Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 04

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NEWS IN BRIEF
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in place over 40,000MW of hydro generation capacity, according to the US Agency for International Development.
If such potential is realised, it could
easily meet Nepal’s suppressed demand and create a surplus that could be exported to neighbouring countries in South Asia, it said.
India is Nepal’s largest trade partner and the largest source of foreign investments.
HYDRO
Contractor withdraws from Chinese-backed Inga 3
Spanish contractor ACS has withdrawn from the 10GW Inga 3 hydroelectric project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
ACS had signed a preliminary agreement with Chinese companies led by Three Gorges in 2018 to develop the project on the Congo River, the world’s deepest.
An ACS spokesperson told Reuters on 21 January: “The ACS group will not participate in the execution of the project”, providing no explanation for the decision.
It is thought that ACS effectively abandoned the project at the end of 2019 following disagreements with its Chinese partners.
Reuters added that the head of the government agency overseeing Inga 3 was awaiting formal notification of ACS’s withdrawal, but that the project would proceed with its Chinese backers.
Bruno Kapandji, head of Congo’s Agency for the Development and Promotion of the Grand Inga Project, said: “Let’s wait and see. The important thing for me is that Inga has become a reality, and is attracting interest from many developers.”
Three Gorges wrote a letter to Kapandji
in September last year, saying the two sides were unable to agree on the construction and finance schedule for the project, or how shares in it would be divided. The consortium was to have provided all the finance for the scheme.
The letter was published by New York University’s Congo Research Group and Belgium-based advocacy organisation, Resource Matters.
Elisabeth Caesens, director of Resource Matters, told Reuters that ACS had not
been the “driving force” of the project, and that those companies left in the ProInga consortium, including Power China, and Spain’s AEE Power, would now look for “more enthusiastic partners”.
WIND
Vestas win 84MW Chinese order
Denmark’s Vestas has booked an order form China for 84MW of wind turbines together with a 5-year service agreement.
The company said it would supply 22 of its V136-3.45MW model in 3.8MW power optimised mode to an undisclosed customer. It would also provide a 5-year Active Output Management 4000 (AOM 4000) service agreement.
Vestas expects to begin delivering the turbines in the third quarter of 2020.
At the end of 2019, Vestas said that it had received three order from Chins worth a combined 161MW, all from customers who remained undisclosed. Vestas has also recently received a 149MW order from the US.
SOLAR
ADB provides loan for
50MW solar power plant in
Tay Ninh
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a $37.8mn loan deal with TTC Energy Development Investment JSC (TTC Energy) to provide long-term financing to develop and operate a 50MW photovoltaic solar power plant in the southern province of Tay Ninh.
TTC Energy, established in 2017, is 90% owned by the Gulf Energy Development Public Company (GED) – a leading private power generation company that has the largest portfolio of gas-fired power projects
in Thailand. The project will develop and operate the 50MW solar power plant and
its associated facilities in Tay Ninh, which is about 50 km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City.
The solar power plant will directly serve the electricity demand of residents and businesses of Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas. It will reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 29,760 tonnes annually when operational in 2020.
Vietnam to keep rooftop solar tariff
Vietnam’s EVN is to maintain its 20-year feed-in tariff for rooftop PV installations not exceeding 100 kW in size at the rate of $0.0935 per kWh until 2021.
The decision to leave the current tariff unchanged was suggested by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), which said it is crucial to maintain high levels of solar energy deployment in the residential and commercial segments. Prior to this decision, a lowered tariff of $0.0838 per kWh had been proposed.
The government has also asked the power utility to be responsible for connecting the new rooftop PV systems in compliance
with current rules and without creating grid constraints for the network.
In December, the MOIT had also announced a plan to switch from subsidising large-scale PV deployment through feed-in tariffs in favour of a new auction mechanism. It maintained, however, special rules to extend the scheme in Ninh Thuan province by 12 months, with a 2GW cap, although
in a modified form. Two weeks later, it also urged the regional governments and EVN
to suspend new approvals for large-scale PV projects under the FIT scheme.
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Week 04 29•January•2019