An offshore test site to measure Ireland’s potential to develop wave energy will soon be granted a license, the country’s energy minister said this week. A full-scale national wave energy test site off Annagh Head near Belmullet in County Mayo was first proposed in 2010 by the...

Increasing drought conditions across the planet are part of a “new normal” which oddly presents new business opportunities, a new Bank of America Merrill Lynch report says. The report comes just after insurer Munich Re’s findings that North America has borne the brunt of...

Information technology support services at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama are to be provided by SAIC through a $152 million task order from the U.S. Army. The task order from the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command is for a total of 37 months. Under the contract, IT support...

Iran has denied a report it plans to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz with a giant oil spill. But as Iran”s oil exports steadily fall because of U.S.-led sanctions, there is concern that Tehran, its economy crippled, may seek to block the gateway to the Persian Gulf one way or...

Mitsubishi Corp. will acquire a 20-percent stake in Star Energy Geothermal, a holding company that manages Indonesia’s largest geothermal power station in Java Island, Indonesia, the company said. The deal, announced Wednesday, represents Mitsubishi’s first operation of a...

Mining giant BHP Billiton Chief Executive Officer Marius Kloppers said new investments in the coal sector in the Australian state of Queensland are unlikely under current conditions. Speaking Wednesday to the Brisbane Mining Club, Kloppers cited Queensland’s “almost unparalleled...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is reportedly thinking of throwing out U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil from the giant West Qurna-1 oilfield for signing an “illegal” production deal with semiautonomous Kurdistan and bringing in Russian companies instead. This appears to be part of...

A $459 million contract modification has been given to General Dynamics Electric Boat by the U.S. Navy for support services for submarines and submersibles. The modification covers areas such as design, engineering and logistics support and research and development activities. It also provides...

Germany’s quick growth of renewable energy sources will mean a big jump in “green” surcharges for consumers, German energy companies said this week. Electric grid operators RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW said Monday the surcharge tacked onto consumer bills to help finance...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said exports of uranium to India will figure prominently during her state visit to India this week. Arriving in New Delhi Monday for her three-day visit, Gillard told reporters, “I formed the view as prime minister that it was appropriate for us to...

An unidentified Latin American country has ordered public safety and tactical radios, plus accessories, in a $15 million deal with Harris Corp. The radios will come from Harris’ Falcon family of tactical communications system and will be integrated into the country’s new wireless...

The Jacobs Engineering Group has been contracted for software engineering and sustainment services for the U.S. Air Force’s Patriot Excalibur system. The software system ties together all functional areas of a squadron organization for information sharing and enhanced situational...

The U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Atlantic has added Engility Holdings Inc. to its roll of prime contractors for C4ISR support. Under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award, Engility will provide services such as engineering, procurement, installation,...

Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, admitted that it had avoided taking some safety measures prior to the March 2011 nuclear accident, a new report reveals. “When looking back on the accident, the problem was that preparations were...

The PARS 3 LR fire-and-forget missile by Europe’s MBDA is heading into full production for the German military. Full-rate production for the weapon, the main armament of the German Army’s Tiger helicopter, is the result of successful completion last month of system validation...

Future renewable energy exports to Europe could generate revenue for Ireland through the imposition of royalty fees, Irish Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte says. Rabbitte, speaking last week at the LK Shields Energy Conference in Dublin, strongly defended government subsidies for onshore wind...

Escalating wildcat strikes in South Africa’s mining industry, a pillar of the continent’s largest economy, are scaring off foreign investment that’s heading for other African states, such as those riding a wave of major oil and gas discoveries. “After nearly two months...

Researchers from Arizona State University have developed a software system that estimates greenhouse gas emissions in cities. The system, dubbed “Hestia” after the Greek goddess of the hearth and home, provides hourly, building-by-building and street-by-street dynamics of carbon...

Argentina’s trade row with Brazil has been averted for now but its deep impact on Brazilian exporters meant losses running into several million dollars. Argentine traders also suffered in the protectionist wrangle. Argentina slapped tough trade curbs, banning most imports, earlier this...

Northern Ireland this week responded to a food price crisis by adding $24 million to the amount struggling Ulster farmers will receive from EU subsidies. Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill announced Wednesday at a Northern Ireland Assembly hearing on the plight of farmers facing low...

China has denounced the U.S. decision to raise tariffs on imports of solar panels by Chinese companies. The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday said Chinese producers and exporters have sold solar cells in the United States at dumping margins ranging from 18.32 percent to 249.96...

Chinese oil companies are showing a growing interest in Iraq’s oil industry, which the International Energy Agency expects to more than double production by the end of the decade to 6.1 million barrels per day. Beijing is widening its global hunt for mineral resources to fuel...

Australia’s biggest solar farm was officially connected this week. The 10-megawatt Greenough River Solar Farm in Western Australia — a joint project of First Solar, Inc., GE Energy Financial Services and Western Australian state-owned power utility Verve Energy — is expected...

Morocco is driving to become the world’s leading solar power state, with a 7,400-acre pilot project in the Sahara Desert it hopes will lead to vast carbon-free solar energy plants that could supply much of Europe’s electricity needs. The North African kingdom’s plan is for a...

Australia’s former prime minister urged China and the United States — the top two emitters of carbon dioxide from fuel combustion — to cooperate on climate change. “If the United States were to achieve some sort of compact with the Chinese on how to entrench national...

Paraguayan President Federico Franco said the landlocked country’s restoration to Mercosur was only a matter of time because the neighboring countries that engineered its suspension now need Paraguay back. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay staged Paraguay’s suspension from Mercosur and...

While China’s solar slump has serious repercussions, it could result in a stronger solar sector, insiders say. Prices of solar panels have fallen to three-quarters of their 2008 prices. As a result, China’s major solar panel makers are suffering losses of up to $1 for every $3 of...

The closing of aging coal-fired power plants and tough EU environmental rules could lead to power shortages in Britain, regulators warned. Britain’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, or Ofgem, predicted in an analysis released Friday that electricity margins — the amount of...

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner ordered retailers to slash prices of commodities and basic food items as part of the government’s widely publicized fight against inflation. The government’s unorthodox approach to solving the country’s runaway inflationary...

A group of energy giants have submitted a plan for a project to transport Alaskan natural gas for export to Asia. The project, estimated to cost $45 billion-$65 billion, involves an 800-mile pipeline that would move North Slope gas to a port in southcentral Alaska where it would be liquefied...