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[HANOI] As a child, Nguy Thi Khanh used to lie in the grass in her Vietnamese village and watch toxic emissions from nearby coal plants float past like clouds. Today she is one of the few voices in Vietnam taking on the industry – a rare female climate crusader pushing for renewables in a country where dirty energy is on the rise.
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Filipinos pay the second-highest electricity prices in Asia. Thanks to a start-up, business consumers in the country are now able to receive competitive bids in real time from electricity suppliers. This has slashed their electricity costs by 10 per cent on average. Are households next?
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The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (MOIT) recently submitted Proposal No. 544 to the Prime Minister along with a new draft Decision on approval of the pilot program on direct power purchase agreement (DPPA) mechanisms between renewable energy developers/power generation companies and private power buyers/consumers (Draft DPPA Decision).
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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has cleared the entry of AC Energy Philippines Inc. in another solar power plant in Negros Occidental. PCC approved AC Energy’s acquisition of the stake of Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (PINAI) investors in Negros Island Solar Power Inc. (Islasol), which owns and operates an 80 megawatt solar farm in Negros Occidental.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Senate approved Wednesday on third and final reading a bill seeking to create a government think tank for the energy sector.
Under Senate Bill No. 1296, the proposed Philippine Energy Research and Policy Institute (PERPI) will perform critical research and policy development for needed reforms in the energy sector.
Senator Win Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on energy, said he envisions PERPI to “stand at the forefront of Philippine energy research and policy development, as an institution solely devoted to these pursuits.”
The PERPI will be established at the University of the Philippines (UP) and will operate under the Office of the UP President.
It will be steered by an executive board composed of scholars and energy sector professionals. Its executive director, a recognized expert in energy research and policy development, will be appointed by the UP president.
PERPI will also establish “linkages” with government and private institutions on existing energy research and policy studies, and shall likewise link with foreign entities for energy research and development and serve as the repository of all energy-related researches and studies.
As an independent, multidisciplinary institution, the body should ensure that its research endeavors will not be influenced or constrained by political affiliations, technological bias or other presuppositions.
The bill appropriates P200 million for the initial funding of the think tank. A special account for energy research will also be established and managed by the Bureau of Treasury which will recognize and accept grants, contributions, and donations.
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In an attempt to cut greenhouse gases and reach its emissions targets like Britain, Singapore will also phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2040.
In his budget speech earlier today, finance minister Heng Swee Keat said: “Our vision is to phase out ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and have all vehicles run on cleaner energy by 2040.”
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[Read: UK speeds up its ban on petrol, diesel, and hybrid cars by 5 years]
The country also has plans to expand its EV charging network from 1,600 points today, to 28,000 points by 2030, Reuters reports.
Keat also said the nation will offer a registration fee rebate on new electric vehicles and taxis.
Whether this will actually make an impact remains to be seen. Singapore is notoriously one of the most expensive places in the world to buy and own a car. The government places various levies on new car purchases to regulate the volume of vehicles in the market. As a result, ownership figures per capita are quite low.
According to the Singaporean Land Transport Authority, there are around 170 vehicles for every 1,000 citizens. In the US, this figure is over 800 vehicles per 1,000 citizens, in the UK it’s around 470 vehicles per 1,000. Banning petrol and diesel vehicles in nations where car ownership is high would obviously have a greater impact on global emissions.
Singapore is joining the likes of the UK when it comes to restricting and banning the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles.
Recently the UK pulled its ban on internal combustion cars forward by five years — originally pegged for 2040, the UK will now impose its ban starting from 2035.
Last week, the UK government put out a call to the public to comment on the terms of its proposed ban. It’s asking citizens to provide input on what should specifically be phased out, the phase out date, and any challenges it may experience by imposing the ban. If you want to have your say, you can comment here.
While the long term outlook shows strong government support for EVs, in the short term — particularly the year leading up to the ban — we should expect to see heavy discounts on soon-to-be outlawed combustion engine vehicles.
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MANILA, Philippines — While the Philippines is not beset by high levels of deadly micro-pollution, the country still has a very polluted air, a report on air quality worldwide suggests.
Last year, the Philippines’ annual mean for PM2.5—the most dangerous kind of airborne pollution—was pegged at 17.6 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m³), according to the latest World Air Quality Report.
This was higher that the safety limit set by the World Health Organization at 10 µg/m and the country’s PM2.5 pollution level in 2018 at 14.6 µg/m³.
Bangladesh emerged as the most PM2.5-toxic country in 2019, followed by Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan and India.
According to the study, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Western Asia carry the highest burden of PM2.5 pollution overall. Only six cities in these areas met the WHO annual targets.
“Southeast Asia’s emission sources include vehicle exhaust, biomass burning, industry and coal-based energy production. Rapid growth and development often exacerbates air quality conditions in metropolitan areas, as construction and increased energy consumption result in increased ambient PM2.5,” the report noted.
Indonesia topped the list of Southeast Asian countries with an annual mean of 51.7 µg/m³. It was followed by Vietnam (34.1 µg/m³) and Myanmar (31 µg/m³).
The Philippines ranked 57th out of 98 countries included in the report. Regionally, it ranked lowest among the nine countries.
The study also showed that four cities in the Philippines are among the cleanest in Southeast Asia. Calamba in Laguna topped the list, with Carmona in Cavite, Legazpi in Albay and Balanga in Bataan placing third, 10th and 11th respectively.
But environment groups in the Philippines said the quantity and placement of monitoring systems from which data were collected provide “only a small snapshot” of the threat of PM2.5 air pollutions.
Gia Ibay, climate and energy program head of the World Wildlife Fund Philippines, stressed that monitoring air quality has been a “perennial” challenge in the country.
“With the Philippine Clean Air Act and the standards contained therein being more than twenty years old, reports such as that of Air Visual should instead bolster the urgent need to improve our air quality monitoring systems, update our air quality standards and ensure that these are properly implemented,” she said.
“The Philippine government should see the data as an impetus to overhaul air quality monitoring systems in the country, as well as to transition away from highly polluting facilities such as coal plants,” Khevin Yu, Greenpeace Philippines campaigner, also said.
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UGE International Ltd. said it was tapped to build yet another solar rooftop power system for Cebu-based The Robin Group as well as for new clients in the Philippines, cementing the country’s status as the New York City-based firm’s market outside of North America.
Robin signed up for an additional project, located in Cebu, with a rated peak capacity of 395 kilowatts which was expected to be installed in the first half of 2020.
UGE said in a statement it was discussing with Robin, a contract manufacturer of toys for both domestic and overseas markets, opportunities for further expansion. It expects to install more solar power systems in addition to the existing projects in Cebu and Metro Manila.
This “provides Robin the opportunity to take further advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of solar power,” the company said.
Robin first engaged UGE in 2017 for a 500-kilowatt solar installation in Cebu that was completed in February 2019.
Building on the success of that first project, Robin signed up for three more sites, all of which are in Metro Manila, with their generating capacity totaling at 1.1 megawatts.
UGE said one of these three projects had been completed while the other two were expected to wrap up within this quarter.
Aside from Robin, UGE also announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding between UGE Philippines and Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT-U) for a 97-kw solar energy system for the latter’s high school building in Cebu City.“UGE Philippines also signed a contract with Lite Properties Inc. for a 200-kw project,” the parent firm said. “The solar system is sized to offset the electrical load of Lite Port Center, eliminating their exposure to the high electricity rates on Bohol Island.”
“With [these new] clients, UGE is actively evaluating additional buildings to add to its 2020 project schedule,” the company said.
UGE’s other completed projects in the Philippines include solar installations for Calamba Doctor’s Hospital in Laguna (150 kw), Perry’s Farm also in Laguna (90 kw), Nature’s Spring 1 in Cebu (475-kw phase 1 and 1,26
ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) is an intergovernmental organisation within ASEAN structure that represents the 10 ASEAN Member States’ (AMS) interests in the energy sector.
