Page 14 - AsiaElec Week 41

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

developers like Xuan Cau Company Limited, agreement, designed to maximise energy pro-
who are eager to expand their renewable foot- duction for the site. With a yield-based availabil-
print in Vietnam. We look forward to working ity guarantee, Vestas will provide the customer
closely with them to grow the large potential for with long-term business case certainty.
intertidal wind projects in the region.” The project is planned to achieve commis-
The order also includes a 20-year Active sioning in the third quarter of 2021.™
Output Management 5000 (AOM 5000) service

NEWS IN BRIEF

TARIFFS Between July and September this year, the development of battery storage technology
price of crude oil rose by 47 per cent, and this and solar panels.
Singapore generators increased the costs incurred by the power- the predictability” of the government’s energy
For companies, “it is important to enhance
generation companies, said Dr Tan.
cream off tariff profits policy, Kajiyama added. He pledged to
clarify the government’s policy goals so the
Electricity tariffs collected by Singapore’s grid electric power industry can make investment
operator SP Group do not go to its profits, but RENEWABLES decisions on power plants.
to the power-generation companies which Regarding nuclear energy, Kajiyama said
have incurred higher production costs given Japan minister: Renewable he would “do his best in the next 10 years”
the increase in global fuel prices, said Second to restart Japan’s nuclear power plants.
Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng energy to be ‘major power Many of these plants have been undergoing
on October 14. safety inspections since the 2011 Fukushima
Speaking in Parliament during the debate source’ earthquake. Kajiyama was cautious about the
on the Government’s Covid-19 strategy, Dr idea of building new nuclear plants but said
Tan said the power-generation firms need to Hiroshi Kajiyama, Japan’s economy minister, nuclear energy is “still necessary.”
see returns on the significant investments in said he wants to make renewable energy a NIKKEI ASIA
infrastructure they have made here, the Straits “major power source” for the country and give
Times reported. it “a higher share” of electricity generated, in
Dr Tan was responding to a call by Non- an interview with Nikkei Asia. WIND
Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai for SP Kajiyama said he will “raise the share [of
Group to delay the increase in electricity renewable energy] without setting an upper Over $16bn of wind turbine
tariffs during this period as Singaporeans are limit.”
already burdened by the severe economic The government currently aims to meet capacity ordered in Q2 2020
downturn. 22% to 24% of Japan’s electricity needs with
Mr Leong, from the Progress Singapore renewables by fiscal 2030, compared with 17% The second quarter of 2020 saw more than 17
Party, had earlier referred to the 9.3 per cent in fiscal 2018. Japan includes hydropower in GW of wind turbine capacity ordered globally.
electricity tariff hike for the final quarter of the renewable energy category but most of the This equates to an estimated $16bn, according
this year as an example of a fee increase which growth is expected to come from wind and to new analysis from Wood Mackenzie.
erases the Government’s support measures. solar power. As noted in Wood Mackenzie’s research,
“Here is a power-grid monopolist which The government will start discussions Q2 2020 global wind turbine order intake
does not generate electricity, but made billions Tuesday aimed at laying out new policy goals decreased 45% when compared with Q2
of dollars since the liberalisation of the and drafting a strategic energy plan to be 2019. Despite this YoY decline, Q2 2020
electricity market in 2012, sparing no time in announced next year. order intake still represented a solid haul and
raising prices at the first available opportunity, In order to foster the development of exceeded Q2 order intake for 2016, 2017 and
even as Singaporeans struggle under the renewable energy, Kajiyama mentioned 2018.
Covid-19 crisis,” he said. the possibility of devoting a larger slice of The US and China combined for a nearly
He said SP Group could have easily the budget to research on advanced battery 18 GW drop in Q2 YoY order capacity. This
absorbed the increased costs with the past storage technology and offshore wind power, follows a record 2019 where developers in
profits it has earned, instead of passing them which has great potential in Japan as an these regions accumulated a robust backlog
on to consumers. archipelago. ahead of policy changes scheduled for the year
In response, Dr Tan said that SP Group He told Nikkei the government plans ahead.
buys electricity from the power-generation to have 10,000 megawatts of offshore wind A wave of offshore demand in the second
companies at the full cost of producing and generating capacity by 2030. quarter of this year, located in countries such
delivering it to consumers, and emphasised The variability and higher cost of wind as the UK, the Netherlands and France, helped
that it “does not benefit from the increase in and solar power are major challenges for to lift overall turbine order capacity despite
tariffs directly”. their development in Japan. To address these a drop in the US and China. Global offshore
The recent tariff increase is primarily due issues, Kajiyama said the government will order intake captured 38% - or 6.5 GW - of all
to the rise in fuel cost, he added. consider financially supporting research and Q2 orders, which is an increase of 40% YoY.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 14•October•2020