Page 18 - AsiaElec Week 39 2021

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high voltage direct power cable. Chinese silicon makers Chubu Electric to buy 20%
The Australia–Asia PowerLink, as the
project is called, is expected to cost more slash output stake in Vietnam’s Bitexco
than US$22bn, making it the world’s largest
renewable energy infrastructure project by an An energy shortage in China has forced Chubu Electric Power said it would buy a 20%
order of magnitude. silicon makers in the world’s top producer stake in Vietnamese renewable energy firm
It will involve installing 120 sq km of to dramatically slash output, a signal that Bitexco Power Corp for an undisclosed sum,
photovoltaic panels – the Powell Creek Solar the price of solar panels is about to rise, to gain a foothold in the growing market and
Precinct – and vast battery storage facility in Bloomberg reported. expand its portfolio of green energy.
Australia and Singapore, as well as the HVDC The government ordered industrial silicon The move comes a day after its joint
cable and 800km of overhead lines between makers in southwest China’s Yunnan Province venture with TEPCO, JERA, said it will invest
the town of Elliott and the city of Darwin in to cut output by 90% and reduce energy $1.58bn to take a 27% stake in Aboitiz Power
the Northern Territories. consumption until December as the country Corp AP.PS in the Philippines to boost its
This will allow Sun Cable to send up to grapples with an energy crunch. One key presence in the country where power demand
3.2GW of electricity north, enough to power product, polysilicon, is found in 95% of all is growing.
11.5mn homes. solar panels. “Our goal is to expand our overseas
The environmental benefit of the scheme The move could further fracture the global business by tapping into the growth
is expected to be the equivalent of taking supply chain that has already been upended of Vietnam’s electricity market while
2.5mn cars off the road. It will also help power by geopolitics, with the U.S. detaining some contributing to the decarbonisation of
Southeast Asia, where energy demand is Chinese imports earlier this year for alleged Vietnam,” Akihide Ito, general manager at
growing at 6% a year. labor abuses in the nation’s Xinjiang region. It Chubu Electric, said.
At present, PowerLink has raised its series all points to higher prices for solar panels. Bitexco is a leading renewable energy
A funding and has been granted major project “It is yet another excuse for polysilicon company in Vietnam focused on hydropower
status by the federal and state governments. It makers to increase the price, and the pricing and solar, operating 21 hydropower stations
has also completed a survey of 750km of the environment for solar modules is very and one solar power plant, with a generation
subsea route the cable will take. nervous at the moment,” said Jenny Chase, capacity of about 798 MW, Chubu said.
Sun Cable was founded in Australia and BloombergNEF’s head of global solar research. The Japanese utility aims to help
Singapore in 2018 by energy entrepreneurs The price of solar-grade polysilicon improve the operating efficiency of Bitexco’s
David Griffin, Mac Thompson and Fraser exceeded $31.23 per kilogramme on hydropower stations and support the
Thompson. The company says its employees September 29, the highest since 2011. Prices Vietnamese company’s plans to expand solar
are a team of “world-leading experts across for photovoltaic modules that make up panels capacity and develop onshore wind farms.
a range of fields, including renewable power have also risen slightly to 24.8 cents per watt, Under the deal, Chubu will purchase the
development, electrical, photovoltaics and from 24.3 cents last week. stake from Japan’s Orix Corp and Singapore’s
civil engineering, HVDC, planning and Escalating electricity demand in China is United Overseas Bank, and will buy new
approvals, international relations, economics outpacing supply in the country, reflecting the shares to be issued by Bitexco, Ito said.
and project management”. strain on global energy markets.

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P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 39 29•September•2022