RENEWABLE ENERGY

The City of Melbourne has been certified carbon neutral for Council operations, under the Commonwealth Government’s National Carbon Offset for the financial year 2011-12.

4 megawatt solar farm to be built on a traffic island created by the new Majura Parkway which is under construction in the ACT.

According to a report by the infrastructure consulting Pitt & Sherry, electricity supplied by coal-fired generators in the Australian National Electricity Market has fallen nearly 16% in just over two years, from the year ending December 2010 to the year ending February 2013, dropping below 75% for the first time in Australian history.

The Federal Government has announced new laws to ensure that any coal seam gas or large coal mine development which has "a significant impact on a water resource" must be assessed by the Commonwealth rather than just a State Government.

MINING

Rio Tinto's stake in the Diavik diamond mine in Canada could be the first asset to go in its multi-billion-dollar clean-out.

Tony Abbott may abandon the Coalition's commitment to scrap the government's entire mining tax package, saying he will consult on taxing onshore gas projects. 

The federal coalition is considering extending the petroleum resources rent tax to onshore projects, such as coal seam gas. 

ENERGY UTILITIES

Despite fossil fuel reserves that already exceed the carbon budget to avoid global warming of more than 2°C, $674 billion was spent last year finding and developing new potentially stranded assets.

Colorado is closing in on new legislation that would more than double the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) for the state's rural electric co-ops, setting a goal of 25 percent of generation by 2020. 

TELECOMMUNICATION

Altimo gets $3.24bn loan from Sberbank

VTB plans to cut Tele2 Russia stake below 50% by April 2014

In brief: Verizon to offer Nokia's Lumia 928

Clearwire sets date for Sprint vote

VMware reports 'solid start' to year, but outlook weighs on stock

OIL AND GAS

FX Energy testing Tuchola-3K and Plawce-2 wells

Pivotal LNG enters into agreement to supply liquefied natural gas to UPS facilities in Tennessee

FTTN works to expand Texas assets as state’s oil production surges

Chevron announces natural gas discovery offshore Australia

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate announces dry well east of the Sleipner Øst field - 16/8-3 S

TRANSPORT

Ropeways Transport floats N81bn Lagos Cable Car mass transit system 

The Teamsters union and YRC Freight have approved YRC's plan to streamline its network operations by cutting some terminals and jobs, the two sides said.

IT AND BFSI

RBI, in its mid-quarter monetary policy review on Mar 18, reduced the repo rate by 25 bps from 7.75 to 7.50% 

Going forward, a supportive environment for softer rates should continue to strengthen even though few challenges remain 

RBI's guidance expected to be hawkish due to high CAD, retail inflation 

Foreign lenders to get larger share in sector financing 

ECGS puts curbs on additional risk cover for banks 

Jefferies believes banks with strong branch expansion such as HDFC Bank, ICICI, and Axis could face smaller problems