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Sony Corp will invest $369 million (40 billion yen) to power up its lithium-ion battery production operations, adding new facilities and augmenting existing lines. The infusion, which Sony said is the first phase of investment in lithium-ion batteries the company is undertaking as part of efforts to reinforce core areas of its component and semiconductor business over the next three years, will be used to construct new production facilities and to enhance existing lines at Sony's lithium-ion battery production sites in Japan, the Motomiya Technology Center and Tochigi Technology Center of Sony Energy Device Corp. Sony said it is making the investment in response to the growing demand for lithium-ion batteries and that the new production facilities will focus on electrodes, battery cell production lines, and charge and discharge equipment, among other technologies. Sony further reminded its expanding lithium-ion battery production in Singapore and China, and said that in total its monthly production capacity will increase from the current level of 41 million cells per month to 74 million cells in 2010. Sony's $369 million investment will start in its current fiscal year and continue through the second half of its fiscal year 2010. Sony's fiscal Q1 2008 concluded in June. Meanwhile, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co recently committed $923 million (100 billion yen) to build a plant in Osaka, Japan, that is expected to bring its cell production to about 75 million a month from its current 25 million cells per month. Sanyo Electric Co has also reportedly announced plans to invest, promising $1.15 billion (125 billion yen) to develop its rechargeable-batteries business over the next three years. That investment is expected to increase cell output to 90 million per month from Sanyo's current 70 million cells per month. All three of the Japan-based companies last year suffered from loses brought on by their battery operations. Sony-made lithium-

Nissan Copper Ltd., of Mumbai, is planning construction of a greenfield plant near its existing Silvassa facility. Expected to begin trial production in early 2010, the new plant will produce inner groove copper tube and LWC coils. "Presently, [these] tubes are not being produced in India and the margins for this product are expected to be high," the company said. The new plant will have a capacity of 12,000 t/y.

DOE announced on August 12 that it plans to invest up to $24 million over a number of years to develop products that connect solar power systems with the electrical grid in an interactive way. DOE has selected 12 industry teams that will receive $2.9 million in current fiscal year funding to develop conceptual designs and market analyses for such Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) projects. The projects will focus on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and will involve such efforts as developing systems that can communicate with an interactive utility grid and advanced power meters to respond to power price changes over the course of a day, systems that can work with energy storage devices and "smart" appliances to respond to utility price signals, and systems that can interact with building energy management systems.

As designed, the cities will have a total of four times the geographic area of Hong Kong, three times the population of Dubai, and - so the Saudis claim - an economic output equal to Singapore's. The coastal King Abdullah Economy City is designed to house two million in an area twice the size of Hong Kong. Entirely funded by domestic and foreign private investors, this is the only one of the four planned cities that is currently under construction. Aside from the seaport and residential area, KAC will also house a sprawling industrial zone, a central business district, a sea resort, and a multi-university education campus.

Hewlett-Packard said on Monday it plans to buy Colubris Networks, furthering the consolidation of wireless networking companies. Financial terms were not disclosed. HP said the deal should close by the end of fiscal 2008, which occurs in October. Colubris, founded in 2000 and based in Waltham, Massachusetts, sells wireless access infrastructure products based around the 802.11n wireless standard, which can match or best the speeds of a plugged-in broadband connection. But the upgrade to 802.11n poses many issues for it to work efficiently. Colubris has centered many of its products around the predicted upgrade of those networks over the next few years. Colubris also sells wireless security and network management products. HP said products from Colubris will be incorporated into its ProCurve Networking portfolio, which will improve HP's ability to serve the health-care, transportation, manufacturing and education markets, among others. In June, Belden said it would buy WLAN vendor Trapeze Networks for US$133 million

LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Australia's Minara Resources Ltd (MRE.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it had to defer its Australian $300 million ($273.5 million) nickel expansion plan due to high costs and reported an 80 percent drop in profits for the first half year. Minara, Australia's second-largest nickel miner after BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), posted a net profit after tax for the half year to 30 June 2008 of $50.9 Australian million, down from $245.9 Australian million in the same period in 2007.

Already the world's deepest copper and zinc mine, the latest project will extend the mining zone at Mine D from 9,100 feet to 9,500 feet, improving the production profile from the mine through the addition of 3.4 million tonnes of ore to the mining plan and extending the mine life by one year to 2017.

Sony Corp will invest about 40 billion yen (US$372 million) to boost its output capacity of lithium-ion batteries amid growing global demand, the company said. On top of plans to increase production in Singapore and China, the Japanese consumer electronics firm said it will build new facilities and enhance existing lines in Japan, hoping to expand output capacity to 74 million cells per month in 2010 from the current 41 million cells. "This is the first phase of investment in lithium ion batteries Sony is undertaking as part of efforts to reinforce core areas of its component and semiconductor business over the next three years," the company said in a statement.

LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) said Monday it expects to generate between $2.8 billion and $3 billion in revenue and ship between 1.45 gigawatts and 1.55 gigawatts of silicon wafers in 2009. The Chinese company also said its wafer manufacturing plant has reached 1 gigawatt of annual capacity. It's a noteworthy milestone on the way to production capacity targets of 1.2 gigawatts by the end of the year, 2.2 gigawatts by the end of 2009 and 3.2 gigawatts by 2010 that the company announced earlier this month. LDK shares rose more than 8 percent to reach $49.63 per share in recent trading. The wafer maker's stock has climbed since it posted blockbuster second-quarter earnings on Aug. 11. LDK's net income grew more than fivefold year-over-year to reach $149.5 million, or $1.29 per share. Second-quarter sales more than quadrupled to $441.7 million from $99.1 million from the year-ago period (see LDK 2Q Profit Triples, Margin Falls). Strong demand for its wafers has prompted the company to expand its production capacity quickly. LDK also plans to start making it own polysilicon, in addition to buying the raw material for making the wafers. Production at LDK's first polysilicon plant is expected to begin soon and produce between 100 metric tons and 350 metric tons by December. The company is also building a second plant (see LDK Silicon Confirms Plant Is on Track). LDK CEO Xiaofeng Peng told analysts two weeks ago that the company had a backlog of more than 12 gigawatts of wafer orders. LDK expects to generate between $1.65 billion and $1.75 billion in revenue and ship between 750 megawatts and 770 megawatts of wafers for the whole of 2008.

Honda Motor Company (NYSE: HMC) may begin exporting solar modules after completing the planned expansion of it's solar manufacturing facility later this year, according to a Reuters report. The company intends to increase its annual capacity to 27.5 megawatts (MW). Honda's solar subsidiary Honda Soltec Co. began producing photovoltaic solar modules in October 2007. The solar modules incorporate copper, indium, gallium and selenium, as opposed to traditional panels produced from silicon. The company reportedly has sold 3-kilowatt systems domestically to about 100 households for 3 million yen--the equivalent of about US$18,200. Honda also intends to use solar cells in a U.S. test project for next-generation gas stations that would use solar power to produce hydrogen from water for powering fuel cell vehicles, such as Honda's FCX Clarity.

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. (5802) plans to begin supplying its newly developed aluminum-based wire harness to Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) in 2011 for use in the Yaris subcompact.

CHENNAI: Sterlite Industries India Limited (SIIL), a leading non-ferrous metals and mining company and the flagship of Vedanta Resource of London, is planning to increase the installed capacity of its copper smelter at Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) to 4.20 lakh tonnes by implementing a de-bottlenecking programme.

Copper hit an 18-month low on Tuesday before trimming losses as recession fears grew after the U.S. Congress voted down a rescue plan for troubled banks.

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Vedanta Resources Inc., the Indian mining company controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, plans to invest $9.8 billion to become the world's fifth-largest aluminum producer.

Murchison has sold its 9.2% stake in Midwest Corp to Sinosteel for $107 million following Sinosteel's takeover of Midwest. Posted: Thursday , 11 Sep 2008 SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian iron ore prospector Murchison Metals Ltd has sold its 9.2 percent stake in fellow Australian firm Midwest Corp to China's Sinosteel for about A$135 million ($107 million). The move follows Sinosteel's $1.3 billion takeover of Midwest earlier this year, which defeated a plan by Murchison to merge with Midwest. The two Australian firms are neighbours in the as-yet undeveloped Yilgarn iron ore mining region of west Australia. Murchison said in a statement on Thursday the sale of the Midwest shares is in the best interests of the company, especially given significant changes in world financial markets over the past three months. "The cash raised through the sale gives Murchison greater flexibility in relation to both developing existing projects and in pursuing fresh opportunities," Murchison Executive Chairman Paul Kopejtka said in the statement.

It's been a long, challenging endeavor, but there are signs that the economic ecosystem built up around wave and tidal power generation is at long last gathering enough momentum to make the jump from R&D-driven to full-fledged commercial industry. Scotland, with its long stretches of west-facing coastlines, North Atlantic latitude and longstanding tradition of maritime engineering and commerce, is now at the leading edge of change when it comes to fostering development of marine renewables. Wavegen's Limpet 500 system has been pumping electricity from the western Scottish Isle of Islay shoreline since 2000 while the company and project developer npower renewables have continued to move forward with plans to develop the Siadar Wave Energy Project, potentially the first under the Scottish government's Marine Supply Obligation program. Marine Current Turbines is getting ready to flip the switch and fully commission a grid-connected 1.2-megawatt (MW) Seagen tidal turbine-based system in Northern Ireland's Strangford Narrow, while elsewhere in the EU, project developers and the marine renewables community await the much-anticipated commissioning of Pelamis's novel, serpent-like wave power system off the northern Portuguese coast.

Range Fuels, Inc., a company focused on green energy and the production of cellulosic ethanol, announced today that it is collaborating with Ceres, Inc., a leading company in the research, development and commercialization of purpose-grown herbaceous biomass feedstocks. Range Fuels will explore the role that non-invasive, high-yield, non-food sources of biomass might play in Range Fuels' plans to produce cellulosic ethanol on a commercial basis. Ceres is primarily focused on the development of annual and perennial grasses, such as high-biomass sorghum, switchgrass and miscanthus.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Deal making and development in the wind arena continue even as the economy slows down, with the federal government moving ahead to grant leases for the U.S.'s first offshore wind projects in history and other state-based projects moving to the front burner. Comments on federal rules to govern a host of alternative energy projects proposed in federal waters off the coast of the U.S. drew about 225 responses by Monday's deadline, as the U.S. Mineral Management Service, or MMS, moves ahead with plans to lease the outer continental shelf to several companies.

XINYU CITY, CHINA, September 3, 2008. Solar wafers manufacturer LDK Solar Co Ltd has awarded a US$220 million contract to Applied Materials Inc to provide precision wafering systems to support its next phase of production expansion. Shipping to LDK Solar's facility in Xinyu, China, is scheduled to start early 2009, and it will support LDK Solar's previously announced plans to expand to 3.2 GW annual wafer capacity in 2010. "We believe that Applied's state-of-the-art wafering systems, including its HCT wire saws and squarers, are the best choice to help us scale up capacity to meet the expanding global demand for wafers," says Xiaofeng Peng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LDK Solar.