Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 09

AsiaElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AsiaElec
APPEA urges Victoria to lift onshore exploration ban
AUSTRALIA
THE Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) has thrown its support behind the Victorian State Opposition’s call to lift the state’s ban on conventional onshore natural gas development.
Victoria has banned all convention and unconventional gas exploration, though restric- tions on the former are due to expire on June 30 and the state government may choose to extend the deadline.
APPEA CEO Andrew McConville described thebanonFebruary24as“politicallymotivated” and said that if it remained in place the state’s res- idential and commercial gas buyers would con- tinue to bear the “cost burden”.
“Natural gas will continue to be a significant source of energy for Victoria for decades ahead, and a sensible position on onshore resource development is needed for all Victorians,” McConville said. “
Around 80% of all Victorian homes are con- nected to natural gas, and thousands of jobs in the state’s manufacturing sector depend on reli- able gas supply.” Victoria’s Liberal opposition
leader, Michael O’Brien, said on February 14 that while Victoria needs to embrace onshore and offshore gas exploration the fracking ban should remain in place.
“As a former Minister for Energy and Resources, we don’t need fracking in Victoria,” he told The Standard. “Fracking is only required where you get hard coal seams you need to fracture in order to extract [coal-bed methane (CBM)]. We have a brown-coal base which is full of moisture which is why it burns so badly and createssomanyemissions.”
He added: “Where [Victorian Premier] Dan- iel Andrews is wrong is to be banning natural gas.” O’Brien said Victoria had enjoyed Austral- ia’s cheapest and most reliable gas supply five years ago, but the state had since slipped to last place on both fronts.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Gas Inquiry 2017-2025 Interim Report, which was published on Febru- ary 18, found that Victoria has the highest num- ber of gas consumers and is the nation’s biggest gas consumer.™
COAL-FIRED GENERATION
South Korea to close power plants in March
SOUTH KOREA
SOUTH Korea has confirmed it is to close down temporarily up to 28 of the country’s oldest coal- fired power plants in March.
The South Korean Energy Ministry said the measure was part of plans to fight air pollution, Reuters reported.
The ministry said that 21 to 28 coal-fired power plants would be closed from March 1 to March 31. Natural gas, especially imported LNG, would be used to replace the lost capacity.
The statement said that four old coal-fired power plants, up to 16 plants for planned main- tenance and up to eight other plants would be subject to the shutdown in March.
The decision follows a series of temporary closures since 2017 of plants over 30 years old as the government of new President Moon Jae-in pursues a more pro-renewables policy, despite the country’s reliance on imported fossil fuels for the majority of its power.
South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has about 60 coal-fired power plants, generating around 40% of the country’s electricity. Nuclear makes up about 30% of supply, followed by gas at around 20% and the rest from renewables.
The ministry also said it would cap the
remaining coal-fired power plants’ operations levels at 80% of their capacity.
In November 2019, the ministry made a sim- ilar move that closed down 8 to 15 coal-fired plants temporarily. It also imposed an 80% out- put limit on the country’s coal plants.
This was the first time any closures had been announced in winter. The season is traditionally a time of high demand in South Korea, with peak demandof88GWandupto91GWinanycold snap.
The policy of continued temporary closures sits alongside government plans to shut down permanently the country’ 10 oldest coal plants.
In 2017, President Moon Jae-in announced that the 10 plants would be closed by 2022. Meanwhile, state utility KEPCO has been forced to review plans to build new coal-fired power stations.
One option for South Korea is renewables, although the country’s green sector is less devel- oped than in comparable OECD economies. Renewable resources currently contribute a mere 6% of generating capacity, although the government aims to raise this to 20% by 2030.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 09 04•March•2020