Page 13 - AsiaElec Week 20

AsiaElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AsiaElec
NUCLEAR
Second Kyushu Electric reactor halted
Kyushu Electric Power suspended the operation of a second reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant Wednesday as it will miss the regulators’ deadline to implement anti- terrorism measures, following a halt of the other unit at the complex in March.
The No. 2 reactor at the Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture went offline on May 20 ahead of the May 21 deadline for the completion of anti-terrorism steps.
The utility aims to bring the reactor back online on Jan. 26 next year after making the required changes to facilities and undertaking regular safety inspections.
The suspension of the Sendai No. 1 reactor was the first such case under the stricter
rules introduced in 2013 following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.
With both of the two Sendai reactors halted, Kyushu Electric said it will make up for the electricity shortage with fossil fuel-driven thermal power generation and ensure there will be no disruption in power supply.
But the additional fuel costs, estimated at around JPY25bn ($232mn), are expected to weigh on the Fukuoka-based company’s bottom line, industry watchers said.
INVESTMENT
EU, India to co-operate on integrated local systems
The European Commission’s (EC) Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA)
and the Indian Department of Science and
Technology (DST) have called for proposals that make use of existing local energy systems to speed up decarbonisation and reduce clean energy costs.
Local energy systems include isolated villages, small cities, urban districts, and
rural areas with weak or non-existent grid connections. The invitation for proposals calls for the use of these existing systems to come up with new approaches to optimise network architecture, planning, and development of the overall electricity system in both regions.
According to the announcement, proposals must be able to put across solutions to interconnect all energy vectors (electricity, heating, cooling, water, wastes, batteries, electric vehicles, among others) and optimise their joint operation.
Proposals must also present a preliminary analysis of the local energy systems and develop network optimisation solutions that can be replicated across Europe and India. Applicants were also encouraged to come up with solutions that involve local consumers by creating “renewable energy communities.”
COAL
Glencore, Tohoku Electric set coal contract price
Glencore and Japan’s Tohoku Electric Power agreed on a price of $68.75 per tonne for supplies of thermal coal from Australia for the year through March 2021, the Nikkei business daily reported.
The Glencore-Tohoku price, which serves as an industry benchmark for supplies of seaborne thermal coal in Asia, was 27% lower than a price agreed a year earlier, Reuters reported.
The sharp decline from a year earlier came
as the coronavirus pandemic choked off global industry activity, slashing demand for thermal coal.
The weekly index for cargoes of higher- rank thermal coal from Australia’s Newcastle Port, mainly destined for Japan, South Korea and China, dropped to $52.79 a tonne in the week to April 26, lowest since June 2016, and down 24% from this year’s peak of $69.59 in mid-January.
Japan is one of the world’s biggest importers of thermal coal, taking about 111mn tonnes last year. Australia supplied nearly 70 percent of those imports, according to customs data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance.
China’s coal industry
reports steady growth in
2019
China’s coal industry registered steady development in 2019, seeing improved industrial structure along with increased demand and supply, an official industry report showed.
As China promoted structural reform in the industry, the number of coal mines was further reduced to around 5,300 by the end
of 2019, down from 5,800 at the end of 2018, with large modern mines becoming main coal producers in the country, said a report issued by the China National Coal Association.
More benefits were brought to the sector thanks to the integrated development of its upstream and downstream industries, with the total profits of major coal enterprises reaching CNY283bn ($39.9bn) in 2019.
The country’s coal consumption went up 1% year on year, while the output of raw coal
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