Page 13 - AsiaElec Week 39

AsiaElec NEWS IN BRIEF AsiaElec

DEMAND

India’s power demand to

drop 5.5%

Business disruptions caused by the Covid-19
pandemic will pull down India’s power
demand in the current financial year (2020-
21) in a range between 4.5 per cent and 5.5
per cent, further worsening the already weak
financial profile of discoms and thermal
Plant Load Factors (PLFs), according to India
Ratings and Research.
The decline in estimated power demand
is due to the continued negative growth so
far in the second quarter of the current fiscal the commercial viability of its grid-wide P2P government lenders to build new coal plants
against earlier estimates but with the economy energy trading technology named Synergy. to revive flatlining provincial economies.
opening up, the demand growth is expected to This will create economic incentives to There is a “tension at the heart of China’s
become neutral to positive in the second half increase the proliferation of distributed urban energy planning” Li Shuo, senior climate and
of the year. “Consequently, the thermal sector solar systems. energy officer at Greenpeace China, said.
PLFs are expected to decline to 50 per cent in The joint service for the pilot is called It “pits Beijing’s strategic interests against
2020-21 compared to the earlier expectation SolarShare and is built on Synergy, an the immediate goals of cash-strapped
of 54 per cent,” the firm said in a statement. advanced P2P energy trading platform that provincial governments, which makes it
The discoms’ cash collections are hit due can catalyse a renewable energy transition difficult to walk the talk” on cleaner future.
to a reduction in demand from the industrial across Southeast Asia, according to Electrify, In the first half of 2020 China approved 23
and commercial sectors where the tariffs enhancing its ability to leverage the region’s gigawatts-worth of new coal power projects,
are high due to cross subsidisation and a ‘strong growth potential for solar energy’. more than the previous two years combined,
further increase in aggregate technical and “Electrify’s vision is to foster a dynamic according to Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a
commercial losses as losses are generally energy ecosystem using technology as an San Francisco-based environmental NGO.
lower in these sectors than that for residential enabler. In doing so, we aim to contribute “A new fleet of coal plants is in direct
or agriculture consumers. The research firm to a more sustainable energy landscape for contradiction with China’s pledge to peak
believes the discoms’ inability to increase Singapore and the rest of the world,” said emissions before 2030,” said Lauri Myllyvirta,
tariffs in 2021-22 would worsen their financial Martin Lim, CEO of Electrify. China analyst at Center for Research on
profile further. Energy and Clean Air.

COAL
TRADING GAS-FIRED GENERATION
Singapore launches peer- China’s coal use threatens JAPEX announces
climate goals
to-peer power trading pilot China’s surprise pledge to slash its carbon Fukushima gas-fired power

Electrify, a Singaporean energy innovation footprint to zero by 2060 was met with unit start up
company, has launched a pilot project for cautious applause, but fresh spending on coal
peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading in the to rev up a virus-hit economy threatens to Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd.
city state. The project will allow consumers nullify its audacious bid to lead the world into (JAPEX) announced that the No.2 unit
to purchase renewable electricity produced a low carbon future. of Fukushima Natural Gas Power Plant
by private solar panel owners via an online The fossil fuel has powered China’s commenced commercial operation today at
marketplace from across the city. economic surge over the last 30 years, and the 0:00 AM. The power plant has been under
The pilot project is built upon Electrify’s nation burns about half the coal used globally construction by Fukushima Gas Power, which
proprietary P2P energy trading platform, each year. is a project company to promote the project
Synergy, and builds upon a successful Between 2000 and 2018, its annual of natural gas-fired power generation at Soma
technical trial conducted in Singapore in carbon emissions nearly tripled, and it now Port in Shinchi Town, Fukushima Prefecture,
February 2019. The pilot is conducted in accounts for nearly a third of the world’s total which JAPEX participate as the project
collaboration with energy company, Senoko greenhouse gases linked to global warming. partner.
Energy, and is sponsored by Engie Factory, the Despite pledges to wean the economy As the basement of the project, the power
venture arm of French multinational electric off coal with the world’s most ambitious plant had been under construction at Soma
utility company. investment in renewables, China’s coal Port No.4 Warf, since the investment decision
Running until June 2021, the year-long consumption climbed back in June this year to in October 2016 by FGP and its shareholders:
pilot has a near-term goal of deploying P2P near the peak levels seen in 2013. JAPEX, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Osaka Gas Co.,
energy trading capabilities for residential and But the coronavirus, which saw the Ltd., Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Inc.,
business clients of Senoko Energy. Electrify Chinese economy contract for the first Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc.
said its longer-term objective is to showcase time in 30 years, also opened the taps from Together with the No.1 Unit commenced

Week 39 30•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13