FIRST
Handling coal fleet retirement
Coal-fired generation capacity to 2042, all scenarios
INDIA
A
AUSTRALIA
ustralia eyes retiring 63% of its coal-fired capacity by 2040, but it will need 30GW of utilityscale renewables to fill the gap and satisfy growing grid demand, according to an analysis by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). “Whilst overall grid demand is being held constant by distributed energy resources (DER), we will still need generation capacity to meet peak demand and to replace retiring plants,” it said. This means Australia has to invest largely in variable renewable energy (VRE) including solar, wind, battery and other resources at the utility level to be supported by essential storage, gas-powered generation (GPG), demand side participation (DSP), and transmission. This additional supply will be needed to make up for the losses that occur during the energy storage cycle, AEMO said. Scenario establishment There are currently 6GW of renewable energy resources installed, with another 6.5GW expected to be operational in the next two years. Economics and state renewable energy targets are continuing to drive this development. The AEMO established a Central scenario—in which retirement is determined by market forces and PLANT WATCH
Source: AEMO
current policies—which translates to an optimal split of 56% solar and 44% wind for new renewable energy resources, in order to minimise the need for dispatchable storage and generation. It also had a Step Change scenario where consumer and technology transitions occur amidst aggressive decarbonisation, in which 47GW is required and Queensland and New South Wales are projected to add 15-18GW and Victoria over 6GW by 2040. In all but the Slow Change scenario, in which economic growth and emission reductions slow, existing coal-fired plants are not forecast to continue beyond their planned retirement dates. “In fact, in the Fast and Step Change scenarios, we expect them to exit earlier if competition from renewable generators and carbon budgets reduce their revenue below what is economic for them to continue,” AEMO said.
Australia has to invest largely in variable renewable energy (VRE) including solar, wind, battery and other resources at the utility level to be supported by essential storage, gaspowered generation (GPG), demand side participation (DSP), and transmission.
830MW expansion for Bangkok plant
Japan’s first-scale offshore wind farms
Taichung’s 2 gas-fired units in the works
THAILAND
JAPAN
TAIWAN
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand is looking to start the North Bangkok Power Plant’s first phase of expansion by adding a 830MW natural gas-fired power plant that will operate commercially in 2028. The power plant will be constructed in the same area of the present North Bangkok Power Plant, at EGAT headquarters, Bang Kruai District, Nonthaburi Province. The North Bangkok Power Plant (Extension) Phase 1 has been incorporated in Thailand Power Development Plan 2018 to enhance power security.
Japan’s first large-scale offshore wind farms at Akita Port and Noshiro Port in Akita Prefecture have now entered their construction, operation and maintenance phase, according to Marubeni Corporation. It signed a project finance agreement for a $913.70m loan. The deal was inked with partners including Obayashi Corporation, Tohoku Sustainable & Renewable Energy Co.Inc., Cosmo Eco Power Co., Ltd., The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., and Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.
Two new natural gas-fired generators can now be added to Taiwan’s Taichung power plant after the country’s Environmental Protection Administration approved the environmental impact assessment for the units, Taiwan’s central news agency reports. The generators will have an installed capacity of 2.6 million kW, according to Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower). They will be built on Taipower’s existing land. The projects went through three EPA reviews between October 2018 and June 2019 and were subjected to a fourth review.
8 ASIAN POWER
DIVERSIFICATION ON THE CARDS
State utilities still largely rely on coal
India’s state-owned enterprises (SOE) are grappling with the pressure placed on thermal power and are resorting to diversification into renewables in order to stay relevant, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The need to diversify becomes more urgent as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had asked all SOEs to prioritise renewable projects in their investment plans as part of larger efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The government directed SOEs to either set up their own capacity, or participate in tariff-based bids for renewable energy projects floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). To address risks in land acquisition and power transmission issues, SOEs are required to acquire more than two lakh hectares of land through fully-owned special purpose vehicles (SPVs)—a subsidiary created by a parent company to isolate financial risk—in order to set up 47GW of green power projects, with PowerGrid tasked with setting up transmission infrastructure for these locations. State governments are also being incentivised with payments of $0.028 (Rs0.02) per kWh for electricity generated from the projects over their lifetime to facilitate the requisite clearances. Diversification is not only being undertaken by energy producers but also by equipment suppliers and end users. Coal India announced plans to set up 20GW of solar capacity over the next ten years, entailing investment of $14b. It is also investing in other energy sources like coal bed methane (CBM) and underground coal gasification (UCG). NTPC Limited aims to invest $3.5b to set up the world’s largest proposed solar park at Kutch in Gujarat. The solar park will be developed in phases over the next five years with an end target of 5GW. NTPC also plans to bundle generation of power from renewable energy sources with coal-based generation, and shut coal-based plants during the day when solar energy is available. It also participated in the CPSU Scheme Phase II and issued a tender for 1GW of solar projects in June 2019. The end user of the power generated from these projects will be CPSUs, state PSUs, government entities either directly controlled or under the administrative control of the state or the central government, or a company in which the government has a controlling shareholding. Another SOE diversifying into renewables is NLC India, which has set up total renewable energy capacity exceeding 1GW, including 1GW of solar capacity and 51MW of wind capacity.
