A Californian company is claiming a breakthrough in the race to develop fuel cells that can produce affordable and relatively green electricity.  Silicon Valley start-up Bloom Energy will today unveil its solid oxide fuel cell, which is capable of powering a small office building.  The companyÔÇÖs technology gives users the ability to produce electricity as opposed to buying it from utilities. It also has the potential to extend electricity to parts of the world lacking traditional power systems and lines.

The Duabi-based explorer Dragon Oil has said it has put aside more than $1 billion (Ôé¼738 million) to work on acquisitions this year after falling energy prices caused a drop in its full-year profits.

The Energy Department has offered a $1.4 billion loan guarantee for a solar thermal power complex in the Mojave Desert that could produce as much as 392 megawatts of electricity.  The loan guarantee for Oakland, California-based BrightSource EnergyÔÇÖs project is the largest the department has given for a solar power project.  The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is the first utility-scale solar power plant to undergo licensing in California in almost 20 years.

Citadel Capital, the Egypt-based private equity group, has unveiled plans to become the biggest shareholder in Rift Valley Railways (RVR), which operates the train line running from Mombasa to Kampala.

Coal prices are to average $59.28 a ton this yearÔÇöup 17 percent from $50.75 on February 19 last year and 41 percent more than last yearÔÇÖs low in April, according to a report by Bloomberg.  The coldest US snowfall in nine years will play a big part in the price boost, analysts say. Record snowfall this year buried parts of the USÔÇöthe worldÔÇÖs second biggest consumer of coalÔÇöincluding Dallas and the mid-Atlantic states.  A surplus of coal began to accumulate last year following the mild summer and the effects of falling demand as a result of the global recession.

Sales of Fairtrade products in the UK have increased by 12 per cent, reaching an estimated retail value of £800 million despite the economic downturn, new figures have revealed.

Oil services giant Schlumberger is in advanced talks to acquire its smaller rival Smith International, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.  The paper said that a deal between Schlumberger and Smith, who both have headquarters in Houston, Texas, could be announced in the next few days, though it could not say how much such a deal would be worth.  However, with Smith International valued at roughly $7.5 billion, the purchase price could be around the $9 billion mark, if the company were acquired at a 20 percent premium.

Gold Reef Resorts is to merge with Tsogo Sun to create a hotels and gaming company worth $2.7 billion (R22 billion).

Walgreens, the largest US drugstore chain, is acquiring New York retailer Duane Reade for $1.1 billion, it has been announced.  The purchase gives Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens a chain with the highest sales per square foot in the US drugstore business, while also strengthening its position in the north-eastern region that is the stronghold of its rival CVS. Walgreens currently has a relatively small presence in the New York City area, with only about 70 stores, 13 of them in Manhattan. By comparison, Duane Reed operates 257 drugstores in the same area.

State-run Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has signed a five-year service contract with Royal Dutch Shell to develop pure gas fields in the north of the country.