Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 03

AsiaElec INVESTMENT AsiaElec
Global green spending rises 1% in 2019
GLOBAL
GLOBAL investment in renewable generation rose 1% in 2019 to $282bn, with the Chinese market falling and US spending reaching record levels.
Figures from BloombergNEF (BNEF) found that investment in offshore wind capacity showed the most noticeable growth, especially in the US, China and Europe, with global spend- ing surging late in the year to $29.9bn, up 19% on 2018.
“Offshore wind developers in China brought forward 15 projects to beat a scheduled expiry of that country’s feed-in tariff (FiT),” said Tom Harries, head of wind research at BNEF.
“We expect the sector’s global momentum to continue in 2020, with the focus on giga- watt-scale projects in the British North Sea and the first commercial arrays off the US East Coast,” he added.
These areas also dominated in 2019, with the $3.4bn, 432-MW Neart na Gaoithe array in the North Sea, the $2bn, 376-MW Formosa II Miaoli project off Taiwan and the $1.5bn, 500- MW Fuzhou Changle C installation in the East China Sea all reaching financial closure.
Yet offshore wind pales in significance com- pared to market-leading solar with $131.1bn, a 3% drop, while onshore wind, coming in at $108.3bn (up 6%), was second. Combining onshore and offshore makes wind the market leader with $138.2bn globally, (up 6%).
Falling costs for solar and wind meant that capacity approvals actually rose by 12.5%, or 20 GW, to 180 GW, while accompanying invest- ment increased by only 1%.
China led the way in investment with $83.4bn, although this was an 8% decline from 2018 and the lowest since 2013.While wind rose by 10% to $55bn, solar fell by 33% to $25.7bn, less than 33% of the 2017 level.
Stunning growth of 28% in the US to $55.5bn was boosted by wind and solar developers’ hurry to qualify for federal tax credits that are due to be reduced in 2020.
“It’s notable that in this third year of the Trump presidency, which has not been particu- larly supportive of renewables, US clean energy investment set a new record by a country mile,” said Ethan Zindler, head of Americas for BNEF.
“These technologies are more cost-compet- itive than ever, and the fact that there was a tax credit step-down on the horizon made the mar- ket particularly busy in 2019.”
Europe fell behind the US, investing $54.3bn, down 7%, with Spanish investment climbing by 25% to $8.4bn and UK spending slumping by 40% to $5.3bn.
In Asia, commitments fell as previously gen- erous tariffs and subsidies were cut. Japanese spending slid 10% to $16.5bn, while Australia’s crashed to $5.6bn, down 40%, and India’s fell 14% to $9.3bn.™
GAS-FIRED GENERATION
Indian LNG demand supports spot prices
INDIA
INDIA’S demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is helping drive spot prices for the fuel higher, according to a report by Reuters.
The average price on the spot market for LNG delivered in February to East Asia climbed by $0.15 per mmBtu ($4.15 per 1,000 cubic metres) to an estimated $5.30 per mmBtu ($146.60 per 1,000 cubic metres) on January 10, the newswire said the same day, quoting unnamed trading sources.
The sources added that the price for cargoes delivered in March was estimated at $4.75 per mmBtu ($131.39 per 1,000 cubic metres).
This comes on the back of other Reuters reports that Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Indian Oil, GAIL (India) and GSPC were all looking for cargoes for delivery over the next few months.
S&P Global Platts reported at the start of the year that GAIL intended to import 90 LNG car- goes – around 5.8mn tonnes of LNG — from the US in financial year 2020-2021. The news
outlet quoted company officials as saying that this was up from a planned 75 cargoes – around 5mn tonnes – of US LNG in 2019-2020. GAIL imported 62 cargoes of US LNG in 2018-2019, Platts said. It quoted the head of GAIL’s LNG business, Rajeev Singhal, as saying that India’s demand for LNG could rise by around 3-4% in 2020-2021.
India is expected to emerge as a major demand centre for natural gas in the coming years as it invests heavily in building out its piped gas network. The country is investing $60bn in gas infrastructure, both pipelines and LNG import terminals, as it aims to complete a cross-country transportation grid in 2024. The country’s spending spree is aimed at raising the share of gas in the country’s energy mix to 15% by 2030.
Wood Mackenzie has predicted that national demand for gas will double to 75bn cubic metres by 2030, with LNG imports meeting half of this demand.™
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 03 22•January•2020