Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 42
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AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec
Sydney goes green as Australia dithers
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SYDNEY City Council has put forward ambi- tious A$60m ($41.2) plans to become 100% green and use wind and solar power at all its properties by 2020.
The municipal policy contrasts with the more pro-coal federal government, while the country as a whole has continued to suffer from the lack of a coherent energy policy.
The plan calls for all council-run pools, librar- ies, playing fields, offices and depots, as well as the Sydney Town Hall, to use a combination of 75% wind and 25% solar from 01 July, 2020.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said that the project would save up to A$500,000 ($343,300) per year over the next 10 years.
The plans would involve the 270-MW Wind Farm near Glenn Innes, the 120-MW Bomen Solar Farm near Wagga Wagga and a communi- ty-owned solar scheme near Nowra. The council is to sign a supply contract with Flow Power.
“Today’s announcement is the biggest stan- dalone renewables commitment for an Austral- ian council,” Ms Moore told reporters.
“The science is clear: without urgent, co-or- dinated and global action to reduce emissions in
the next decade we face a very high risk of trig- gering runaway climate change.”
She said that the deal would reduce CO2 emissions by 20,000 tonnes per year (tpy).
The plans is merely the continuation of a number of previous green commitments made by the council, which has been certified carbon neutral since 2011.
The deal with Flow Power would enable the Council to reduce emissions by 70% six years ahead of a previously agreed 2030 deadline.
Flow Power CEO Matthew van der Linden said Sydney’s commitment to buy electricity from renewable plants was an important step in Australia’s transition to a low-carbon future.
In terms of Australia’s power politics, Moore called on the federal government to reintroduce a price on carbon and to establish a body that could ensure Australians employed in fossil fuel industries could find alternative employment.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s federal government has failed to come up with any national policy that would require CO2 emitters to pay for their emissions, the so-called carbon price.
Vestas wins 61-MW Taiwanese offshore turbine order from wpd
TAIWAN
VESTAS has secured a 61-MW order from Ger- many’s wpd to supply its V117-3.45-MW wind turbine model to the Chuangwei and Leadway wind farms in Taiwan.
Vestas will supply, transport, install and com- mission a total of 17 V117-3.45-MW wind tur- bines, which will be delivered in 3.6-MW Power Optimised Mode, the company said. The tur- bines will feature Taiwan’s largest onshore rotors, which aim to exploit the two sites’ medium to high wind conditions to optimise energy pro- duction. The order is the first deal confirmed under a strategic frame agreement signed between Vestas and wpd for over 400 MW of onshore wind projects in Taiwan.
“It is really fantastic to see the traction that we are gaining in Taiwan with the third order in less than 12 months. Taiwan is an important market to us in Asia-Pacific and I am excited to see our position strengthening here, having closed more than 100 MW this year”, said Clive Turton, presi- dent of Vestas Asia Pacific.
“This deal cements our market leadership in
Taiwan and is particularly important to Vestas as the first projects where we will manage the full logistics and turbine installation activities, which are particularly challenging in this mar- ket, helping de-risk the project for the benefit of our client”, said Tommaso Rovatti Studihrad, sales director of Vestas Asia Pacific.
The order includes a 15-year Active Output Management 4000 (AOM 4000) service agree- ment, designed to maximise uptime and ensure optimised performance for both sites.
Commercial operations at both Chuangwei and Leadway are expected to commence in the last quarter of 2020.
wpd also reached financial closure for the 640-MW Yunlin offshore wind farm in May 2019, and has been awarded the 350-MW Guanyin offshore wind farm.
Taiwan is expanding its renewables sector rapidly, and aims to have 5.7 GW of offshore and 1.2 GW onshore wind capacity by 2025. Onshore, the country currently has 704 MW of capacity, with just 4 MW offshore.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 42 22•October•2019
