Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 14

AsiaElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AsiaElec
– around 75,000 – but we still have to get this done,” said Jokowi on Friday when announcing the plan prior to a limited Cabinet meeting.
DEMAND
Pakistan’s electricity demand may fall 30% if impact of COVID-19 continues
Pakistan’s electricity demand may go down by 25-30% if the economic downturn and corona impact continues, said Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) sources.
Already, they said, winter is gone with traditional low demand as low as 50% of the summer demand. The current demand for electricity has reduced to 13,000MW comparing with 17,500MW of March-April 2019, they added.
They said a lockdown in the country since March 24 has curtailed the industrial load exceptionally. Similarly, there is a complete closure of hotels and commercial activities in the country. Besides, a large number of offices have reduced the number of employees at offices or calling them offices on the alternate day which reduced to the electricity load by and large on the system.
A spokesman for the power division confirmed a drop in electricity demand, saying the industrial consumption load is not more than 2,000-2,500MW in total. Similarly, he added, the load of the commercial sector (which escalates to 2,000MW during peak hours) is also not that much high comparing to the domestic consumption which falls around 70-80% of the total load.
At present, he said, the factor of mild
weather is contributing more to the low demand for electricity than lockdown. But he agreed that the factor of lockdown could contribute more in case it prolongs further.
COMPANY NEWS
MHI Vestas to accelerate its growth in Asia Pacific
MHI Vestas appoints Masato Yamada as Regional Manager Asia Pacific to facilitate broader growth across the region.
MHI Vestas has appointed Masato Yamada as the Regional Manager Asia Pacific, to oversee the company’s growth across the Asia Pacific region. He was formerly the company’s Chief Strategy Officer based in Aarhus, Denmark, and will now be based in MHI Vestas’ Tokyo office.
Yamada has been with MHI Vestas since the formation of the joint venture between the two parent companies (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Vestas), which he was instrumental in developing.
“We have a firm belief that MHI Vestas has a great opportunity in the Asia Pacific region, as several countries have begun to explore the potential of clean, offshore wind power,” said co-CEO Johnny Thomsen. “We are privileged to have an advocate such as Masato Yamada now leading the development of our company in Asia Pacific, and supporting the growth of our Japanese presence.”
Across Asia Pacific, MHI Vestas maintains a growing portfolio of projects in which
it has been selected to supply offshore
wind turbines. Mr. Yamada will guide the company’s continued advancement across the region, notably in Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. MHI VESTAS
COAL-FIRED GENERATION
China could turn to coal in wake of COVID-19
China faces uneconomic and climate unfriendly coal-fired power for decades if they decide to build new coal capacity rather than renewables to stimulate their economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Carbon Tracker has warned in a new study.
Some 46% of global coal plants will be running at a loss in 2020, the think-tank warned, rising to 52% by 2030.
However, renewable energy and gas are already outcompeting coal worldwide and if governments deregulate power markets to allow greater competition then the%age of unprofitable coal plants will be far higher.
In a report entitled Political Decisions, Economic Realities, Carbon Tracker warned that China might be planning to build more coal plants in order to stimulate its economy following the pandemic.
The National Energy Administration recently announced it was ready to relax rules on coal power investment.
Building new coal and propping up the existing fleet with stimulus money would be throwing good money after bad,” says Matt Gray, Carbon Tracker co-head of power and utilities and co-author of the report.
“Faced with the need to invest billions
in their economies and create new jobs, governments should be planning for a green recovery by incentivising the closure of coal and spending money on a major expansion of low-cost, clean renewable power.”
COAL
Investors line up against Mizuho support for coal
Investors with nearly $200bn in assets holding shares in Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group say they plan to back a shareholder motion urging the bank to cut its lending for coal and other fossil fuels, Reuters reported.
In an unusual showing of hands weeks before Mizuho’s annual general meeting
in June, Norway’s largest pension fund
and life insurance company, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP), Storebrand ASA and Denmark’s MP Pension said they would support Japan’s first climate change resolution.
It marks the first time a Japanese publicly traded company has faced a shareholder
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Week 14 08•April•2020