News Clipping Archive - Page 1200 of 1232

Electricity/Power Grid

SRX Property website, app now help users switch electricity retailer

15 November 2018

–

Singapore

The launch of the service coincides with the start of the nationwide rollout of the open electricity market.PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM SRX.COM.SG

SINGAPORE – Households can save on their power bills by switching their electricity retailer online in just a few clicks with a new service launched on Friday (Nov 9) by real-estate services provider SRX Property .

The service is offered on its srx.com.sg website and its mySG Home App.

Its launch coincides with the start of the nationwide rollout of the open electricity market, where consumers can switch electricity provider as part of the Government’s move to liberalise the local retail power market.

SRX Property has leveraged GovTech’s MyInfo service to enable people to verify their identity online using SingPass and apply to their chosen electricity retailer within minutes.

Those using the SingPass app on their mobile phones can also use their face ID or thumbprint to switch electricity retailers.

Households can check their eligibility to switch electricity retailer on srx.com.sg.

According to the Open Electricity Market schedule, households with postal codes starting with 58 to 78 have been able to switch electricity retailers since Nov 1, 2018, joining households in Jurong which have been able to buy from other electricity retailers since April 2018.

The nationwide rollout of the electricity market liberalisation is scheduled to be completed by May 2019.

SRX is run by Streetsine Technology Group, which is a subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings, which owns The Straits Times.

Its mySG Home platform allows users to track the value of their homes and apply for a home loan with multiple lenders. More than 102,000 homes are already tracked by mySG Home members.

Renewables

Singapore’s largest offshore floating solar panel system to be built along Straits of Johor

15 November 2018

–

Singapore

SINGAPORE – A floating solar panel system roughly the size of five football fields will soon come up near Singapore’s northern shores, along the Straits of Johor.

It is Singapore’s largest offshore floating solar panel system at about 5ha and developed by sustainable energy provider Sunseap Group.

Sunseap said this will be one of the world’s largest sea-based floating photovoltaic (PV) system, as most large-scale floating PV systems are built on freshwater ponds, lakes or reservoirs.

The solar panel system, which is expected to be operational by 2019, was announced at the 2018 Pro-Enterprise Panel-Singapore Business Federation Awards on Friday (Nov 9) at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The platform will be able to generate about 6,388 MWh of renewable energy annually, which is equivalent to powering about 1,250 four-room flats. The use of solar energy also means a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of about 2,600 tonnes every year, over the next 25 years and beyond.

The project is supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB) and will be located north of the Woodlands Waterfront Park.

Mr Frank Phuan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sunseap Group, said: “Our floating solar panel system supports Singapore’s ambition to be a solar hub for Asia and we hope it will ignite more deployment of alternative methods of tapping solar energy.”

Sunseap had previously participated in the world’s largest floating solar panel test-bed in Singapore’s Tengeh Reservoir. The test-bed was about 1ha in size.

In land-scarce countries like Singapore, the use of solar panel systems is hindered by space constraints and limited roof space, said Mr Phuan.

Sunseap faced challenges in developing this offshore solar panel system.

Mr Phuan said the platform had to be more robust to withstand the harsh conditions of the open sea and overcome the barnacles that would grow on it in seawater.

It was also difficult to find a location for the solar panel system because Singapore’s coastal areas can be busy maritime environments with many shipping vessels.

“We consulted about nine agencies and every time one of them brought up an issue, we had to restart the whole consultation process,” he said. “We didn’t make much headway for two years until we got in touch with the Pro-Enterprise Panel.”

The panel brought together different agencies and got the various parties to highlight key concerns and suggest solutions.

“It’s an example of agile regulations because the agencies were not just gate-keeping and telling us what we could not do, but they were finding ways to make it work. It allowed us to zoom in on suitable sites until we could find the right one,” Mr Phuan said.

Sunseap’s solar panel system was cited by Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing as an example of the result of collaboration across government agencies.

Mr Chan, who gave out awards at the ceremony, said: “This is an example of who should regulate this floating solar panel on the sea – is it the maritime agency, water agency, Energy Market Authority or environment agency? It is probably all of the above and more, but for a business, there is only one agency.”

He added that for Singapore to have its competitive advantage, regulations have to be “agile” to suit the evolving needs of businesses and the expectations of people.

Mr Chan said government agencies also have to collaborate with one another, as well as with trade associations and chambers and technology companies, to keep their regulations flexible and up to date.

“Our society is not that big and not that complex. We are small enough to be agile. We are small enough for us to know each other very well and to build that deep sense of trust between regulatory agencies, businesses and other societal actors.”

“And it’s because of this, we’re confident that going forward, if we are able to have those agile regulations in place ahead of time, we will add a new pillar of competitive advantage to our society,” he said.

Renewables

EU Provides €60 Million Grant to the Philippines to Install Solar Home Systems

15 November 2018

–

Philippines

It will benefit roughly 100,000 off-grid households in the country.

The European Union (EU) has provided an approximate grant of €60 million (~$68.54 million) to the Philippine government to help the country increase access to electricity services in its off-grid communities.

This would increase the country’s share of renewables in its energy mix and also help in implementing new energy efficiency strategies.

The initiative is being implemented through the Access to Sustainable Energy Program (ASEP) and is supported by the United States Department of Energy (DOE). It will benefit roughly 100,000 households, especially in the remote areas of Bangsamoro region.

Under the ASEP’s program, about 40,500 solar home systems will be installed in remote off-grid communities in various provinces in Mindanao. These home systems will have each a peak capacity of 50 watt. Mercom had reported previously that these solar home systems would be bid in May 2018.

The installation of solar home systems has already been completed in Sitio New Mabuhay, Barangay Little Baguio in the Municipality of Malita, and Davao Occidental.

“Rest assured, the DOE and our partners-stakeholders will continue to explore more projects that will benefit our brothers and sisters in remote areas through innovative solutions,” said DOE Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi in a press statement.

ASEP, a sustainable energy program, was launched in the Philippines back in 2016. The mandate of the program is to support the government in its efforts to increase access to electricity, integrate renewable energies on and off grid, and promote energy efficiency.

Other than EU and DOE, the National Electrification Administration, Energy Regulatory Commission, National Power Corporation, electric cooperatives and local governments are the key stakeholders of ASEP.

In June, the International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group, issued its first internationally rated triple-A peso-denominated green bond which is equivalent to $90 million. According to IFC, Mabuhay Bond will be the first green bond, denominated in Philippine pesos, to be issued by a multilateral development institution.

In January 2018, Mercom reported off-grid solar solutions have benefitted approximately 360 million people across the globe, according to a report by the World Bank Group’s Lighting Global Program, Dalberg Advisors, and the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA).

Off-grid solar has a bright future in poor and underdeveloped parts of the world, while funding toward these emerging markets has also witnessed a significant increase over the years.

According to a recent report by GOGLA, 3.7 million off-grid solar products were sold globally during the first half of 2018, an increase of four percent in comparison to the same time last year.

Oil & Gas

IDEAS: Gas price normalisation important to drive sector’s growth

15 November 2018

–

Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 8): The process of normalising gas prices between the domestic market and global prices is a critical step towards driving Malaysia’s gas production activities, said IDEAS senior fellow Prof Renato Lima de Oliveira.

The normalisation, which is currently ongoing via the gas cost pass through (GCPT) mechanism, will make domestic sales profitable, thus providing an incentive for oil and gas (O&G) companies to further invest in Malaysia’s gas fields.

“There has been progress towards unifying the selling price of gas for electricity generation for industrial use here, with international prices.

“You need that convergence in order to be profitable to exploit fields here. That is an important mechanism to increase the amount of natural gas [used in the country],” said Oliveira at a forum on Malaysia’s energy policy challenges today.

Under the GCPT mechanism, base tariff for the domestic sale of natural gas in Malaysia is to be gradually increased — currently by RM1.50/mmBtu every six months, excluding surcharge — until end-2019, to match global prices. The latest hike was conducted on July 1.

However, there are concerns that the local gas price hike will put upward pressure on electricity tariff prices, causing power companies to stick to cheaper feedstock such as coal, which is less clean.

In terms of Malaysia’s energy generation mix, coal made up 42.5% in 2016, from a mere 8.3% ten years ago. The percentage of gas in electricity generation, meanwhile, fell to 43.5% from 58.9% in the same period.

Industry veterans argue that the government will not be able to increase electricity tariffs in the near term, given the current political climate and the assurance Tenaga Nasional Bhd will stick to current electricity tariff schedules until Dec 31, 2020.

“Rather than thinking that [the GCPT mechanism] is a negative thing [for consumers], what it will do is increase the attractiveness of investing to find more gas in Malaysia,” Oliveira said.

“So that will boost the O&G industry. It’s not that we are going to increase the costs. It will actually drive the sector towards further growth, and this is the sector that has the highest salaries,” he said.

Malaysia’s energy balance is carbon-heavy, and decarbonisation — as called for by the Green Technology Master Plan and the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto — will require greater investments in technologies and new public policies to unlock more natural gas and support the expansion of renewable sources, Oliveira added.

“Malaysia has been gradually implementing policies to promote renewables, but they have yet to move the needle in the direction of less carbon,” he added.

Renewables play a role in addressing costs and carbon footprint concerns, Oliveira said.

He highlighted that capital and operational expenses for renewables such as solar energy have decreased faster than other energy sources, which makes renewables an increasingly viable substitute to coal.

He gave an example of a power company which developed two solar farms with a five-year gap in between. Both produced equal internal rate of returns (IRR), despite electricity produced in the newer plant being sold at 50% cheaper than the older plant.

“Given the cost reduction of renewables such as solar, even costs is not necessarily a barrier [to replace coal], going forward,” Oliveira said.

In the mean time, Malaysia’s natural gas reserves — which would last until 2050, based on current production rate — makes it “perfect” for the country to add more renewable energy capacity, the researcher said.

“Malaysia does not have much potential for wind energy, for example. But you could add more solar capacity and compensate the intermittency with natural gas power plants,” Oliveira added.

According to news reports, Malaysia is planning to introduce an Energy Efficiency Bill next year, as part of its plan to reduce national carbon footprint by 45% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. It has also set a target for 20% electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2030.

Renewables

Coca-Cola FEMSA taps First Gen for renewable shift

15 November 2018

–

Philippines

First Gen Corp CFO and SVP Emmanuel Singson, SVP Victor Santos Jr., Energy Development Corp President and COO Richard Tantoco, Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines CEO Fabricio Ponce, supply chain director Carlos Manrique, and finance director Jawahar Solai Kuppuswamy.

MANILA — Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines, the franchise bottler of Coke products in the Philippines, said it tapped First Gen Corp’s retail arms for its renewable energy needs.

First Gen Energy Solutions and Bac-Man Geothermal will supply power to Coca Cola FEMSA facilities in Ilocos, Pangasinan, Pampanga and Cebu, which shifted to renewable energy last Oct. 26, the bottler said in a statement.

With its partnership with First Gen, Coca-Cola FEMSA said it hoped to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 percent in 2020.

Coca-Cola FEMSA, which has 19 bottling facilities in the country, sources 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.

First Gen’s portfolio includes geothermal, hydro, wind and solar.

Coal

Pertamina, Bukit Asam ink coal gasification deal in US

15 November 2018

–

Indonesia

State-owned energy holding company Pertamina and state-owned coal mining firm PT Bukit Asam (PTBA) have inked a partnership with chemical company Air Products and Chemicals Inc. on coal gasification.

Under the agreement, the United States-based company would build a facility to produce coal derivative products, like dimethylether (DME) and synthetic natural gas (SNG) at the Peranap Coal Mine in Riau, which is owned by PTBA.

The agreement was signed on Wednesday in Allentown, US, attended by the president directors of the two state-owned enterprises (SOE) and SOE Minister Rini Soemarno.

“The downstream development in the mining sector will have a major impact on the Indonesian economy, especially to narrow our current account deficit,” she said in a press statement received by the media on Thursday.

Pertamina president director Nicke Widyawati said the partnership would help reduce Indonesia’s dependency on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), noting that 70 percent of nationwide demand for the energy source was currently met through imports.

“In 2017, Indonesia consumed no less than 7 million tons of LPG. Therefore, the development of coal gasification is a national strategic project,” she said.

Meanwhile, PTBA president director Arviyan Arifin said the coal gasification facility in Penarap was expected to operate in 2022 with a capacity of 400,000 tons of DME annually and 50 million metric standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of SNG.

Air Products and Chemicals Inc. president and CEO Seifi Ghasemi said his company, a patent holder of coal gasification technology since 2018, was committed to fully supporting Indonesia in producing coal derivatives. (bbn)

Gatchalian asks DOE to add energy security, sufficiency in 30-year plan

15 November 2018

–

Philippines

Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate energy committee, urged on Thursday the Department of Energy (DOE) to include energy security in its Philippine Energy Plan as the soaring energy prices have contributed to the country’s nine-year-high inflation rate.

Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN)

During a recent hearing of the Senate energy committee on the country’s energy security issue, Gatchalian pointed out that the DOE has failed to articulate energy security in its Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) 2017-2044 despite the agency’s mandate to put it at the forefront of its energy direction.

‘’In fact, the Philippines seemed to be going the wrong direction when it comes to energy sufficiency and energy security,’’ he said.

“I think it’s really admirable that energy security is at the forefront of the DOE’s energy direction… However, energy security has never been articulated in the PEP. In fact, there’s no section in the PEP about energy security and energy sufficiency. If you look at the projections, we will not achieve any security, any sufficiency,” he added.

“Going by the DOE’s strategic direction that energy security is number one, it seems to me that there is inconsistency between the strategic direction and also the projections here in the PEP,” he pointed out.

To prove his point, Gatchalian noted the country’s poor performance in the World Economic Council (WEC) Energy Trilemma Index, which ranks the performance of each country based on energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability.

For 2018, the Philippines ranked 74 out of 125 countries, down from its 70th place ranking in 2017, after garnering “C” ratings for energy security and energy equity, and an “A” rating for environmental sustainability. Out of 22 Asian countries, the country ranked 11th.

Gatchalian said data from the DOE showed that the Philippines remains heavily dependent on external sources for its petroleum supplies, importing 94 percent of its oil requirements.

The DOE recently reported that the country’s total import bill jumped to $9.89 billion in 2017, a 31.2 percent increase from the $7.54 billion import bill in 2016.

`The DOE, on the other hand, paints a grim picture for the renewable energy sector as the share of fossil fuels in the country’s energy mix continues to grow.

Under the DOE’s Business as Usual Scenario, the share of renewables in the energy mix – including geothermal, biomass, and hydro – is projected to drop to 17 percent in 2040 from 36 percent in 2017.

Citing the projections made by the DOE, Gatchalian lamented that the country’s installed renewable energy capacity is only expected to grow at a dismal pace of 1.5 percent over the 24 years, in contrast with the 6.5 percent and 6.7 percent growth rates of installed capacity of oil and coal plants, respectively.

“So with these growth figures, I don’t think we will reach any security by 2040 or any sufficiency for 2040… by that alone, it raises a lot of question marks whether we’re putting all our eggs in one basket,” he said.

Gatchalian said the DOE needs to develop concrete plans to achieve energy self-sufficiency and security from 2018 to 2040, as well as to quantify these policies.

“In my view, energy security should be a paramount concern of our nation. I think the reason for that really is to insulate consumers from price volatility. It also has an effect on our economic well-being by importing less,” he added.

Coal

Geo Energy inks coal off take, equity investment with Australia’s Macquarie Bank

15 November 2018

–

Indonesia

INDONESIAN coal miner Geo Energy Resources has scored a three-in-one with Australia’s Macquarie Bank that will see the Singapore-listed firm secure more than US$75 million in fresh funds by way of a pre-payment for a coal offtake deal for its mine and proposed equity investment alongside a trade finance facility for which the sum was not disclosed.

Macquarie was selected based on its scale, international presence and experience in commodity trading; and Geo Energy will tap Macquarie’s expertise to develop a market for PT Tanah Bumbu Resources’ (TBR) coal, said Geo Energy executive chairman Charles Antonny Melati in an announcement on Thursday.

In the statement, the coal miner – founded and majority owned by Indonesia’s Melati family – said that its wholly owned unit Geo Coal International (HK) Limited (GCIHK) has inked a life-of-mine offtake contract with Macquarie for its mine in South Kalimantan.

In conjunction with the deal to buy TBR’s entire coal production subject to the Indonesian Domestic Market Obligation (DMO), Macquarie will make available to GCIHK a multi-year prepayment totalling US$60 million in three tranches and extend a trade finance facility to support its coal exports.

In addition, the bank – wholly owned by Australian-listed Macquarie Group, a diversified financial group with a A$40 billion market value – plans to subscribe for 70 million new Geo Energy shares representing 5 per cent of its enlarged capital at 29 Singapore cents apiece or for a total of S$20.3 million. Macquarie has agreed to hold the shares for at least one year.

Under the proposed subscription, Macquarie Bank also plans to subscribe for 74 million non-listed, transferable, free warrants in Geo Energy exercisable within two years from the issue date with each warrant carrying the right to subscribe for one Geo Energy share at an exercise price of 33 Singapore cents per share.

The price tag for the new shares and exercise price of the warrants represent a premium of 28.9 per cent and 46.7 per cent respectively to Geo Energy’s volume weighted average share price of 22.5 Singapore cents last Friday, prior to Monday’s trading halt pending the major announcement.

These proposed transactions that are inter-conditional will add a new substantial shareholder and investor and provide additional long-term recurrent revenue, said Geo Energy.

Upon subscribing to the equity and if Macquarie exercises the warrants, Geo Energy’s net gearing will be cut from 38.6 per cent as at end-June 2018 to 16.4 per cent. “As such, the prepayment and equity investment will strengthen our existing cash balance and balance sheet and will put us in a good position to grow our revenue base,” it added.

The proforma financial effects of the proposed transactions based on the group’s audited accounts for financial year ended December 2017 will see earnings per share reduced to 2.5 US cents (post issue of new subscription shares and warrant shares) from 2.8 US cents.

News Clipping

User Dashboard

Back To ACE

User Dashboard