APDec2012

ISSUE 54 | DISPLAY TO 31 December 2012 | www.asian-power.com | A Charlton Media Group publication

US$360P.A.

TPDDL’S POWER REFORMS TATAPOWER-DDL CEO PRAVEER SINHA REVEALS HOW THEY GRAPPLED WITH THE POWER SHORTAGE ISSUE IN INDIA

MICA(P) 248/07/2011

OPINION India’s crippling power infrastructure

FEATURE PowerGen Asia 2012 Special Report

OPINION Breaking free from carbon shackles

FEATURE Asia’s faces energy in security

PAGE 06

PAGE 16

PAGE 26

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12 16:03

News from asian-power.com

Trincomalee Power Company Limited.

The Government of India’s line of credit for the project totals US$ 200 million.

MOST READ More Japanese reactors to come online in 2013

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority says that the start-up of more idled nuclear reactors will not come until next year.

The NRA, the new nuclear energy regulator, said it will compile a blueprint of new standards to govern restarts by next March and subject this to public discussion.

Suzlon defaults on US$209 million debt

Terra Firma invests heavily in China’s renewable energy

A major British private equity firm is continuing its diversification into renewable energy by setting up a US$5 billion investment fund in China.

Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd is planning a fund of up to US$5 billion with China Development Bank for investments in renewable energy in China.

The partners are expected to start raising between US$3 and US$5 billion in the next few months.

Indonesian gas service provider expands into electricity business Publicly listed oil and gas services provider PT Radiant Utama Interinsco plans to build hydropower plants in West Sumatra to diversify its business.

Radiant’s subsidiary PT Supraco Mitra Energie will build three minihydropower plants in Solok, West Sumatra--the PLTMH Gumanti 1, 2 and 3. The three plants have a $40 million price tag and

Japanese reactors to open

a combined capacity of 15 MW.

Vietnam scraps nine hydroelectric projects

Six hydropower projects of Vietnam’s Thua Thien Hue Province that have low economic values which were forecasted to cause severe flooding were cancelled.

This was announced

by Provincial People’s Committee Vice Chairman Le Truong Luu. The projects were six of the 21 hydropower projects approved in the plan until 2020.

Four turbines of Malaysia’s Bakun hydel dam to be commissioned

Sarawak Hidro will commission the remaining four of the eight turbines at Bakun hydroelectric dam by stages in the second half.

The installation of the fifth to eighth turbines from Argentina was in progress and those would be commissioned in stages, said Managing Director Zulkifle Othman.

“Testing of the fifth turbine is expected to be carried out in March next year,” he noted.

the construction of an undersea cable connecting Indonesia and Malaysia.

Indonesian firms to help build power plant for Malaysia

A report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade said Vietnam’s energy use relative to GDP growth is double that of developed countries, indicating vast efficiency improvements in energy use are needed.

Two Indonesian companies and a Malaysian company will develop a coal-fired power plant that would deliver electricity to Malaysia.

Indonesia’s Perusahaan Listrik Negara and coal miner Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam and Malaysian electricity utility firm Tenaga Nasional inked an MoU for the project in the Indragiri Hulu district, Riau.

The MoU includes

Vietnam notes renewable energy sites

Vietnam has identified locations suitable for green and renewable energy projects that foreign firms can invest in.

India to lend $200M for Sri Lanka’s 500MW coal power plant India will extend financial support to Sri Lanka to set up a 500MW coal based power project in the Trincomalee region of Sri Lanka through

PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MICA(P) 248/07/2011 Asian Power is a bi-monthly news magazine published by Charlton Media Group Pte Ltd registered in Singapore.

Its circulation is to leaders in the Asian power industry and is available on a controlled circulation and paid basis.

CONTACT THE PUBLISHER Charlton Media Group, #06-09 E, Maxwell House 20 Maxwell Road Singapore 069113 www.charltonmedia.com, +65 3158 1238

ART DIRECTOR MEDIA ASSISTANT ADVERTISING CONTACTS

Suzlon Energy has been hit with India’s largest convertible bond default to the tune of US$209 million. Suzlon defaulted late last week after bondholders rejected its request for a four-month extension. The company has started talks with senior-secured lenders and bondholders on options.

Suzlon requested the extension on the bonds’ maturity to Feb. 11, 2013 saying it needed time to raise funds from fresh debt and the sale of noncritical assets, among others.

Solar energy dominates Japanese clean energy projects

Solar energy projects constitute 83% of clean energy projects recently approved by the Japanese government.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry approved clean energy projects totaling 1,780 megawatts of capacity. Of this total, solar projects accounted for 1,480 megawatts or 83%, followed by 292 megawatts in wind projects.

Since April, Japan has added 912 megawatts of clean energy capacity with solar projects comprising 885 megawatts of the total.

Tim Charlton Jonnel Martin Herman Daniela Gujilde Tim Charlton tim@charltonmediamail.com Laarni Salazar-Navida lanie@charltonmediamail.com

All editorial is copyright and may not be reproduced without consent.

Contributions are invited but Asian Power can accept no responsibility for loss.

ASIAN POWER 3

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OPINION

JOHN GOSS

john.goss@ceejay.com.hk

Caution urged on large hydro-power dam projects in China

W

hen completed in 2015, the Xiangjiaba hydropower plant in China’s Sichuan Province will be the third largest hydropower plant in China, third only to the Three Gorges hydropower plant in Chongqing and the Xiluodu hydropower plant in Sichuan, which is also under construction. Reports say that around 640,000 hydro projects had been completed in Sichuan Province by the end of last year.

With the aim of supplying water to all of the water deficient areas within Sichuan province there will be 13 large and around 60 medium-sized hydro projects commencing over the next five years. It is thought that the province has an abundance of water resources; however many of Sichuan’s cities and regions suffer from relentless seasonal water shortages and pollution.

Many of Sichuan’s cities are located on the Tuojiang River which runs directly through many of these cities who obtain all of their water supplies from this river. However, in the dry season many of these cities will obtain their water supplies from water that has been stored in reservoirs. These crucial water storage projects use the water from the river which results in the volumes of water remaining in the river can be at times negligible and problematic.

A few years ago the Tuojiang River was severely contaminated following a major accident at a chemical plant upstream in Chengdu. The contamination left millions of residents in cities downstream without any safe river and tap water for almost three weeks.

There are so many cities and chemical plants along the river that pose potential safety hazards to the millions of people also living along the river that alternative supplies of clean water need to be found and delivered.

The constant growth and urbanization and industrialization of the cities cannot be prevented with many cities planning to expand their populations by at least one million.

However, these population increase plans are being hampered by a severe shortage of suitable clean water at many times in the year.

A planned irrigation project which involves the Xiangjiaba hydro electric power plant is currently waiting for approval from China’s central government. It has been estimated that some five million people in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan will benefit if the hydro project is given the ‘goahead’ signal.

Caution urged on further large dams Whilst supporters of large hydroelectric power plants in China promote these massive dams as effective solutions to the country’s power shortages, water irrigation and water levels, their critics are increasingly advising caution.

Concerns have been voiced which are aimed at the current hydro-power dam construction activity on the upper reaches of China’s Yangtze River. Lessons of past large hydropower dam construction in China’s south western provinces must be learnt in the face of mounting environmental concerns

and resettlement controversies.

There are environmental and geological hazards to be considered plus there are the simmering tensions over the relocation of local populations and disputes among the people evicted to make way for the large hydro dams and reservoirs.

It is generally felt by officials in China’s Environmental Ministry who have commented in the Chinese media that they have been watching this large hydro-power dam project and they are attaching much attention to the opinions of the Chinese media and various social interest groups.

Concern has been expressed over the construction of the Xiaonanhai hydro dam which is a controversial dam project.

The Environmental Ministry is urging local authorities concerned with this project to make careful decisions after thoroughly reviewing the various impacts of this divisive project.

Concerns about the Three Gorges dam The massive Three Gorges hydropower dam is also causing concerns in that since water levels in the Yangtze River dam and hydropower plant rose to its maximum level during 2010, the occurrence of landslides and other associated disasters have increased by around 70 percent according to China’s Ministry of Land Resources.

Around 1.4 million local people have already been relocated from areas surrounding the reservoir to make way for this enormous dam and hydropower plant project on the powerful Yangtze River.

The ministry says that 5,386 danger sites linked to the project are now being monitored on a continual basis and remedial work is taking place on rock falls and landslides at some 335 locations around the lake.

However, some geologists have commented that damming up too much water in the reservoir carries a heightened risk of earthquakes and long-term damage to the Yangtze River’s ecology.

It has been estimated that some five million people in the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan will benefit if the hydroproject is given the ‘go-ahead’ signal.

4 ASIAN POWER

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OPINION

AMOL KOTWAL

I

India’s crippling power infrastructure

n the wee hours of Sunday, July 29, 2012, India witnessed one of its worst power failures in over a decade. An interconnect substation near Agra tripped, followed by the automatic shutdown of all power generation plants in the Northern region.

The following day witnessed a more widespread collapse, which included not just the Northern grid, but also the Eastern and North Eastern power grids, extending power failure to 19 states and two Union Territories, covering half of India’s population.

It has emerged that a few states (Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Punjab) in the Northern grid overdrew power beyond their permissible limits, ignoring strong warnings from the Northern Regional Load Despatch Center and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission to maintain grid discipline and stop overdrawal.

A startling fact that has emerged is that most of these states have refused to install Under Frequency Relays for automatic demand management schemes, which could have prevented such a massive failure. Similarly, the states were found to have overdrawn power when the grid frequency was below 49.5 Hz and 48.8 Hz, in contravention of the orders of the regulatory authority and load despatch centers. Overdraw has been much higher in the past as well, and continued abuse of grid discipline over the years have made the grid vulnerable resulting in the collapse.

As automatic relays shut down the most overloaded transmission lines and vulnerable power generators, electricity surged around the rest of the network taking increasingly unpredictable pathways, unbalancing more and more parts of the system, and forcing further emergency shutdowns, until the grid and power generation collapsed across the entire region.

India has five electricity grids and all of them are interconnected, except for the Southern grid. These grids are being run by the state-owned Power Grid Corporation, which operates more than 95,000 circuit kilometers of transmission lines. Surging power demand, existing power deficit scenario, and monsoon deficits are believed to be some key reasons for overdrawal of power by these states.

Furthermore, poor financial condition of the respective State Electricity Boards has compelled them to overdraw power from the grid rather than meeting power requirements from merchant power plants at spot prices (costlier by almost 80% compared to the power available through the Power Purchase Agreement with Power Generation Corporations).

Impact of the grid failure While the Northern grid failed for the second straight day on July 30, 2012, the Eastern and Northeastern grids, too, collapsed. These three grids carry about 50,000 MW of electricity. About 19 states and three union territories were affected as a result. The blackouts left 600 million people (almost half of India’s population) without electricity in one of the world’s most widespread power failures, bringing normal life to a standstill.

As an aftermath of the outage, normal life in the entire

Northern region was crippled, including transportation facilities. Some 300 odd trains consuming power from the power grid came to a grinding halt. In New Delhi, the Metro service (which ferries approximately 1.8 million commuters daily in New Delhi and NCR) was not functional for several hours.

Furthermore, the traffic lighting system in New Delhi for road transportation also stopped working, which resulted in severe traffic congestion and traffic jams during the morning rush hour across the city. Such was the scale of power failure, that mining operations in Eastern India were immobilized.

Nearly 200 miners were trapped in a coal field in West Bengal and 65 others were trapped in the Bharat Coking Coal facility in Jharkhand.

What led to the grid failure This grid failure can be linked to a host of issues in the entire power infrastructure, which include inability to add sufficient power generation capacity as per requirement/plans, coupled with ageing transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure, and huge T&D losses.

Additionally, the deteriorating financial condition of the SEBs, extensive subsidies, and low tariffs are other issues further aggravating this abysmal state of affairs.

The way out India’s power infrastructure requires an overhaul, which involves some major reforms and policy implementation across the entire value chain. From an action standpoint, this would involve a combination of increased generation capacity, efficient T&D infrastructure, and better grid control. Besides these, reducing theft and wasteful usage of electricity, revised power tariffs, and better billing systems will lead to customers paying accurately for exact power consumption thus curbing wastage.

This grid failure can be linked to a host of issues in the entire power infrastructure, which include inability to add sufficient power generation capacity as per requirement/plans.

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CEO INTERVIEW

Tatapower-DDL’s solid decade of growth government to improve power availability situation in each State so that reliable power is supplied at optimal rates to the retail consumers.

What can Tatapower-DDL contribute to prevent or ultimately eliminate this power shortage issue in India?

Praveer: One of the initiatives we do is efficient and accurate load forecasting. During summer months, when power requirement reaches its peak, we purchase adequate quantity of power. During off-summer/off peak months when the consumption of power goes down drastically, we re-distribute/sell this power to various state distribution companies.

Today we are selling nearly 200 to 300 MW of power to various State Distribution Companies and Utilities on round the clock basis. To that extent, we ensure that off peak power is supplied to various consumers in the country.

The second thing we do is demand-side management whereby we sensitize the consumers to conserve energy during peak hours and use it in off peak hours. We have also taken a number of initiatives whereby we work and collaborate with various companies on Demand Side Management.

The consumers are also given CFL lamps at very subsidized prices whose consumption of power is very less compared to a normal incandescent lamp or the tube lights. These are some of the steps in Demand Side Management that we have taken to reduce power shortage.

Gino Van Neer, CEO of Infinity

Praveer Sinha, CEO, TPDDL

TPDDL CEO Praveer Sinha reveals how it has grappled with India’s peculiar power problems.

Tata-Power-DDL started in 2002 after the unbundling of the former Delhi Vidyut Board. After 10 years, what would you consider as your company’s biggest achievement?

Praveer: I think one of our biggest achievements is that today we supply power to our consumers 24/7. This is considering that the load has grown by nearly 100% in last 10 years. In spite of the massive growth in the load from 600-700 MW to today’s 1400-1500 MW, we are able to meet the requirements of the consumer on sustained basis.

On the other hand, consumer base has grown by 90% from nearly 0.7 million at the time of takeover to 1.35 million consumers. Our biggest achievement has been to achieve double capacity of load and consumers base with nearly 35% reduction in manpower. When we had taken over, we had manpower of nearly 5,500 people but today we have manpower of less than 4,000 people.

What are you doing to proactively address India’s power shortage problem?

Praveer: Nearly 90% of our power requirement is tied up on long-term

power purchase basis. We have gone to various power generating companies including the government companies like NTPC, NHPC, Delhi Gencos and also the Nuclear Power Corporation.

Apart from that we have also gone for tie-ups with other private sector projects like the Maithon Project from which we get nearly 300 MW. So depending upon the load profiling and the load growth that we have, we typically tie up procurement of power on a long-term basis.

Today the quantum of power that we have tied up is good enough to meet our load growth for the next three years. We do this proactively so that during our peak power requirement period, we do not have any shortage of power. TPDDL is actively advocating with the Indian

You have installed a 108-megawatts gas based combined cycle power generating facility in North Delhi. Do you have any latest updates from this facilities?

Praveer: Well today, this facility consists of two gas turbines and one steam turbines of 36 MW each.

During certain periods when we had a good quantity of gas available, we have ran the plant up to nearly 85 to 90 MW – with both the gas turbines and the steam turbine operating at 90% capacity.

Most of the time, the availability of the plant is very good – it’s about 90 to 95%. Unfortunately because of the gas shortages and the lower allocation of gas, we are not able to run the plant at full capacity. We only get a very very small quantity of gas, which is just 30% of the total re-

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Doubling the capacity and the number of consumers but still meeting their requirements with nearly 35% reduction in manpower are big achievements for us.

quirement. The plant operationally is absolutely fine. We have no issue with the plant. It runs very well but it’s a pity that with the shortage of gas in the country, we are not able to utilize it to it full capacity.

In fact during the recent blackout, the gas plant could be islanded and helped some of the essential services of the city like the Metro Rail, Hospitals, etc.

Your company is known for pioneering power distribution reform in India. Can you tell us about one specific reform you introduced that made a mark in the city?

Praveer: One of the biggest reforms that we have done is something which is known as the Outage Management System - OMS. This is a unique thing which we have carried out using our SCADA system and GIS mapping.

Whenever a line fault occurs, we come to know about it at our SCADA centre. It sends a message to the breakdown team and they go and attend to the repair.

It also sends a message to the call centre agent so that whenever any consumer calls up, they can be informed about the fault and the time it would take to repair the same.

In case we have the mobile number of the consumer, we can, in advance, send a message to the group of consumers who will be affected by this fault and the expected time of repair.

This is a huge benefit to our consumer and it is being rolled out now and will keep our consumers informed on real time basis of any no current/line fault situation in their supply of electricity.

How effective are your techniques such as the high voltage distribution system and LT aerial bund conductor to prevent power theft?

Praveer: These are some of technical initiatives that we have taken so that on the ground, the power theft, which was going on for a long time, can be controlled.

The HVDS system and LT aerial bunch conductor prevents people to directly hook or puncher the cable and draw the power from there.

With the HVDS system, people cannot do a direct hooking. It is closer to the consumer in terms of stepping down power and supply at the LT voltage.

Both of them are very popular and have been very effective in reducing our losses which were 53% in 2002 but today we are at the 11% level and which I think is one of the best in the country. TPDDL’s licensed area has over 225 slums with 0.15 million customers and a substantial portion of the last mile Aggregate Technical & Commercial loss, was a major challenge for the organization.

We have carried out large scale CSR activities in these areas with our medical teams by arranging de-addiction camps, mobile medical camps, etc apart from providing them with vocational training and running education programs. For boys we provide them training for electrician, plumbing and carpentry and for the women/girls we provide them training in beautician courses, tailoring courses and basic literacy.

We have been able to do a large scale metering in these areas and I would say that nearly 80%-90% of house holds are metered and billed and regular collections are being

done. We have also given free life insurance worth Rs.1 lacs to regular paying JJ consumers and renew it every year.

This scheme has worked as a huge incentive for all these consumers to pay for their bills regularly and get these benefits in return.

What do you promise your consumers for the next five years?

Praveer: We want to give them quality power supply 24/7. The response time, whether it is for getting a new connection, billing, attending no current faults, etc., should reduce drastically.

We also do a lot of backend work especially in the technology area to provide information on a proactive basis to the consumers. Like in case of the Outage Management System,

we proactively inform our consumers in case we need to carry out certain repair and maintenance activities in a particular area, the period for which it will be done, etc.

The whole effort is to supply quality power to the consumer and also to supply them at on optimal cost.

That is why the long-term procurement of power has to be done in a cost-effective manner.

For our employees, we provide them a great working environment whereby we continue to encourage them to come up with challenging and innovative solutions which will stimulate them to perform better.

We always ensure that our employees provide 100% satisfaction to our consumer and that we always provide this best in class service with a smile.

ASIAN POWER 9

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Asian Power Awards 2012 winners announced The Asian Power Awards, dubbed as the ‘Oscars’ of the power industry, has once again recognized top achievers in the region last October 4, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. More than 100 delegates from the region’s best power companies attended the awarding ceremony.

The judges were John Goss, Managing Director, Ceejay International Ltd; John Yeap - Partner, Head of Energy - Asia, Pinsent Masons; Narayan Bhat, Head, Power Asia, Lloyd’s Register Group; Geoff James - Principal Research Scientist, Energy Technology, CSIRO Australia; Lachminiwas (‘LN’) Sadani - Managing Director, Chief, Investment Officer - AFD; and Tim Charlton, Editor-in-Chief, Asian Power Magazine.

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BY INTEGRATED COAL MINING LIMITED SILVER - NATURAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED (NED) POWERED BY ELECTRICITY GENERATING PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED (EGCO) BRONZE - 15 MW ANJAR SOLAR POWER PROJECT POWERED BY WELSPUN ENERGY

Emmanuel V. Rubio of SN Aboitiz Power Group

O P Ajmera of AD Hydro Power Ltd.

Johnny Tanis and Chrysogonus Herrera of AES

HYDRO POWER PROJECT OF THE YEAR GOLD - 192 MW ALLAIN DUHANGAN HYDRO ELECTRIC PROJECT POWERED BY AD HYDRO POWER LTD. SILVER - ASAHAN 1 RUN OF RIVER HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER PLANT POWERED BY PT BAJRADAYA SENTRANUSA BRONZE- UPPER GOTVAND HYDRO POWER PROJECT POWERED BY MAPNA GENERATOR (PARS) BIOMASS POWER PROJECT OF THE YEAR GOLD - BATAAN 2020 INC, 12.5 MW, COGEN POWERED BY THERMAX LIMITED SILVER - WAYANG WINDU GEOTHERMAL POWER STATION POWERED BY VICTAULIC COMPANY COAL POWER PROJECT OF THE YEAR GOLD - NANTONG MEIYA COGENERATION COMPANY LTD. POWERED BY MEIYA POWER COMPANY LIMITED SILVER - HADONG THERMAL POWER PLANT POWERED

BY KOREA SOUTHERN POWER CO., LTD. (KOSPO) BRONZE - 600-MW MASINLOC COAL- FIRED POWER FACILITY IN ZAMBALES POWERED BY AES PHILIPPINES

MPC team accepting their silver award for Innovative Power Technology of the Year

GAS POWER PROJECT OF THE YEAR GOLD - SHANGHAI SHENERGY LINGANG CCGT POWER GENERATION CO., LTD POWERED BY SIEMENS ENERGY SECTOR SILVER - THE BLACK POINT POWER STATION GAS SUPPLY PROJECT POWERED BY CASTLE PEAK POWER COMPANY LIMITED (CAPCO) BRONZE - GHORASHAL GAS CONVERSION PROJECT POWERED BY AGGREKO ASIA NUCLEAR POWER PROJECT OF THE YEAR CHINA NATIONAL NUCLEAR POWER’S NUCLEAR GROUP INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM POWERED BY CHINA NATIONAL NUCLEAR CORPORATION (CNNC)

Sunil Singh & Mahesh Garg of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd.

Willem van Twembeke of IPR - GDF SUEZ Asia

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CAPCO Team

Pierre Cheyron of Cofely South East Asia Pte Ltd

Julian Ford and Brano Kollar of Aggreko

Eric Zhang of Meiya Power Company Limited

Cristina Gasper and Mike Gasper of Thermax Limited with Lanie Navida

Kristoffer Beezley & Goldenchain Xu of Emerson Process Management China

Sanjoy Datta & Anupam Datta of CESC Limited

Shanghai Shenergy Lingang CCGT Power Generation & Siemens team

Husni Sabar of PT Bajradaya Sentranusa ASIAN POWER 11

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FAST-TRACK POWER PLANT OF THE YEAR GOLD - NHON TRACH 2 CCPP IN VIETNAM BY LILAMA CORP. AS EPC POWERED BY SIEMENS ENERGY SECTOR SILVER - HEPCO PROJECT IN TOMAKOMAI, JAPAN POWERED BY AGGREKO ASIA STANDBY POWER PLANT OF THE YEAR WUHAN HAN-NENG POWER DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD. POWERED BY MEIYA POWER COMPANY LIMITED ENVIRONMENTAL UPGRADE OF THE YEAR GOLD - ENERGY EFFICIENCY PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING POWERED BY COFELY SOUTH EAST ASIA PTE LTD SILVER - SHANGDU POWER PLANT UNIT 2 (600MW) SMARTPROCESS PROJECT POWERED

BY EMERSON PROCESS MANAGEMENT CHINA BRONZE - ZERO DISCHARGE SYSTEM FOR PROCESS WATER AT TITAGARH GENERATING STATION POWERED BY CESC LIMITED

Asian Power Team

TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION PROJECT OF THE YEAR UPGRADING POWER SUPPLY QUALITY BY ENHANCING THE POWER SYSTEM NETWORK AND MAINTENANCE POWERED BY TAIWAN POWER COMPANY POWER PLANT UPGRADE OF THE YEAR GOLD - YANGZHOU NO. 2 POWER PLANT UNIT 1 (600MW) DCS & DEH RETROFIT PROJECT POWERED

BY EMERSON PROCESS MANAGEMENT CHINA SILVER - AMBUKLAO HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANT POWERED BY SN ABOITIZ POWER-BENGUET, INC. BRONZE - REPOWERING FROM OIL BOILER TO CFBC COAL BOILER (YEOSU UNIT 2) POWERED BY KOSEP (KOREA SOUTH-EAST POWER CO. LTD) INNOVATIVE POWER TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR GOLD - A CASE STUDY OF A TRANSMISSION LINE EQUIPPED WITH COUPLING GROUND WIRES POWERED BY TAIWAN POWER COMPANY SILVER - JINGYUAN SECOND POWER CO., LTD. POWERED BY MEIYA POWER COMPANY LIMITED BRONZE - SK E&S POWER PLANT REAL-TIME PLANT CAPACITY ESTIMATION PROJECT POWERED BY GE MEASUREMENT & CONTROL

Alfred Chua of Victaulic Company

Hak-Bin Kim & Ikkwan Kim of KOSEP

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECT OF THE YEAR GOLD - INTEGRATED OUTAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM POWERED BY TATA POWER DELHI DISTRIBUTION LTD SILVER - DEVELOPING AND ESTABLISHING THE DATABASE PROGRAM OF BOILER INSPECTION-ANALYSIS SYSTEM POWERED

BY TAIWAN POWER COMPANY BRONZE - CHINA NATIONAL NUCLEAR POWER’S NUCLEAR GROUP INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM POWERED BY CHINA NATIONAL NUCLEAR CORPORATION (CNNC) POWER UTILITY OF THE YEAR - AUSTRALIA FAULTS MANAGEMENT MOBILITY PROJECT POWERED BY POWERCOR AND CITIPOWER

Asian Power Awards delegates John Goss, Connie Chow, Julian Ford and Lanie Navida

POWER UTILITY OF THE YEAR - MALAYSIA CYPARK INTEGRATED RENEWABLE ENERGY PARK POWERED BY CYPARK RESOURCES BERHAD INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER OF THE YEAR GOLD - IPR – GDF SUEZ ASIA POWERED

BY IPR – GDF SUEZ ASIA SILVER - AGGREKO ASIA BRONZE - 192 MW ALLAIN DUHANGAN HYDRO ELECTRIC PROJECT POWERED

BY AD HYDRO POWER LTD.

CEO OF THE YEAR MR. EMMANUEL V. RUBIO SN ABOITIZ POWER GROUP Mao Hua Liu & Wing Yeung Li of Meiya Power Company Limited 12 ASIAN POWER

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SN Aboitiz Power Group

Pijarn Prakij of GE Measurement & Control

AD Hydro Power Ltd. wins 2 awards

Chung-Liang Chang of Taiwan Power Company

Mike Gasper & Kaustubh Pathak of Thermax Limited

Woo Gon Kim of KOSPO

Shigeru Inano of Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO) – Thailand

Shanghai Shenergy Lingang CCGT Power Generation & Siemens team with John Goss (Middle)

Aggreko Asia bagging 3 awards ASIAN POWER 13

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FEATURE: ASIA’S ENERGY MARKET

Asia faces energy in security

Asia requires US$7 to 9 trillion energy infrastructure investment to meet growing demand by 2030, reveals ADB.

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ccording to ADB Asia’s energy needs are expected to double by 2030 presenting major supply and energy security challenges. Seethapathy Chander, ADB director general for regional and sustainable development, reckons that in 2009, the primary energy supply in the region came largely from fossil fuel at the percentage of 90%. Renewable energy, including hydro, shared only 10%. Biomass consumption, he said, is about four times as much as other renewable energy consumption.

Continued reliance on fossil fuels however, he said, will increase the threat of climate change, affecting millions of Asia’s poor and vulnerable through increased natural disasters and shortages in food and water. “Nearly 1.8 billion people in Asia still rely on traditional biomass fuels to meet their cooking and heating needs and an estimated 1.5 million people, mostly women and children, die every year because of the indoor air pollution from the use of biomass fuel,” he said.

Chander said that ADB has made responding to climate change a top priority.

“In 2011, we invested $2.1 billion in clean energy projects, exceeding our current $1 billion target for the fourth year,” he told Asian Power.

Much is expected from private sector ADB estimates that until 2030, the region will need around US$ 7 to 9 million worth

of energy infrastructure investment to meet growing demand. “Not all of that is generation, nor do we expect all of it to be purely in clean energy, but even fractions of that total will require billions in investment.

However, clean energy investment is very high globally and has grown each year,” said Chander.

“Renewable resources for all are plentiful throughout Asia and the technology is mature. The need for clean energy across the region is greater than ever. Countries in the region must transform themselves into low-carbon economies by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy”, he added.

Barriers ahead There are a number of barriers slowing clean energy adoption in developing Asia and the Pacific. According to ADB, the absence of strong policy frameworks and quantitative targets means there is no structure for clean energy development in our region. “The region already suffers from a perception as a high-risk area. Yet, clean energy investment continues to hit record levels – in 2011 it was $263 billion worldwide, and $75 billion in Asia and the Pacific.

But this money has flowed primarily to those countries that offer clear policy support for clean energy investment, where the government has set adoption targets, and offered incentives. As these are infrastructure projects with lifespans of many years,

ADB estimates that until 2030, the region will need from US$ 7 to 9 trillion in energy infrastructure investment to meet growing demand.

investors need that long-term assurance,” he said.

Another barrier is financing. Chander said that clean energy technology trades fuel and maintenance costs over the longterm with high up-front costs that many developing Asian countries cannot manage. “These costs have to come down, and they are, but slowly. We need to accelerate that, and ADB is working with commercial lending institutions to offer partial-risk guarantees for clean energy project financing,” he said.

The last part of the puzzle is people.

Chander notes that few regional governments have the expertise, or know-how to assess and implement cutting-edge clean energy technology, as it pertains to their specific country conditions. “We’ve begun our ‘Leadership Program in Sustainable Asia’ to begin training governments to make sound, logical decisions towards sustainable, low-carbon energy development,” he said.

ADB’s role Chander iterates that the resource potential is present, but the key here is for renewable energy to reach grid parity with conventional, fossil fuel generation through technology advance, innovative financing and policy support. “ADB is a multilateral finance institute which can play important in these areas.

For example, when solar becomes an important renewable energy resource in the energy system, ADB established the Asia Solar Energy Initiative in 2010 to help develop 3,000 megawatts of new solar energy by 2013 and provide financing solutions for projects that mitigate risks and high initial costs,” he said.

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CO-PUBLISHED CORPORATE PROFILE

Aggreko intensifies power solutions in Asia Power inadequacy seems to be plaguing countries and Aggreko responds to the burning demand for solutions.

Brano Kollar, Head of Business Development in Asia, Aggreko

Aggreko booth at the 2012 POWER-GEN Asia

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n a world where power generation and power solutions are immediate necessities, Aggreko continues to etch a name in being the premier provider of these global needs, particularly in the Asian region. The company acknowledges that Asia is a rapidly industrialising economy and Aggreko stepped in to boost the region’s growing potential as a power generation market. At the POWER-GEN Asia 2012 held in Bangkok, Thailand, Aggreko shared with Asian Power the robust status of its operations in the Asian power segment as well as its response to the pressing call for power solutions.

Critical call for power solutions There is a global trend emerging for the urgent need of temporary power plant solutions for power utilities in developing countries. Brano Kollar, Head of Business Development in Asia, emphasized that this is not just an issue affecting developing countries as both the developing and developed worlds are facing concerns around ensuring a sufficient supply of energy both now and into the years to come In the developing world, Kollar explained, the combination of rapidly escalating energy demand which is constrained by the lack of existing generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure is observable. He added that the surging power demand is being led by industrial users who, require more power to grow their businesses in line with GDP growth levels in their base countries.

Additionally, Kollar said, with countries like Germany and Japan looking to take nuclear power out of their energy mix, the need for short and longer term solutions for the power industry have never been greater. This is where Aggreko saw that it is

high time for them to get involved in responding to these needs particularly in Asia as it added Singapore to its global distribution network 20 years ago. Since then, the country has become Aggreko’s regional hub for Asia providing support to its sister facilities based in China and India.

Thriving presence in Asian market It is well-known that Aggreko was the official temporary energy services supplier to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. When asked how this achievement helped Aggreko strengthen its presence and operations in the Asian market, Kollar said that this milestone had made clients and even other people understand what benefits Aggreko can bring and how all its services really work. “We have also executed the Beijing Olympics Games, and this has created so much awareness among the domestic users,” Kollar recalled. Participating in the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as in the Beijing Olympic Games, was a big ‘showcase’ for Aggreko, as it enormously boosted its primary objective of raising the ‘awareness negotiation market’ so that, as Kollar put it, “people will understand that power is needed and is essential.”

“There is the credibility which we are building not only among the people, but also in the industry,

“We are increasingly seeing our projects becoming more and more integrated into wider elements of civil infrastructure.”

the Olympic committees, they see our name everywhere where there is power,” Kollar remarked. Aggreko made sure that it conveyed a clear message: that temporary power is not just a generator sitting in the corner.

Hurdling project challenges One of Aggreko’s signature projects is an interim power plant. This project has a lifecycle that undergoes 10 stages before it reaches completion, but these stages are not always easy. “Each different project brings its own set of challenges,” Kollar admitted.

A case in point is that of the 200MW Aggreko installed for TEPCO in Japan immediately following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2010. This project was extremely complex in logistical terms, as Aggreko had to source equipment from different corners of the world and ship them to Japan as rapidly as possible to bring relief to the power situation the country was facing at the time. “Thankfully, we were able to fully commission the project within 12 weeks of the contract being signed,” Kollar recalled.

Aggreko also had a more recent job in Mozambique where it installed a 107.5MW power plant which supplies power to the state utilities of both Mozambique and South Africa.

The challenge was that, alongside their power plant, they also had to build a number of large and permanent civil infrastructure works which include a 275kV high-voltage power line. “We are increasingly seeing our projects becoming more and more integrated into wider elements of civil infrastructure,” Kollar commented.

Moving forward, Aggreko understands that challenges will always be in the way, but with 50 years’ worth of experiences and know-how in building fast-track temporary power plants, Aggreko is confident that it will deliver.

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SPECIAL FEATURE: POST-POWERGEN

2012 POWER-GEN Asia Special Report

Eight of the best companies in the power industry shared their market operations, latest innovations and industry insights to Asian Power magazine

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outheast Asia’s current economic situation is outstripping Europe’s and America’s performance as its economies continue to boom, consequently leading to a spur in demand for power in many countries in the region.

One of its net importer of energy is Thailand, the GDP of which is predicted to hit an impressive growth of 5.6%. This GDP boost is expected to pave the way for a further 6% growth in peak power demand between the years 2012 and 2016 to an estimated 35,600 megawatts and 44,200 megawatts by 2021.

The country has a current capacity of approximately 28,500 megawatts, and even amidst current energy imports from neighbouring peers, Thailand is still threatened with energy shortage. Moving forward, the next few years will see a further shortfall in capacity. With all these hurdles, Thailand still sets its eyes to be the leading country in exporting carbon credits in Asia by improving and promoting research and development endeavors on the carbon capture and storage technology.

Aside from gearing up to be the lead exporter of

carbon credits, Thailand is continuously importing energy, making it one of the regions’ net importers. As such, it is central to South East Asia’s power development plans.

POWER-GEN Asia acknowledges Thailand’s potential as a power generation market leader, and saw it fitting to return to Bangkok on this year’s exhibit-conference to mark its 20th anniversary last October 3 - 5. It was again co-located with Renewable Energy World Asia, the leading event for large scale renewable, alternative and sustainable energy.

As the premier event for the power generation industry in the Asian region, POWER-GEN Asia made sure that this largest gathering of power industry professionals in South East Asia will be another successful one.

This exhibition-conference has gained the full support and endorsement of the leading industryrelated organizations in Thailand, including the Ministry of Energy, Department of Alternative Energy, Development and Efficiency, and the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation among many others.

ALSTOM

One strategy that keeps Alstom ahead in the industry is that they also make it a point that every solution they conceptualize and design for plants are quick and will push the plant to run in full operation for a lengthy period of time. “We bring solutions in terms of operations and maintenance to keep the plant up to standard for as long as the lifetime requires it to,” he further elaborated.

Wouter Van Wersch, Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Alstom Power APAC & President Alstom Singapore

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lstom is one of the global leaders in power generation and is one of the few who set the benchmark for innovative and environmentally conscious technologies. It continues to develop its offering especially to the Asian power market as close to 25% of the world’s power production capacity relies on Alstom technology and services.

Lifecycle design approach To make sure that every one of its solutions is exe-

2012 POWER-GEN Asia, benefiting from the burgeoning support of Independent Power Producers Forum, ascertained that it will continue to push its limits in conference offerings and thus came up with a interesting line-up of conference speakers from around the world to discuss important topics and issues that are key to power generation, transmission, and distribution industries across the ASEAN region.

“The power generation and transmission and distribution industry has needed to adapt to these challenging times and we are delighted that POWER-GEN Asia offers the opportunity for the industry to gather in Thailand to discuss the important topics and issues that face the region’s industries,” Arak Chonlatanon, Minister of Energy of Thailand, said in his welcome remarks.

Over 120 companies, leaders, and pioneers from the power industry flocked to IMPACT Exhibition & Convention Centre to exhibit their latest innovations and technologies. Asian Power got the chance to interview several of this year’s exhibitors as they shared their respective companies’ operations in the Asian power market.

cuted very well, Alstom ascertains that they are conceived through a lifecycle design approach. Wouter Van Wersch, Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Alstom Power APAC & President Alstom Singapore, said that when Alstom is building, say, a power plant, what they produced must be useful and available from 20 to 40 years. “In terms of manufacturing, we look at innovative solutions to make sure that our products stay in perfect condition for as long as possible,” Wouter added.

Penetrating the ocean energy market Alstom is all geared up to enter the ocean energy market. But considering how difficult this project is, how far along is the company in making this plan a reality? ‘’First of all, we have in Alstom a full renewable portfolio enabling us to venture into hydro, wind, geothermal, biomass, and solar energy production, but we also decided some years ago to invest in ocean energy,” Wouter recalled. Alstom is already providing services in all other renewable energy markets, but it saw the ocean energy market’s potential in the industry and thought of giving it a try, along with its concentrated solar power technologies.

“In terms of manufacturing, we look at innovative solutions to make sure that our products stay in perfect condition for as long as possible.”

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SPECIAL FEATURE: POST-POWERGEN

VEOLIA

Veolia sets its eyes on one of the most persistent challenges in the industry: the Asian market itself.

The region’s increasing population, increasing economy, and increasing wealth all entail a burgeoning usage of water and ballooning demand for clean supply. “Veolia designed a new strategy which has three cornerstones: Service, Value, and Responsibility,” Carlo Patteri, Business Development Director, explained.

How has the Asian market reacted to this strategy? “I’ve been working here for seven years now, and I have noticed that the governments are realising the importance of a greener approach in the market,” Patteri observed. Heads of each country are seeing that this approach is valuable and extremely important most particularly in this kind of service business.

Paul Coe, Global Power Market Director and Carlo Patteri, Business Development Director for Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies

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eolia Water acknowledges that wastewater treatment needs to be stepped up as 2.6 billion people still lack access to basic sanitation.

This is what’s driving Veolia to strive harder in the industry and overcome challenges in water sanitation.

Customer-centric strategy Staying true to its primary objective of boosting water sanitation, Veolia takes pride in its customerfocused organization strategy to push this goal forward. Paul Coe, Global Power Market Director for Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies noted that

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E has been an essential player in the Southeast Asian economies in helping and supporting the building of infrastructure and clean water technology. For over a hundred years, it has installed strong presence in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Smart Grid solutions GE has developed an innovative technology called Smart Grid solutions to address the planet’s energy infrastructure needs. It can also handle power challenges for the next 100 years.

To ascertain that clients of Smart Grid are kept happy and satisfied, GE Smart Grid Strategy team works broadly with key players from organizations for architecture, business case, and execution plans.

But how exactly does Smart Grid work? GE Energy has developed an expertise across the electrical grid, gleaned from real-world project experiences.

“With over 110 years of building and improving energy grid solutions, it has designed a ‘roadmap’ to help its customers,” Kenji Uenishi, President of GE Power & Water Asia, Strategic Accounts, explained.

GE in 2012 Power-Gen Asia As one of the premium providers of power and automation technologies, GE Energy brewed up offerings that surprised delegates and attendees of this year’s Power-Gen Asia.

GE has a diverse array of products depending on each client’s particular need. It has recently launched

there are global heads for each of the markets that the company sees itself being positioned in.

Veolia banks on its global presence as one of its obvious company strengths. It operates in various parts of the world and deepens its roots in each region, such that if a contracting company kicks off a project site in Asia where Veolia has good local presence, it is ready to step in and offer its hand.

“This helps the client, because we have good local knowledge,”Coe added.

Service, Value, Responsibility

Veolia in 2012 POWER-GEN Asia “POWER-GEN is currently the top exhibition in the industry,” Patteri said. With two decades’ worth of experience in the region, Veolia came to the exhibition with over 350 patented technologies, most of which are applicable to the market with over 300 operating plants worldwide. It recognizes the booming power market in the region and does its part in the industry by developing standardised water and wastewater treatment solutions for power plants.

“Governments are realising the importance of a greener approach in the market.”

GE

Kenji Uenishi, President of GE Power & Water Asia, Strategic Accounts

FlexEfficiency60 which boasts of extremely high efficiency base load 62% combined cycle--the highest GE Energy has ever developed in their product line.

“This year we are very much focusing on distributing power that is particularly air energy product, which is TM2500,” Uenishi revealed.

“Energy is a need, therefore with demand continuously increasing, shortage will apparently ensue.

Two of the things you can do are: make energy

product generation bigger, or reduce and conserve the energy so you don’t have to generate excessively,” Uenishi commented.

“Energy is a need, therefore with demand continuously increasing, shortage will apparently ensue.”

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SPECIAL FEATURE: POST-POWERGEN

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APR ENERGY

n the power generation industry, technological innovations and concepts aren’t the only determinants of the best companies. APR Energy draws its edge from being the company that offers temporary power solutions on a fast-track basis to governments and industrial customers all around the world.

Cut above the rest What gives APR Energy an edge against other competitors in the field of fast-track power is its modern and flexible fleet of diesel and natural gas modules and mobile dual fuel turbine technologies, combined with in-depth operation and maintenance services as well as flexible commercial conditions.

Throughout its business model, APR Energy differentiates itself from others by employing newer technology including their engines and equipment.

Steve Chapman, Regional Sales Director for APR Energy, said.

“As compared to competitors, such as the much larger power company Aggreko, we feel that because we are new and smaller, we can be a lot more flexible in terms of our contract offerings.”

The new technology that APR Energy employs, including gas engines, diesel engines, and gas turbines also gives it a cut above the rest.

September further enables APR Energy to become flexible in serving the Asian power generation market. “By having these strategic locations, we can serve the customer in very rapid fashion,” Chapman noted.

Stronger presence in Asian market APR Energy has four global hubs located in Dubai, the United States, Panama, and in Malaysia which allows it to reach out to customers and attend to their needs in these regions.

The most recent opening of its Malaysia hub in

Projects in Asia Companies in the power industry are flocking to Asia for various types of projects. “We definitely see the growth of power within the market and that’s one of the reasons why we see that the Asian economy is one of the many emerging markets grow-

Steve Chapman, Regional Sales Director of APR Energy

OPRA TURBINES

Fredrik Mowill, Chief Executive Officer of OPRA Turbines

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PRA Turbines sets its eyes on its mission to be the most competitive global provider of gas turbine-based power solutions for installations between 1 and 10 megawatts. Since its establishment in 1991 in the Netherlands, the company has provided power generation sets to Russia, South East Asia, Latin America and Europe.

OPRA generator sets OPRA Turbines develops, manufactures, markets

and maintains generator sets in the 2 MW power range utilising its innovative OP16 series of gas turbines.

Using proven radial gas turbine technology, the OP16 gas turbine is designed for supplying power generation applications to both the Oil and Gas, and Industrial markets. “The unique thing about our product is that it’s an all-radial gas turbine design--it’s a lot more simple, robust and rugged compared to what you normally see for this type

ing at very, very fast rates,” he noted. “Immediate requirement for power to be delivered fast,” Chapman recalled. The power cannot possibly keep up with surging demand in the region, he added.

“We feel that because we are new and smaller, we can be a lot more flexible in terms of our contract offerings.” of gas turbine,” Fredrick Mowill, Chief Executive Officer explained. It also registers very low emissions and these turbines can be run on both liquid and gaseous fuels, including bio fuels. How has the global power market accepted this technology? Fredrik Mowill, Chief Executive Officer, said that they got very positive reactions especially for the mobile version of the OP16 generating set because of its compactness and reliability. “It’s a 25 feet container and we got 1.8 MW on this, which is more than any other generation package out there,” Mowill said.

OPRA Turbines in 2012 PowerGen Asia Mowill shared its new interesting development on conceptualizing and realizing a low calorific fuel combustor. “Through this, we will be able to have low calorific fuels in the future, around below 10 mega joules per kilogram, we’re expanding these gas turbines into many different applications,” Mowill said.

OPRA developed this combustor based on customer feedback of having a combustor that could handle low calorific gases. “It is a direct response to what customers had asked for,” Mowill remarked.

“The unique thing about our product is that it’s an allradial gas turbine design - a lot more simple, robust and rugged.”

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SPECIAL FEATURE: POST-POWERGEN

SIEMENS ENERGY

Markus Lorenzini, Head of Energy Sector in ASEAN-Pacific Cluster and Lothar Balling, Executive Vice President for GT Power Plant Solutions

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iemens takes on the challenge of providing solutions for a sustainable energy system with innovative products, concepts services and unmatched know-how.

As the leader behind the pioneer combined cycled project in Thailand in the 70’s, Siemens had since taken strong roots in Asia. These projects have expanded into Asia and had earned Siemens recognition and awards along with other numerous projects.

Front office in Singapore

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hell Lubricants believes that lubes deliver value to business operation. Its technology leading products and services aim to help and support clients improve business performance, boost efficiency and eventually heighten profitability. This is Shell’s offer to the Asian market as one of the leading lubricant suppliers in the industry.

Wind energy production as a key sector One of the most thriving segments in the Asian power market at present is wind energy production.

Shell’s versatile services and offerings encompass a wide range of power sectors, and as such, wind energy production is no exception. Ronald Bakker, Global Product Application Specialist, admitted that it certainly is a sector that Shell Lubricants identified as an important one to many of its customers.

High quality Shell lubricants products and services have been designed to help keep wind turbines generating power. “We actually have a team of around 42 technicians in China alone, giving support to customers on a daily basis,” Bakker revealed.

Shell Lubricants continuously develop products specifically for this application of wind turbines, approved by the leading OEMs of this segment.

Was it well-accepted by the Asian power market?

Bakker said that customers have responded very positively, as Shell Lubricants is recognized as a key player in the industry.

“Because of this, we have gained a vast amount of experience and knowledge in this segment which happened to help us advise our customers even bet-

Asian Power NOVDEC2012.indd 19

Siemens established a front office in 2010 in Singapore after it has already implemented a front office in Dubai a year before. Lothar Balling, Executive Vice President for GT Power Plant Solutions, explained that this front office concept is set up to shift more responsibility from the headquarters to the regions.

“Being closer to the customer and receiving more inputs straight from them has helped us a lot so far ,” L. Balling added.

Laying out front offices has also brought Siemens closer to its supply base, bringing multi-pronged benefits such as the office being not just for sales

but also for proposing, engineering, and procurement activities. “We have a very strong presence now in Singapore for the whole Asian region,” L. Balling said.

What successes has this front office concept brought Siemens since its conception? It is quite apparent that the Singapore front office has been successful as Balling stated that they have received orders recently in Thailand, Singapore, and last but not least in South Korea. “Proximity to clients in the region, to different countries in Asia actually, is the key,” L. Balling emphasized.

Contributions to green efforts Siemens energy sector has various portfolios for the power industry, especially in the wind business.

Markus Lorenzini, Head of Energy Sector in ASEANPacific Cluster, said that they have wind power portfolio where Siemens snagged the top spot in offshore.

They had also grabbed big successes in Thailand on onshore wind power plants. “We also have an advanced technology on gas turbines combined cycle power plants which has an efficiency greater than 60%. Actually, we do hold the world record which is 60.75% efficiency,” he revealed.

“Being closer to the customer and receiving more inputs straight from them has helped us a lot so far.”

SHELL LUBRICANTS

Ronald Bakker, Global Product Application Specialist of Shell Lubricants ter,” he remarked.

Shell Lubricants in 2012 Power-Gen Asia Shell Lubricants is very much aware of the potential of the Asian region as a power generation market.

This year’s Power-Gen saw Shell Lubricants offering a wide range of service tools and banking on advising customers on lubricant usage.

“We advise them not only on the quality of lubricant, but also on the quality of their equipment,”

Bakker explained. Their strategies, he said, are supported by meticulous methods such as plant surveys, lubrication surveys, plant recommendation, lubricant storage, and lubricant handling.

“we have gained a vast amount of experience and knowledge in wind energy production.”

11/20/2012 5:05:55 PM

OPINION

NGUYEN HUU HOAI

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The price of electricity in Vietnam

he electricity industry in Vietnam is unique. Unlike most Asian countries, the Vietman government still controls large components of the industry and, critically, the price. Here’s a walk-through of Vietman’s general pricing regime.

Development of a competitive market The Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) is a state-owned enterprise. It controls the entire process: importation of electricity, generation, transmission, distribution, allocation and retailing of electricity. EVN has a statutory monopoly on wholesale and retail distribution.

Moreover, EVN has an obvious advantage over other players. This advantage enables EVN to control both the price at which power plants sell electricity and the wholesale and retail prices which consumers pay.

To develop a competitive market, the government’s plan is to develop the electricity market through three periods: Phase 1 (2005-2014)–competitive market for the generation of electricity (CMFGOE); Phase 2 (2015-2022)–competitive market for the wholesale sale of electricity; and Phase 3 (From 2022 onward)–competitive market for retail sale of electricity.

The first phase is new and was initiated in July 1, 2012--seven years behind the planned schedule. Under the CMFGOE regime, both EVN plants and non-EVN plants, are permitted to sell their electricity to EVN on the basis of competitive bids through an electronic bidding system.

Electricity price The viability of a power plant depends on the price at which it can sell its output. However, the price at which power plants sell electricity to EVN has a ceiling fixed by the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV). The ceiling price may be adjusted by ERAV on an annual basis.

A shortage of electricity exists The government realizes that to attract domestic and foreign investment, the price of electricity must increase. According to the government’s master plan, the price at which a plant may sell electricity will be gradually increased in order to ensure that the selling price will be 8-9 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2020.

The price increase will not follow a fixed schedule as adjustments will be decided from time to time. It is unclear whether the proposed price will be sufficient by 2020. The cost of fuel to operate power plants has consistently increased.

On the other side of the equation, the law permits EVN to adjust its retail price four times a year if the variation of the main input factors (i.e. fuel, exchange rate, and structure of volume of power generation) exceeds 5% in comparison with the previous adjustment period.

Even so, EVN must justify any increase and must obtain the consent of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (in case the increase of retail price is less than 5%), and/or the Ministry of Finance (in case the increase of retail price is more than 5%).

A reduction of the retail price does not require the Govern-

ment’s approval.

Impact of CMFGOE The impact of CMFGOE, at least at present, is marginal.

Large EVN power plants do not participate in CMFGOE. In fact, only a small amount of the power currently generated involves CMFGOE. Although the law requires all power plants with a capacity of more than 30 MW (with a few exceptions) to participate in CMFGOE, to date only 29 power plants with a total capacity of 9,035 MW do so.

At present, only about 5%-10% of the total power generation of these 29 plants (less than 1,000 MW) is subject to the competitive bid regime. The remaining production of these plants (95%-90%) sells at the price set out in the plants’ existing power purchase agreements with EVN. As CMFGOE has operated for only a few weeks, it is too early to know if it will succeed. Much depends on the government’s will to challenge a deeply engrained resistance to change. If it does succeed, and it is far too early to tell, it will be a small but solid step toward development of a truly competitive market. BOT, wind and geothermal plants are not required to participate in CMFGOE.

Only about 5%-10% of the total power generation of these 29 plants (less than 1,000 MW) is subject to the competitive bid regime.

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CO-PUBLISHED CORPORATE PROFILE

Aggreko unveils customer-centric strategies

Loyal customer Infradev talks about why it chose Aggreko over competitors and what’s keeping it loyal to the company for over nine years. expansion endeavors? “Power-Gen is a very important strategic event for us--we meet new people, we are seen, we create new alliances, we create opportunities,” Kollar explained. But what Aggreko deems important is that it gets its message across both existing and potential customers. “We will certainly continue our participation in the next events,” Kollar said.

Julian Ford and Brano Kollar of Aggreko with Asian Power publisher Tim Charlton

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emand for power generation in the Asian market is quickly outstripping supply as economies in the region grow richer and as purchasing power becomes stronger. It recognizes the Asian countries’ dilemma, and promptly responds with solutions to help these countries provide quality power and energy supply for their users while maintaining finances within boundaries.

Aggreko shares with Asian Power its business strategies and plans to take its roots deeper in the Asian power market.

Formula for global success Through the years, it has maintained its spot as one of the global leaders in the specialist temporary energy marketplace through offering a wide array of innovative rental solutions conceptualized by Aggreko specialists.

Brano Kollar, Head of Business Development in Asia, said that with countries like Germany and Japan looking to take nuclear power out of their energy mix, the need for both short-term and long-term solutions for the power industry have never been greater. This is where Aggreko saw that it is high time for them to get involved in responding to these needs particularly in Asia as it added Singapore to its global distribution network some 20 years ago.

Since then, the country has become Aggreko’s regional hub for Asia providing fleet, technical, commercial and logistical support to its sister facilities based in China and India.

Aggreko’s group strategy is founded on the basic principle of ‘homogeneity.’ Kollar explained that since Aggreko’s establishment in 1962, this has been Aggreko’s key advantage. This standard process is applied worldwide, so whether a client runs a generator or a temporary power plant, the Aggreko in South America or in Asia has the same equipment and standard. Solution to insufficient power supply

Asian Power NOVDEC2012.indd 21

Aggreko interim power plants help stabilise and support communities which may be suffering from inadequate power supplies.

The group acknowledges that it is not financially feasible for these communities to have their own interim power plants, thus the concept of offering rentals of interim power plants. But what can these communities glean from renting the equipment?

Kollar said that firstly, there is no capital expenditure involved and that there is better cost control. “Secondly,” Kollar enumerated, “with roughly 10,000 MW located strategically throughout the world, we can deploy significant power generating infrastructure anywhere quickly.”

Renting interim power plants also involves flexibility, which means that power capacity can be increased and decreased in line with power requirements.

Infradev speaks for Aggreko Aggreko puts a golden premium on customer relationship as its business strategy of homogeneity makes it sure that they are within their clients’ reach to deliver quick solutions to their needs. As Kollar put it, “rapid response is a must in this business.”

Sarafat Chowdhury, Senior Vice President and COO of Infradev Associates, has been Aggreko’s loyal client for over nine years already. He confided that Infradev has chosen Aggreko over its peers as it has its own equipment, thus delivering results as fast as possible. He also commended their management and the team for their professionalism and for sticking to what they have committed.

“There was one time when the government badly needed around a hundred megawatts for the Ramadan, and it was delivered within 42 days, which is unbelievable,” Sarafat said. This unrelenting help and support from Aggreko has impressed Infradev.

Aggreko has been their partner in delivering power to Bangladesh. “Our relationship goes back to when they were still doing the concept of rental,” Sarafat recalled. He said that Aggreko has actually put the high standard in the market. “They go out of their way--very flexible and very professional,” Sarafat remarked.

Plans to penetrate Asia deeper The company’s locations in Singapore, India and China propel Aggreko’s stand in Asia as a growing and emerging market. It also acknowledges opportunities in both developing countries and developed economies, which Kollar is confident would point to a further expansion of its business portfolio in Asia.

“Definitely, we eye to assist and provide temporary power services to all customers in need of a fasttrack power company,” Kollar remarked.

How does it see Power-Gen Asia helping it in its

“There was one time when the government badly needed around a hundred megawatts for the Ramadan, and it was delivered within 42 days, which is unbelievable..”

Sarafat Chowdhury, Senior Vice President and COO of Infradev Associates

11/20/2012 5:06:00 PM

OPINION

GEOFF ZEISS

S

Smarter grids for better electric power

mart grid technology involves empowering consumers integrating renewable energy, adding sensors such as synchrophasors, and automating distribution networks.

In the United States, the top priorities for electric power utilities in 2012 not only include traditional smart grid-related technologies such as distribution automation, analytics to manage big data, support for electric vehicles (EV), electric power storage, and solar PV, but also smart buildings.

Smart buildings Smart buildings mean buildings that not only use less power, but are able to manage peak load. Globally, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that residential, commercial, and public buildings account for one-third of the globe’s total final energy consumption.

According to a recent study by Global Insight only 6% of worldwide construction activity currently incorporates green technology. Driven by regulation, owner and investor demands, resource cost, security concerns, and third party standards, it is projected that by 2020 this could increase to 75%. Energy saving measures for commercial buildings are urgently required, since the commercial sector including office buildings consumes more than half of total energy consumption in the residential/commercial sector. Moreover, energy usage growth in the commercial sector has been more striking than that of the residential sector.

Zero energy buildings A major area of focus in the EU is the “nearly zero energy” building. A nearly zero energy building on average generates as much energy from renewable energy sources as it consumes.

The Government of Japan put forward its ZEB target in April, 2009 which is to accelerate the development of zero emission buildings with the aim that all new public buildings will have zero emissions by 2030. This is a similar objective as the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) that requires that, all new Federal facilities must be “net zero energy” buildings by 2030.

Pike Research has projected that as a result of the recast EU EPBD Directive and similar legislation in other parts of the world, such as Japan, worldwide revenue from nearly zero energy building construction will grow at an annual rate of 43% over the next two decades, reaching $690 billion by 2020 and $1.3 trillion by 2035, with much of the growth occurring in the EU Municipalities, electric utilities and energyefficient buildings. In many jurisdictions around the world, government and regulators are mandating energy conservation measures.

A key technical advance that is transforming the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry is modelbased design, or building information modeling (BIM). BIM is an intelligent model-based process that helps owners and service providers achieve better business results by enabling more accurate, accessible, and actionable insight throughout project execution and lifecycle.

BIM also helps enable building energy performance analyses of new and existing structures that can reduce significantly the energy footprint of buildings.

Improving electric power efficiency of new buildings 3D Energy is a small building energy performance analysis firm that works with architects and engineers to optimize energy usage for new buildings. An energy performance analysis typically starts either with a simplified version of a BIM model of the building provided by the architect or 3DEnergy creates the simplified model from architectural drawings.

The simplified BIM model contains the key elements of the building that are required for the energy performance analysis including walls and floors, room bounding elements, complete volumes, window frames and curtain walls.

By conducting energy analyses and testing alternative options, it is possible to reduce annual energy consumption and power bills by up to 40%. As an added benefit and important motivation, in Ontario the OPA will pay for up to 100% of the cost of the energy performance analysis.

It was estimated that with strategies such as zoning, enabling natural ventilation, daylighting and advanced lighting systems, decoupling interior spaces, and solar photovoltaic, it is possible to reduce the building’s annual energy consumption by as much as 60%.

The convergence of model-based design, geospatial technology, and 3D visualization breaks down traditional repositories of information.

Interoperability between disciplines makes it possible to model the energy performance of our building infrastructure, which currently consumes one third of the world’s energy, and significantly reduce the energy footprint of residential and commercial buildings, providing a large and relatively inexpensive source of “alternative energy” to be used in other critical sectors of Asia’s economies.

Globally, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that residential, commercial, and public buildings account for onethird of the globe’s total final energy consumption.

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CO-PUBLISHED CORPORATE PROFILE

CEO INTERVIEW

Meiya Power Company Limited– A Partner of Choice Meiya Power has been investing and managing diversified power projects portfolio in North Asia since 1995.

D

eveloping profitable and trustworthy partnerships with a variety of power industry participants is a cornerstone of MPC’s operations. For many years, our management team has been focusing on maximizing shareholders’ value and enhancing transparency by consistently committing high corporate governance standards at all levels of our business.

As an independent power producer (IPP) with sound track records in investing and managing diversified power projects portfolio in terms of diverse fuel types and geographies in North Asia since 1995, with gross capacity now reaching 13,900MW in operation, and 3,300MW under construction, within high growth power markets such as China and the Southeast Asia. Long presence in selected regions has yielded additional investment opportunities and has acquired organic expansions at existing sites.

Our business partners value MPC’s know-how and expertise as the key success factors in the profitable operation of our power projects. More importantly, we earned strong reputation as the “Partner of Choice” among power regulators, industry professionals and business partners. This strong and intimate working relationship has been cultivated through successful collaboration among stakeholders.

To this end, MPC strictly adheres to disciplinary business strategies in developing, expanding and acquiring power projects that provide favorable returns, by capitalizing on strong international industrial experience, technical expertise with local knowledge, high standards of corporate governance and regulatory compliance of our experienced management team.

In operating over 40 power assets with business partners of diverse cultural and professional backgrounds, good asset management experiences represent other key success factors of MPC. We equipped ourselves with our sound track record in responding to vibrant structural reforms and regulatory changes in the markets in which we currently operate.

In addition, we introduced cost-effective plant performance improvement programs to continuously enhance operating results of our power assets. Our contracted PPAs augment financial performance and revenue stability.

Moreover, Management is able to move efficiently to capitalize on opportunities and has a demonstrated track record of executing complex projects on time and on budget. MPC has a track record of successfully raising bank capital and project financings.

To echo with minimizing global warming effects, MPC takes up social responsibility to protect the en-

The Meiya Power Team receives their award

vironment by investing towards cleaner energy such as wind and hydropower. MPC believes it makes good business sense to protect the environment and support a sustainable development of the energy solutions.

We integrate environmental consideration into our business activities and require the operations of our power projects to meet all the applicable environmental standards. We strive to use the appropriate environmental measures and latest technologies in our projects to minimize impact on the environment and to maximize energy efficiency and conservation.

All our coal-fired power plants have completed desulfurization upgrades and have achieved OHSAS1800, ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards. We are also in the process of installing de-Nox facilities in our coal-fired power plants to reduce further the Nox emission. To uphold operational excellence, both externally and internally, MPC focuses on maintaining health and safety standards to request our employees to strictly adhere to safety-related policies and consistently carry out quality check and

“MPC is committed to maintaining our profound reputation arising from the corporate culture based on integrity, transparency, credibility, flexibility and operational excellence.”

internal controls. Besides, MPC maintains control of its projects through appointment of key positions and also has significant protection rights in its minority-owned projects. As such, we have the bestin-class risk management and operational expertise which makes us the leading international IPP. All in all, MPC possesses unbeatable competence and strength to further explore new business opportunities. This was further proven by winning numerous awards in the Asian Power Awards organized

by Asian Power Magazine of Charlton Media Group for the past few years. And in 2012, MPC has won three awards:

• Gold Award - Coal Power Project of the Year for Nantong Cogeneration Project ; • Standby Power Plant of the Year for Hanneng Gas-fired Power Project and ; • Silver Award - Innovative Power Technology of the Year for Jingyuan Coal-fired Power Project.

MPC is committed to maintaining our profound reputation arising from the corporate culture based on integrity, transparency, credibility, flexibility and operational excellence.

Our long-standing operating experience and capabilities add value to projects in various stages ranging from development, financing, construction, and expansion to upgrading power projects, have earned us new partners with sophisticated corporate and financial experience in the power industry - and you are invited to be one of our valuable partners too.

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OPINION

FOERD AMES

A

Exploring ocean wave energy for climate management

sia’s growth as an international manufacturing powerhouse is in part due to low apparent energy prices, worker cost, and open-ended materials procurement. The greatest profit driver has been consistent exclusion of environmental true costs associated with handling carbon and nuclear-based emissions and waste.

Intersecting this rise are personal desires for good health, improved educational opportunities, and higher living standards that have led to a recent and rapid awareness of regional impacts due to a changing climate.

For several years, the IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sought only to qualify climate change symptoms and whether induced by human activity or result of long-term natural cycles.

Recent weather events, several fantastic and expensive proposals, and persistent voices from the minority helped redirect IPCC in its fourth assessment to begin analyzing relatively practical climate solution scenarios.

This focus resulted in currently published special reports, “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation” and “Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation”.

Becoming acknowledged is that a large portion of extreme annual weather is expressed through water cycles-- increased storm frequency and severity, ocean water thermal expansion, and continual record-breaking polar melt of both land and sea ice. Like a canary in a coal mine, first effects are felt by islands and coastal nations, particularly that large number in South-East Asia and Pacific region, as rising sea levels inundate low-lying areas.

The aqueous portion of this very serious dilemma may be most elegantly resolved if ocean water is geo-engineered to be used as fuel source and freshwater supply.

When adequate portion of desalinated, purified water is electrolyzed to produce hydrogen and oxygen gases, sequestered in power processes of human industry, resalinated and recycled, then the problem transforms to opportunity.

Toward such promising future, and for so long overshadowed by solar and wind conversion, utility–scale electrical generation from MHK marine hydrokinetics is certain to become a major energy source. In particular, ocean wave energy is finally receiving due consideration from designers and developers.

Unfortunately, short memory or “conscious ignorance” have overproduced redundant, narrow variation of previously proposed wave energy conversion technology and misplaced investment in shore and near shore barrier-type MHK installations. In 2011, the government of China awarded a substantial contract for such devices positioned along seawalls.

Equally daunting is a perception that closely located deployment of two or more unitary wave devices represents a modular system and, to date, little consideration is given to ancillary cost of power transmission and

support structures not directly involved with electrical generation.

The present, industry-leading technology is indeed modular and self-referencing so that support structures are not integral to its operation. This horizontally floating linear device may be appropriate for near shore venue having predictably steady unidirectional waves.

However, concerns about obstruction of competing interests and near shore biological activity have directed majority industry proposals farther offshore to deeper ocean. There, diminished efficiency of the leading technology requires availability of substantial untapped circular area, like the hands of a clock dial, for coming about to properly align with changes to prevailing wave direction.

Though the energy density of individual waves is marketable for small-scale or niche application, industrial wave energy implementation will not occur until systematic, modular, and self-referencing approaches enable conversion of large, diffuse interference wave fields.

Ideally such modular systems are situated in dominantly horizontal plane within and just below the active wave zone, are easily disconnectable for servicing or replacement, and made of bio-compatible materials that enable some amount of biological growth without upsetting functionality.

Such systems may even serve a dual purpose of forming human activity exclusion zones to assist rejuvenation of ocean dead zones. Marine hydrokinetics and wave energy conversion are poised for exceptional growth when such true costs are objectively considered.

Utility–scale electrical generation from MHK marine hydrokinetics is certain to become a major energy source.

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CO-PUBLISHED CORPORATE PROFILE

CEO INTERVIEW

Reforming Power Distribution: Transforming Lives Tata Power Delhi Distribution banks on a consumer-centric business approach and commitment to green efforts to stand out in the industry.

I

t was in July 2002 when the Government of Delhi, the national capital of India, decided to unbundle the erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board (State Electricity Utility) and usher in the era of privatized power distribution amid a turning point in power distribution.

Armed with the trust and legacy of the TATA Group, an over $100 billion Group with operations in over 80 countries across six continents, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) (formerly North Delhi Power Limited) was formed on July 1, 2002 as a joint venture company between Tata Power and the Government of Delhi with the majority stake being held by Tata Power. The new private power distribution company was awarded the licensed area of North & North West Delhi spread of 200 sq. miles and was entrusted with the job of reforming power distribution, curbing the losses and enhancing consumer services. It speaks volumes for the hard work and determination of team TPDDL that, in just over 10 years since inception, TPDDL has won several national and international recognitions.

Accelerating reforms When TPDDL took over from the State-owned utility, it was saddled with the task of overcoming various odds which included high losses, dilapidated and worn-out network, rampant power cuts and a lack of consumer service facilities.

TPDDL took a consumer-centric approach and used IT extensively for building a smart distribution network and for enhancing the consumer’s experience with a power utility. TPDDL, as of today, has incurred a Capital Expenditure of close to USD740 million since 2002 on network upgrades and augmentation. TPDDL also introduced Geographical Information System (GIS) which not only mapped the entire network but also mapped 100% of the customers to the distribution transformers supplying them. This has also been integrated with the Customer Relationship Management which helps to process customer requests efficiently. It has also implemented high-tech automated systems for its entire distribution network.

TPDDL also has several firsts to its credit in Delhi namely- Automatic Meter Reading, GSM-based Street Lighting system and SMS-based Fault Management System. During the pre-privatization days there was a limited concept of consumer service.

Thus, to ensure consumer convenience, TPDDL provided online information on billing and payment to all its 1.3 million consumers and established stateof-the-art consumer centres and centralized call centres for consumer convenience.

Today TPDDL has more than 2000 payment avenues (before privatization there were only 19 payment centers).

Powering the lifeline of Delhi

The road ahead Today, the system losses (termed as Aggregate Technical & Commercial Losses) stand at less than 11% which is reduction of around 80% since 2002. TPDDL is now gearing up to try and bring down the AT&C losses further. One of the major challenges is power theft and team TPDDL is determined to curb it even further with stringent checks and use of technology. The focus areas comprise of enhancing consumer service and simultaneously keeping tariffs under control. As a step towards captive generation, TPDDL has established a 100 MW gas based combined cycle power generating facility at Rithala, North Delhi in its distribution network. The gas based captive generating facility is aimed at augmenting the power supply to TPDDL’s consumers and also to meet the high demand during the peak summer and winter months. TPDDL has also joined hands with IBM to become a member of a global Intelligent Utility Network (IUN) coalition convened

by IBM. TPDDL is the first Indian utility to join the IUN Coalition which also includes utilities in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions.

“TPDDL took a consumercentric approach and used IT extensively for building a smart distribution network and for enhancing the consumer’s experience with a power utility.”

Corporate sustainability TPDDL is committed to introduce energy-efficient and greener technologies. It has set up its own solar power plants in its network ranging from 25KW1MW, aggregating to around 1.7 MW. TPDDL also has an extensive energy conservation programme called ‘TPDDL Energy Club’. It is an energy conservation movement, which was started in 2004, through which school children spread the message of energy conservation with inputs guidance from TPDDL. In a first-of-its-kind initiative by any power distribution company in India, TPDDL also launched a unique scheme as a goodwill gesture of providing free Accidental Insurance Policy for its registered consumers residing in JJ colonies in addition to various other programmes such as vocational training, drug de-addiction camps and free distribution of medicines.

TPDDL has won several accolades for its pioneering efforts in power distribution reforms. It has the rare distinction of being the first power distribution utility from India to have received the prestigious honour in the international category by winning the 2008 Edison Award and again in 2009 for Policy Advocacy. TPDDL has also been conferred the ‘National Award for Meritorious Performance’ thrice by the Ministry of Power, Government of India for outstanding performance in power distribution. Some of the other key recognitions include international Palladium Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame award2008, SAP Ace award 2008; UPN, USA metering award and Asian Power Award 2012 (6th consecutive year).

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OPINION

JAMI HOSSAIN

T

Breaking free from the carbon shackles

he big grid collapse in India should pave the way for renewable energy deployment. Electricity has always been at the forefront of the economic, political and developmental issues of the country. However, in recent times, it arrived at the center stage with a big bang like never before and for some days, occupied every citizen’s mind in India.

The grid collapse within two consecutive days at the end of July 2012, impacting daily lives of all citizens in 22 states, signified the collapse of policies pursued in the electricity sector thus far. Policies that could not bring about sufficient capacity to meet growing electricity demand; policies that were in any case skewed towards creation of large centralized coal based power plants and very limited distributed generation; and policies that resulted in inadequate investments in transmission systems.

The problem with coal It is very obvious that until today, the political and policy thrust has been “coal, coal & more coal”. Coal has always been unclean, but now interestingly, the handling and dealings of this black substance have become murkier even at the political level.

Allocation of 142 coal blocks and 57 coal fields to private companies, according to Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) amounts to a staggering amount of Rs.1.86 lac crores. To the public in general, this amount is like a large hideous creature that has emerged from nowhere-- a “Yeti” that can be seen or visualized.

The yeti This “Yeti,” which could only have been clearly visible to an agency such as CAG, amounts to a massive indirect subsidy to coal based private power generation and thus skews the development of entire power sector. If this ‘favour’ or ‘indirect subsidy’ wasn’t there, what could be the cost of electricity generation to the nation and how would it compare with electricity generation from renewable energy?

We raise this issue here because in the electricity sector, the policy makers, planning bodies and regulators have always leaned on the economic rationale to justify reliance on coal based generation. However, now it seems they have been leaning on a rationale that doesn’t hold.

Exploring renewable energy Part of the problem lies in not exploring huge solar, wind and biomass energy potential that this country has been endowed with. A national grid powered by innumerable renewable energy based distributed generators across the country would never have collapsed as it did on the last day of July 2012. An assessment made by this author and further revalidated by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) has investigated the potential for wind energy utilization in India to be of the order of 2000-

4000 GW. Potential for solar energy or biomass energy has not been assessed. There is vast potential for renewable energies and if efforts had been made to assess and harness such energies, there would have neither been the monumental grid collapse nor the ongoing “Coalgate” mess. This potential includes nearly 1000 GW offshore potential for windfarms.

The peninsular India is windswept and holds enormous potential for the utilization of wind energy. The coastal states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are endowed with vast offshore as well as onshore wind potential, which could be around 2600 GW. The only other states that have significant wind potential are Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The 1000 GW offshore potential mentioned above is based on an assessment over a 40 km strip around the 6400 km long shores of India. Also, there are now technologies that could mature within a few years wherein one can have floating windfarms. In that case, the potential will be significantly higher.

Alternative technologies There are a plethora of renewable energy technologies and technological combinations and configurations that should be explored. We need to evolve strategies to combine wind energy with solar generation, load management, advanced technologies, storage systems, transmission strengthening and transmission linkages of adequate capacity to deficit areas as well as smart grid strategies. This should be the focus instead of the obsession with coal. All water heating loads can be met by solar water heating systems. New technologies may enable solar powered refrigeration and air conditioning. High time to break free from the carbon shackles!

We raise this issue here because in the electricity sector, the policy makers, planning bodies and regulators have always leaned on the economic rationale to justify reliance on coal based generation.

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VENDOR VIEW

CEO INTERVIEW

Towards productive power supply As electricity use is expected to double globally by 2030, how can we ensure efficient power generation?

O

ver the coming decades, the power generation industry faces a tremendous challenge in meeting global energy needs while respecting environment. By 2030, electricity use will double globally and triple in developing countries.

The need for reliable and efficient power generation has never been greater. Power generation is striving for supplying electric power in the most productive and clean way. Maintaining complex and aging power plant equipment and modernizing the infrastructure with the latest technologies are essential to supply electric power efficiently.

Preventive strategy: maintenance and strategic spare parts The Generator Circuit Breaker is a power plant device located between the generator and the step-up transformer. It is a critical asset for power generation as it ensures power transmission between power plant and HV networks and isolates generator from network for maintenance and abnormal conditions (over voltages, unbalanced load, short circuit).

Therefore power generation needs 100% Generator Circuit Breaker reliability through its entire lifecycle. To ensure continuous power supply as demand grows, installed Generator Circuit Breakers are operating in a challenging environment, often reaching their electrical and mechanical wear limits.

Alstom Grid recommends preventive maintenance every year, every 5 and 10 years and after 2000 operating cycles to maximize the Generator Circuit Breaker performance.

Low or no maintenance can generate deterioration or severe failures: electrical (coil burning, relay…), mechanical (peeling, loosening, parts breaking…), or dielectrics (leaks, moistures, electric heating…). Alstom Grid provides complete and comprehensive services to support Alstom Grid and other manufacturers’ Generator Circuit Breakers along their entire lifecycle.

To optimize availability of the equipment and consequently reduce the downtime of the power plant, Alstom Grid recommends strategic spare parts of critical components (pole or complete active part, hydraulic ram, spring operating mechanism, disconnecting switch mechanisms, and additional key spare parts such as coils, motor, capacitor…).

Following maintenance recommendations and setting up a strategic spare parts stock constitute a worthwhile investment. A financial study on lifecycle costs has demonstrated the value of installing and maintaining a Generator Circuit Breaker for power plants. A typical example, based on a 400MW power plant, demonstrates that the Generator Circuit Breaker solution is cost effective if, over 20 years, the presence of a Generator Circuit Breaker has helped to avoid less than 14 hours of outage”, explains Jean-Marc Willième, Senior Expert at Alstom Grid’s High Voltage Switchgear Re-

Alstom Grid Generator Circuit Breaker

search Centre in France.

Productive strategy: renovation, modernization and retrofit Since 1972, Alstom Grid is one of the two worldwide leaders in manufacturing Generator Circuit Breakers for power plants up to 1,200 MW. To remain a leader in this market, Alstom Grid invests continuously in research and development to provide innovative and effective solutions.

The Alstom Grid Generator Circuit Breaker retrofit and modernization services optimize power plant productivity and safety. Alstom Grid technicians can replace the old Generator Circuit Breaker, even originally made by another manufacturer, by a new generation Generator Circuit Breaker offering the latest technological advantages.

It responds to the expectations of power plant operators in terms of adaptability and reliability.

From the site survey to erection, adapted to the available space, existing bus bars and civil engineering, Alstom Grid proposes an integrated offer for the utmost time and cost optimization.

Power generation is concerned by the availability ratio of the power plant and by the immediate consequence of a failure. It is crucial to detect the predictive signs of a potential failure at the earliest stage and to take subsequent and appropriate decision in asset management. The modernization of Generator Circuit Breaker with a monitoring system allows switching from a time-based maintenance to a condition-based and predictive maintenance.

“The Alstom Grid Generator Circuit Breaker retrofit and modernization services optimize power plant productivity and safety. ”

The Alstom Grid online monitoring system allows controlling of several circuit breaker functions simultaneously: SF6 density and trends, closing and tripping operations timing and recurrence, hydraulic mechanisms re-inflation time and efficiency, springoperating mechanisms recharging time and efficiency, electrical wear cumulated interrupted current and information on other auxiliary parts.

According to real Generator Circuit Breaker operation or electrical wear, only required operations and maintenance are conducted, thus reducing failure risk, maximizing reliability and optimizing investment.

A CIGRE study revealed that the reliability of circuit breakers depends mainly on the reliability of the operating mechanism. The installation of the recent Generator Circuit Breaker spring-operating mechanism, the most reliable operating mechanism, guarantees maximum energy stability for several decades. It requires less maintenance, reducing lifecycle costs and ensuring a quick return on investment.

Generator Circuit Breakers not only incorporate the latest technologies which are compliant with industry standards, but they also increase availability, reliability, equipment security and facilitate spare parts procurement. It is a productive and cost-effective solution.

For all power substations, the Generator Circuit Breaker retrofit and modernization service offer is the most cost-effective and ecological solution to extend equipment lifecycle and optimize the substation performance.

Alstom Grid can support power generation throughout the asset lifecycle and find the best solution to meet future challenges. With several thousands of Generator Circuit Breakers in service throughout the world over the past 40 years, Alstom Grid is recognized as a technological leader, ensuring the reliability and safety of power generation operations at an optimized cost.

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OPINION

MING HUI ZHANG, VALERIE CHOY & DR. KELVIN TAN The significance of renewable energy for Asia

W

ith its ever-growing energy demand, Asia has a great potential to utilize renewable energy resources towards a more secure energy future. Renewable energy will play an important role in meeting high energy demand growth and in addressing environmental concerns from the increase in fossil-fuelled power generation.

However, the potential for a large-scale shift from the use of fossil fuels to renewable energy for electricity generation remains a highly debated issue in many Asian countries. This is not without reason as large-scale implementation of renewable energy will pose significant challenges to legacy power systems due to temporal fluctuations, geographical dispersion of renewable energy sources and inadequacy of the existing power grid.

Renewable energy sources and grid management Grid management becomes increasingly complex with the advent of renewable power generation. Utilities face a number of challenges in grid planning and operations where reliability is the top priority. The integration of renewable energy resources into the grid will fundamentally change planning objectives and will require utilities to not only plan for high demand scenarios but also for time periods with low demand and frequent instances of intermittent power supply. Due to the variable nature of renewable energy sources, optimal siting of renewable energy systems requires knowledge of the specific resource characteristics such as availability, magnitude, and variability at any given location.

Currently, there is limited understanding of the location and characteristics of potential renewable energy sources in many Asian countries. An energy resource map like of solar energy potential will allow planners to match potential renewable sources with that of load demand centers.

Energy source mapping The lack of information regarding the renewable energy potential in Asia may be resolved by engaging more actively in energy resource mapping and also by developing a planning process to systematically identify areas with potential renewable energy sources. Energy resource mapping will lower the chances of conflicts with the development of other renewable power projects. These maps will be useful to electric utilities, and local and international project developers, investors and policy makers. It is a useful tool in a country’s renewable energy planning process as it helps to: • Provide realistic perspective on the country’s renewable energy resource potential.

• Identify potential locations for utility-scale development of renewable energy resources for power generation.

• Identify land areas that should be excluded from utility-

scale renewable energy development.

Show distance from energy resources to load demand centers.

However, the information reflected in these maps are not intended for project specific micro-siting and appraisal of renewable power projects which require a more intense and site-specific data monitoring and evaluation process.

At present, grid-integrated renewable power projects are still in their infancy in many Asian countries and there are often no formal standards governing the process. Without these standards and guidelines, the network will be vulnerable to negative impacts that may result from unregulated connections. There is a need to prepare adequate codes and connection guidelines that will help improve the reliability of the network as well as the quality of supply to the system utility.

This is especially pertinent for wind and solar energy resources that fluctuate considerably throughout the course of a day. Electric utilities should review and amend existing standards and grid codes to allow smooth integration of renewable energy sources.

The integration of renewable power generation will increase the complexity of grid management. This can be resolved by developing a planning process to systematically identify areas with potential renewable energy sources and engage more actively in energy resource mapping, allowing planners to match potential renewable sources with that of load demand centres.

It is also important to focus on the analysis of the existing and planned electricity systems for the country before developing any road map for renewable energy integration.

Planners and policy makers should identify opportunities that are associated with the implementation of renewable energy resources and anticipate with multiple scenarios and paths to allow bigger flexibility of plans.

•

Energy resource mapping will lower the chances of conflicts with the development of other renewable power projects.

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ALSTOM GRID

THE REFERENCE IN GRID PERFORMANCE

GRID Alstom Grid is one of the world leaders in electrical grids. We help our customers meet growing energy demand, fight climate change and manage increasingly complex grids.

Our market-oriented R&D teams develop tailored and competitive environmentally-friendly solutions focused on improving reliability, efficiency and stability.

Alstom is building strong and smart grids. www.alstom.com

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OPINION

WILLIE CHAN

S

Making Singapore a smarter city to conserve energy resources

ingapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently stated at the inaugural Singapore Summit that for Singapore to continue on its growth trajectory, the country has to evolve into a smart city. Today, cities contain 50% of the world’s population, consume 75% of global energy and give off 80% of greenhouse gas emissions. With increasing urbanisation, cities will house 70% of the world’s population by 2050 – this will certainly cause a significant strain on resources and hence, sustainability.

Evolving to a smart city will give Singapore many capabilities to compete in the face of these challenges, even as the population grows to reach the target of 6 million residents set by the government. It will help the country manage growth in a controlled way, and give threefold benefits.

Firstly, we will see a more efficient city, and improved resiliency of the city’s systems – such as public transport, electricity and public services – to any disruption. Second, we will have a more sustainable city, leading to lower operational costs as a result of optimized energy consumption, and a decreased need for massive infrastructure investments. So, having explored the benefits, what are the areas in which cities – Singapore included – should be looking at improving in order to become smart?

Smart buildings As the population continues on its growth trajectory, so will the demand for housing and buildings. Making residential buildings smart will improve the quality of life, while for commercial office buildings it can also increase employee productivity, generate energy savings of up to 30%, reduce carbon emissions and meet assessment criteria from certification schemes like the BCA Green Mark.

Our solutions such as building management systems as well as energy and carbon dashboards can help building owners monitor consumption by the minute, for better management of energy usage, costs, and carbon footprint.

Smart water Demand for clean, affordable water is growing along with urban populations as water is needed not only for drinking, but also for commercial and industrial purposes. Even Singapore, which has a very high quality water supply, has to continue maintaining this while catering to a growing populace. Hence, cities need to optimize water operations, management and planning to meet the growing demand for this critical resource.

Smart energy grid The smart grid is all about creating the capability for electricity demand and supply to interact intelligently, and integrate intermittent renewable generation. With the smart grid, cities like Singapore will be able to generate energy savings, reduce related emissions and enhance the quality of service to residential, commercial and industrial buildings.

Smart mobility As urban population increases, the entire transportation

network, be it public or private, will be affected by increasing congestion, safety and breakdown issues which can delay commuters, burn up valuable fuel, and harm the environment. Even in countries like Singapore with one of the region’s most effective public transport networks, population growth is affecting the capacity of the transport system.

Smart public services Services such as video monitoring and emergency coordination ensure citizen well-being and safety, while digital services improve the management of education, healthcare, government administration, and tourism. The quality of public services in a city plays an important role in making the city a desirable place to live and work, determines how attractive it is as a destination for talent to migrate to, and subsequently affects its competitiveness in the global economy.

However, what makes a city really smart is how it can go beyond just optimising the performance of individual systems as described above, but also integrate all these systems in order to share information amongst the various city departments as well as with city residents.

This then requires a new model based on collaboration between the government, private investors, industry suppliers, utilities, planners and developers, with people and communities at the center of discussion. Engaging all stakeholders and helping them understand the benefits will be crucial in enabling cities to become smarter. As the world wonders how to meet the growing demand for energy and resources, while needing to reduce global carbon emissions, one thing is clear – the energy challenge will be won or lost in cities.

By delivering urban efficiency through solutions to cities’ immediate challenges, integration for increased efficiency and innovation for a holistic sustainable future and collaboration, we here at Schneider Electric believe that smart cities can become a reality in the near future.

6% of worldwide construction activity incorporates green technology

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CO-PUBLISHED CORPORATE PROFILE

OWL Group swoops across the Asian Region Managing Director, Tony Segadelli, shares OWL’s strategic plans to take South East Asia under its wings. bination that will provide winning results.

Tony Segadelli - Chief Engineer / Managing Director

T

he OWL Group is a new company in the power industry. However, in its three years of existence, it has rapidly grown to become one of the largest high-end engineering consultancies in SE Asia.

Your competitors named their companies after their founders; why did you choose to name yours after a bird?

Owl is the bird of wisdom, and, likewise, our business is knowledge-based. Selecting a bird, rather than my name, emphasizes our focus on delivering services, working with clients and working within the community. As the founder, I provide the leadership and direction, however, it is our employees that are the most critical in delivering the results.

What are the key differentiators between OWL and your global competitors?

Like our competitors we perform projects throughout the project cycle from development, through construction to operations, plus special assignments for both renewable and fossil fuel projects.

Where we differentiate ourselves is that we feel that we understand the market better than anyone else. Southeast Asia is where OWL started, and we have employees from around the region. This means we are able to provide solutions that fit the local environment rather than solutions that only work in the West.

Another key differentiator is our flexibility and focus on clients. This can take many forms from going the extra mile for the client to breaking the mold in

terms of structuring contracts (e.g. risk sharing) and even developing projects as equity investors.

Why did you choose the Philippines as your latest area of expansion?

The Philippines is very much a growing market, but as we have observed, there are power shortages in many parts of the country. The main fuel in the Philippines is coal and OWL’s engineers have significant experience with this fuel, including being Owner’s Engineer for the Philippines largest coal-fired power plant in the 1990’s.

The Philippines is looking to become an LNG importer. In Thailand 75% of the fuel mix is natural gas and so OWL has significant experience with CCGT plants.

Also, our regional experience with renewable energy sources including biomass, biogas, solar and wind is readily transferable to the Philippines because we understand the issues related to developing these types of projects in the rural environments of rapidly developing countries.

We believe that a good knowledge of the technologies widely used in the Philippines combined with a strong understanding of the culture is a com-

“Where we differentiate ourselves from the global companies is that we understand the market better than anybody else.”

ASEAN is currently following a European Union type integration which is called the AEC (Asian Economic Community). How do you expect this to affect business in the region?

Although it has similarities with the EU, the regional banks learned difficult lessons from the 1997 economic crisis, which has resulted in over $90 billion in liquidity in the Philippines and Thailand alone. As long as a project has strong fundamentals, financing is typically available. OWL is able to provide assistance on ensuring the technical viability of a project either as Owner’s or Lender’s Engineer.

The AEC will lead to a better flow of people and skills, which is part of OWL’s growth strategy because we believe in growing ASEAN as a whole, rather than cherry-picking countries. The region has been integrating the power industry for more than a decade, and our engineers have been involved in some of the key projects that are enabling this including working on Cambodia’s first transmission line, which was supplied from Thailand, plus crossborder hydropower deals. Another regional change is the emergence of Myanmar from decades of isolation.

How is OWL positioning itself for this change?

We have been in discussions with potential clients in Myanmar for quite some time and have recently won a project there and are expecting a lot more work to follow. The government is very keen on bringing in foreign direct investment, and we are able to provide expertise in terms of planning and implementing projects. The projects we are in discussions about include coal, wind, solar and transmission opportunities.

OWL currently has companies in Thailand, the Philippines and Hong Kong. What are your plans to penetrate other parts of the region?

Our long-term aim is to be the HSBC of the power engineering consulting sector (i.e. to be the region’s local energy solution provider). As part of this we are looking to set up an office in either Jakarta, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur in the next 3 years, however, the exact location will depend on client and project opportunities.

CONTACT Tel: (66) 8 4637 2672 Email: tony.seg@owlenergy.biz http://www.owlenergy.biz ASIAN POWER 31

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