Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 42

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec
Wind lobby argues against tariff barriers
GLOBAL
THE Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has called for trade barriers that hurt wind turbine exports to be slashed, arguing that tariff walls could hinder global attempts to mitigate climate change. The trade body also called for an open investment climate for companies financing the global energy transition.
The GWEC said that some countries were putting up major obstacles to achieving climate goals, such as new trade barriers on commodi- ties and components affecting the wind industry.
Governments have also introduced new screening mechanisms amongst other measures to restrict foreing investment in the renewables sector.
GWEC claims that onshore wind energy has reduced its levelised cost of energy (LCOE) by 45% over the last decade, making it one of the most competitive sources of energy.
However, tariffs on key commodities and components could add up to 20% to wind tur- bine supply chain costs in some cases, which could dramatically slow down the energy tran- sition at a time when we need to be accelerating.
According to the IPCC, investment in
renewables needs to increase to $2.4tn per year by 2050.
Meanwhile, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) claimed this week that global investment in wind would rise from $85bn per year today to $300bn per year in 2050 in order to meet the IPCC’s climate goals.
“Every week we are hearing talk about new trade barriers and new restrictions on badly needed investments being introduced. Whether we are in Beijing, Brussels or Washington, we all face a common problem and need to co-operate to replace fossil fuels with renewables as fast as possible and at the lowest cost,” said Ben Back- well, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
“Trade wars and barriers do real damage to businesses by inflating prices. It makes a global supply chain less global, making renewables less competitive,” said Morten Dyrholm, senior vice-president at Vestas.
“Trade wars and barriers do not help spur localisation, and a healthy competition which is needed to attract investments,” he added.™
GAS-FIRED GENERATION
MHPS completes gas-fired power plant in Indonesia
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) completed the installation and commissioning of the natural gas-fired gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) facilities for the “Jawa-2 Project.”
The project, under the auspices of Indonesia’s state-owned electricity provider PT. PLN (Persero) is located at the Tanjung Priok Power Plant on Java Island. Commercial operation of Jawa-2 began last year for Units
1 and 2 in simple cycle mode. As with the simple cycle mode, the construction of the exhaust heat recovery boilers and steam turbine was completed ahead of schedule
and allowed for an early turnover. Jawa-2, located in the port city Tanjung Priok is approximately 10 km northeast of central Jakarta. The full turnkey contract was received by Mitsubishi Corporation and local construction and engineering firm Wasa Mitra Engineering.
MHPS provided two M701F gas turbines,
NEWS IN BRIEF
two exhaust heat recovery boilers, one
steam turbine, and auxiliary equipment. The generators were manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.
Indonesia is currently pursuing a large- scale thermal power expansion program centered on the West Java region around Jakarta. The Jawa-2 projects is part of a government initiative to add 35GW in generating capacity that is necessary to address the rapidly growing demand for power accompanying the country’s economic growth.
MHPS’ successful completion of this project ahead of schedule contributed to the realization of the government’s plan. Also the project has been given an annual award in the category of “Natural Gas-Fired Power Project of the Year” from Asian Power Awards 2019.
An executive with PLN said, “This project is the realization of government’s program
in Electricity Infrastructure development 35GW and is the first largest unit of the program. It can also be operated based on extraordinary coordination between PLN units and partners. The completion of the Jawa-2 CCPP project provides a great benefit for the availability of electricity supply in
Jakarta and the strengthening of the Java-Bali electricity system as a load follower or peaker type generator.
TECHNOLOGY
Siemens, First Gen explore tech solutions
German industrial giant Siemens AG is dangling modular-scale gas turbines that
can be deployed for the provision of reliable electricity access in many of the Philippines’ island-grids or for industrial end-users opting for distributed generation type of solutions.
According to Brian Byrne, chief executive officer for Asia-Power Generation Services
of Siemens, the multinational company has whole range of gas turbines that it can offer for small-scale distributed generation – and these are end-users that are usually in the 100MW and below level of peak demand.
“We have applications for small industrial locations. We have a whole range of portfolio – the range is from 3.0MW to 60MW gas turbines; and very often these are in less than 100MW end-users,” he said.
Week 42 22•October•2019
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