Page 13 - AsiaElec Week 12

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NEWS IN BRIEF
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This is even more pronounced when accounting for the impact of old coal mines that continue to seep methane long after they have been abandoned. To date, attempts to curb methane emissions from mines have been limited.
The authors of the new study say there are considerable gaps in the available data, and their results are based on extrapolations from the only nations for which sufficient information was available.
Nevertheless, their findings are the latest in a string of papers to suggest methane emissions from the fossil-fuel industry have been “severely underestimated”.
Mongolia resumes coal exports to China
Mongolia has resumed coal exports to China via the boarder point of Gashuun Sukhait, Chinese state media agency Xinhua reported, citing Mongolian finance minister.
Ulaanbaatar had suspended coal exports to China in February in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Mongolia expects to fully recover deliveries of coal to China soon, according to the Xinhua report.
COAL-FIRED GENERATION
Japan set to pace thermal
coal’s long-term Asian
decline
Japan is set for a significant reduction in coal consumption over the next 20 years even without further action on climate change.
According to the latest Global Energy Monitor (GEM) data, Japan has 9.3GW of coal plants under construction.
However, Japan’s electricity generation has dropped at an average rate of 1.2% per annum
since 2008. New power generation cannot be added to a power system with flat or declining demand without existing generation being crowded out, the IEEFA said.
Importantly, the GEM data also shows that the nation has 8.3GW of old coal power plants that will be due for end-of-life closure over the next five years. The new, more efficient coal plants will replace the old ones, consuming less coal in the process.
Furthermore, the pipeline of Japanese coal plants yet to reach construction has been hollowed out by project cancellations.
As recently as July 2018 there was another 9GW of coal plant proposals under development but yet to reach construction. As of January 2020, there are now only 2.6GW according to GEM. What’s more, the remaining projects look highly uncertain to proceed.
The proposed 1.2GW Ube coal power plant saw one of its two main proponents, Osaka Gas, withdraw from the project in April 2019. The proposal’s remaining proponents have halted the environmental assessment process for the proposal while they reconsider their plans.
Meanwhile, the 1.3GW Akita coal power proposal is also teetering. In March 2019
it was reported that proponent Marubeni Corporation had stated that the project would not go ahead but was yet to go public with this disclosure whilst it negotiated with its project partner Kansai Electric Power.
Kansai Electric Power have since announced that the project would not start as scheduled and grid access rights for
the proposed plant have reportedly been surrendered suggesting that it has been, in effect, cancelled.
If, as it seems, neither of these plants proceed then the plants currently being constructed to replace aging units will be the last ever built in Japan.
RENEWABLES
Indonesia to replace coal plants with renewables
The Indonesian government aims to complete this year a study into replacing several aging fossil fuel-fired plants with renewable energy plants as it races against time to catch up with its green goals.
The study, which began in January, not only includes mapping potential renewable sources but also future growth in targeted regions, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s director general for electrification, Rida Mulyana, said.
It is being conducted by state-owned electricity company PLN as the operator of the aging plants.
“We are still gathering data right now,” said Rida, who is also a PLN commissioner. “There are a lot of plants and they are quite spread out. We can’t study them randomly, but this has to be done one by one. This needs time.”
Indonesia has 2,246 diesel-fired power plants (PLTD) that are over 15 years old, 16.2% of which are in Aceh, ministry data shows. These plants have a combined installed capacity of 1,778MW.
“At the end of the day, it’s a question of how much efficiency can we achieve,” Rida added.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy aims to make renewables contribute 23% to its power production by 2025, yet regulatory headwinds are setting the country back from achieving the goal.
Existing regulations stipulate that Indonesia should have reached a 17.5% renewable power mix by 2019, yet the country achieved only 12.36% that year.
Energy Minister Arifin Tasrif first publicly announced the replacement plan in January. He said the government’s purpose was to simultaneously “supply energy at competitive prices” and chase Indonesia’s renewable energy commitments.
Indonesia also has 23 coal-fired power plants (PLTU) that over 20 years old and 46 combined-cycle power plants (PLGU) of similar ages. The former have a combined capacity of 5,655MW and the latter 5,912MW. Most of these aging plants are located on Java Island.
RENEWABLES
Sonnedix commissions 38.7MW PV park in Japan
The Japanese unit of Sonnedix Power
Week 12 25•March•2020
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