Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, the ninth large-scale solar facility given the green light as part of an initiative to encourage rapid and responsible development of renewable energy on US public lands.

The concentrated solar power plant will produce 110 megawatts, enough to provide electricity for up to 75,000 Nevada households, and generate about 450-500 new jobs during construction and up to 50 permanent operations and maintenance jobs. 

The African Development Bank has approved $232 million in loans and grants to Ethiopia to fund the expansion of the country's electricity grid.

Earlier this year, Addis Ababa launched a five-year economic development plan encompassing a massive expansion of the country’s infrastructure. The plan looks to boost Ethiopia’s power production from 2,000 MW to 10,000 MW; and it also includes the construction of 2,395 kilometres of railway lines.

Ethiopia wants to expand electricity coverage to 75 per cent of the population from 41 per cent currently.

A Korn/Ferry Executive Survey released today reveals that the majority of global companies do not have a CEO succession plan in place, even though they regard CEO succession as an important element of overall corporate governance. The Korn/Ferry Institute surveyed a global sample of corporate leaders.

Aggreko has won a £37 million contract to supply temporary power to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in 2012.

The Glasgow-based company has been awarded a contract by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to be the exclusive supplier of temporary energy services for the event.

Aggreko will provide about 220 megawatts of power to the games—around 60 megawatts more than it supplied at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Raytheon Company announced today that it has signed a definitive acquisition agreement with Applied Signal Technology, a leader in the collection and processing of communications signals to support tactical and strategic intelligence missions. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

France’s Ingenico, the world’s largest maker of electronic payment terminals, has rejected a €1.4 billion takeover offer.

The bidder is unnamed, though reports suggest it to be the US industrial conglomerate Danaher Corp.

Swedish-owned home appliance manufacturer Electrolux is planning to consolidate the manufacture of cooking appliances in North America by building a new manufacturing facility in Memphis, Tennessee.

After investigating potential locations in the United States and Mexico, Electrolux has chosen Memphis because the site offers an optimal geographical location for customers and suppliers, the company said in a statement.

RPC Group, the UK plastic packaging supplier, has announced it will acquire its Danish rival, packaging maker Superfos Industries, for about €240 million.

RPC said the deal would provide it with factories in Poland and Scandinavia, as well as operations in Turkey and North Africa.

Proterra Inc, manufacturer of zero-emission commercial transit solutions, today announced the completion of its first bus assembled entirely at its Phase 1 manufacturing facility in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Phase 1 facility at 25 Whitlee Court is manufacturing Proterra's EcoRide BE35™ buses and FastFill™ charging stations.

Proterra is working with local support to break ground on its larger state-of-the-art Phase 2 plant located on Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research campus in the spring of 2011.

Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis has bought the remaining shares in US eyecare company Alcon it did not already own for $12.9 billion (£8.2 billion), thus sealing 100 per cent ownership.

Novartis had been trying to assume total ownership of Alcon since January, when it paid $28.1 billion for a 77 per cent stake in the US company from food giant Nestlé.

Alcon is famous for its contact lens solutions and is also a leader in intraocular lenses, tiny lenses that are implanted in the eye to correct focusing problems.