to formulate for the first time in this bill, as required by EU legislation, setting out the rules to guarantee the transparency of transactions, independence of operators (TSOs and DSO).
– Has been added as a new chapter, “The market natural gas and market regulations and the system”, where in addition to organizing the market and trade of natural gas in an article on its own are also included measures to promote the market opening that and it constitutes one of the main goals of the Third Energy Package of the EU.

In terms of organization and functioning of the gas sector in Albania, in this bill has some specific features that make up the difference from other areas of the energy sector, thus:
– There is only one operator Transmission System (TSO) for gas at the country level, but provided and enable the existence and functioning of some s TSOs gas, so the System Operator (DSO) of gas to forecast some such nationwide.

– It included the role of function “combined Operator”, which reflects how relevant and concrete developments in the gas sector in Albania, as well as specifics on the size and capacity is expected to have gas market in Albania.

– They are fully involved and issues of oversight and inspection in terms of technical and technological safety for construction, use and maintenance of plant and gas infrastructure sector including supply, transportation, storage, and distribution of natural gas. It is not only clearly defined the role of the Ministry in this regard, but also the role and function of the State Inspectorate responsible for the gas sector.

It is taken into consideration and reflected the fact that activities associated with natural gas, but are activities related to fuels, as are the activities dealing with equipment, installations and plants under pressure.

Also in the preparation of this bill have been considered and are reflected in the measure that was considered reasonable and was rated in accordance with legal logic, the comments of stakeholders and ministries, for which we can say that they are taken into account most of the comments made.

September 2, 2015

by AEA

Tirex Signs Agreement with Albanian Geological Survey

Tirex Resources Ltd. (Tirex) is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with the Albanian Geological Survey (“AGS”) to collaborate in the metallurgical studies of the zinc-rich copper deposit at Koshaj.

– Tirex to collaborate with the Albanian Geological Survey at Koshaj

– Work to include re-opening underground workings for sampling and metallurgical tests

– Tirex and AGS focus will include gold, silver and zinc in addition to copper

This collaboration will include the re-opening of the underground workings in Koshaj, and the collection and shipment of samples to an international laboratory for metallurgical tests. As Tirex does not have technical specialists relating to this specific work based in-country, under the agreement AGS will provide technical supervision in the re-opening of the underground workings, collect the samples and ensure workplace safety. Tirex personnel will decide where the samples will be taken and will oversee sample collection.

Tirex, AGS and Ministry of Energy and Industry of Albania anticipate that the results of the tests may pave the way for exploitation of zinc-rich copper deposits in the country as zinc minerals has never been recovered from historic mining operations.

This collaboration with AGS follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) between Tirex and Sinomine Resource Exploration Co., Ltd. (“Sinomine”) with regards to Tirex’s exploration and development activities in Albania whereby Sinomine, through its mining operations in Albania, will purchase mineralized materials that will be produced from Koshaj (see Tirex news release of August 25, 2015). Metallurgical testing of Koshaj mineralized materials is required by Sinomine in the MOU for its participation in the development of Koshaj as an additional source of mill feed for a processing plant it plans to build in Albania.

Koshaj is a zinc-rich volcanogenic massive sulfide copper deposit located in the historic copper producing Mirdita District of northern Albania. Although the mine was fully developed and ready for mining in the 1990s, no actual mining took place. Koshaj is reported to have a historic resource of 707,592 tonnes at 0.98% copper, 3.88% zinc and 0.71 g/t gold with a high grade copper and zinc zone of 388,164 tonnes grading 4.21% zinc, 1.19% copper and 0.95g/t gold. The deposit remains open for expansion.

All of the above stated resources and grade estimates are historic in nature; were obtained from information provided by the Albanian government; are not the subject of an NI 43-101 compliant report; and have not been verified by Tirex. No qualified person has done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources; and Tirex is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources. Tirex is including the historical estimates for information purposes only, and offers no assurances as to the reliability of the estimates. Tirex will need to undertake a comprehensive review of available data, and in all likelihood a drill program, to verify the historic estimates and classify them as current resources.

Mr. Fred Tejada, P.Geo., Tirex President, and a Qualified Person under the meaning of Canadian National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for the technical content of this news release.

On Behalf of Management,

Fred Tejada, President

Forward-Looking Statements. This Tirex News Release may contain certain “forward-looking” statements and information relating to Tirex. Such statements include but are not limited to statements about a possible business transaction with Sinomine and the technical cooperation with AGS. Often forward-looking statements or information include words such as “plans”, expects”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “estimates” “forecasts”, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or will be taken occur or be achieved. Although forward-looking statements and information contained in this release are based on the beliefs of Tirex management, which we consider to be reasonable, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Tirex management, there is no assurance that the forward-looking statement or information will prove to be accurate. Specifically, there is no assurance Tirex will be able to finalize a business transaction with Sinomine on terms acceptable to Tirex, or at all. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this release are subject to current risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including, without limitations, obtaining all necessary approvals, feasibility of mine and plant development, exploration and development risks, expenditure and financing requirements, title matters, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors, general economic conditions, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulation and supervision, seasonality, technological change, industry practices, and one-time events as well as risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in our quarterly and annual and interim management’s discussion and analysis. Should any one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or change, or should any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and forward-looking statements and information may vary materially from those described herein. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information contained in this release. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. All resource estimates quoted in this news release are historical, uncategorized and not NI 43-101 compliant and should not be relied upon. Tirex has not verified these historical resources and has not reviewed the assumptions, parameters and methods used to prepare the historical resource estimate. No Qualified Person has done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current and Tirex is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources or reserves but considers them as historically relevant and material information. A feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty the proposed operation will be economically viable.

“Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.”

September 2, 2015

by AEA

Petronas Said to Consider Buying Statoil’s Stake in TAP Project

Malaysia’s state-owned energy company is considering acquiring Statoil ASA’s stake in a gas pipeline into Europe from the Caspian basin, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Petroliam Nasional Bhd, also known as Petronas, may buy the Norwegian company’s 20 percent stake in the project, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is confidential. No final decision has been made and Petronas may choose not to pursue the acquisition, they said.

Statoil plans to exit the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project, known as TAP, Rovnaq Abdullayev, the president of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, told Azeri TV channel ANS on July 20. The Oslo-based company declined to comment at the time.

From 2018 the 870-kilometer (541-mile) TAP project will initially deliver 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the Shah Deniz fields through Greece and Albania to Italy. The pipeline, which should eventually be able to deliver 20 bcm of gas a year, will connect to Tanap, a pipeline that will stretch 1,841 kilometers into Turkey.

TAP’s other shareholders include BP Plc and Socar, which each hold 20 percent, as well as Fluxys Belgium with 19 percent, Enagas SA of Spain with 16 percent and Axpo with five percent, according to the Baar, Switzerland-based company’s website.

A spokeswoman for TAP declined to comment via e-mail on potential changes to shareholdings in the project. Representatives for Statoil and Petronas didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

By Ercan Ersoy and Elffie Chew