The blackout that swept through the northern and eastern regions of India on July 30 and 31 demonstrated the huge gap between growing demand for electricity and supply as well as political tensions between the state and central governments.

Projecting a boom in many global energy markets, particularly in North America, Texas-based engineer-contractor CB&I has moved to add capacity by announcing July 30 that it would acquire The Shaw Group Inc. in a cash and stock deal valued at $3 billion.

Predicting energy demand to grow 9% annually, the United Arab Emirates announced last month that it has started construction on the country's first nuclear powerplant after receiving design and building approval for the first of four planned units.

The Ethiopia-Kenya Power Systems Interconnection Project—the first phase of eastern Africa’s $1.3-billion power integration initiative—is set for takeoff after the World Bank approved $684 million in construction funds for the project in June, even as global environmental groups step up pressure to halt the work.

India’s power sector demonstrated a grave need for investment when the northern grid that supports a significant portion of the country’s population collapsed on July 30, tripping other shutdowns in the region.

North America may be a little closer to quenching Asia's thirst for liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Royal Dutch Shell awarded a contract to TransCanada Corp. to design, build and operate a $4-billion pipeline in northeastern British Columbia.

The advanced age of the U.S. electricity grid, which has been retrofitted with technology over the years to balance supply and demand, poses the biggest cybersecurity threat to the power sector, a new report by the computer security firm McAfee warns.

States are scrambling to site small modular nuclear reactors under development and funded by $452 million in federal grants; four design concepts have been submitted by companies.

Hydropower, which accounts for 33,320.80 MW of India’s total installed power capacity of 200,000 MW, still has undeveloped potential for an estimated 36 GW, says India's Central Electricity Authority, a statutory body under the Ministry of Power.

Qatar Petroleum, a state-owned Qatar company, has for the second time been picked as preferred bidder for the construction of a $2-billion oil refinery in Tunisia’s port of Skhira.