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Việt Nam Renewable Energy Week 2019 starts in Hà Nội

17 September 2019

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Vietnam

Vietnam Renewable Energy Week 2019 started in Hà Nội on Tuesday, covering discussions on the development of renewable energy resources, including solar and wind power.— VNS Photo Kiều Vân

HÀ NỘI – Vietnam Renewable Energy Week 2019 started in Hà Nội on Tuesday, covering discussions on the development of renewable energy resources, including solar and wind power.

Vietnam Renewable Energy Week 2019 was jointly organised by the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance (VSEA), Vietnam Climate Action Alliance (VCCA) and the Working Group on Climate Change (CCWG).

The event is expected to be a forum for information exchange and multi-stakeholder dialogue in order to propose solutions for the process of energy transition and bring the greatest benefits for sustainable development in Việt Nam.

Ngụy Thi Khanh, director of Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID) said: “As a country with diversified and abundant renewable energy potential, Việt Nam gains many benefits if accelerating its early shift to renewable energy development.”

“Prioritising efficient use of energy and promoting the development of renewable energy will help ensure energy security, reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels, reduce pollution, mitigate climate change, protect public health, enhance faster access to energy for the poor, create opportunities to attract investment and create jobs for localities,” she said.

Đỗ Đức Quân, Vice Director General of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that in the context of climate change that has been negatively impacting the world, Việt Nam was also facing the problem of finding new energy sources.

“Increasing temperatures and reducing rainfall in recent years have caused many hydropower reservoirs in the central and Central Highlands regions to be near the dead-water level, which are great challenges for ensuring adequate power supply for production and daily life.”

According to the VSEA, over the last few years, the country has made strong strides in developing renewable energy, especially newly-installed solar power capacity. It has become one of the most dynamic and attractive renewable energy markets in Southeast Asia.

However, the rapid development of renewable energy was also posing new challenges for the power grid, land use, electricity-price mechanism, human resources/employment, and finance resources.

In order to overcome these challenges, it was necessary to have joint support and efforts from policymakers, the Government and communities, enterprises, and social organisations.

According to Melissa Brown, expert from IEEFA, Việt Nam was a country with abundant renewable energy potential, it should prioritise to maximise this advantage for the benefit of the socio-economy and clean living environment for people.

Việt Nam’s Government always encourages the development and effective use of renewable energy sources. Since 2017, the Government has issued a series of priority policies to develop renewable energy-production and attract domestic and foreign investment.

Lê Hải Đăng, from Việt Nam Electricity said developing rooftop solar power helps reduce transmission costs and price pressure as well as increase energy use efficiency.

He said providing favourable conditions in terms of policies and mechanisms, technical solutions have been also implemented to connect solar power to the national grid.

Việt Nam has great demand for energy, especially renewable energy, to develop its economy. Its power needs will be about 90,000MW by 2025 and 130,000MW by 2030.

Another workshop titled “Sustainable Energy Transition: opportunities and challenges for Mekong Delta Việt Nam” will be organised next Tuesday in Long Xuyên City, An Giang Province.

Vietnam Renewable Energy Week 2019 will last until next Tuesday. — VNS

Read more at http://vietnamnews.vn/society/535526/viet-nam-renewable-energy-week-2019-starts-in-ha-noi.html#KaliVYV4KQSVfC7W.99

Renewables

AC Energy eyes becoming leader in renewables in 6 years

17 September 2019

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Philippines

MANILA — AC Energy Philippines aims to have about 2,000 megawatts (MW) capacity by 2025 to become the leader in renewable energy (RE) in the country, with the groundbreaking of its RE plants seen in the next six months.

In a briefing Tuesday, AC Energy president John Eric Francia said although RE power plants are easier and faster to construct compared to the conventional power plants, they plan to start early to be able to meet the standards, “which assumes that a lot of renewables will be built starting 2023.”

“The timing is there given that renewable plants, yes it’s faster to develop relative to conventional plants, but still time is ticking away… so we have to get going with some groundbreaking on a measured basis,” he said.

“I don’t think it will be going in a step increase overnight but we want to make sure that we are building on a measured basis. Start with a few hundred megawatts, couple of hundred megawatts. Hopefully, break ground in the next six months or so and then progress from there,” he said.

Francia noted the Ayala Group’s power generation arm wants to be a major player in the industry given the rising demand for power due to the continued strong output of the domestic economy.

He also cited as a plus the improvement of cost and efficiency of RE amid improved policies of the government.

“With the government’s target of renewables reaching 35 percent of energy output by 2030, the country would need to build over 15 gigawatts (GW) of renewables in the next decade,” he said.

“We will make significant investments in this space,” he added but declined to give figures.

Relatively, the company has completed the acquisition of Phinma Energy Corp. for PHP6.3 billion.

Francia said the acquisition will help AC Energy meet its target to have 5GW of RE capacity by 2025.

He said the cost from the acquisition will be offset by gains from the power supply agreement (SPA) with Manila Electric Company (Meralco).

Phinma will be supplying Meralco 110 MW mid-merit capacity, wherein output is adjusted based on demand, for five years effective December 26, 2019.

The agreement was signed after the power generation company passed the competitive selection process (CSP).

Francia said South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC), which is a joint venture among EC Energy, Phinma Energy, and Marubeni Corporation’s Axia Power Holdings Philippines Corporation, will be providing Meralco the agreed capacity.

He said the power generation deal is “a significant part of our turn-around because we are using SLTEC capacity for that.”

“It stabilizes our cash flows. Yes, we’re taking some risks but the beauty of the Phinma Energy or AC Energy now is we have a wide portfolio so we believe that we can manage that risk,” he added. (PNA)

Bioenergy

What’s the future of waste-to-energy facility in the Philippines?

17 September 2019

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Philippines

MANY INVESTORS ARE BECOMING MORE INTERESTED IN INVESTING IN WASTE-TO-ENERGY (WTE) FACILITY, AFTER THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) APPROVED THE COUNTRY’S FIRST WTE FACILITY LAST YEAR IN PALAWAN.

Several planned WTE facility projects followed such as the planned WTE facility in Cebu that is being eyed by a Chinese firm; the WTE facility at the Calahunan Engineered Sanitary Landfill in Mandurriao district, Iloilo City; as well as the P4.5-billion WTE facility planned to be constructed in Pangasinan byGreen Atom Renewable Energy Corporation.

Aside from DOE, there are other government agencies interested in pursuing the WTE initiative such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“That’s our direction now, considering there’s increasing generation of waste in the country,” DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones was quoted in a Philippine News Agency report.

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center also said the WTE projects are rising opportunities for power investors as many local government units are becoming interested in WTE.

PPP Center Executive Director Ferdinand A. Pecson expects to see more WTE as PPP’s project due to the country’s indigenous sources problems and waste management issues.

“Energy is one of the pressing needs of the country, and also we have environmental problems like waste, which is also an important problem to solve. So we’re talking of a solution that addresses both the need for energy — renewable energy — and addressing sanitary, environmental (concerns). So cities have such problems, all cities, all local governments are looking for solutions to address this and already,” Pecson was quoted in a BusinessWorld report.

However, just like any energy source it comes with its own set of pros and cons.

According to environmentalists, putting up WTE facilities will only cause the Philippines financial losses and debt due to the unclear law mandate on renewable energy projects, as shown by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), as a response to Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) feasibility study for a project in Quezon City.

“The proposed incinerator will use fire grates to ensure waste combustion which will cause emissions of toxic and hazardous cancer-causing pollutants like dioxins and furans—a clear violation of the Clean Air Act and Ecological Solid Waste Management Act,” No Burn Pilipinas (NBP) was quoted.

Other environmental advocates also added that many companies are still trying to sell incinerators in the Philippines until now.

“Despite the incineration ban in the Clean Air Act, there are many companies that are coming to the Philippines, trying to sell incinerators, but they’re doing it by calling it different names, like ‘waste-to-energy,’” Silliman University professor Jorge Emmanuel, told Rappler on Wednesday, January 25.

“But when you look at the technology behind it, many of the technologies are simply the standard incinerator, with the addition of heat recovery boiler or some type of heat recovery,” he added.

Sustainability experts have different opinions regarding the matter. They perceive waste-to-energy facilities to be the lesser evil in a country where laws and provisions did not solve the urgent waste problems.

DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones believes that this kind of technology is more environment-friendly than sanitary landfills as it leaks methane and other greenhouse gases that have negative effects on the environment and health. Whereas WTE technologies use biogas or enzymes to convert waste into energy.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has committed to pioneer the creation of a regulatory framework on WTE technologies as he believes that it would benefit the country in terms of a more secure energy system and a way to address the issue of waste management system.

The solon sees financial availability as a problem in promoting the use of WTE technology.

“Financial viability is an issue because it is very expensive to build these facilities and the ‘tipping fee’ or garbage processing fee paid by Local Government Units (LGUs) is too low. If the tipping fee is low, the price of the output (electricity, fuel, or gas) is too high,” he said.

Oil & Gas

Urgent energy meeting called after oil price spike

16 September 2019

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Thailand

Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong has called an urgent meeting of the Energy Policy Administration Committee on Tuesday to evaluate the oil situation after the global price surge.

The minister said on Monday the meeting will assess the impact of the price increase on people and measures to help them to cope with it.

Global oil prices rose rapidly after a drone attack on two Aramco oil refineries in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday. Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebels claimed responsibility.

Thailand imports 170,000 barrels of crude oil from the Middle East kingdom a day. The minister said earlier that oil imports were were not expected to be disrupted.

The price surge means motorists will be paying more for fuel, an increase that will also affect the cost of transporting consumer goods.

Manoon Siriwan, a board member of Star Petroleum Refining Plc, said pump prices could rise up to two baht per litre in coming days as a result of the reduction in global supply caused by the attack.

Renewables

How Thailand will integrate renewables and EVs into the grid

16 September 2019

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Thailand

Thailand wants nearly a third of its energy to come from renewable resources by 2037 – almost double of what it had in 2015.

The country has aggressively ramped up production of solar and wind power, in particular. Its solar power capacity increased tenfold from 2012 to 2017, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. It plans to build the world’s largest floating solar plants by 2037.

These new sources of energy will affect the way the country’s grid infrastructure is managed, says Dr Surat Tanterdtid, Chief of Enterprise Architecture of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand – the agency responsible for electricity generation and transmission. The most urgent need for utilities in the country is to integrate renewable energy into the main grid, he says. “When we have an increase in renewable intake in the system, it will impact the stability of the system,” he told EnergyInsider.

A more flexible grid

Thailand’s grid will need to modernise its grid with digital technologies so it can deal with varying levels of supply from renewable sources. “When we have more renewable energy, the grid will become more difficult to manage, and then we will need to give them more flexibility with the digital to make it smarter,” he says.

One way will be to use artificial intelligence techniques like machine learning to monitor and predict the supply of renewable energy into the grid. “In my point of view, we should introduce this kind of technology like AI, machine learning into the grid within the next two years,” he says.

Another sector that will have a big impact on the Thai electricity grid is the rise of electric vehicles. “New demand is actually coming from the upcoming EVs that will enter the Thailand market,” Tanterdtid says. “Approximately within two or three years, I think the number of EVs will increase significantly.”

This will significantly change electricity usage patterns, and utilities will need to be able to forecast these changes with digital technologies, he adds. “We need to prepare the power grid to be more flexible to support the increasing number of electric vehicles.”

New business models

As Thailand plans to allow new business to compete with the two state-owned suppliers, utilities are looking to new sources of revenue. Tanterdtid believes that this will give rise to new business models for utilities in the future. EGAT, together with the two state utilities, are investing 600 million baht (US$19.65 million) each year to research new areas of business, he says.

One example will be as a “load aggregator”, he says, where utilities can negotiate deals on behalf of consumers to reduce peak load on the grid. Another is through virtual power plants, where a network of buildings can buy and sell solar power from each other, and sell excess solar energy back to the main grid.

A third opportunity for utilities will be to balance demand between the main grid and microgrids, he adds. As microgrids often run on solar power and may not have storage to draw from during the night, utilities could charge them to provide a reliable supply of electricity to avoid blackouts. “The power grid needs to prepare resources to balance between new demand and supply. It is an opportunity for us,” he says.

A fourth area of revenue will be through virtual peer-to-peer trading of energy using blockchain. The government is running a pilot to simulate trading between 10 buildings at EGAT’s main campus, he adds.

Electricity/Power Grid

Myanmar produces over 5,600 megawatts

16 September 2019

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Myanmar

Myanmar is producing over 5,600 megawatts of electricity from state owned and private owned power plants across the country and Ministry of Electricity and Energy has another three power projects in Kanpauk, Ahlon and Milaunggyine for future plan, according to the ministry.

More than 4.9 million out of over 10.8 million family households in Myanmar are using electricity and the ministry is planning to provide electricity up to 50 per cent of family households at the end of this year, said Dr Tun Naing, Deputy Minister for Electricity and Energy.

It is required to increase the electricity production to meet the demand and the ministry is planned a 1,230-megawatt power plant in Kanpauk in Taninthayi Region, a 377-megawatt power plant in Ahlon in Yangon Region and a 1,390-megawatt power plant in Milaunggyine in Ayeyawady Region. A total of 250 megawatts of electricity will be generated in 2021-22 FY and up to 3,000 megawatts of electricity will be produced in 2025-26 FY.

The highest electric consumption in Myanmar is 3,483 megawatts currently and Myanmar is generating 2,400 megawatts from 28 hydropower plants and 1,083 megawatts from 16 thermal power stations including gas turbines, said Win Khaing, Minister for Electricity and Energy.

“At the present, electric consumption in Myanmar is increased from 15 to 19 per cent year by year. We expected the electric consumption will be increased to 4,531 megawatts by 2020-21 FY and we are planned to increase the electricity production to 2,757 megawatts,” said the minister.

The ministry is planning to produce about 3,000 megawatts of electricity from hydropower plants, gas-fired turbines, solar power stations and LNG power stations as the production of natural gas will be declined in 2020.

The minister said they are planned to implement electrification ratio to 100 per cent in Yangon Region in 2020-21 FY.

The ministry is planning to increase electrification ratio to 55 per cent by 2020-21 FY for the whole country and it is planned to distribute more electricity for people, to reduce the time of electrical power failure and to improve electrical power system, said the minister.

Renewables

Scope for growth in Malaysia renewables: report

16 September 2019

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Malaysia

THERE is increasing scope for Malaysia’s non-hydro renewable energy sector — particularly solar energy — to grow, with strengthening government support and rising investor interest in the past two years, Fitch Solutions Macro Research said in a Sept 13 report, identifying “substantial untapped … potential” in that area.

Government support

The report noted recent and upcoming moves that increase government support for the sector, in light of which there is “an upside risk” to Fitch Solutions’ forecast for the sector.

Ministry restructuring. Following the 2018 elections, the government restructured parts of ministries to form the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment & Climate Change, indicating a shift in focus toward energy and environmental sustainability.
Incentives. Regulations have been put in place to encourage investment in the renewables sector, including feed-in tariffs, tax incentives, and renewable energy auctions.
Green financing support. The government is looking to introduce more financing incentives for the sector, as well as enhancing green energy trading in the private sector.
Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap. The government plans to launch a Renewable Energy Transition Roadmap 2035, aiming to raise the share of renewables in Malaysia’s power mix to 20 per cent by 2025. Expected to be launched by end-2019, the roadmap may include strategies such as peer-to-peer electricity trading or transitioning toward a mandatory renewable energy certificate market, said the report.

Fitch Solutions’ current forecast is for net non-hydro renewables capacity growth of over 1 gigawatt (GW) over the coming decade, taking total installed non-hydro renewables capacity to 3.1 GW by 2028. But this will likely be revised upwards upon “more concrete announcements and developments” in the coming quarters, said the report.

Solar potential

The report highlighted the solar sector as being “particularly well poised for more growth”, not least given the success of recent capacity tenders.

Besides relatively high solar irradiance levels, Malaysia has an established solar manufacturing sector. Although most of the output is currently for export, this domestic manufacturing base will ensure a reliable and low-cost supply chain for local project developers.

“We believe that this will be a key supportive factor to the Malaysian solar industry over the coming year, as greater numbers of manufacturers set up in the country,” said the report.

After significant oversubscription of solar auctions in their first two capacity tenders, the Energy Commission of Malaysia issued a request for proposal for the development of large-scale photovoltaic power plants with a targeted capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) at the start of 2019, which closed in August 2019.

As of September 2019, Malaysia has launched 365 MW. Bid prices went to a record low of RM0.1777/kWh (kilowatt-hour), lower than the price for gas-fired power. The government has since announced plans to host more bids for large-scale solar projects.

Improving investment environment

There are also government efforts to further liberalise the power sector, creating a more favourable investment environment and encouraging private participation.

Retail market. The Malaysia Energy Supply Industry 2.0 initiative, which includes the liberalisation of the electricity retail market, is expected to be launched in late 2019. “The issue is still being studied at present and we believe that the government may seek to emulate the success with countries such as Singapore and Japan by first introducing a wholesale market,” said the report.
Restructuring of state-owned energy company. In July 2019, majority state-owned Tenaga Nasional Berhad proposed an internal restructuring of their generation, transmission, and retail divisions. This is expected to be completed by Q3 2020, with the transfer of legal assets and liability to begin in H1 2020. “The increasing liberalisation bodes well for private investments, and could improve competition and investments in the sector,” said Fitch Solutions.

Malaysia already performs better than the world average on the Fitch Solutions Power Risk/Reward Index, although its renewables sector is below the world average. Said Fitch Solutions: “This reflects a continued preference for thermal sources in the country, but shows the amount of scope the renewables sector could still grow in should the government improve investor environment and procure more capacity.”

Others

Fitch Ratings assigns PetroVietnam at ‘BB’ for first time

16 September 2019

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Vietnam

HÀ NỘI — Fitch Ratings has assigned the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group’s (PetroVietnam or PVN) first-time long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) at ‘BB’ with a positive outlook.

The agency has also assigned PVN a senior unsecured rating of ‘BB’ and standalone credit profile (SCP) at ‘bb+’, reflecting the company’s high degree of integration, diversification and conservative financial profile.

PVN’s IDR is constrained by that of its parent, the Việt Nam sovereign (BB/Positive), under Fitch’s government-related entities (GRE) rating criteria.

This is a positive credit rating that helps PVN improve its ability to mobilise capital in the international market and diversify the mobilised capital sources for investment projects in the context of restrictions in loans guaranteed by the Government.

It proves PVN’s strong financial status and business performance as well as its positive business prospects in the future, which bring confidence to domestic and foreign investors, financial institutions and strategic partners, especially in the period that PVN is promoting its restructuring.

In the statement, Fitch highlights the robust State linkages with PVN. Fitch assesses the status, ownership and control factor under our GRE criteria as ‘Very Strong’. PVN’s annual targets are set and approved by Vietnamese Government and its management is State-appointed. PVN is also Việt Nam’s national oil company and benefits from exclusive rights to the country’s oil and gas reserves by regulation. Fitch regards the support record as ‘Strong’.

“PVN has not required tangible financial support in at least five years due to its strong financial profile, although we expect support to be forthcoming if required,” Fitch said.

Fitch assesses the socio-political implications of a PVN default as ‘Very Strong’. Any disruptions in PVN’s operations would have material implications for the entire energy value chain in Việt Nam.

PVN holds interests in all of Việt Nam’s upstream oil and gas assets, accounts for about a third of the country’s refined product output, and supplies gas for power plants which make up about 15 per cent of Việt Nam’s power generation. PVN also accounts for about 80 per cent of Việt Nam’s fertiliser production.

Meanwhile, PVN’s power generation revenues are based on long-term power purchase agreements with the State power utility, Vietnam Electricity (EVN, BB/Positive), and include cost pass-through mechanisms.

Earnings from gas distribution are generally based on fixed selling prices that are increased annually and are sold mostly to EVN and PVN’s power plants. Earnings from these two segments account for about 40 per cent of PVN’s gross profit and help reduce volatility from its upstream and downstream businesses.

According to Fitch, PVN’s upstream cash flow is relatively more sensitive to oil price fluctuations compared with other APAC national oil companies due to costs. The upstream segment contributed to 17 per cent of consolidated gross profits in 2018.

Fitch expects PVN’s upstream operations to account for about 25 per cent of its consolidated gross profit in the next three to four years, based on Fitch’s oil price assumptions.

PVN’s investment is projected to rise significantly to VNĐ321 trillion (US$13.95 billion) over the next five years, from VNĐ38 trillion last year. PVN estimates over half of its expected consolidated capex and investment will be used to develop its upstream resources, mainly gas fields.

“This positive credit rating results were thanks to the close direction of the Party and State leaders, the effective and close coordination of ministries and branches for PVN, as well as the solidarity and efforts of all PVN employees in recent years. The results are also one of the bases for PVN to review and improve its corporate governance, especially financial indicators, to ensure that the ranking is continually maintained and improved in the future,” Lê Mạnh Hùng, General Director of PVN, said, adding with the care and direction of the Party and State leaders, as well as great efforts made by all EVN’s employees, PVN will continue to contribute more to the successful development of Viet Nam.

Nirukt Sapru, CEO – Vietnam, ASEAN and South Asia Cluster Markets, Standard Chartered Bank, which is the only consultant for PVN in the rating, said: “We are honored to support PVN in its first time international ranking and we congratulate PVN for the achieved excellent rating results. This is a testament to the robust and integrated financial management in PVN’s business activities. Credit rating is a solid first step for PVN in raising capital in the international market, and we believe it will help attract the attention of international investors. Standard Chartered has a strong commitment to Việt Nam, the market we have been in for 115 years. We are delighted to be able to leverage our in-depth understanding of the local market with a wealth of international expertise, and we are committed to continuing to support PVN in realising its growth targets.” — VNS

Read more at http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/535465/fitch-ratings-assigns-petrovietnam-at-bb-for-first-time.html#WR39PIlF8cfv29oQ.99

News Clipping

MANY INVESTORS ARE BECOMING MORE INTERESTED IN INVESTING IN WASTE-TO-ENERGY (WTE) FACILITY, AFTER THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) APPROVED THE COUNTRY’S FIRST WTE FACILITY LAST YEAR IN PALAWAN.

Government support

Solar potential

Improving investment environment

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