Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 20

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec
supportive government policies. This would give EVs a 3% share of the global market.
Alongside this, global sales of conventional cars are set for a historic drop of 15% in 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdown, car sales in individual countries fell by between 50% in the US, 80% in China and 98% in the UK.
This means that only the EV sector of the global car market is showing any growth in 2020. However, for the growth in EVs to continue, the IEA warned that the government must
maintain its support for EVs and not favour die- sel and gasoline cars as it puts in place stimuli to boost economic recovery.
The IEA fears that governments could relax fuel efficiency standards to lower the pressure on struggling carmakers, or reduce support measures for electric cars to free up funds for use elsewhere.
However, the IEA notes that this has not hap- pened yet, with China, for example, announcing it would extend the purchase subsidies that it had originally planned to discontinue this year until 2022 – albeit at a slightly reduced rate.™
COMPANY NEWS
KEPCO posts profit with help of lower oil prices
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) reported a KRW53.6bn ($43.7mn) first-quarter net profit, shifting from a KRW761.2bn ($621mn) loss a year earlier, owing to KRW1.6 trillion ($1.3bn) savings in oil and gas purchases.
As the prices of oil and gas sharply plummeted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, KEPCO was able to limit fuel expenditures to KRW9 trillion in the first quarter, down from KRW10.6 trillion won last year.
Operating income for the January-March period was KRW430.6bn, shifting from a loss of KRW629.9bn a year ago.
Sales fell 1% to KRW15.09 trillion over the cited period, with profits declining KRW133.1bn.
The company noted that while low global oil prices will lend it a hand, there are uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and competition among oil producers that affect it.
PLN profit nosedives 63% as costs soar
State-owned electricity company PLN’s net profit nosedived last year as a result of higher tax expenses and operational costs that had offset its higher income, according to the company’s annual report released on Monday.
PLN booked a net profit of ISR4.32 trillion ($292.4mn) in 2019, lower than IDR11.56 trillion in 2018 even though revenue grew
NEWS IN BRIEF
4.67% year-on-year to IDR285.6 trillion from improved electricity access in Indonesia. The company also recorded an income of IDR73.9 trillion from state reimbursements.
“[We] added 3.8mn customers,” PLN spokesperson I Made Suprateka said in a statement on Monday, adding that PLN’s consumer base now stood at 75.7mnmn users.
The company’s operating costs rose slightly by 2.3% to IDR315.4 trillion in 2019, but
tax expenses ballooned 2.6-fold to IDR21.8 trillion over the same time period.
Company representatives did not respond to questions about its higher tax expenses.
The spokesperson also hinted that the higher sales revenue was notable “under the condition that electricity tariffs did not rise in 2019,” suggesting that increases were mainly driven by the wider customer base.
PLN and the government raised Indonesia’s electrification ratio — defined as the portion of neighbourhoods that can switch on a lightbulb — to a historical high of 98.89 percent in 2019.
As a result, the company’s electricity sales reached 245.52TWh in 2019, up 4.65% from the previous year.
PLN’s statement added that the company increased its installed power generation capacity by 8% to 62,234MW and its electric network by 11.5% to 59,817 circuit km last year.
POLICY
China’s power generation falls in first 4 months
China’s power generation decreased in the first four months of this year, down 5% year on year, official data showed.
Electricity output hit about 2.14 trillion kWh during this period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
In April alone, the output saw a 0.3% surge to 554.3bn kWh.
A breakdown of the data showed a decline of hydropower electricity generation in April, which fell 9.2% year on year.
Coal-fired electricity generation went up 1.2% last month, rebounding from the 7.5% drop in March, while solar power climbed 12.3% year on year.
Last month, nuclear and wind power generation saw an increase of 10.7 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
South Korea aims for 40% renewables
South Korea has announced a long-term energy transition plan to see it reach 40% renewable energy by 2034, up from the current share of 15%.
The country plans to begin to shift away from thermal and nuclear power generation to a larger proportion of renewable energy.
The share of LNG is expected to be maintained at 32%, whereas all coal-fired power plants will be shut down – the South Korean Government plans to convert half of these operational coal-based facilities into LNG plants.
The 2020-2034 plan will also see the closure of nine nuclear power units, bringing the energy share of nuclear power in South Korea to 10% by the end of the said period, by which time South Korean power demand is expected to reach a total of 104GW.
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Week 20 20•May•2020