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Coal

Asia’s thirsty coal-fired power plants face water scarcity

8 October 2019

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ASEAN

Asia’s reliance on coal-fired power may prove unsustainable in the long run because thermal power plants need to be cooled down with large quantities of water, the sources of which are drying up because of climate change, says a new study.

Coal-fired power plants in India and South-East Asia are most likely to be affected by future water shortages, says the study published 20 September in Energy and Environmental Science. Already, from 2013–2016, water shortages shut down 14 of India’s 20 largest thermal power stations, costing utilities US$1.4 billion in potential revenue, according to the World Resources Institute.

Power plants in the region under study have high water withdrawals and discharge the warmed water in a way that can damage ecosystems.

Yaoping Wang, University of Tennessee

“Our work suggests that electricity planning in developing Asia should coordinate with water resources planning and find solutions that benefit both energy and water users,” says Yaoping Wang, lead author of the study and researcher at the University of Tennessee.

“Dry cooling equipment is not suitable for hot and humid regions like South Asia,” Yaoping tells SciDev.Net. “Power plants in the region under study have high water withdrawals and discharge the warmed water in a way that can damage ecosystems.”

According to the study, more than 400 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plant capacity are planned to be in operation by 2030 in Mongolia, South-east Asia and parts of India and China.

“Implementing more water-efficient cooling systems in power plants can help, but not universally. These systems tend to require more energy to operate, says Jeffrey Bielicki, study co-author and professor in the departments of civil engineering and geodetic engineering at the Ohio State University.

“But our study shows that the extra energy required to operate these systems is not worth it,” Bielicki tells SciDev.Net. “Altogether, planning for energy must work in concert with planning for water.”

He believes that planners should consider thinning out the fleet of coal-fired power plants to reduce local competition for water. “We didn’t look into relocating power plants but suggest that new power plants should consider their locations relative to other major demands for water.”

Wei Peng, a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering, Penn State University, says the new study is critical for developing Asia. “These countries are expected to experience a rapid increase in electricity demand and plan to substantially expand coal capacity. Once these new plants are built, they will be running for decades and the new capacity will become susceptible to changes in climate conditions and water availability.”

“One challenge for developing countries, in general, is the lack of data at fine spatial and temporal scale. This study combines plant-level data with high-resolution climate-hydrological scenarios to identify the potential risks for existing and new coal plants,” Wei tells SciDev.Net.

Wei says the study’s finding that careful siting of thermal power plants can be an adaptation strategy is particularly useful, though strategic siting can only help at annual or monthly scales rather than on a finer or daily scale. “This insight is of great importance for decision makers to properly account for climate risks in their investment and operational decisions,” he says.

Renewables

Shell’s integrated energy system the first oil refinery with industrial-scale solar farm

7 October 2019

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Philippines

PILIPINAS Shell Petroleum Corp. (Pilipinas Shell) is building an integrated energy system in Tabangao, Batangas, to power the electricity requirements of its 110,000 barrel per day refinery.

The energy system is composed of solar energy, natural gas and battery energy storage system. Once completed, Pilipinas Shell’s Tabangao Refinery in Batangas will earn the distinction of being the first oil refinery with an industrial-scale solar farm in the Philippines and one of the largest battery storage projects in Southeast Asia.

The integrated energy system is expected to produce approximately 2,400 megawatt hours of power annually, enough energy to power more than 850 homes, or roughly the size of a small barangay.

This will improve the energy efficiency of Pilipinas Shell’s Tabangao Refinery while enabling the export of its excess—and cleaner—natural gas-generated power to the Luzon grid. It also expects to offset some 8,760 tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to planting more than half a million trees.

Aside from the solar farm, Pilipinas Shell will also install a 3 megawatt-hour battery-energy storage system (BESS) at its manufacturing site in Tabangao, Batangas City. Work on the solar farm is expected to start next month, while installation of the battery system is scheduled in the second quarter of 2020.

Cesar Romero, Pilipinas Shell’s president and chairman of Shell companies in the Philippines, said the integrated solution is the result of collaboration between Pilipinas Shell and Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS) New Energies business, to showcase Shell’s aspiration to thrive in the energy transition and, at the same time, demonstrate opportunities to unlock value between conventional and new energy systems.

Upon its full completion, the integrated energy system of the Batangas Refinery will effectively showcase Pilipinas Shell’s commitment to and leadership in the energy transition through the use of cleaner energy technologies in the oil and gas industry.

“Pilipinas Shell takes a broad perspective on the energy transition and will deliver commercially viable energy solutions to our own sites. This started in our retail business, where there are currently 39 Shell retail stations in the Philippines already fitted out with solar panels and energy efficient equipment,” said Romero.

The use of cleaner energies to power the requirements of its Batangas Refinery is Pilipinas Shell’s contribution to the overall ambition of RDS to play a part and contribute to the global effort to tackle climate change as it provides energy to meet the world needs.

Renewables

Vietnam Solar Supporters Plan a ‘Million Green Homes’

7 October 2019

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Vietnam

Vietnamese advocates of solar power have begun a project to spread its use in the country instead of coal and other fossil fuels

HO CHI MINH CITY — Vietnamese advocates of solar power have begun a “Million Green Homes” project, aimed at spreading the use of solar power in the country instead of coal and other fossil fuels.

The project is being undertaken by the new Vietnam Coalition for Climate Action, formed in August by a group of leaders from business, academia and public organizations, and is designed to use a combination of public outreach and financial initiatives to get solar power on an additional million buildings.

Despite the “homes” in the project name, it is aimed at any small electricity consumers, especially those that can’t afford the cost of converting to solar power on their own, such as farms, small businesses, offices, and public buildings, such as hospitals and schools.

The project will focus on two types of solar power — panels connected to the national power grid that can supply electricity broadly and panels that generate electricity solely for the buildings to which they are attached.

Advocates are also encouraging Vietnamese to use more solar power for uses ranging from stoves to water heaters.

The project is being conducted by the Green Innovation and Development Centre, a Hanoi-based organization that promotes sustainable development in Vietnam and the Mekong region. The project is now examining how to spread awareness and make solar power affordable to under-served communities.

The center will start a pilot project next year for new solar power consumers all across Vietnam, including Hanoi in the north and several provinces, such as Thua Thien-Hue in central Vietnam, Dak Lak in the central highlands, and An Giang and Hau Giang in the south. The project will identify households and other small consumers eligible for support and help them install solar panels.

FILE - A solar water heater, left, and a solar panel, right, are seen at Entech Hanoi, an international trade fair on energy efficiency and the environment, at the Giang Vo Exhibition Center in Hanoi, Vietnam. — FILE – A solar water heater, left, and a solar panel, right, are seen at Entech Hanoi, an international trade fair on energy efficiency and the environment, at the Giang Vo Exhibition Center in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Environmentalists are pushing ahead with the effort, even though renewable energy discussions here have largely focused on government policies and corporate issues, and foreign investors want to be paid more for their electricity before they invest in solar power.

“Climate change poses a real threat to the natural environment that supports all of humanity and the critical habitats that we work to protect,” said Van Ngoc Thinh, Vietnam country director of the World Wide Fund For Nature, one of the members of the coalition.

“I call on all committed leaders from across the private sector, universities, subnational governments, and civil society to join the VCCA to take climate action,” he added.

Coal plans

Another environmental organization in the climate alliance, the Ho Chi Minh City-based Center of Hands-on Actions and Networking for Growth and Environment, or CHANGE, stressed in an email “the urgency of forming the alliance and the specific actions the alliance can contribute to promoting the use of rooftop solar [photovoltaic cells] and other energy-saving and green solutions.”

Much of that urgency comes from Vietnam’s increasing use of coal for energy, even while it considers itself one of the countries most at threat from climate change. The World Wide Fund For Nature in Vietnam said the Southeast Asian country plans to increase the number of coal-fired power plants from 20 now to 51 by 2030, which would cause carbon dioxide emissions to increase even more than expected.

Even amid government policies favoring more coal-fired plants, the government has expressed support for new types of energy sources.

“Vietnam’s government always encourages the development and effective use of renewable energy sources,” Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said at an event this summer.

Electricity/Power Grid

Vietnam Facing Power Shortage— Looking for Alternatives

7 October 2019

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Vietnam

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has warned of a possible power shortage in 2021 and asked other officials to speed up stalled power plant projects, according to the Financial Times. In late September, Vietnamese media reported on the risk of power shortage, while a series of power plant projects were behind schedule. Power shortages could be a barrier for foreign investors and challenge Vietnam’s position as one of the countries that will most benefit from the U.S.-China trade war, according to Reuters analysis.

Nguyễn Xuân Phúc is a Vietnamese politician currently serving as the Prime Minister of Vietnam, and 3rd in 12th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He has been a member of the National Assembly since 2002.

Severe power shortage

Vietnam is at risk of a 6.6 billion kilowatt-hour shortage by 2021, approximately 11.8 billion kWh by 2022, and possibly 15 billion kWh by 2023, according to Vietnam News. Demand for electricity in Vietnam is increasing by about 9% per year, faster than the economic growth rate— which only increased by more than 7% in 2018, according to the Financial Times. Adding to this shortage, many energy projects in Vietnam are behind schedule, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s information provided to Reuters.

Delayed projects are mainly located in the South. State media said 47 out of 62 power generation projects in Vietnam with a capacity of 200 megawatts (MW) are at risk of being delayed. The cause of the electricity shortage is the lack of connection between power projects and roads, land and urban development projects.

Some other projects are due to contractors having to choose a new location to place the power station to avoid stepping on existing projects in other areas. In addition, due to land clearance issues, people do not accept the compensation given. There is also a lack of raw materials, such as gas, to run thermal power plants, according to Vietnam Insider.

Also, investors have difficulty securing enough funds from local sources, and the government limits the guarantee for foreign loans, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Vietnam will need an average of $6.7 billion a year to expand its annual electricity generation capacity by 10% from 2016 to 2030.

The World Bank said last year that Vietnam needs to invest up to the $150 billion by 2030 to develop its electricity industry, nearly doubling the $80 billion spent on electricity since 2010. Vietnam is increasingly dependent on coal, accounting for 38.1% of the country’s generating capacity, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said. Vietnam will have to use 720 million tons of domestic coal, along with 680 million tons of imported coal, to supply to power plants in the period 2016-2030. Vietnam will also have to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) for its power plants. Power shortages are expected to subside after 2025 when new gas-fired power plants are online.

Increase electricity imports from Laos and China

Vietnam’s energy sector is dominated largely by the nationwide Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN). Most of Vietnam’s power is generated by either hydropower or fossil fuel power such as coal, oil and gas, while diesel, small hydropower and renewable energy supplies the balance.

According to Vietnamese officials, and the Financial Times, to cope with the power shortage crisis, Vietnam is currently looking for alternatives, such as developing solar power, importing liquefied natural gas, and importing electricity from neighboring countries. While praising the Vietnamese government’s solar power development rate, Mr. Gavin Smith, Director of Clean Development of Dragon Capital in Ho Chi Minh City, said that it was still necessary to see if it was sufficient to combat the risk of shortage. A Vietnamese official confirmed to the Financial Times that there may be a risk of serious power outages in unexpected situations, such as when the dams are empty.

A number of US companies are pushing to sell liquefied gas to Vietnam, as a way to reduce Vietnam’s trade surplus with the US. However, liquefied gas will not be a quick enough solution to address the risk of an impending energy crisis because Vietnam needs to build liquefied gas plants. Vietnam has also discussed increasing imports of electricity from Laos and China— although this is thought to be politically sensitive at this time, as tensions between the two countries in the South China Sea are increasing— according to Reuters.

A $391 million solar power project, the largest in Southeast Asia, began operating in Tay Ninh in September 2019. The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) says more than 4,000 households have installed solar panels on their roofs, collecting about 200MW. About 300MW more could be produced by the end of 2019.

Renewables

ADB to finance first large-scale floating solar PV in hydro reservoir in Vietnam

7 October 2019

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Vietnam

The Asian Development Bank has signed a $37m loan agreement with Da Nhim–Ham Thuan–Da Mi Hydro Power Joint Stock Company to finance the installation of a 47.5 MW peak floating photovoltaic solar facility on the man-made reservoir of the existing 175 MW Da Mi hydropower plant.

The project marks the first large-scale installation of floating solar PV panels in Vietnam and the largest installation in Southeast Asia, ADB says.

“This project will help to boost the share of renewable energy in Vietnam’s overall energy mix and decrease the dependence on imported fossil fuels such as coal,” said ADB private sector operations department deputy director-general Christopher Thieme. “The pairing of these two clean energy technologies — hydropower and solar — is a simple but a highly innovative achievement, which can be replicated elsewhere in Vietnam and across Asia and the Pacific.”

Da Nhim–Ham Thuan–Da Mi Hydro Power Joint Stock Company (DHD), a subsidiary of the Vietnam Electricity (EVN) Power Generation Corporation 1, owns and operates four hydropower plants: Da Mi, Ham Thuan (300 MW), Da Nhim (160 MW), and Song Pha (7.5 MW). DHD’s total generation capacity is 642.5 MW, about 1.7 per cent of Vietnam ’s total capacity.

“We are proud to be the first company in Vietnam to construct a floating solar power plant on a hydropower reservoir,” said the chairman of the Board of DHD Nguyen Trong Oanh. “This project aligns with DHD’s strategy of investing in renewable energy to decrease dependence on fossil fuel, contribute to energy security, mitigate climate change, and promote environmental protection and sustainable socio-economic development. Hydropower reservoirs in southern Vietnam have vast solar power potential.”

The financing package includes a $17.6m loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources. This is supplemented by $15m of blended concessional co-financing provided by the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia and its follow-on fund, the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II. These funds were established by the Government of Canada to encourage private investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Asia and the Pacific.

The package also includes a $4.4m parallel loan from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency through a $1.5b equity commitment.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. In 2018, it made commitments of new loans and grants amounting to $21.6b.

Energy-Climate & Environment

Air quality app goes dark in Vietnam as hazardous haze hits Hanoi

7 October 2019

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Vietnam

An air quality app went out of commission in Vietnam after seriously unhealthy air pollution levels hit capital Hanoi this week.

Switzerland and United States-based air quality monitoring firm IQAir’s AirVisual app went down on 6 October following a series of “abusive and threatening messages” left on the company’s Apple App Store and Google Play Store platforms and its Facebook page, the firm said in a statement today.

Hanoi ranked as the world’s most polluted city on AirVisual this week, when air quality readings rose to “hazardous”, which means that breathing the air in the city can cause serious long-term health problems.

AirVisual’s data is derived from the Vietnam government’s Hanoi Environmental Monitoring Portal and from the United States embassy to report real-time air pollution levels.

This is not the first time that revealing the level of air pollution in a city has created fear and led to attacks on the AirVisual community.

IQAir statement

The cause of Hanoi’s recent poor air quality, which is responsible for more deaths in a year than motorbikes, has not been officially confirmed.

Air pollution expert Lauri Myllyvirta, senior analyst, for environmental group Greenpeace’s global air pollution unit, told Eco-Business that, over the past decade, Vietnam has seen coal consumption triple and oil consumption increase by 70 per cent, which he says is the key reason why air quality in the country is worsening. Myllyvirta was behind a major study of air pollution in Jakarta around the Asian Games a year ago.

“Most of the coal-burning power plants and industries in the country are concentrated in the north of the country and affect Hanoi’s air quality,” he said.

Vietnam is adding coal to its energy mix faster than almost any country in the world, to fuel its fast-growing economy.

Severe pollution episodes are caused by a combination of pollution sources—these are the periods when pollution is trapped in the lower atmosphere in a slow-moving air mass, Myllyvirta explained.

“My analysis of the PM2.5 pollution [fine particulate matter that is particularly dangerous to breathe] episode [in Hanoi] during the past week is that the air masses have mainly arrived from the south, from the direction of Nam Dinh, which has a lot of heavy industry, and has also seen agricultural crop burning,” Myllyvirta told Eco-Business.

Industrial and crop-burning emissions from the south have combined with local emissions from transport and household fuel burning to create a toxic smog, he suggested.

Past serious air pollution episodes in Hanoi have been exacerbated by coal-fired power plants mainly in the east of the country.

“To prevent episodes like this from happening in the future, it is crucial to reduce emissions from all these sources,” he said.

IQAir commented: “This is not the first time that revealing the level of air pollution in a city has created fear and led to attacks on the AirVisual community.”

“We are receiving thousands of support messages via Facebook, email, our website and app reviews and this support is essential as we are working with Apple, Google and Facebook to confirm that we have been unfairly attacked and helps us to make the AirVisual apps available again in Vietnam.”

The company said that it was trying to maintain air quality data on Hanoi air quality data via its website .

Update: 9 October. The AirVisual is back up in Vietnam. While the attacks have decreased, they are still ongoing, the company said in a statement.

“Efforts to suppress open and free air pollution data, rather than address the emission sources that have created the problem, are misguided and have negative health and environmental implications,” the firm said.

Others

52.5m tonnes of greenhouse gases generated by Singapore in 2017: MTI

7 October 2019

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Singapore

SINGAPORE: Fifty-two-and-a-half million tonnes of greenhouse gases was generated by Singapore in 2017, with industries contributing about 60 per cent of this amount, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon on Monday (Oct 7).

Around three-quarters of industries’ emissions was from the refining and petrochemicals sector, added Dr Koh.

Dr Koh was responding to a question from Nominated Member of Parliament Anthea Ong who had asked if there were plans to reduce greenhouse emissions by industries.

The greenhouse gases generated by Singapore represents about 0.11 per cent of global emissions, according to the National Climate Change Secretariat.

In 2017, 190 Mtoe (millions tonnes of oil equivalent) of fossil fuels was imported into Singapore, said Dr Koh. About 55 Mtoe was refined into higher value chemicals and fuels, mostly exported for use in other countries.

The rest was largely for power generation and transportation.

Under the Paris Agreement, Singapore has pledged to reduce emissions intensity by 36 per cent (from 2005 levels) by 2030, and to reduce total carbon emissions beyond 2030.

And to achieve this, Singapore has to make its economy “much more” carbon efficient, Dr Koh said. For existing industries, this means encouraging companies to adopt energy efficient technologies.

“This year, we implemented an enhanced set of Industry Energy Efficiency schemes,” Dr Koh said.

“From January 2019, the funding support for the adoption of energy efficient technologies under EDB’s Resource Efficiency Grant for Energy and NEA’s Energy Efficiency Fund has been increased from the previous cap of 30 per cent, to 50 per cent of the qualifying costs.”

NEA is also planning to launch a new grant to help companies digitalise their energy management systems, Dr Koh revealed.

When firms expand their operations or new companies opt to invest in Singapore, the Government also works “closely” with them to ensure a high standard of efficiency, said Dr Koh.

“Beyond industries, all of us … have a responsibility to mitigate climate change,” added Dr Koh.

“For example, saving electricity, using public transport and reducing waste are good ways to cut carbon emissions. As a country, we will do our part to help address global climate change and global climate challenges.”

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/52-5m-tonnes-of-greenhouse-gases-generated-by-singapore-in-2017-11975708

Others

$13 bn investment, 15,000 hectares of land: What will go in creating the world’s largest solar farm

7 October 2019

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Singapore

Australian technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has recently announced that he would be investing in Singapore-based Sun Cable to create the world’s largest solar farm.

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