Page 11 - AsiaElec Week 44

AsiaElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AsiaElec
PEOPLE
Siemens ASEAN and
Singapore gets a new CEO
as Armin Bruck retires
Siemens has appointed Thai Lai Pham as the new CEO of Siemens ASEAN and Singapore, succeeding Armin Bruck as he retires from the company after 32 years.
Concurrent with his new role, Pham will remain as the country CEO of Siemens Vietnam, a position he has held since 2012 where he has been responsible for projects such as helping private automotive startup VinFast to build Southeast Asia’s first fully digital factory.
Prior to heading up the German company’s operations in Vietnam, Pham worked in various roles across the company, including Siemens’ healthcare, energy, and now-defunct mobile phones divisions, in addition to helping the company build technologies in the US, Europe, and Asia.
According to the company, as Siemens ASEAN’s new CEO, Pham will focus on driving the company’s digital industries, smart infrastructure, and mobility businesses in the region.
Last year, Siemens signed two industrial Internet of Things (IoT) partnerships: One with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Aruba and the other with Alibaba Cloud.
As part of its deal with HPE Aruba, Siemens gets HPE Aruba’s edge computing and networking know-how. For HPE, the Siemens partnership brings the ability to target industrial customers.
Meanwhile, Siemens and Alibaba Cloud agreed to build out the industrial IoT in
China. For Siemens, the partnership with Alibaba Cloud gives it a foothold in China’s IoT market with its MindSphere platform. Alibaba Cloud, which has been growing at a rapid clip by leveraging its Chinese customer base, gets industry know-how and access to larger enterprises.
HYDRO
ADB signs $60mn deal for
Nepal’s Upper Trishuli-1
project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed a $60mn financing package with Nepal Water and Energy Development Company Private Limited (NWEDC) to help build
and operate a 216MW run-of-the-river hydropower plant on the Trishuli River near Kathmandu, Nepal.
The agreement for the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project was signed by the Director of Infrastructure Finance, South Asia, Central Asia, and West Asia at ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department
Mr. Shantanu Chakraborty and NWEDC’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Yi Bo Seuk at a ceremony in Kathmandu. The project is one of the largest private sector investments in Nepal to date.
The financing comprises a loan from
ADB and a loan from the ADB-administered Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II (CFPS II). CFPS II was established by the Government of Canada to encourage private investment in climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Asia
and the Pacific. CFPS II funding was integral to the project’s financial viability as it helped attract private capital currently unavailable in the market.
“This is a landmark transaction that will provide strong incentives for further private sector investment in Nepal’s energy sector,” said Chakraborty. “To ensure it provides sustainable benefits, this project will adopt international best practices in safeguards management and will also introduce measures to promote gender equality including job opportunities for women and better access
to education, health care, amenities, and infrastructure.”
The project has been prepared in compliance with international environmental and social standards. Detailed studies
by international experts have assessed alternatives, impacts, and proposed mitigation measures representing global best practice in hydropower development.
ADB is cofinancing the project with
other multilateral development banks and development finance institutions including the International Finance Corporation; Export– Import Bank of Korea; Korea Development Bank; Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; Commonwealth Development Corporation; Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden OPEC Fund
for International Development; and Société
de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique.
Once operational, the plant is expected to provide over 1200GWh annually to the national grid.
ADB
COAL
China coking coal futures
gain on prospects of fresh
import curbs
Coking coal futures in China have risen amid market talks about fresh import curbs on the steelmaking raw material in some provinces, following brisk purchases in recent months by the world’s biggest coal buyer and consumer, Reuters reported
Dalian Commodity Exchange’s most- traded coking coal contract , with January 2020 expiry, jumped 2.1% to 1,247 yuan ($177.50) a tonne, after touching its lowest in more than two weeks on Monday.
Coke, which is produced from coking coal, rose 2.0% to 1,768 yuan a tonne.
With China’s coking coal imports in the
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