News Clipping Archive - Page 1072 of 1316

Energy Cooperation

Đồng Nai to cooperate with RoK on energy industry

6 September 2019

–

Vietnam

HÀ NỘI — The southern province of Đồng Nai’s authorities and delegation from the Jeollanam Province in the Republic of Korea (RoK) on Thursday signed co-operation agreement on energy industry.

Under the agreement, the two sides will co-ordinate the development of new renewable energy, smart grids, information on energy and energy technology, and energy efficiency.

Jeollanam Province will support Đồng Nai training experts and workers while co-operating in many electrical energy projects and new energy industries.

According to vice chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Nguyễn Hòa Hiệp, RoK is leading the countries and territories investing in Đồng Nai with 395 projects with a total registered capital of about US$6.3 billion.

RoK firms mainly invest in industrial production in the province with industries such as textiles, footwear, textile fibers, machinery, iron and steel products, electronics.

Hiệp also noted that Đồng Nai is a province with a developed industry, so the demand for power is very huge. In 2019, the province is expected to consume about 14 billion kW. Therefore, the development of renewable energy sources, new energy as well as deployment of smart electricity grid is essential.

Jeollanam’s deputy governor Yoon Byung Tae assessed that Đồng Nai has large renewable energy resources, with many industrial parks suitable for developing new, renewable and intelligent power networks.

Jeollanam Province is the largest place for researching and applying renewable energy in RoK, he added.

After signing a cooperation agreement with Đồng Nai Province, Jeollanam will support the implementation of projects while introducing businesses to invest in Đồng Nai in the field of energy.

At the signing ceremony, the Korea Electric Power Research Institute also signed a contract with Taekwang Vina Industrial Joint Stock Company (located in Biên Hòa 2 Industrial Park) to implement the micro-grid project. This project will help the company save a lot of electricity consumption in use and production. — VNS

Energy Cooperation

Energy deparment’s Cusi leads Philippines delegation for Amem 37 in Bangkok

6 September 2019

–

Philippines

BANGKOK, THAILAND—Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi headed the Philippine Delegation for the 37th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting (Amem 37) and Associated Meetings being held from September 2 to 6, 2019.

Slated for the event is a series of Ministerial Meetings, which includes the Amem-International Energy Agency Dialogue, Amem-International Renewable Energy Agency Dialogue, 13th East Asia Summit Energy Ministers Meeting and the 16th Amem+3 Meeting. In addition, the Ministers-CEO Dialogue under the 2019 Asean Energy Business Forum, which highlights various energy-related concerns within the region and its dialogue partners, would, likewise, take place.

“The annual Amem is always a great opportunity for the Philippines to reach out to our Asean partners and showcase our most recent achievements in the energy sector. Moreover, we are able to explore potential energy cooperation endeavors to help us attain our energy goals, particularly energy security, equity, and resiliency,” Cusi said during the Amem’s opening ceremony.

With this year’s theme “Advancing Energy Transition through Partnership and Innovation,” Amem 37 intends to further strengthen collaboration among Asean member-countries, their regional partners, and international organizations through the formulation of sustainable solutions that would promote closer regional integration and establish the Asean as a major economic block.

At present, the Asean has achieved an energy intensity reduction level of 24.4 percent, consistent with the Asean Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation Strategy target to reduce EI by 20 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, the renewable-energy share in Asean’s Total Primary Energy Supply reached 14.3 percent in 2017, with the APAEC Strategy calling to increase the RE component in the Asean’s Total Primary Energy Mix to 23 percent by 2025.

On the matter of promoting regional power integration, the Asean Energy Ministers noted the supplemental multilateral electricity trade among Lao PDR, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore under the Energy Purchase and Wheeling Agreement. The Supplementary EPWA upgrades the tradable capacity of Phase 1 of the LTMS Power Integration Project, which was signed during the Philippine hosting of Amem 35 in 2017.

Cusi will also be holding bilateral meetings with the United States-Asean Business Council, US State Department, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan to advance the Philippines’s energy agenda.

Other members of the official Philippine Delegation to Amem 37 include Energy Senior Undersecretary Jesus Cristino P. Posadas, Assistant Secretary Gerardo D. Erguiza Jr., Department of Energy’s Policy and Planning (EPPB) Bureau Director Jesus T. Tamang, and EPPB-Energy Cooperation and Coordination Division Chief Lilian C. Fernandez.

Facebook Facebook Messenger Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Gmail WhatsApp Kindle It Viber Yahoo Mail Evernote Instapaper LinkedIn SMS PrintFriendly

Energy Cooperation

IEA and ASEAN: “Key strategic partners” in pursuit of Southeast Asia’s energy goals

6 September 2019

–

ASEAN

Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director, took part in the 37th ASEAN Ministers of Energy Meeting (AMEM) in Bangkok on 4 September.

Dr Birol gave the opening presentation of the AMEM, discussing with Ministers the energy challenges facing ASEAN, as set out in the IEA’s forthcoming 2019 Southeast Asia Energy Outlook, and presenting the results of the IEA’s extensive work with ASEAN. As part of this, he highlighted the results of the IEA’s work in response to the ministerial mandates it received at the 2018 AMEM in Singapore, related to how the region can boost regional power trade, boost energy efficiency and speed up renewables integration.

ASEAN ministers released a Joint Ministerial Statement at the completion of the AMEM that expressed their “appreciation to the IEA Executive Director for contributing to stronger ASEAN-IEA institutional ties and advancing ASEAN energy priorities.” They confirmed that “the IEA is a key strategic partner to ASEAN in helping the region tackle its energy challenges across all fuels and all technologies”. Ministers also called for further “strengthening of the ASEAN-IEA partnership in 2019-2020, specifically through joint projects to increase regional power trade and renewables integration, enhance buildings energy efficiency, boost energy security and enhance energy data quality.”

On the margins of AMEM, Dr Birol met with ministers from various Southeast Asian countries, including three IEA Association countries (Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore) and the next AMEM chair, Viet Nam, to discuss the IEA’s engagement with the region and with the countries bilaterally.

While in Bangkok, Dr Birol also gave a special address at the ASEAN Energy Business Forum. His remarks focused on key global trends in energy markets and their implications for Southeast Asia.

Energy Cooperation

Renewed gas field talks eyed

6 September 2019

–

Thailand

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to consider reopening talks on the development of the energy-rich, overlapping claims area (OCA) in the Gulf of Thailand claimed by both countries.

The resolution was revealed by Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong, following a meeting with the Cambodian Minister of Mines and Energy on the sidelines of the 37th Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting (Amem) in Bangkok.

The meeting started on Monday and is scheduled to end on Friday.

In the discussion, representatives from both countries agreed that the OCA should be developed in a way that benefits both Thailand and Cambodia, and that the talks should be held “as quickly as possible”.

“We are looking at the best way to resume discussion on the matter after several decades of delay,” said Mr Sontirat.

“While a definite time frame has not been agreed on, Cambodia will be informed once we manage to clear the hurdles on our side. Hopefully the discussion can resume then.”

Mr Sontirat also said that both countries have agreed in principle that the OCA should be developed for mutual interests.

“As fast-growing economies, both Thailand and Cambodia need more gas sources to meet the increasing domestic demand for power.”

The minister also said that he hopes Thailand and Cambodia can strike a deal similar to the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area (JDA), which allows each country to claim 50% of the area’s total gas output.

Mr Sontirat also said that Thailand has asked Cambodia to come up with measures to attract Thai private energy firms, as well as Thailand’s state-owned firms, to invest in Cambodia’s energy sector.

The minister also said that Thailand has offered to sell some of its electricity to Cambodia, which still cannot produce enough electricity to meet its domestic demand.

“The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand will try to ink a deal with Cambodia in the near future,” Mr Sontirat said.

At the event, Mr Sontirat also said that Asean will push for a multilateral electricity trading scheme among its members and increase the regional bloc’s renewable energy target to 23% by 2025.

He said that Asean is ready to deal with new challenges in the energy sector and move towards the era of sustainable energy.

Mr Sontirat added that the Asean Centre for Energy and the National Science and Technology Development Agency will sign an agreement to work together for the research and development of bio-mass energy and carbon recycling technology.

He said that the deal includes an agreement for more power sharing between Thailand, Laos and Malaysia.

At the meeting, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand agreed on a second power purchase agreement under the Laos, Thailand and Malaysia Power Integration Project (LTM-PIP).

The agreement aims to raise electricity sent from Laos via Thailand’s power grid to Malaysia by up to 300 megawatts (mW) in 2021, an increase from the first batch of 100mW.

Regarding bilateral talks between Thailand and Myanmar on the sidelines of Amem, Mr Sontirat said that the two countries have agreed to set up a joint working panel to study the technical aspects, possible quantities and prices for power purchases via a transmission line which cuts through Mae Sot district in Tak province from Myawaddy in Myanmar.

Renewables

Bids of US$42/MWh emerge as Malaysia set to pick winners of latest PV tender

5 September 2019

–

Malaysia

Solar players have offered tariffs around the US$40/MWh mark as they competed at Malaysia’s latest industry tender, in figures emerging as the country prepares to select the winners.

The lowest bid recorded under the third round of country’s large-scale solar (LSS) programme came in at RM177.77/MWh (around US$42/MWh), recent government documents show.

The figures, released by Malaysia’s Energy Commission (EC), indicate the cheapest tariff was put forward by a project designed with a capacity of 100MWac.

Much like its round two predecessor, Malaysia’s LSS round 3 has been heavily oversubscribed, triggering far stronger bidding volumes than its planned 500MWac size could accommodate.

The EC’s update lists a total of 112 solar project applicants, of which some 40 are requesting support for a planned size of 100MWac.

All solar bids but one came in at prices below RM325/MWh (around US$77/MWh), the exception being a 9.9MW applicant that proposed tariffs of RM580/MWh (around US$138/MWh)

Formally launched in February, the LSS 3 round will offer 1-100MWac winners power purchase agreements (PPA) with utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Commissioning is due in 2021.

The predecessor round, meant to auction 460MWac, ended up offering a slightly larger 563MWac when the results were announced in December 2017.

Approached by PV Tech at the time, Nazrin Misher, business development executive of local EPC provider Maqo Group, said the roster of LSS 2 winners held “few surprises”. Most successful bidders were already large and established players or consortia, Misher pointed out.

Malaysia was home to an installed PV capacity of 438MW last year, according to IRENA’s estimates. The country, the host of Solar Media’s PV ModuleTech conference, witnessed in July the commercial launch of Scatec Solar’s 66MW Merchang project.

Recent analysis by Wood Mackenzie suggests the Southeast Asian state remains one of the priciest solar markets in the Asia-Pacific region, with levelised costs of electricity (LCOEs) of US$88.6/MWh only surpassed only by Japan and Indonesia.

Energy Policy

Parliament: New zero-waste law to compel big firms to take greater action

5 September 2019

–

Singapore

The fight against Singapore’s mountain of trash will soon pack a bigger punch, with new zero-waste legislation to compel big companies to do something about their waste.

The Resource Sustainability Bill, which was passed in Parliament yesterday, will make it mandatory for some large producers of waste to re-use and recycle more. This will allow Singapore to treat waste the way it treats water – by wringing value from every last drop.

Calling the Act a “big stride” that the Government has taken to catalyse waste reduction, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor told Parliament that tackling climate change in a resource-constrained future is a massive challenge that calls for bigger weapons.

“The shift from a voluntary to mandatory approach in ensuring resource sustainability is not something the Government takes lightly, but only after careful consideration and consultation,” she said.

The law will, for the first time, put in place a “systems-level approach that mandates key responsibilities to enable reuse and recycling nationwide”, said Dr Khor.

It will also help Singapore squeeze more value from waste. This could be done through turning incineration ash into construction material, extracting gold and precious metals from discarded electronics, and producing energy from food waste, she pointed out.

All 16 MPs who took part in yesterday’s debate supported the Bill, with many offering suggestions on how Singapore can go even further to achieve its zero-waste ambition.

Dr Khor said that turning trash into treasure will not only ensure a ready supply of resources for Singapore, buffering the country against global supply shocks, but it will also create new economic and job opportunities.

“Preliminary studies have estimated that if Singapore recovers and reuses materials from electronic waste, we can reap a net benefit of $40 million,” she said. “Figuratively speaking, we can look at Semakau not as a landfill for trash, but as a treasure island right in our very own backyard.”

The new Act gives regulatory teeth to waste-reducing measures in three streams – electronic waste (e-waste), food waste and packaging waste, including plastics. These waste streams have relatively high generation and low recycling rates.

To tackle e-waste, for example, the Act introduces a regulated e-waste management system, under which companies that manufacture or import regulated products for the local market will be made responsible for the collection and proper treatment of their e-waste.

It also entails a mandatory packaging reporting framework, which is meant to raise corporate awareness of the benefits of reducing packaging and to encourage companies to do so.

Food waste will be tackled with measures including new regulations that will make it mandatory for the owners and operators of commercial premises where large amounts of food waste are generated, such as malls and large hotels, to segregate their food waste for treatment.

Telco StarHub operates the Renew programme, a company-led e-waste recycling network for customers to safely dispose of e-waste.

StarHub chief corporate officer Veronica Lai said: “Having more retailers, manufacturers and importers join the journey to reduce, reuse and recycle will amplify the efforts towards a circular economy to mitigate against climate change.”

Energy-Climate & Environment

Big problem if Singapore doesn’t think ahead on climate change: PM Lee

5 September 2019

–

Singapore

After Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the Government will spend an estimated $100 billion in the long term to protect Singapore from rising sea levels, some people asked him: Why not take those funds to help the needy now?

“But if we don’t pay attention to 50, 100 years from now, I think you are going to have a big problem before 50 and 100 years come,” PM Lee said yesterday at a forum with Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) students.

Climate change is something that will happen in Singaporeans’ and their children’s lifetimes, and the Government’s approach is to look ahead and prepare for such future challenges, even while tackling short-term priorities, he noted.

In his National Day Rally last month, PM Lee had set out the threat of climate change and measures to mitigate its effects.

Speaking at the SUSS’ inaugural ministerial forum, he said responses to his National Day Rally showed that climate change resonated more with young Singaporeans because they saw the urgency of the problem and wanted to do something about it. Older Singaporeans focused more on immediate issues like the economy.

A student asked whether Singapore’s spending on climate change mitigation was futile, in the light of the United States pulling out of the Paris Agreement, a global climate change pact agreed to by nearly 200 countries. PM Lee replied: “We can’t force other countries to do what we think we would like them to do. All we can do is our share.”

But if other countries still do not do their part, then Singapore has to protect itself, he said. “And if need be, more than ($100 billion), in order to make sure that if the sea levels rise, Singapore does not become a smaller island, which otherwise is very much on the cards.”

He also contrasted Singapore’s long-term approach with the immediate political and resource pressures facing governments around the world, from population growth to agricultural land and coal mining.

“I don’t think those are pressures which governments can easily ignore because if you ignore, then somebody else will turn up… the government which wants to be green is kicked out.

“All we can do is to say, let’s work at this together. There is a Paris accord, it is a first step. It is not enough, but it is a step in the right direction… If we

Others

South China Sea: Beijing risks infuriating Vietnam as it eyes oil and gas reserve

5 September 2019

–

Vietnam

The vessel is called Lan Jing and is thought to be the largest one in the world. It belongs to state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and sails under the Hong Kong flag. China has used it before in the South China Sea to install large oil rigs.

CNOOC did not say why it ventured into the Vietnamese exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

But it has been reported it could be a ploy by Beijing to disrupt Vietnam’s oil and gas exploration with its partner, a Russian petroleum company called Rosneft.

Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, based at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said: “Imagine Vietnam has to stretch its limited maritime forces capacity, not only in Vanguard Bank but also over Lan Jing.

“This could complicate the situation for Vietnam which already faces a yawning asymmetry with China in terms of maritime forces capacity.

Beijing has been accused of plotting to disrupt Vietnam’s oil and gas exploration (Image: GETTY)

“What China is doing could provoke a stronger domestic backlash within Vietnam, compelling the Vietnamese political elites to act, which may include allowing nationalistic sentiments to come into the picture as a counteraction to this new Chinese act.”

The ship was tracked by Marine Traffic, a website where information on vessel movements can be found.

The crane ship came from the Chinese coastal city of Zhanjiang last month.

It arrived just 90 km off the shore of Quang Ngai, which is located in the middle of Vietnam’s lengthy eastern coastline in the South China Sea.

Lan Jing is thought to be the largest vessel in the world (Image: GETTY)

It has a 7,500-metric ton capacity crane, as well as a 4,000-ton crane and an auxiliary 1,600-tonne hook.

A Chinese survey ship named the Haiyang Dizhi 8 is also deployed at the Vietnam-controlled Vanguard Reef in the Spratly Islands.

This is another South China Sea hotspot.

The South China Sea is filled with natural resources, including oil and minerals.

DON’T MISS
South China Sea: Vietnam and Malaysia warn China over disputed waters [INSIGHT]
South China Sea: Beijing’s warning to ‘provocative’ US warship [REVEALED]
South China Sea: US warship sails dangerously close to disputed area [EXPLAINED]

CNOOC did not say why it ventured into the Vietnamese exclusive economic zone (Image: GETTY)

It also has enough fish to feed millions of people.

But China has ignored a 2016 United Nations ruling which granted sovereignty to the Philippines waters in its EEZ.

This is because China continues to stir up trouble with other countries in the region that have their own EEZs that clash with Beijing.

Tensions between China and Vietnam have been building over the last couple of months.

The South China Sea is filled with natural resources (Image: EXPRESS)

Vietnamese police recently broke up a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi against Beijing’s maritime survey of an offshore block in the southeast Asian nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Vietnamese and Chinese ships have also been stuck in a standoff for weeks near the oil block.

Vietnam said it welcomed the US getting involved to help, despite Beijing saying other non-regional nations were “hyping up the tensions”.

Tensions between China and Vietnam have been building (Image: GETTY)

News Clipping

User Dashboard

Back To ACE

User Dashboard