Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 25

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Australia to add 1.2GWh of storage in 2020

AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA is set to add 1.2GWh of energy of grid connection may prevent projects from
storage capacity in 2020, more than double the attracting funding. The FTM market is most
499MWh installed in 2019, thereby increasing acutely affected by this and is likely to contract
cumulative storage capacity to 2.7GWh, Wood in 2022.
Mackenzie said. In the longer term, the FTM market is set
Front-of-the-meter (FTM) capacity, at to recover, with cumulative capacity hitting
672MWh, is forecast to overtake behind-the- 4.2GWh by 2025.
meter (BTM) capacity, at 581MWh in 2020, By then, most of the FTM capacity would
because of state and federal government fund- likely come from solar-plus-storage, that is, solar
ing and support from the Australian Renewable power plants paired with battery storage capac-
Energy Agency. ity. Falling battery costs will lead to improved
Wood Mackenzie warned that FTM’s 2020 overall capex for the energy storage sector.
success could not be repeated, as uncertainties The costs of energy storage systems will
caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) and the decline by 27% over the next five years, Wood
resulting economic crisis could cause delays or Mackenzie said. By 2025, the levelised cost of
cancellations of up to 4.6GWh of announced electricity (LCOE) of both solar-plus-storage
utility-scale projects in the coming five years. and solar-and-wind-plus-storage is anticipated
On the other hand, BTM could be more resil- to be lower than that of gas plants. Renewa-
ient, as state governments have been issuing sub- bles-plus-storage costs are forecast to be about
sidies for rooftop solar and residential storage as 20% to 29% lower in 2025 compared to today.
well as funding for distributed energy resources. As Australia gradually phases out its 31GW
Residential, commercial and industrial cus- coal fleet, it will need to look for alternatives. Pro-
tomers are also incentivised to install BTM sys- ject developers, both domestic and international,
tems to manage rising electricity bills and power are clearly unfazed by the challenges. The num-
outages. ber of Australian developers active in the market
With the Australian Renewable Energy has doubled to 40 this year.
Agency’s advanced renewable funding phasing Wood Mackenzie forecasts that by 2025, Aus-
out, storage developers are pressed to seek pri- tralia’s cumulative energy storage investment will
vate equity to cover 10% to 50% of initial project hit $6bn, equivalent to 12.9GWh of cumulative
investments. Revenue uncertainties and risks storage deployments.™

BP sets net zero target

GLOBAL RENEWABLES accounted for 40% of the global Average annual growth in carbon emissions
growth in primary energy in 2019, more than over 2018 and 2019 was greater than its 10-year
any other fuel, the BP Statistical Review of World average.
Energy 2020 found. The report warned that as the world emerges
Renewables contributed 3.2 Exajoules, their from the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, it
largest increase in energy terms on record. They needs to make decisive changes to move to a
accounted for over 40% of the global growth in more sustainable path.
primary energy last year, more than any other Meanwhile, growth in primary energy con-
fuel. Their share in power generation (10.4%) sumption slowed to 1.3% in 2019, less than half
also surpassed nuclear for the first time. the rate of growth achieved in the previous year
“Net zero can be achieved by 2050. The (2.8%).
zero-carbon energies and technologies exist Coal’s share of primary energy fell to its low-
today – the challenge is to use them at pace and est level in 16 years (27%), after consumption fell
scale, and I remain optimistic that we can make by 0.6%, led by a sharp drop in OECD demand.
this happen,” said CEO Bernard Looney. However, coal remained the single largest source
“For BP, the pandemic has only reinforced of energy for power generation, accounting for
our commitment to our ambition to become a over 36% of global power.
net zero company by 2050 or sooner and to help Renewables will need to grow even more
the world get to net zero, by highlighting both strongly over the next three decades to decar-
the fragility of our planet and the opportunities bonise the power sector, the report found.
it provides to truly build back better.” China accounted for more than three-quar-
Carbon emissions from energy use grew ters of net global energy growth, while the US
by 0.5% in 2019, only partially unwinding the and Germany posted the largest declines.™
unusually strong growth of 2.1% seen in 2018.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 24•June•2020