News Clipping Archive - Page 1116 of 1320

Renewables

15 July 2019

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Cambodia

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved four solar projects that will produce a combined 140 megawatts.

For in depth analysis of Cambodian Business, visit Capital Cambodia
.

The body convened last week to review a raft of new laws and investment proposals, which included the four solar projects.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the government said the farms will all be located in different provinces – Pursat, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Svay Rieng – and that their production capacity will range from 20 to 60 MW.

These projects will start supplying the national grid by 2020 and 2021, it noted.

“Developments in solar energy are critical in dealing with the power shortage in the country,” the government said.

Keo Rattanak, director-general of Electricite du Cambodge, said last week that the country’s energy mix will change drastically in upcoming years.

“We will be able to produce at least 20 percent of our energy from solar systems in the next few years,” Mr Rattanak said during a forum on energy in Phnom Penh organised by the American Chamber of Commerce.

The goal is to diversify energy production, now largely dominated by hydroelectricity, which accounted for about 48 percent of all power consumed last year. Through this diversification strategy, the government hopes to put an end to the power shortages that have affected the country, Mr Rattanak said.

Speaking to Khmer Times in May, Sokun Sum, chairman of the Solar Energy Association of Cambodia, said Cambodia should focus on attracting investment in solar energy.

He said construction times for solar farms are lower than for hydropower dams, and with demand for electricity skyrocketing, Cambodia needs to build energy infrastructure as fast as possible.

He said up to five 60-MW solar farms can be built within seven months, while building a single hydropower dam can take up to five years.

“It has been brought up to our attention that power consumption in Cambodia has dramatically increased, mostly driven by construction projects. Therefore, investment in solar parks should go before hydropower, which now dominates domestic power consumption in the country,” he said.

In its statement last week, the government noted that the sector will soon have two new master plans. A strategy covering the years 2020-2030 is now being drafted by Japan’s Chugoku Electric Power, while another one for the years 2020-2040 is being drafted by Australian’s Intelligent Energy System.

Last year, Cambodia consumed 2,650 MW, a 15 percent increase compared to a year earlier. 442 MW were imported from Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.

Others

Fuel price hike seen this week

14 July 2019

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Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Local pump prices are expected to significantly increase as global crude prices surged last week.

Unioil Petroleum Philippines said motorists should expect hefty fuel price hikes on Tuesday.

“Diesel should go up by P0.65 to P0.75 and Gasoline should go up by P1.00 to P1.10,” Unioil said in its weekly forecast.

During last week’s trading, global oil prices increased in the first half of the week amid continuing Middle East tensions and production cuts of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Reuters reported.

It also said Brent crude reached a high of $66 per barrel as US crude inventories fell and the brewing storm in the Gulf of Mexico affected operations of major oil producers in the area.

Last week, oil companies raised gasoline prices P0.25 per liter while diesel price was reduced by P0.40 per liter and kerosene by P0.35 per liter.

Based on the data of the Department of Energy (DOE), year-to-date adjustments stand at a net increase of P5.15 per liter for gasoline, P3.30 per liter for diesel and P1.75 per liter for kerosene.

Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/07/14/1934493/fuel-price-hike-seen-week#lMptDF0EoIF8dmGU.99

Coal

Egat begins public hearings for Mae Moh coal plant units

13 July 2019

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Thailand

The state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) will start public hearings with stakeholders and local communities on Saturday in a bid to repower two existing units of the Mae Moh coal-fired power plant in Lampang.

Egat is budgeting 37 billion baht for development cost to repower Units 8 and 9 in Mae Moh district.

Units 8 and 9 have a combined power capacity of 540 megawatts with plans to upgrade to 660MW. Egat expects the two repowered units to have higher efficiency, less fuel consumption and lower emissions.

Units 8 and 9 are running on standby mode, and two power generators under the units will be decommissioned in 2022.

TLT Consultants was appointed to conduct the public hearing in order to make the environmental and health impact assessment report. Egat plans to finish the process by the end of July.

Benjaporn Boonyapookana, TLT’s environmental specialist, said the public hearing is expected to provide information to locals involved with the project.

“We will collect their opinions on the impact of repowering power generators in a bid to resolve possible problems,” she said.

The repowering plan for the Mae Moh power plant is in line with the new version of the national power development plan (2018-37) to maintain power security in the northern and upper-central regions.

Patana Sangsriroujana, Egat’s deputy governor for policy and planning, said the repowering plan budget has increased from 35 billion baht in previous estimations to 37 billion baht.

Mae Moh is Thailand’s first coal-fired power plant and has been operated by Egat since 1975.

Lignite coal from the Mae Moh basin serves the power plant.

Egat runs 10 units in the same location, producing 2,400 megawatts from Units 4 to 13. Units 1 to 3 were decommissioned during 1999-2000.

The Mae Moh plant can supply 50% of electricity to the North, 30% to the central region and 20% to the Northeast.

“The power generators at Units 8 and 9 are nearly 30 years old, and this coal-fired power plant is one of the country’s major sources of power,” Mr Patana said.

But Egat’s power generator units in Mae Moh are ageing, he said, and Egat is proceeding with the repowering plan for Units 4 to 7 by completing construction for the power generator replacements.

Egat will start a test-run period soon before commencing commercial operations in the second half of 2019.

The replacement of Units 4 to 7 and the repowering project were approved by the government on Aug 19, 2014. The four units had combined capacity of 560MW.

The cabinet on Feb 26 approved expansion of the total power capacity to 655MW.

Mr Patana said the replacement and repowering project will use lignite coal for power generation with ultra-supercritical technology, which is the most modern and requires 20% less fuel for power generation.

This result is seen in lower CO2 emissions compared with the former subcritical technology.

“Egat wants to ensure that emissions released during the power generation process are better than the standard criteria and not a source of PM2.5 particles,” Mr Patana said. “The PM2.5 level in Mae Moh district is lower than in nearby provinces.”

He said the Mae Moh power plant will be developed in the future as a smart city with efficient power management.

Bioenergy

Biodiesel group seeks staggered hike in fuel blend

13 July 2019

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Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The group pushing for the increase of coco methyl ester (CME) content in biodiesel is settling for a compromise of a staggered implementation of the hike which was last adjusted 12 years ago.

The Philippine Biodiesel Association raised a proposal to increase the percentage of biodiesel component blended in locally available diesel to five percent by 2021 from the current level of two percent.

The group, which is comprised of 11 companies, is pushing for a gradual adjustment, to three percent by end of the year, to four percent by 2020 and five percent in 2021.

Asian Institute of Petroleum Studies Inc. president Rafael Diaz debunked the claims of the Department of Energy that increasing the blend would result to a P2 per liter increase in pump prices.

“How they came about that P2 is erroneous. The increase is just P0.20 per liter. We have to work that out so it can be corrected,” Diaz said in a briefing.

“That is the hurdle we have to address. The DOE has a mindset of their own. We have to consider the B3 as compromise,” he said.

Biodiesel is a blend of diesel fuel and CME, a derivative of coconut oil. The current diesel blend in the country consists only of two percent CME and 98 percent regular diesel.

Under the Philippine Energy Plan 2012-2030, Philippine biodiesel should contain at least five percent CME by 2020.

“The Philippines was the pioneer in Southeast Asia in blending biodiesel. But, when Indonesia and Malaysia followed suit, they immediately jumped to five percent using palm-biodiesel. Indonesia is already considering increasing that level to 30 percent. Why are we getting left behind?” TPBA spokesperson Dean Lao said.

Further, advocates claimed that increasing the CME blend may not lower pump price of diesel at this time, but the fuel savings translates to measurable mileage gain, and the savings can be substantial.

“Coco biodiesel makes diesel fuel burn easily and completely, leading to more power and mileage improvement. If there is a 10 percent mileage improvement and diesel cost is at P40, you can effectively save P4 per liter,” Diaz said.

An increase in coco biodiesel blend to five percent is seen translating to 350,000 metric tons of coconut oil consumption, which is about 29 percent of yearly coconut oil production.

Locally produced biodiesel is still more expensive at P45 to P90 per liter compared with imports from Brazil priced at P32 per liter. Even imported ethanol fuel is cheaper at P16 per liter versus the domestic at P53.

The main objective of the Biofuels Act is to achieve a sustainable future by reducing importation of refined fuel such as diesel and gasoline, and increase the income of farmers, at the same time.

Agriculture stakeholders have long been calling for the increase as this will address the problem of plummeting copra prices.

Philippine biodiesel has the lowest percentage of vegetable oil blended to regular diesel among ASEAN countries.

For instance, Malaysia and Thailand mandate that the biodiesel sold in their markets should contain at least seven percent palm oil, while Indonesia is much higher at 20 percent.

Read more at https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/07/13/1934181/biodiesel-group-seeks-staggered-hike-fuel-blend#CDM5vJBK23161Ryl.99

Renewables

First solar power plant in Binh Dinh inaugurated

13 July 2019

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Vietnam

NDO/VNA – The Cat Hiep solar power plant was officially inaugurated in Binh Dinh’s Phu Cat district on July 12, becoming the first of its kind in the south central coastal province to join the national grid.

Invested by the French-based Quadran International company and Truong Thanh group of Vietnam, the facility worth over VND1.03 trillion (US$44.29 million) spans more than 60ha. With 150,000 panels and a capacity of 49.5MWp, it can generate between 78 and 80 million kWh per year.

During its test run from May 20 to date, Cat Hiep produced more than 7 million kWh of electricity, earning over VND15 billion in revenue.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Ho Quoc Dung hoped the operation of the plant will lead to the development of similar ones across Binh Dinh.

He noted solar electricity will help enhance the capacity of the national grid, capitalise on renewable sources of energy, and add more to the provincial budget collection.

The local leader pledged to assist investors in the power sector and others in tackling hurdles and implementing their projects.

Renewables

ERC readies renewed push for solar rooftop scheme

12 July 2019

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Thailand

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is gearing up to promote the household solar rooftop scheme and encourage participation after the current enrolment fell short of expectations.

This programme began in May after the launch of the national power development plan for 2018-37. The latest plan focuses on new solar power generation of 10,000 megawatts, all coming from the solar rooftop type installed by homeowners.

Power capacity under the scheme starts at 100MW per year during 2019-27 for households and increases solar power generation to 1,000MW per year from 2028 on, ultimately reaching 10,000MW by 2037.

As of early July, the ERC reported that the enrolment from households achieved only 8.74MW from the target of 100MW.

Narupat Amornkosit, secretary-general of the ERC, said the commission will promote the scheme heavily over the next two weeks.

“Many homeowners do not yet know about this scheme from the ERC and other state utilities, so we will step up efforts to promote it again,” Ms Narupat said.

“Our expectation of 100MW power generation will end in December, so we have plenty of time to work on it.”

Last week, the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency said it would ask the Energy Ministry to launch a revised solar scheme for the public.

The revised plan should add solar power farms in order to attract more private investors to this scheme.

Solar power, which has been promoted in Thailand since 2007, will be sold to the state grid under power purchase agreements at 9,846MW.

Moreover, a rising power tariff rate, higher generating efficiency and the lower cost of solar panels have attracted hundreds of business operators to install solar rooftops as an independent power supply (IPS) over the last five years.

As of December 2018, power generation from IPS was 1,478MW, jumping from only 400MW in early 2017.

Separately, the ERC yesterday approved the continuation of the fuel tariff (Ft) rate of 3.64 baht per kilowatt-hour for September-December, the third period of 2019.

Power bills have been stable over the four periods from September 2017 to December 2018 at 3.60 baht per kWh, then the ERC increased them for the first period of 2019, January-April, to 3.64 baht and maintained the rate for the second period.

Increasing the Ft rate would affect consumers’ power bills and overall domestic demand, Ms Narupat said.

“The Thai economy is suffering from the instability of the US-China trade war and shrinking exports,” she said, adding that the ERC thus decided to maintain the Ft rate for another four months.

Ms Narupat said the ERC is set to allocate 9 billion baht to manage the Ft rate for September-December.

Of the budget, 3 billion baht will come from the ERC’s power regulation and management budget from the previous year and 6 billion baht will come from spending of the three state power utilities (the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority) to handle the higher cost of power generation.

“This budget will be managed temporarily to support maintaining the Ft rate in the third period of 2019,” Ms Narupat said.

The ERC forecasts electricity demand during September-December at 64.42 billion kWh, down 5.8% from May-August, in line with the seasonal decrease.

Energy Efficiency

New laws to tighten pollution control and raise energy efficiency

12 July 2019

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Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will table new laws on pollution control and energy efficiency in the Dewan Rakyat soon, said Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin.

“The new law on Pollution Control to replace the Environmental Quality Act 1974 will see greater enforcement powers and stiffer punishments,” she said.

Yeo was officiating at the opening ceremony of the Evolution of ESG Investing seminar, hosted by Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) and Bursa Malaysia Bhd here today.

Also present were Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, Bursa Malaysia chief commercial officer Selvarany Rasiah and Maybank Kim Eng Group chief executive officer Ami Moris and Maybank Investment Bank Bhd chief executive officer Fad’l Mohamed.

Provisions, which deal with restrictions against air, noise, land, inland waters and marine pollution, as well as open burning, will see heavier fines under the proposed new act.

These range from a maximum RM5 million fine for discharging oil into Malaysian waters to a RM100,000 fine for open burning offences.

Most of the pollution offences will soon come with up to five years in jail, with a daily fine of RM5,000 for as long as the offence continues after the issuance of a notice.

A trust fund is also being mulled to reward whistleblowers facilitating more effective enforcement.

The proposed law will also provide the authority to issue a “stop work” order on any premises owner indulging in illegal dumping of scheduled waste that threatens the environment or public health and security, frequently flouting the law and the.

Failure to abide by the order will result in a fine of up to RM500,000, five years in jail or both under the proposed new law.

Currently, offenders convicted under Section 34A of the Environmental Quality Act, are only liable to a fine of not more than RM500,000 or a prison term of up to five years.

The government now wants to raise the penalty to RM1 million or a maximum five years in prison – or both for failure to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Last month, Yeo presented Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill at the Cabinet Meeting and it was approved.

This new law, to be tabled before Parliament, seeks to further incentivise building owners to reduce energy wastage to be more efficient via adoption of green technologies.

Others

Senators approve 2019-2023 development plan, power projects

12 July 2019

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Cambodia

Senators yesterday unanimously agreed to pass the National Strategic Development Plan of 2019-2023 worth $57.7 billion in capital.

In order for the budget plan to be finalised, it will need to be reviewed by the Constitutional Council and approved by the King.

The vote was held during yesterday’s plenary session when senators also unanimously approved plans by SPHP (Cambodia) to invest in a new hydroelectric dam in Pursat province, as well as plans by Schnei Tech to build solar farms in the provinces of Pursat and Kampong Chhnang.

Prior to the vote, 48 out of 62 senators debated for hours during the session, which was led by Senate president Say Chhum.

The draft for National Strategic Development Plan of 2019-2023 was approved by the Council of Ministers during a meeting presided by Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 7 and the National Assembly unanimously approved it earlier this month.

Senate secretary-general Oum Sarith said in a statement that NSDP 2019-2023 aims to promote inclusive growth and work toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of 2016-2030.

Mr Sarith said it would also help transition Cambodia from a lower-middle income country to an upper-middle income country in 2030.

“This strategic development plan plays an important role in implementing the government’s priority policy, which is stated in the Rectangular Strategy-Phase IV and the Sustainable Development Goals of 2016-2030,” he said.

In order to have funding for NSDP 2019-2023, the private sector will need to contribute $43.4 billion, or 75 percent of the budget, while $14.3 billion will come from the government.

Regarding the power projects, the dam in Prusat will be able to produce 80MW of electricity and will be built on a build-operate-transfer scheme.

The dam will need a capital of more than $231 million and that SPHP (Cambodia) has been granted a 39-year concession for the project.

According to Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem, the Pursat hydro dam project will affect the homes of 347 families and farmland belonging to 296 families in 5,355 hectares of land. He added that 600,724 hectares of forest land will also be affected.

However, he said the dam will be able to produce up to 70 percent of its total capacity during the dry season.

“It’s different from other projects because other projects can only produce 30 percent during the dry season, or even less, such as this year, for example,” Mr Sarith said.

During the session yesterday, Senator Mam Bun Neang asked about the recent power shortage and raised concerns that people were misunderstanding their electricity bills.

Keo Ratanak, general director of Electricité Du Cambodge, said next year, the government will change the language used on electricity bills from English to Khmer to avoid misunderstandings.

“The new bill will include the records of previous months, then they [customers] can compare their usage,” Mr Ratanak said. “We are going to do this to have them understand and cut down their usage.”

He noted that any EDC official involved in corruption and double standards when it comes to dealing with wealthy and poor customers, will be sacked.

“If EDC officials commit something wrong, we will punish them, like by firing them from their position or give them administrative discipline, based on our internal regulations,” Mr Ratanak added. “Corrupt violators will face the law. If any lawmakers found irregularities, they can file a complaint to us.”

He noted that as of this year, rural areas in the Kingdom now have 83 percent of the national electricity supply.

He said that Cambodia has become one of the fastest electricity suppliers in least developed countries.

According to the Mines and Energy Ministry, Cambodia produced 2,650 MW last year, of which 1,329 megawatts, or 50 percent, came from hydroelectric dams.

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