Page 11 - AsiaElec Week 26

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec
RENEWABLES: India to boost renewables by 2030, but coal remains dominant
INDIA
COAL will account for half of India’s power gen- eration in 2030 despite a boom in solar and wind energy projects, according to recent government research.
e Central Electricity Authority said in a report released on July 1 that coal would retain its dominant role in the energy mix, given the large eet of operating coal plants.
e report found that the mismatch between peak demand periods and the variable output from renewables meant that coal would continue to play a vital role.
e CEA warned that CO2 emissions would rise 12% between 2022 and 2030 to 1.154bn tonnes, way above its 2015 Paris Agreement commitments.
However, India will meet one Paris com- mitment by breaching the 40% threshold for non-fossil fuel generating capacity. e report found that the intermittent nature of renewables was a severe weakness. Proposals to deal with this included adopting grid-scale battery storage.
Non-fossil fuel power sources, led by solar
and wind, are forecast to account for 48% of gross generation by 2030, more than double the 2018 gure. Green energy sources will also account for 65% of installed capacity.
India had 80GW of renewable capacity at the end of May 2019, and aims to have 175 GW of installed capacity by 2022.
e report said that renewables would cost the same amount as fossil fuels by 2030.
“ e recent cost trends of renewable energy generation sources have given them the footing to compete with conventional sources of elec- tricity generation,” the report said.
Coal’s share of generating capacity is likely to fall to 33% by 2030, the CEA said, although it will account for 50% of generating output. Coal accounted for 72% of power output in March, the CEA said.
India’s total generation reached 1,561 TWh in 2018, according to BP’s 2019 Statistical Review, of which coal accounted for 1,176 TWh (75%) and renewables, mainly solar and wind, stood at 121.5 TWh (7.7%).™
TARIFFS
Myanmar to raise power tariffs
Rates will increase substantially beginning in July for both residential and business users, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) said, with rates as much as tripling for households and nearly doubling for businesses.
e proposal by the MOEE to raise prices was approved by parliament in April.
e government is raising tari s in order to cover the cost of generation and distribution.
Power demand is growing by 11% per year, meaning the rising consumption means more losses for the state-owned power system.
Although the increases are expected to cover current losses, the government’s plans to develop new capacity based on LNG means that more increases can be expected.
e World Bank recently said that the country needed to invest $2bn per year to meet power demand, double current spending levels.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Under the new pricing scheme, the rate for residential customers will remain at MMK35 $0.02 per kWh for usage up to 30 kWh per month, a er which the price rises to as much as MMK125 ($0.08) per kWh. Businesses
will pay MMK125-180 ($0.08-0.12), up from MMK75-150 ($0.05-0.10).
e government incurs costs of MMK89 ($0.06) per kWh to generate and distribute electricity from hydropower, and MMK178 ($0.12) for electricity from natural gas, according to the MOEE.
Indonesia’s PLN to resume flexible tariffs in 2020
Indonesian utility Perusahaan Listrik
Negara (PLN) will return to using adjustable electricity tari s for non-subsidised customers in 2020 a er two years of at rates, an energy ministry o cial said.
From 2020, PLN can adjust their electricity prices every three months for customers,
such as industrial users, based on the price
of oil and the rupiah exchange rate, said Rida Mulyana, Director General for Electricity at
the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry e decision to resume adjustable tari s
was made to reduce government subsidies to power consumers.
Indonesia froze electricity tari s in 2017 amid sluggish consumption growth. at led to a policy of capping thermal coal prices for power generation at $70 per tonne to help PLN manage costs.
Mulyana said the government has not yet decided whether the price cap on coal sold to power companies will also be changed next year.
At the time the coal price cap policy was announced in March 2018, o cials said it would be reviewed in December 2019.
COAL
Eximbank under pressure to boycott coal
South Korea’s state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea is under pressure from international environmental activists to halt its nancing of
Week 26 02•July•2019
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