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Phnom Penh looks to go green in its war on waste

3 October 2018

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Cambodia

Phnom Penh is looking to go green in its efforts to tackle the mountain of waste – nearly 3,000 tonnes – that the capital now produces each day, Keo Channarith, the director of the Dangkor Dumpsite Management Committee, said on Thursday.

“If we look at the figures over the past three years, the capital’s waste has increased by 60,000 tonnes per year, dramatically increasing to an average of 2,700 tonnes a day in 2018,” Channarith said.

A number of international companies want to invest in waste management in Cambodia, Channarith added, with Phnom Penh’s governor looking to those that can turn trash into electricity and compost.

“Discussions will be held with companies that are looking into this. The final report will be available later.”

“Companies from China, Japan, South Korea and Europe have in the past looked to invest in reprocessing waste in Cambodia. The municipal hall welcomes those interested in investing in waste reprocessing,” he said.

Sixty per cent of Phnom Penh’s rubbish is organic or household waste, which is ideal for compost. Channarith said the city is looking into whether this is a possible solution to its waste problem.

Plastic accounts for 18 per cent or 600 tonnes a day of Phnom Penh’s total waste, he said.

“We are looking at the same possibility with plastic. As we know, plastic waste does not decompose easily, so we are contacting certain companies to have plastic waste recycled as much as possible.”

“At the moment, there is only informal recycling via waste pickers. They pick only certain valuable and recyclable items to sell to recycling depots. We have yet to bring in a formal waste classification system,” Channarith said.

Ministry of Environment spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that rapid population growth and changes to people’s lifestyles and consumption habits, coupled with increased packaging on goods and a low level of recycling, has caused the amount of waste to increase significantly.

Disposing of waste, he said, is among the most challenging problems facing environmental management in Phnom Penh. And it requires the participation of residents in a collective effort to reduce pollution.

“If people and businesses, such as market vendors and the owners of services such as restaurants cooperate, waste can be classified as organic, plastic or hazardous, and be treated accordingly.

A woman lives near a pile of garbage at Meanchey commune in Phnom Penh. Pha Lina

“The rate of waste that is dumped, if all parties cooperate, will be less and certain waste can be reused and reprocessed to be useful and profitable for the people,” Channarith said.

Cambodian Education and Waste Management Organisation compost project manager Sam Phalla said in a single year, his organisation processes 40 to 50 tonnes of organic waste in Battambang province and turns it into compost.

“We can process more than this and it is easy to classify. After processing the waste, farmers purchase compost from our organisation. Compost made of waste costs $120 per tonne,” he said.

According to Channarith, a major problem in tackling the increasing amount of waste and improving recycling rates is people’s poor understanding of waste classification and the importance of recycling for their own health as well as that of the planet.

“Our people do not understand how to best to reduce their waste. They just know that they need to remove it from their homes,” he said.

But Phalla has no doubt about how to handle the massive increase in waste: “The best solution is to recycle,” he said.and certain waste can be reused and reprocessed to be useful and profitable for the people,” Channarith said.

“We can process more than this and it is easy to classify. After processing the waste, farmers purchase compost from our organisation. Compost made of waste costs $120 per tonne,” he said.

“Our people do not understand how to best reduce their waste. They just know that they need to remove it from their homes,” he said.

But Phalla has no doubt about how to handle the massive increase in waste: “The best solution is to recycle.”

Analysis: Thailand excels as most flexible sweet crude buyer in Southeast Asia

3 October 2018

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Thailand

Singapore — The strong uptrend in international outright crude prices has prompted Thailand to actively diversify its crude supply sources so far this year and the country may earn the title as the most flexible sweet crude importer in Southeast Asia, with state-run PTT picking up more than 10 different low sulfur grades from across the globe since the second quarter.

Battling against rising benchmark crude prices and sharp depreciation in domestic currencies, some of the major Southeast Asian energy consumers including Indonesia and Vietnam have been urged to maximize the use of domestic crude production to slash their energy import bills and current account deficits.

However, with Thailand’s own domestic crude production only enough to cover around 20% of its overall refining requirements, it had stepped up efforts to seek the most economical spot crude cargoes from as far as the US and Libya, industry sources said.

“[PTT] is not exactly that flexible … but not afraid to try new and different options,” a trade source at the state-run Thai company said, adding that Thailand remains keen to import more US crude.

The long list of low sulfur crude grades snapped up by PTT in the international spot market over the past several months includes Australia’s Gippsland Blend and Cooper Basin crude, the US Bakken crude and WTI Midland, Nigeria’s Agbami, Vietnam’s Hai Thach condensate and Libya’s Wafa condensate.

Most recently, PTT bought via spot tender 300,000 barrels of Libyan Bu Attifel crude for the very first time, trade sources with close knowledge of the deal said.

The cargo is expected to reach Thailand’s IRPC refinery in Rayong around November 5-20.

Bu Attifel is a light sweet crude with gravity of 43.6 API and sulfur content of 0.03%, according to the assay of the grade seen by S&P Global Platts.

Sources said the company likely picked the Libyan crude grade over others as Southeast Asian sweet crude grades were not competitive currently.

Malaysian light sweet Kimanis crude for one, which often feeds refineries in Thailand, saw its spot differential surge to an 11-month high earlier this month.

Platts assessed the grade at a premium of $4.35/b to Platts Dated Brent on September 4, its highest differential since October 2017.

THAI BAHT ADVANTAGE

Thai currency baht’s outperformance in the regional money market may have helped Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy insulate against rising oil prices to some extent, placing PTT in a much more comfortable position than other Southeast Asian refiners to shop for crude across the globe, energy market analysts said.

The Thai currency has been strengthening against the US dollar so far during the third quarter and emerged as one of the top performers in the Asian foreign exchange market. The dollar/baht pair fell from Baht 33.33 in mid-July to 32.34 Thursday and the pair remains steady for the year so far, hovering near the Baht 32.30-32.60 range seen during the first week of January.

“Stronger currency doesn’t necessarily give you the right to go out and buy expensive crude … but it gives you the confidence to go try different options,” said J.W Shon, commodities and energy market research analyst at SK Securities.

In stark contrast, Vietnam’s dong and Indonesia’s rupiah were among the slew of emerging market Asian currencies to take a significant hit so far in Q3 amid widening current account deficits and macro-economic uncertainties surrounding the US-China trade war.

The dollar/dong exchange rate surged above Dong 23,300 to reach an all-time high last month, while the dollar/rupiah surged above Rupiah 15,300 earlier this month to hit a fresh 20-year high, according to 24-hourly dollar/dong and dollar/rupiah candlestick charts seen by Platts.

Reflecting Indonesia’s faltering spending power, state-run energy firm Pertamina has failed to extend previous years’ spot cargo buying spree from Africa and the Mediterranean markets in 2018, market sources said.

Latest data from Statistics Indonesia showed that the country’s crude exports and imports both tumbled 9% and 37% year on year respectively in July amid Jakarta’s ongoing efforts to maximize the use of local resources to slash energy import bills.

In Vietnam, state-run Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company’s refinery at Dung Quat continues to feed primarily on domestic medium and heavy sweet grades including Bach Ho, Su Tu Den, Thang Long and Ruby.

“In general, [Dung Quat] always prefers domestic crude,” an industry source with close knowledge of the refinery operation said.

The country’s new 200,000 b/d refinery at Nghi Son depends on Kuwait for the majority of its crude feedstock requirements and the plant has not been seen procuring other crude grades from the international market, industry sources said.

Ensuring energy security also vital: Tan Wu Meng

3 October 2018

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Singapore

Singaporeans may know how crucial water security is to the Republic’s survival, but they also need to keep an eye on its energy security.

After all, the country’s water facilities such as Newater and desalination plants require large amounts of energy to operate, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Trade and Industry and Foreign Affairs Tan Wu Meng said yesterday.

Energy security was thrust further into the limelight after Tuesday’s power outage, he said at the Energy Innovation event organised by the Energy Market Authority (EMA).

“I was up late that night after meeting some of my residents and saw the social media reports. And also saw the many e-mails and WhatsApp messages from the EMA team which was working hard throughout the night.”

On Tuesday at 1.18am, 146,797 residential and commercial customers were plunged into darkness for 38 minutes, Singapore’s worst blackout in 14 years.

He said that two tripping power generating units were the cause, adding: “EMA is continuing its investigations. Whatever the findings – we will learn, we will improve.”

At the event, a $15 million research grant was awarded to academics from a range of institu-tions to improve the resilience of Singapore’s power systems and energy markets.

LEARNING FROM BLACKOUT

I was up late that night after meeting some of my residents and saw the social media reports. And also saw the many e-mails and WhatsApp messages from the EMA team which was working hard throughout the night… EMA is continuing its investigations. Whatever the findings – we will learn, we will improve.

DR TAN WU MENG, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Trade and Industry and Foreign Affairs.

The seven projects, chosen by EMA and scheduled to end by 2021, will be carried out in collaboration with industry players, and use technology such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.

To strengthen the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to create and export solar energy and energy management products, EMA and Enterprise Singapore also jointly issued a grant call that closes on Nov 23.

The Government is also extending the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme to graduates from polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education who are pursuing power-engineering roles in the public sector, giving each individual $5,000.

This, said Dr Tan, is the first of many such new programmes that power-engineering workers in the public sector can expect.

Referring to the seven projects that are receiving $15 million in total, EMA chief executive Ngiam Shih Chun said the power industry must ride on emerging trends transforming the energy sector, such as smart grids.

“While Singapore has one of the world’s most stable and reliable power systems, this cannot be taken for granted,” he said.

The institutions involved in the projects include the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore University of Technology and Design.

One of the projects aims to create software that analyses large and complex power systems by machine learning, thus allowing it to immediately detect attacks on any part of the network.

The project’s principal investigator, Professor David Yau from the Singapore University of Technology and Design, said: “We believe that it is not possible to create defences on the perimeters of these systems because attackers are smart and could also attack from within the organisation.”

He said: “With our software, we can learn the normal profile of the network so that it will be able to send out an alert the moment it detects something that isn’t supposed to happen.”

His $1.5 million project is being carried out in collaboration with ST Engineering’s electronics sector.

Singapore consumers can choose electricity provider from November

3 October 2018

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Singapore

SINGAPORE: From November, all 1.4 million electricity consumers in Singapore will have the option of choosing their preferred electricity price plans from as many as 12 providers.

With the nationwide roll-out of the Open Electricity Market, consumers will no longer have to buy electricity from SP Group at a regulated tariff that is reviewed quarterly. This option, however, remains available to consumers if they do not wish to switch, said the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on Friday (Sep 21) while announcing the roll-out.

The expansion of the open market initiative will be done in stages, beginning Nov 1 with households and business accounts that have postal codes that begin with 58 to 78. This includes districts in Choa Chu Kang, Yishun, Sembawang and Upper Bukit Timah.

This will be followed by the adjacent geographical zone that have postal codes starting with 53 to 57, 79 to 80, 82 to 83 next January; 34 to 52, and 81, from Mar 1; and lastly, the zone with postal codes starting with 01 to 33 in May.

This progressive launch over six months will help authorities and electricity retailers to focus their efforts on engaging and educating consumers, said the EMA.

Prior to each roll-out, the consumers – about 350,000 households and businesses in each zone – will receive a notification package and information booklet. Consumers can also compare the price plans by visiting http://compare.openelectricitymarket.sg.

EMA said a “good mix” of independent retailers and those with power-generation assets will be involved in the expanded Open Electricity Market. They are Best Electricity, Environmental Solutions, Geneco, ISwitch, Keppel Electric, Ohm Energy, PacificLight Energy, Sembcorp Power, Senoko Energy, SingNet, Tuas Power and Union Power.

SOFT LAUNCH IN JURONG “WELL RECEIVED”

Currently, only consumers in Jurong – comprising 108,000 households and 9,500 businesses – can choose their electricity price plan from more than 10 retailers under a pilot programme launched on Apr 1.

More than 30 per cent of Jurong consumers have since switched to a retailer, instead of remaining on the regulated tariff with SP Group – a result that EMA chief executive Ngiam Shih Chun described as “well-received” and “successful”, compared to the single-digit take-up rate in other parts of the world.

“Jurong residents benefitted from more choices and flexibility. Those who switched paid an electricity rate which was on average about 20 per cent lower than the regulated tariff,” said Mr Ngiam.

He stressed that the initiative is not compulsory and is aimed at providing consumers with more competitively-priced and innovative options.

Speaking to the media after the announcement, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said that the positive feedback gathered from the soft launch in Jurong has given the Government confidence that the rest of Singapore is ready for a fully-liberalised power market.

“We have done this carefully and progressively (and) we have collated our experiences to make sure that when we roll it out to the rest of the country, we will have the least problems possible,” he said.

From the Jurong pilot, stakeholders learnt that consumers feel overwhelmed at the number of retailers and the wide variety of plans offered.

As such, EMA will remove the peak and off-peak plans, and simplify standard plans offered by retailers to just fixed price plans and a discount-off-the-regulated-tariff plan. The former saw a low take-up rate of less than 1 per cent during the soft launch, according to EMA.

The statutory board also standardised the duration of the price plans to six months, one year and two years. Retailers had started offering trial plans as short as three months, which were not reasonable and could be confusing for consumers, said Mr Ngiam.

FOUR RETAILERS EXIT NATIONWIDE LAUNCH

The EMA has progressively opened up the electricity market to competition since 2001, starting with larger businesses with higher electricity consumption, and is now in the final phase to open up the local power market fully to competition.

While the freedom to pick customised price plans is similar to how one would pick a mobile telco, the Open Electricity Market differs in that the national power grid will remain operated by the SP Group to ensure supply reliability.

So even if a retailer exits the market, there will be no disruption to electricity supply as consumers will continue to receive electricity through the national power grid, EMA said.

Four retailers that participated in the Jurong pilot have opted out of the nationwide launch. EMA said these electricity providers – Diamond Electric, Red Dot Power, Sun Electric and Sunseap – will be required to inform their 500 consumers and to honour the contracts until the end.

When contacted, Red Dot Power said that it is currently upgrading its digital delivery platform, including integrating its electricity retail offering with residential solar and electricity consumption optimisation solutions.

“In view of this, Red Dot Power has decided to delay the participation in the Open Electricity Market till a later date,” it wrote in an emailed response to Channel NewsAsia. It will rejoin the Open Electricity Market “soon … with an enhanced digital platform”, it added.

Similarly, Singapore-based sustainable energy firm Sunseap said it continues to set its sights on the full launch while it upgrades its systems and suite of products.

Mr Laurence Kwan, its vice president of energy, told Channel NewsAsia that the company is undergoing a “system upgrade”, which includes streamlined billing and payment experiences, and stressed that the company is “in for the long haul”.

Both companies sought to assure their customers in Jurong that there will be no power disruptions and that they will continue to honour the contracts signed.

Indonesia July coal exports hit 4-year high

3 October 2018

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Indonesia

(Montel) Indonesia’s coal exports rose 20% year on year in July to a four-year high on the back of strong Chinese demand and high export prices, Bank Indonesia data showed on Thursday.

The world’s leading thermal coal exporter shipped 1.24m tonnes/day, up by 4% on the month and the highest level since March 2014.

Exports in the first seven-months of the year were 14% higher than in January-July 2017, at 248m tonnes, the data showed.

Indonesia’s energy ministry set its July coal reference price at a year-to-date high of USD 104.65/t, amid growing demand from China, with the price rising further to USD 107.83/t in August.

Chinese coal and lignite imports in July rose by nearly 50% year on year to a 4.5-year high of 936,000t/day, according to customs data.

Last month Indonesia revised up its coal production target for this year by 5% to 510m tonnes, in order to boost foreign currency earnings.

3,000 charging stations for EVs by end 2019

3 October 2018

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Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: About 3,000 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) will be set up by the end of next year nationwide to cater for the rising interest in EVs.

BMW Group head of product management Dr Alexander Kotouc said BMW Malaysia aims to leverage on plans by Green Technology Malaysia Corporation (Green Technology) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd Energy Services (TNB ES) to set up about 1,000 charging stations by the end of this year alone.

“Under the initiative between Green Technology and TNBES, it is expected Malaysia will see 1,000 charging stations at various locations nationwide by the end of this year.

“To date, there are about 400 stations but there is a strong target of setting up 3,000 stations by the end of 2019 and they are looking at automotive partners that have the technology and interested to introduce it in Malaysia.

“After the policy was created, BMW was the first carmaker to introduce our fleet of high-performance hybrid cars into Malaysia and sales have gone up since,” he said in a press briefing after his earlier keynote session titled “Future Utility and Sustainable Development”.

With new business model opportunity opening up in tandem with the rising interest in electric vehicles, BMW Group Malaysia plans to leverage on the charging stations business disruption in Malaysia.

In October last year, Petronas Daganagan Bhd, GreenTech Malaysia and TNB ES entered into a tripartite agreement to install 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, ChargEV, by 2018.

Due to overwhelming response from vehicle owners and automakers alike, the number of stations has risen and TNB ES has increased its target to 1,000 this year.

The working partnership, Kotouc said, is timely and suitable that an energy company and a government agency is taking the lead in implementing the charging solutions in driving the green energy growth initiatives.

“Malaysia is definitely a key market for our electric vehicle and we see the numbers going up. We foresee about 56 per cent plug in hybrid sales for next year as well,” he added.

The ChargEV charging stations is currently free for electric vehicles nationwide.

Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional in talks to increase stake in green energy firms

3 October 2018

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Malaysia

Tenaga Nasional Bhd, the most valuable listed utility company in emerging Asia, is looking to sell its gas-fired power plant in Pakistan as it pushes forward with a plan to rely more on renewable sources of energy. Malaysia’s state-owned electricity producer wants to reduce reliance on fossil fuel, which accounts for about 70 percent of its power generation, Chief Executive Officer Azman Mohd said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. The company is also considering increasing its stake in Turkey’s Gama Enerji AS that produces electricity using water, wind and natural gas, he said. “Our strategy is to invest in a combination of developed countries and emerging countries, contracted and market, fossil fuel and renewable — we are increasing our renewable,” Azman said in his first interview with international media since taking the helm in 2012. Tenaga has a market value of nearly 90 billion ringgit ($21.7 billion), beating publicly traded peers including India’s NTPC Ltd. and China’s Huaneng Power International Inc. The Malaysian company’s push toward sustainable sources of electricity aligns with the agenda set out by Energy Minister Yeo Bee Yin, who said this week that she’s confident of meeting a 20 percent renewable energy target by 2030, from 2 percent currently. Tenaga wants to produce 1,700 megawatts from green energy by 2025, from 280 megawatts, according to a December investor presentation. That compares with the company’s total installed capacity of 24,139 megawatts, enough to power at least 1.6 million mid-sized homes. Azman declined to give pricing details for the deals in Pakistan or Turkey as both are still in exploration stages. Tenaga owns 30 percent of Gama Enerji with more than 1,100 megawatts of installed power in Turkey, as well as a 235-megawatt power plant in Pakistan’s Sindh province. The company seeks to build up its international investments, including its power assets in the U.K. and India, until they account for 20 percent of earnings by 2025, according to its website. Internet Plan “Shareholders’ returns is always paramount,” Azman said. “So we are always looking at the gearing, and that’s why we are talking about monetizing certain things because we have to maintain the gearing at an optimum level.” Tenaga has total debt of 47.6 billion ringgit as well as cash and equivalents of 14.6 billion ringgit as of June 30, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Azman said utilities need to find better ways of offering electricity to customers and can’t afford to be complacent given technological advances. Tenaga is exploring the potential of using its network to deliver internet connection, with a pilot project started in the southern state of Malacca to assess the plan’s viability, according to a stock exchange filing last month. The pilot is set to be completed this year and the company will be able to start seeking approvals from the government after that, Azman said. “Technology is very disruptive, it’s changing the business model, it’s changing the way people operate,” he said. “So on utility now, the thinking again is how to offer better electricity than you can generate on your own.”

Despite Tuesday’s blackout, SIngapore’s power backup procedures are in place: Chan Chun Sing

3 October 2018

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Singapore

SINGAPORE: Preliminary investigations following this week’s power outages across multiple estates in Singapore suggest that the country’s backup procedures are in place and working fine, said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing on Friday (Sep 21).

This is illustrated by how it took just 15 minutes for the system to be restarted when two power-generating units – one at Sembcorp Cogen and the other owned by Senoko Energy – tripped early on Tuesday, causing multiple parts of Singapore to be hit by blackouts.

However, he stressed that the Government is taking the opportunity to review these procedures and that he would like to assure Singaporeans there is sufficient capacity in the system to handle such incidents.

While the source of the problem was quickly detected with the announcement of the preliminary investigations by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) a day later, Mr Chan said further tests are underway with the EMA working closely with the generation companies and their original equipment suppliers to establish why the units tripped.

“They have been able to quickly zoom in on the source of the problem, but we are conducting further tests because some of these components are used by plants in Singapore and other parts of the world,” he said.

“We are also looking at the opportunity to review our backup procedures to make sure that the procedures are working fine,” said Mr Chan. “Our preliminary investigations show that our backup procedures are in place.”

This can be seen by how the system was restarted after 15 minutes of the blackout, with power to the system progressively restored over the next 13 minutes.

On that, Mr Chan elaborated: “When the first system failed, our backup system kicked in immediately and even when that failed, we had sufficient capacity to restart after 15 minutes. That was what happened and hence within 38 minutes, we were able to fully restore power to the system.”

For buildings that suffered intermittent power failure after that, it was due to how these buildings needed to reset their individual internal systems, he added.

“I’ll like to assure Singaporeans that we have sufficient capacity in our system and this is what we have demonstrated that night,” said Mr Chan, while adding that it is “too premature” to talk about penalties for the companies involved.

MORE CHOICES WITH EXPANDED OPEN ELECTRICITY MARKET

Mr Chan was speaking to the media following the announcement of a nationwide roll-out for the Open Electricity Market – an initiative by EMA to open the local electricity market to competition and allow consumers in Singapore to pick a preferred electricity provider.

At the moment, only those in Jurong, comprising about 108,000 household and 9,500 business accounts, are allowed to go shopping for electricity, as part of a pilot launch put in place since Apr 1. Other households buy electricity solely from SP Group at a regulated tariff that is reviewed quarterly.

Since the start of the soft launch, authorities have received positive feedback from the more than 30 per cent in Jurong who have switched to a retailer, said Mr Chan.

This has given the Government confidence that the rest of Singapore is ready for a fully-liberalised power market, he added.

“The reason for us to open up the electricity market is to make sure there’ll be retailers offering more competitive choices to our consumers, mainly the households.

While a couple of electricity retailers have decided not to continue with the nationwide roll-out, the minister stressed that this will not affect electricity supply in any way as affected customers will still receive their power through the national grid operated by SP Group.

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