Category: Energy and Power

The pace of German greenhouse gas emissions cuts slowed further in 2025, putting in jeopardy climate goals in Europe’s biggest economy, a think tank warned recently. Emissions fell by 1.5 percent in 2025 from the previous year, according to a study by Agora Energiewende, compared to a three-percent drop in 2024 and 10 percent the year before that. ‘At the current rate of reduction, there will still be a climate protection gap with regard to 2030,’ said the study. By 2030, Germany aims to reduce its emissions by 65 percent compared to 1990 levels. To achieve its goals, Germany will have to cut its emissions four times faster than it did last year from 2026 onwards, Agora warned. Last year’s emissions cuts were driven by falls in energy-intensive industries, many of which are struggling as the economy stagnates, and record solar power generation.

China will eliminate value-added tax (VAT) export rebates for photovoltaic products from April 1, 2026, according to a joint notice released on Jan. 9 by the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China and the State Taxation Administration.

under the policy adjustment, VAT export rebates for solar products will be fully removed from April 1, 2026. For battery products, the export rebate rate will be cut from 9% to 6% between April 1 and Dec. 31, 2026, before being eliminated entirely from Jan. 1, 2027.

the published product lists indicate that the solar category covers monocrystalline silicon wafers with diameters above 15.24 cm, both above and below 220 micrometers in thickness, which are doped for electronic industry use. Industry sources note that most mainstream PV wafers currently produced fall within this de?nition.

the list also includes unassembled solar cells and ?nished photovoltaic modules.

the battery category extends beyond lithium-ion batteries and battery packs to include other energy storage technologies, such as all-vanadium redox ?ow batteries.

it also encompasses key upstream materials used in lithium-based batteries, including lithium hexa?uorophosphate, lithium manganate, lithium cobalt oxide, and lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxides.

this marks the second major adjustment to China’s export rebate regime for solar and battery products in just over a year.

in the previous round, announced on Nov. 15, 2024, and implemented from Dec. 1, 2024, export rebate rates for selected re?ned oil products, solar equipment, batteries, and certain nonmetallic mineral products were reduced from 13% to 9%.

The Bangladesh E n e r g y R e g u l a t o r y C o m m i s s i o n (BERC) has reduced the price of Jet A-1 (jet fuel) for both domestic and international ?ights by Tk 9.68 per liter.

the regulatory body issued a noti?cation in this regard on January 7.

according to the noti?cation, the price of Jet A-1 fuel for domestic airlines has been reduced by Tk 9.68 per liter, from Tk 104.61 to Tk 94.93 per liter. For international airlines, the price of jet fuel has been reduced by USD 0.0629 per liter, from USD 0.6875 to USD 0.6246 per liter.

the new prices will come into effect from 12:00 midnight on January 7, the noti?cation said.

The world’s oceans absorbed a record amount of heat in 2025, an international team of scientists said recently, further priming conditions for sea level rise, violent storms, and coral death.

the heat that has accumulated in the oceans last year increased by approximately 23 zettajoules – an amount equivalent to nearly four decades of global primary energy consumption.

this ?nding — published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences — was the highest reading of any year since modern record keeping began in the early 1950s, researchers said.

to derive these calculations, more than 50 scientists from 31 research institutions used multiple sources including a thousands-strong ?eet of ?oating robots that track ocean changes to depths of 2,000 meters.

Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, has contributed a signi?cant amount to UCEP Bangladesh to support the education and skill development of underprivileged children.

on behalf of IDCOL, Mr.

alamgir Morshed, Executive Director and CEO, IDCOL, handed over the cheque to Mr. Md.

abdul Karim, PhD, Executive Director, UCEP Bangladesh, at a ceremony held at IDCOL’s of?ce premises on 28 December 2025. Senior of?cials from both IDCOL and UCEP Bangladesh were present at the event.

established in 1972 by New Zealander Lindsay Allan Cheyne, UCEP Bangladesh is a non-governmental organization working under the motto ‘Help to Learn, Skills to Earn.’ It provides Second Chance Education and TVET to out-of-school children, youth, and adults, with a strong focus on social inclusion for females and underprivileged communities, contributing to the global ‘Leave No One Behind’ agenda.

Saipem announces the restart of operations of the jack-up Perro Negro 7 in Saudi Arabia beginning January 2026. Saudi Aramco this year will resume operations of Saipem’s Perro Negro 7 jackup rig for woek offshore Saudi Arabia.

the contract for the rig was awarded to Saipem in 2011 and extended in June 2023 for 10 years.

the contract was temporarily suspended for a period of 12 months in 2024.

the suspension period will be recovered at the end of the contract, extending its duration until 2034. Perro Negro 7 is designed to operate in waters up to 114 m deep and drill wells up to 9,100 m.

the asset is equipped with advanced systems to ensure safety, ef?ciency, and compliance with the more demanding environmental standards.

Bangladesh’s ?rst nuclear power plant is now approaching the power generation stage, with fuel loading at Unit 1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project likely to begin in early February, project of?cials said.

if the process moves ahead as planned, trial electricity generation could start between early March and late April, allowing partial power to be fed into the national grid for the ?rst time, they added. Of?cials, however, cautioned that the highly sensitive and safety-critical nature of nuclear operations means the plant will not immediately reach full capacity. According to the operational roadmap, it may take another eight to ten months after physical startup to gradually scale up generation to the full 1,200 megawatts. If everything proceeds as planned, full commercial production from the ?rst unit may be possible by mid-2026.

any technical anomaly detected during fuel loading, reactor startup or trial operations could lead to adjustments in the timeline, they said, noting that safety and quality assurance are being prioritised over speed at every stage of the commissioning process.

Petroliam Nasional Bhd said recently it had signed a deal to supply China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) one million tonnes per annum of lique?ed natural gas. Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas did not specify the duration of the ‘long-term commitment’ to CNOOC Gas and Power Singapore Trading and Marketing Pte Ltd.

the agreement strengthens ‘cooperation in LNG supply while supporting China’s economic growth and national clean energy agenda, including the ‘Dual Carbon’ aspirations of peaking emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060′, Petronas said in a statement on its website. ‘With Asia’s rising demand for lower-carbon fuels, Petronas will continue to deliver LNG from its established portfolio to support customers’ evolving energy needs across the region’, Petronas added.

Citing rapidly rising demand for LPG cylinders, BPC has requested 50 acres of unused land owned by the Water Development Board (WDB) in the city’s South Kattoli area to establish a plant with an annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes. The proposed site, close to Chattogram port, is seen as strategically advantageous. The Energy and Mineral Resources Division recently wrote to the Ministry of Water Resources seeking allocation of the land at market or mouza value. In its letter, signed by Deputy Secretary Shahadat Hossain, the division said WDB owns two unused plots in South Kattoli – one of 25 acres and another of 33.51 acres – previously acquired but not used for their intended purpose. ‘For ensuring energy security and environmentally friendly, affordable fuel supply, we request consideration for allocating 50 acres of this land in favour of BPC,’ the letter stated.

Dhaka, the overcrowded capital city of Bangladesh, offers more troubles to its nearly 20 million residents than comfort. High cost of living, persistent traf?c jams, air and sound pollution, a dilapidated public transport system are some of the lifecrippling woes.

add to these the gas crisis that has recently hit the kitchens of households and restaurants, as well as auto gas stations. Most Dhaka dwellers rely on pipeline gas and LNG cylinders for cooking their meals. Last Thursday (January 8), residents across the city woke up to ?nd their kitchens without pipeline gas. Bulbuli Akthar, a housemaid at Uttara, ?rst thought her employer had forgotten to re?ll the gas card. Her employer soon discovered that the pipeline gas disappeared from the entire Uttara, a rare gas outage for the area. She tried to order breakfast from restaurants only to hear: We are also without gas and could not prepare any food items. She ?nally sought help from her neighbor having an electric stove to cook her breakfast and lunch. ‘It was a tough day for us,’ says homemaker Hasina Akthar, who has a family of eight. ‘The worst thing was that we had no prior notice from the gas distribution company, Titas, about the outage.’ Later, she learned that the trouble was caused by an accident-related leak in Titas’s pipeline beneath the River Turag.

it took hours for the repair of the leak, but it did not improve the supply as a valve explosion in the pipeline in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar triggered a further outage in the areas, including Mirpur, Shaymoli, and Dhanmandi. The outage came on a day when the suppliers of LPG cylinders stopped the supply due to the demand that the authorities raise the regulated price of the cylinder gas.

they cited a shortage of supply due to the unavailability of ships for LPG imports.

it was like a pair of twin missiles hitting the city’s gas consumers. Not all Dhaka residents can afford pipeline and LPG cylinders.

the poor people manage with alternative fuel like straw, kerosene stoves, and fallen leaves gathered from under trees. But those who use either pipeline gas or LPG cylinders are still having tough times with twin problems: the LPG cylinders are selling for more than double the price ?xed by the regulators, and the erratic supply of pipeline gas. For many, it meant spending more on cooking gas and even on buying meals from restaurants. Some are rushing to markets to buy electric stoves, another item whose use will increase the electricity bill.

there is no good news for the city residents struggling with long-persistent high in?ation and a host of other service-related issues. When a 12-kg LNG cylinder sells for Tk2,400 to Tk 2,500, nearly double the regulated price of Tk1,306, there can be no consolation. Living cannot be easy when the pipeline gas dries up without any notice.

according to ?gures available from Petrobangla, Dhaka city has been witnessing a steady decline in the daily average supply of gas for cooking. For example, in the ?rst ten days of January, the average daily supply has currently dropped to 2,596 million cubic feet (mmcfd) from 2,826 mmcfd in 2022.

this is happening even though the import of LNG has increased in recent times.

in 2025, the government imported a total of 109 cargoes of LNG compared with 94 in 2024.

the Daily Star newspaper quoted Fouzul Kabir Khan, adviser to the power, energy, and mineral resources, the pipeline gas supply has increased during the tenure of the interim government. Responding to the issue of volatility in the LNG supply, the adviser told the newspaper the government is exploring importing on a governmentto-government basis, cutting down reliance on the private sector, which currently imports 98 percent of LPG or Lique?ed Petroleum Gas