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Electricity/Power Grid

1,300 Villages to Receive Solar-Generated Electricity in FY2019-20

24 May 2019

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Myanmar

MANDALAY—Over 1,300 villages in rural areas of five regions will get access to electricity through solar power in fiscal 2019-20 as part of the National Electrification Project (NEP), according to the Ministry of Electricity and Energy.

The ministry will team up with the Rural Development Department overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation to supply solar power, according to the deputy permanent secretary of the Electricity and Energy Ministry, U Htay Aung.

He said fees collected from villagers will cover 20 percent of the cost, with the government financing the rest from the proceeds of solar-power generation.

The 1,300 targeted villages are located in Mandalay, Magwe, Bago, Irrawaddy and Tanintharyi regions. All are more than 10 miles from the national grid and unlikely to be connected in the next 10 years, U Htay Aung said.

The NEP, which is being implemented with support from the World Bank as of 2016-17, aims to provide access to electricity to all households in Myanmar by 2030.

With a loan of US$400 million (612.76 billion kyats) from the World Bank, the project targets supplying electricity to nearly 700,000 households in over 8,000 villages by 2021.

“We have taken concessional loans from the ADB [Asian Development Bank], JICA [Japan International Cooperation Agency], KfW [German Development Bank] and World Bank,” U Htay Aung said.

Under the NEP, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy is implementing an extension of the power grid, while the Rural Development Department is implementing off-grid electrification.

The ministry will spend US$310 million on the grid extension; the Rural Development Department will spend US$90 million on off-grid electrification.

Annual electricity consumption has increased by 15 to 19 percent in Myanmar since 2017. The ministry plans to produce an additional 2,752 megawatts by fiscal 2020-21, short of the additional 4,530 megawatts expected to needed by then.

The first phase of the NEP aims to provide electricity access to over 620,000 households in some 5,000 villages within a 2-mile radius of the national grid across the country. It is scheduled to complete this work in June next year.

In the second phase of the project, which is scheduled for completion in September 2021, electricity will be supplied to villages within a 5-mile radius of the grid.

Hydropower remains the main source of electricity in Myanmar, accounting for more than two-thirds of total production, while thermal power plants produce the rest. Currently, only 41.82 percent of households across the country are connected to the national grid, according to the Ministry of Electricity and Energy.

Renewables

Magwe aims to meet country’s power needs through solar energy

24 May 2019

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Myanmar

The solar plant, on 800 acres of land between Zee Ain and Lay Pin villages on the Minbu-Ann road, will distribute the 20MW via the Mann sub-power station in Minbu township.

The solar project – which was approved in March 2016 during the government of president U Thein Sein and began construction in February 2018 – is part of the government’s renewable energy programme.

A study is being carried out in Chauk, Mindon and Minhla townships to build a wind power station, which is expected to be operational by 2021. The power it produces will be distributed across the country via the national grid.

These are the biggest renewable energy projects in Myanmar. Up to 170MW will be produced by solar power and more than 260 MW by wind power.

The solar energy project is being carried out with Green Earth Power (Myanmar) Co. The wind energy project is being carried out under an April 2017 agreement with Singapore’s Infra Capital Myanmar-ReEx Co. The contract was extended in 2018.

“Solar energy costs around K190 per unit, but it cannot be changed as the contract was signed under the previous government,” said Magwe Regional Minister of Planning, Finance and Development U Zaw Min. “The next step is to re-negotiate the price. As wind energy only became feasible recently, we can negotiate the price.

Energy production of over 30MW needs the approval of the government. Below 30MW, and it is up to regional and state governments.

Previously, experts estimated that if the production of 3300MW in 2018 is increased by 15 percent, it would be enough to cover the dry season. But as the increase was only 130MW, the blackouts continue.

To meet energy demand, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy asked the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Assembly of the Union) to approve a loan from France for the maintenance costs of hydropower plants.

About 70pc of Myanmar’s energy production comes from hydropower, 28pc is from natural gas and 2pc from coal, according to the ministry.

Almost half of the electricity generated in Myanmar is consumed by Yangon Region, while Mandalay uses 18pc. The government has set a goal of electrification for the whole country by 2030.

Renewables

ADB loans $7.6M for Solar Power Construction

24 May 2019

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Cambodia

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on May 24 approved a $7.64 million loan to support the construction of a 100-megawatt (MW) solar power park in Cambodia to help in a contribute to the development of renewable energy and diversify the power supply that can improve the country’s competitiveness.

ADB Principal Climate Change Specialist Mr. Pradeep Tharakan said that ADB’s assistance will not only help diversify Cambodia’s energy mix through solar power development, but also help the country meet its greenhouse gas emissions reductions target, as per the Paris climate agreement.

“Having reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy sources are crucial for the economic development of a rapidly expanding country such as Cambodia,” said Mr.Tharakan.

In addition to ADB’s loan, the financing package for the National Solar Park Project includes an $11 million loan and a $3 million grant from the Strategic Climate Fund, specifically through the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program. Also included is a $500,000 technical assistance grant provided by the Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund to support the capacity development of Electricite du Cambodge (EDC), Cambodia’s national electricity utility, as well as the Electricity Authority of Cambodia, the national electricity regulator, in solar photovoltaic technology and solar park planning. ADB will administer these resources. The project was prepared with grants from the governments of Canada and Singapore.

Electricity/Power Grid

As Power Cuts Cripple Cambodia, Generator Sales Soar

24 May 2019

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Cambodia

PHNOM PENH — As the hot season scorches Cambodia’s capital, its 1.5 million residents have struggled to stay cool without air conditioning, while business and factory work frequently grinds to a halt as a result of the worst power outages in many years.

For several months now, Phnom Penh has been crippled by cuts that last up to six hours per day in some areas, as authorities struggle to meet high demand driven up a construction boom, while power supply has fallen as a nationwide drought has affected water levels at hydropower installations.

While residents and business owners across the city have complained for weeks, one group of traders has reaped the benefits: generator sellers.

“We sold twice or triple the number” as other years, said Srey Tooch, 39, whose family runs a shop in central Phnom Penh that sells generators. “Since I started this business, I’ve never had a selling experience as this year,” she said.

“We did not plan or know that the business would be at its peak. We did not have generators in stock as the generator business has been very slow in the last 10 to 20 years,” she said, adding that they ran out generators supplies in about two or three weeks.

She said high generators sales had driven up prices and depleted stores across the city and some customers began scouring the internet to order generators online. The shops have been accused by some customers of price gauging, a claim they have denied.

Srey Tooch said, “As a seller, when there is a high demand [and no stock], we would purchase generators from other vendors and sell them with profit of 5 to 10 dollars.”

Demand from households and businesses

She said most of her customers bought small generators to power their home appliances. “The kind of generators that households use for 10 lamps and one or two fans that they really need for [their kids],” she said.

Sok Heng, 22, whose family has long had a generator shop on National Road No. 5 in the city, said his customers included all sorts of businesses too.

“They use them to supply power for guesthouses, restaurants, construction, gas stations, and small and big hotels,” he said, adding that during the worst black outs for about two weeks in March he sold up to seven generators per day compared one in other years.

A store selling electicity generators in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 11, 2019. (Khan Sokummono/VOA Khmer)

“I was thrilled that the selling was great. We have not had this much selling before as this year,” he said, explaining that the generators were produced in Japan and are priced from $800, up to several thousand dollars for the most powerful models.

Another seller on National Road No. 5, Tang Nay Hour, said generators used to be primarily sold to farmers who have limited power supply in rural areas, but these days even construction companies involved with Chinese real estate investment were demanding powerful generators to keep work going.

“We have customers from all over Phnom Penh; people who are in construction sector including Chinese and Cambodians,” he said.

Droughts and construction demand

The power shortages seem to have taken the government by surprise and caused plenty of negative news coverage and grumbling on Cambodian social media. Prime Minister Hun Sen said in March the country faced an unprecedented 400 megawatt shortage — or about 15 percent of all current supply.

He blamed a serious drought caused by the El Nino effect in combination with a spike in energy demand from Chinese investment-driven construction boom in the capital and deep-sea port of Sihanoukville.

Hun Sen asked the public and businesses for patience. Electricité du Cambodge officials have indicated that shortages may last until the end of May when monsoon rains should replenish hydropower dams, which provide most of Cambodia’s energy.

Long ravaged by war, Cambodia has struggled to raise energy supply and its rates are among the highest in the region, throwing up a hurdle for investors. The government is building up the national grid in order to import energy from its neighbors and to build large hydropower dams.

The strategy is being criticized by environmentalists who argue that decentralized solutions such as solar energy are rapidly becoming cheaper and have less environmental and social impacts.

‘We lost money but so has everybody’

While the power shortages are a boon for generator sales it has hurt other businesses of all sizes, some of which cannot afford to privately generate electricity.

One owner of a cafe in the capital said the black outs had cost him many customers, and he complained that generators were being overpriced by the sellers and were too expensive for a small business like his.

“There’s no doubt we lost money but so has everybody,” said the man, who asked not be named for fearing of upsetting authorities. “The mornings didn’t hurt too bad, but with the late afternoon [blackouts] we’d lose the after-work crowd. We had one lasting all day too, where I had to go through the fridge and throw away stuff.”

“We were told [cuts] would last until June, but let’s wait and see,” he said.

Electricity/Power Grid

Lights out for five Singapore power retailers amid fierce competition

24 May 2019

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Singapore

FIVE players have called it a day in Singapore’s retail electricity market for big businesses amid fierce competition triggered by a phased liberalisation of the sector – a process completed only this month, with all residential households in the fold as well.

Energy Market Company (EMC) chief executive Toh Seong Wah told The Business Times that since last year, EMC has noted the exit of five licensed retailers from the electricity retail market.

BT understands that the dropouts are Red Dot Power, Energy Supply Solutions, SmartCity Energy, Charis Electric and Sun City.

Mr Toh said: “The number of electricity retailers has climbed sharply in the last few years, ahead of the full opening of the retail electricity market. We believe market consolidation is a real possibility. As it is, we have already witnessed a few exits.”

Under Singapore’s liberalised energy market, larger businesses that consume 2,000 kilowatt hour (kWh) a month and more can buy power from any one of 22 retailers – or stay with the incumbent and former monopoly SP Services, the market share of which has fallen steadily in the increasingly crowded field of rivals.

Two years ago, SP’s share fell below 30 per cent for the first time; last year, it stood at 26 per cent as big players like Keppel Electric and Sembcorp Power, and even smaller ones, grew their share of the pie.

Big-business consumers account for some 90,000 business accounts, or 80 per cent of Singapore’s total electricity demand.

Consumers are spoilt for choice on retailers, which offer an array of price plans, but some retailers are finding it hard to keep up with their rivals.

This could partly explain why six of the 28 firms, which received the nod of the Energy Market Authority (EMA), the industry’s regulator, to sell electricity to big-business consumers, are not actively retailing or selling packages to consumers, going by data on EMA’s website.

Martin Lim, co-founder and chief executive of Singapore-based energy start-up Electrify, said: “There are far too many players chasing a small market. It is not a sustainable model. There were casualties earlier this year, with retailers leaving the market. Over the next year or two, we will see further consolidation – perhaps the bigger guys taking over the smaller ones as well.”

The risks of exits from the sector can be unnerving for consumers.

A senior executive of a Singapore-listed company said he is now less enamored by independent retailers’ low pricing. Two years ago, the company had to switch back to SP when its retailer of choice exited the market after supplying the company for all of four months. (The switch was smooth and didn’t entail a disruption to power supply.)

He said that as a result of that experience, the company now only goes with gentailers, that is, retailers which generate their own power, such as Keppel and Sembcorp. “We are very clear in what we want – the tangible savings – so it is not complicated,” said the senior executive.

For property investment and development group 8M Real Estate, the risk that a power retailer might exit is, understandably, a real concern. The company had switched a majority of its portfolio from SP Services to Red Dot Power, but had to contend with the retailer exiting the market, citing “financial challenges”.

Janelle Wong, asset manager at 8M Real Estate, said: “The opening up of the electricity market brought an influx of retailers, some of whom were not running fully sustainable businesses, and barriers to entry are low. This would be our primary concern in terms of qualifiers for new retailers entering the market.”

Singapore’s opening up of the energy sector began in 2001, with the biggest energy-guzzlers among businesses first becoming eligible to opt to buy power from licensed retailers. The energy consumption threshold among businesses included under the net was gradually lowered over the years until 2015, when it settled at businesses consuming 2,000 kWh a month and up.

This phase was then followed by the final piece of the plan – the Open Electricity Market (OEM), which covered all households and smaller businesses that on average use under 2,000 kWh a month.

Under the OEM soft-launched in April 2018 on a staggered basis, homes across the island gradually joined the OEM; this month, homes in the fourth and final geographical zone got to pick from among 13 electricity retailers and enjoy significant savings in their power bills. They could also opt to stay with SP and its regulated rates.

EMA said that based on a survey, one in two consumers has been open to switching away from SP, the traditional electricity provider which remains the operator of the national power grid; it will continue to provide market-support services such as billing and meter reading.

Singapore’s switch rate as at end-January 2019 ranged between 18 and 40 per cent – higher than in other countries such as Australia and Japan.

Oil & Gas

Energy Drilling Wins Work in Malaysia

24 May 2019

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Malaysia

Singapore based Energy Drilling said it has received a letter of award (LOA) on May 15 from EnQuest to perform drilling services on the Seligi Field offshore Peninsula Malaysia with the tender assist rig (TAD) EDrill-2. The contract calls for two firm wells plus two option wells.

Marcus Chew, CEO of Energy Drilling, said the deal marks the company’s entry into Malaysia.

Energy Drilling said it plans to mobilize EDrill-2 in early July.

The rig, which has worked continuously for PTTEPI, Myanmar on the Zawtika Field since its delivery in December 2015, is currently in Kim Heng Shipyard, Singapore, for preparations ahead of the campaign.

Renewables

Ayala’s AC Energy targets 200 MW of fresh Philippine PV – report

24 May 2019

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Philippines

May 24 (Renewables Now) – AC Energy, part of Philippine group Ayala Corp (PSE:AC), plans to add between 100 MW and 200 MW of solar power generating capacity in the Philippines over the next 12-18 months, according to a top official.

Most of the projects will be hooked to the Luzon grid and the company will concentrate on smaller capacities initially, AC Energy’s president and CEO, Eric T Francia, told reporters as quoted by the Manila Bulletin.

While the company will focus mostly on solar power in the near term, it hopes to also realise wind projects in the next couple of years.

According to Francia, the upcoming projects are likely to be financed with a portion of the proceeds raised through a green bond issuance from earlier this year.

Bioenergy

Waste-to-energy plant in B.C. to handle disputed garbage from Philippines

24 May 2019

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Philippines

VANCOUVER — About 1,500 tonnes of garbage that is being sent back to Canada from the Philippines will be taken to a facility in Burnaby, B.C., that turns waste into electricity.

The regional district of Metro Vancouver says it has been selected as the preferred site for the disposal of the waste by Environment and Climate Change Canada partly because of its proximity to the Port of Vancouver, where the garbage is scheduled to arrive.

The regional district’s website says its mass-burn facility in Burnaby has been in operation since 1998 and handles about 260,000 tonnes of garbage a year.

Earlier this week, the Philippines rejected Canada’s late-June timeline for repatriating its garbage and was moving forward with plans to ship it back to Canada itself.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo told a media briefing in Manila on Thursday that Canada’s timeline isn’t good enough and that the Philippine government will have 69 containers of mislabelled Canadian trash shipped across the Pacific no later than next week.

Ottawa has contracted the Canadian office of the French shipping giant Bollore Logistics to treat the waste and then bring it back to Canada before the end of June.

Environment officials say the containers must be fumigated in the Philippines before being loaded onto a ship. The contract with Bollore is worth $1.14 million.

In a news release on Friday, Metro Vancouver Board Chair Sav Dhaliwal said the facility in Burnaby has been handling waste from the international airline and shipping industries, as well as other materials designate for secure disposal by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“We have the technology and capacity to safely and efficiently handle this type of material,” Dhaliwal said.

Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the containers dumped in Canadian waters after Canada missed Duterte’s May 15 deadline to deal with the nearly six-year-old dispute.

They are the remainder of 103 shipping containers sent to the Philippines by a now-defunct Canadian company in 2013 and 2014, falsely labelled as plastics for recycling. Philippine authorities were alarmed that the amount of material was more than the Philippine importer could process, and ordered an inspection, finding the containers to be filled mostly with regular garbage rather than any material that could be recycled.

Canada and the Philippines have battled since 2014 about what to do with the contents. The Philippines has recently recalled its ambassador and consuls general until Canada deals with the waste.

As a result of this case, Canada changed its regulations to prevent this kind of situation from recurring by requiring exporters to obtain permits to ship waste if either Canada or the importing nation deems it to be hazardous.

Jack Froese, chairman of Metro Vancouver’s zero waste committee, said waste-to-energy is the best option to deal with the garbage “because there is no potential for contact with wildlife, and no potential for waste to leave the facility following disposal.”

The garbage coming from the Philippines is the equivalent of about two days’ worth of processing capacity at the plant in Burnaby, Metro Vancouver said.

The federal government is paying the municipality $250 per tonne to dispose of the garbage under its bylaw covering the special handling of waste, which works out to about $375,000.

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