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  • Renewables
6 August 2019

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  • Singapore

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> is considering to install solar panels to power its Bukom refining site in Singapore, a company spokeswoman told Reuters on Tuesday.

“We are exploring the potential of installing solar panels at our Pulau Bukom Manufacturing Site,” she said, without providing further details.

The Bukom manufacturing site includes a 500,000 barrels-per-day refinery, which is Shell’s largest wholly owned refinery.

The oil and gas company has been exploring solar installations for its other sites in Singapore as part of its plans to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint.

Globally, Shell is installing solar photovoltaic panels on the roofs of seven lubricant plants in China, India, Italy, Singapore and Switzerland.

It has so far identified three manufacturing and logistics sites in Singapore’s western regions of Tuas, Jurong Island and Pandan to install a solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation system, with a combined peak capacity of about three megawatts.

The first and largest of the three Shell solar farms, which will go live next month, will have more than 6,500 panels placed above a lubricant plant in Tuas. The solar farm is expected to produce about 3,300 megawatt hours of renewable energy every year.

The generated solar energy will be used to help power operations at the Tuas lubricants plant, the company said, adding that this can result in the avoidance of a third of the greenhouse gas emissions from the plant’s electricity use which is equivalent to taking about 700 cars off the road for one year.

Installations at Shell’s sites in Pandan and Jurong Island are expected to start in late 2019 and early 2020 respectively, the company said.

Shell said as part of its efforts to try low carbon solutions, the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Energy Market Authority of Singapore to jointly work on energy storage systems.

“This could include piloting commercially viable business models with innovative solutions that integrate storage systems and solar power to Shell’s sites in Singapore,” Shell said, declining to provide more details citing commercial confidentiality reasons.

  • Renewables
6 August 2019

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  • Philippines

With an increasing move to source renewable energy for their operations, large corporations take increasing steps to support UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Now it is reported that food producing giant Nestlé has signed a new power purchase agreement with AboitizPower on the supply of 17 MW of electricity generated by the MakBan geothermal power plant by Aboitiz.

As a leader in the food and beverage industry, Nestlé Philippines has programs and projects in place to realize its goal of minimizing environmental impact. These include its initiative to use clean and renewable energy.

Nestlé has already switched to renewable power in 2017 in partnership with Aboitiz Power.

Currently, AboitizPower is also delivering Cleanergy to two other Nestlé factories in Cabuyao, Laguna and Tanauan, Batangas, as well as its corporate administrative office in Makati City, Metro Manila.

“We are committed to environmentally sustainable business practices and strive to minimize our environmental impact. In this regard, we are happy to be working with AboitizPower,” Nestlé Philippines Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kais Marzouki said.

The two organizations celebrated their partnership with the recent awarding of the Cleanergy plaque by AboitizPower to Nestlé Philippines at Rockwell, Makati City.

Juan Alejandro Aboitiz, AboitizPower first vice president for Energy Trading and Sales, said the company is honored to be the power partner of choice of a trusted global entity like Nestlé, with the two organizations sharing the same level of commitment to sustainability, while serving the needs of their customers.

“It is an honor for AboitizPower to be able to contribute to Nestlé’s purpose, which is to enhance quality of life and contribute to a healthier future. With customers like Nestlé, who are leaders in their industries, we are driven to grow our portfolio of Cleanergy and further improve the quality of our services so we can serve them better,” Aboitiz said.

AboitizPower sustains the growth of its Cleanergy portfolio to meet the rapidly increasing energy demand of its customers.

“We fully support the government’s thrust for renewable energy and with the continued growth of our Cleanergy portfolio, AboitizPower is well-positioned to participate in RE market,” Aboitiz added.

  • Coal
6 August 2019

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  • Vietnam

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam is considering importing coal from the United States to meet rising demand for the fuel for power generation, state media reported on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian country plans to build more coal-fired power plants.

Vietnam is also seeking to import more U.S. goods to help narrow its trade surplus with the United States following threats by President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on its products amid the Sino-U.S. trade war.

Executives from state-run coal producer Vinacomin and Pennsylvania-based Xcoal Energy & Resources met last week in Hanoi to discuss the possibilities of shipping U.S. coal to Vietnam, reported state-run newspaper Dau Tu.

Vietnam has recently become a net coal importer, with most of its shipments coming from Australia and Indonesia.

Coal is expected to account for 42.6% of Vietnam’s power generating capacity by 2030, up from 38.1% currently, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Tuesday’s report provided no further details on the possible imports. It said Vinacomin, formally known as Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Corp, annually produces about 40 million tonnes of coal from domestic mines.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said last week that Vietnam will contend with severe power shortages from 2021 as electricity demand outpaces construction of new power plants, adding that it will have to import 680 million tonnes of coal to feed its power plants during the 2016-2030 period..

In other moves to cut the trade surplus with the United States, Vietnam’s Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical said last month it will import 2 million to 3 million barrels of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude in the second half of this year for its Dung Quat refinery.

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the United States widened to $20.59 billion in the first half of this year, from $15.55 billion a year earlier, according to Vietnam’s customs data.

The Vietnamese government said in June its Ministry of Industry and Trade and the U.S. Department of Energy would soon sign a memorandum of understanding on imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Vietnam does not have an LNG import terminal, but it is looking for partners to develop a liquid gas import business, also primarily for power generation.

  • Others
6 August 2019

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  • Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 6): Telekosang Hydro One Sdn Bhd successfully issued today its Islamic medium-term notes (IMTN) of up to RM470 million in nominal value, the world’s first greenfield mini-hydro green SRI Sukuk, under the Shariah principle of Wakalah Bi Al-Istithmar.

The Telekosang ASEAN Green SRI Sukuk complies with the Sustainable Responsible Investment (SRI) Sukuk Framework under the Securities Commission Malaysia’s (SC) Guidelines on Unlisted Capital Market Products under the Lodge and Launch Framework.

MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd, Principal Advisor, Lead Arranger and Lead Manager in a statement today said the Sukuk also complied with the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum’s ASEAN Green Bond Standards (ASEAN GBS) and International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) Green Bond Principles.

The issuer has also successfully issued its junior bonds of up to RM120 million in nominal value under the ASEAN GBS and Green Bond Principles (Telekosang ASEAN Green Junior Bonds).

Both Telekosang ASEAN Green SRI Sukuk and Telekosang ASEAN Green Junior Bonds were fully subscribed on issuance.

To recap, Telekosang Hydro One and Telekosang Hydro Two Sdn Bhd were granted feed-in approvals on Oct 26, 2017 by from Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia for the development of a 24 MW and a 16 MW small hydropower plant respectively, (using run-of-river scheme) located in Tenom, Sabah.

RAM Rating Services Bhd has assigned ratings of AA3/Stable to the Telekosang ASEAN Green SRI Sukuk and A2/Stable to the Telekosang ASEAN Green Junior Bonds.

  • Others
6 August 2019

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  • Thailand
The Ministry of Energy aims to lower the electricity cost to less than Bt3.60 per unit, apart from carrying out several other initiatives, according to Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong .

Speaking at the “Energy Disruption: Thai energy in the age of disruption” seminar organised by Krungthep Turakij newspaper, Sontirat said there was a need to adapt to new technologies in the energy sector.

“In the past, we had fossil fuels and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand [Egat] was the major producer of electricity,” he said. “But this is about to change due to the disruption that will create a new energy channel in the future.”

Sontirat said he had instructed the ministry to formulate an “Energy for all” policy that will support the public as well as raise the level of the country’s competitiveness.

“The main policy that will be driven next is ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ for affordable and clean energy, the latter leading to the creation of community energy grid modernisation, electricity sales platform, and in the future, the smart meter,” he said, adding that these technologies would be the game-changer in the future.

Sontirat said he had instructed the ministry to revise the Power Development Plan (PDP) for 2018-2037 by raising the proportion of renewable energy such as solar, biogas and biomass through community power plants.

“Electricity is not only for large corporations,” he said.

According to Sontirat, the heart of the success of community power plants is developing an energy storage system to keep excess power. Energy storage will also benefit the EV (electric vehicle) industry.

He said it was important that the development of energy storage systems and EVs in Thailand take the country into the new era of the automobile industry, otherwise there could be relocation of auto production to competing countries such as Indonesia.

EVs are also the answer to clean energy as they help lower fossil fuel usage (which contributes to increased particulate matter).

“With the disruption happening around the world, why must our PDP plan set the electricity cost at Bt3.60 per unit when in fact it should be cheaper due to the increased alternative energy, plus energy storage systems to help store excess electricity and lower costs?” Sontirat asked. “These new developments will be the new direction of the revised PDP. It will help raise the country’s competitiveness with lower energy prices, and becoming the energy sales centre in Asean is also an important part.”

The ministry will also deploy the Energy Conservation Fund to support the projects, and will support the energy storage business.

Meanwhile, Kulit Sombatsiri director-general of the Energy Ministry, said the ministry’s policy to tackle the disruption era comprises: digitalisation, decarbonisation, decentralisation, deregulation and electrification.

Kulit said power lines will be upgraded from 115kv to 500kv or 800kv in order to support alternative power and reach communities that produce them.

“The law governing Egat, which is currently able to only purchase electricity, should be amended so that it can also sell electricity and become a centre for regional electricity sales,” he said.

“Next week we will call on the working group to initiate a pilot project for the community power plants that are for personal use and for sale within the same area in a sandbox manner. We will be testing this new way of electricity trading and will get the results in three months,” he said, adding that if successful, the project will be presented to the Energy Policy and Planning Office.

  • Electricity/Power Grid
6 August 2019

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  • Thailand

The Energy Ministry is preparing to promote Thailand as the power trade hub of Southeast Asia by improving high-voltage transmission lines across the country to open regional power trading and sales of surplus electricity.

Kulit Sombatsiri, permanent secretary for the Energy Ministry, said the ministry has five pillars to capture future disruption in the energy sector: digitisation, decarbonisation, electrification, decentralisation and deregulation.

The improvement of high-voltage transmission lines is part of digitisation, with a target to support grid connection in Southeast Asia in the near future, he said.

“The ministry set up a new working group for this plan, consisting of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand [Egat], the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, Provincial Electricity Authority, the Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Economic and Social Development Council and the Finance Ministry. The working group will conduct a feasibility study,” said Mr Kulit.

He said power trade in Southeast Asia would be initiated from surplus generation in Thailand and Laos, enabling greater revenue for each country.

Laos aims to be the battery of Asia by taking advantage of natural resources, expecting to generate roughly 20,000-30,000 megawatts.

Power demand in Laos stands at only 1,000MW.

Thailand’s power generation also has a huge surplus, with total supply of 42,000MW, but peak demand for 2019 stands at 31,000-32,000MW.

New gas-fired power plants are slotted to be added to the grid during 2023-25 — 5,000MW in Chon Buri and Rayong (run by Gulf Energy Development), 1,400MW in Ratchaburi (run by Ratch Group) and two plants in Bangkok (run by Egat).

Mr Kulit said energy ministers from Southeast Asian nations will discuss connecting the grids next month in Bangkok.

A tentative agreement is expected to be drawn up for power trade between Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.

This plan will use Thailand’s grid infrastructure.

There are also regional power trade plans between Laos and Myanmar.

Egat operates high-voltage transmission lines and sells surplus electricity to neighbouring countries, but some systems have to be upgraded.

Such transmission lines in Thailand currently have the capacity for 115-230 kilovolt (kV), but require 800-1,000kV.

“The new working group would amend the Egat Act of 1968 to ease up regulation for power generation and transmission lines,” said Mr Kulit.

The existing laws limit Egat to be the sole power trader, he said.

A wheeling charge (fee for transmission line use) will be studied to support Southeast Asian power trade in coming years.

Patana Sangsriroujana, deputy governor of Egat, said the new power plants are projected to have a surplus is 35% of total supply, meaning they could generate additional revenue in the future.

“When the power plants are in standby mode, they will receive only an available payment [locked by agreement], but once they can sell electricity to neighbouring countries, they will receive energy payments [compensated fee], in addition to available payments,” said Mr Patana.

This regional power trade has been adopted from the European Energy Exchange, which has raised power generation efficiency in Europe.

He said the improvement of transmission lines will further develop the grid system in order to create a smart grid in the future.

  • Electricity/Power Grid
6 August 2019

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  • Indonesia

JAKARTA, INDONESIA – Indonesia’s massive August 4 power outage is raising new concerns about the state electricity company, and renewing calls to look at alternative power sources, including geothermal energy, solar photovoltaic and wind.

The blackout that hit the state-owned PLN electric company was Indonesia’s worst  since 2005, affecting millions of people in Jakarta and surrounding areas such as West Java and Banten.

“By diversifying our energy sources by adding renewables, we may have a backup plan reducing the potential of a total blackout,” Mamit Setiawan, an analyst with Energy Watch, told VOA.

Setiawan added that the centralized nature of power plants on the country’s most populated island of Java increases the likelihood of cascading outages similar to Sunday’s incident.

The eight-hour blackout began when lines carrying high voltage failed. The disruption caused other parts of the system to crash, which in turn, caused a domino-like series of further problems affecting power plants in the central and western part of Java, including one that covered the capital.

The blackout hindered many important services, like traffic lights, subways, cell phones and ATMs.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrives with Sripeni Inten Cahyani, PLN's acting CEO, during a visit at PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) headquarters after a major power blackout in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 5, 2019. (Antara Foto/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrives with Sripeni Inten Cahyani, PLN’s acting CEO, during a visit at PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) headquarters, after a power blackout in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 5, 2019. (Antara Foto/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)

President Joko Widodo, who recently won re-election, visited the PLN office Monday, berating officials for the lack of a backup plan and failure to mitigate the outage.

“In a big management like this, surely there’s a contingency plan, a backup plan. My question is, why has none of that worked fast or well?” he asked.

Indonesia’s 2009 electricity law gives PLN priority rights over the country’s electricity supply. It currently operates over 5,000 power plants, with more in the works as Widoto pledged to enhance the country’s electricity-supply infrastructure.

Previously, Widodo expressed distaste for Indonesia’s continued reliance on coal and fossil-fired power plants.  In February, he cited the wind power plant in the Sidenreng Rappang Regency of South Sulawesi Province as a renewable infrastructure preference.

“With this blackout, I can imagine Joko could prioritize renewables more than…ever,” Setiawan said.

In a 2018 report on Indonesia’s energy sources, international auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers noted that many factors support renewable deployment, “including falling costs, national carbon emissions targets, the high cost of oil-based generation [especially in remote regions] and the regulatory, and physical barriers to gas distribution.”

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources announced that PLN set the target for electricity production at 35,000 megawatts and the target for the contribution of renewables at 23% by 2025.

But renewables remain noncompetitive, according to Setiawan, who says the government is currently deliberating a law that would govern the sector.

Passengers queue to refund their tickets during a major power blackout at a commuter train station in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 4, 2019. (Antara Foto/Fakhri Hermansyah)
Passengers queue to refund their tickets during a major power blackout at a commuter train station in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 4, 2019. (Antara Foto/Fakhri Hermansyah)

Loss and compensation

PLN has apologized for the outage and pledged to conduct an internal investigation.

According to the electricity law, customers can get compensation if negligence caused a blackout.

The director general for electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Rida Mulyana, told reporters compensation could amount to “approximately 1 trillion rupiah” ($70.5 million).

PLN previously said it would cut tariffs based on the duration of the blackout. The company reported a 90 billion rupiah ($6.3 million) loss, according to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Members of parliament are demanding further explanations for the blackout. PLN faces concerns about alleged inequitable distribution of power.  And the company’s current acting CEO, Sripeni Inten Cahyani, was appointed after her predecessor was arrested on corruption charges.

  • Electricity/Power Grid
6 August 2019

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  • Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The executive director of Energy Watch, Mamit Setiawan, said that Indonesia needs electricity reserves to anticipate incidents of power outages that can cripple business and public facilities, especially in big cities.

“Energy reserves are very important when electricity infrastructure is paralyzed. It must be quickly resolved,” Setiawan said when contacted in Jakarta on Tuesday.

A major blackout affected thousands of homes and public facilities in Greater Jakarta and West Java on Sunday afternoon. The electricity went out at 11:48 a.m. local time.

The blackout also affected commuter train services and the MRT.

Setiawan explained that the government should evaluate the national energy reserves which are still vulnerable to problems, especially shutdowns or when electricity infrastructure is paralyzed.

“Yesterday’s incident made everyone aware that we (Indonesia) are vulnerable,” he said.

Furthermore, Setiawan said that a major blackout disrupted the business sector and public services, such as the MRT, commuter trains, banking, telecommunications, and hospitals.

Referring to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) in 2018, Indonesia’s electricity supply reached 62,600 Mega Watt (MW). The electricity consumption was recorded at 1,064 kilo Watt hours (kWh) per capita.

As the population and businesses increase, the electricity supply and consumption also increase.

Therefore the government should prepare energy reserves to accommodate consumer needs in the future.

The National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) is conducting a full root-cause investigation to identify the reason behind the major over six-hour blackout in Jakarta, Banten, and West Java on August 4, 2019, a police spokesman stated.

The investigation aims to ascertain whether the blackout resulted from human error, Chief of the Public Relations Bureau of the National Police, Brigadier General Dedi Prasetyo, stated on Monday.

“It is being investigated to establish its cause. It could be the result of a technical disruption, human error, or something else,” he noted.
Related news: Government urged to reevaluate national energy resilience strategy
Related news: Blackout causes Rp507 million financial dent to MRT

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