Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 15

AsiaElec POWER CONSUMPTION AsiaElec
Indian power consumption falls 25%
INDIA
INDIAN power consumption fell by 24.9% as a result of the government’s total coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown on March 22, a much steeper drop than in China, the European Union or the US.
Indian consumption was lowest on March 27, but then started to witness a rise in the first week of April to 18% less than in December 2019, the reference for the data. India’s figures compared with a 9.47% drop for the EU, 6.9% for the US and 14.87% for China,
The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago used official data from various gov- ernment bodies and industry bodies, such as from India’s Power System Operation Corpora- tion (POSOCO).
The EPIC said in a statement that “with the restrictions, roads and airports are nearly empty, shops and restaurants are closed, and industrial activities are largely at a halt.”
However, the report also pointed to India’s severe and sudden lockdown, where the strin- gent restrictions on commerce and personal movement had contributed to the fall in the demand. The government announced on April 14 that it would extend the lockdown for another
three weeks until May 3.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said
that the lockdown was causing great economic hardship, especially for the country’s poor.
The first three-week shutdown cost the econ- omy an estimated 7-8tn rupees ($92-105bn), according to analysts and industry bodies.
“From only an economic point of view, it undoubtedly looks costly right now,” Modi said. “But measured against the lives of Indian citi- zens, there is no comparison.”
The World Bank said India’s economy was now expected to grow 1.5-2.8% in 2020-21 fiscal year, which started on April 1. This will be the slowest growth rate recorded since 1991.
The country’s economy was forecast to expand by 5% in the year to the end of March. With the lockdown coming during that month, the economy could actually contract in the short term. On March 26, the government said it would make $22bn available as relief money, including cash transfers and food subsidies. Unemployment has nearly tripled since the lock- down began. The country had 10,541 infections and 358 deaths as of April 14, according to Johns Hopkins University.™
HYDROGEN
Woodside steps up pursuit of hydrogen
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIAN oil and gas developer Woodside Petroleum has unveiled the next step in its ongo- ing development of a hydrogen export strategy.
The company said on April 6 that it had teamed up with Japan’s JERA, Marubeni and IHI to study large-scale hydrogen-as-ammonia exports for use by the East Asian country’s coal- fired power generators.
Hydrogen can be used in much the same way as gas, with Woodside saying that exports to Japanese power producers could help to reduce their carbon footprint. The Australian company said Japan’s government-backed New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organ- ization (NEDO) had given the consortium the green light to conduct a feasibility study covering the entire hydrogen-as-ammonia value chain.
The study will look into the construction and operation of world-class ammonia facilities as well as optimising supply chain costs.
Woodside said it intended to investigate mov- ing from blue to green hydrogen for export.
Blue hydrogen is produced from gas using steam methane reforming, while green hydro- gen is produced from renewable energy using electrolysis. In both production processes hydro- gen is combined with nitrogen to form ammonia to enable it to be shipped as a liquid. Ammonia
does not produce any on-site carbon emissions when consumed in a power plant.
Woodside’s executive vice president of exploration, Shaun Gregory, told the Austral- ian Financial Review in October 2019 that blue hydrogen production costs were about a third of those of green hydrogen and that the cost gap needed to shrink.
JERA, a 50:50 joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power, is the world’s single largest LNG importer and controls nearly half of Japan’s domestic ther- mal power generation capacity.
Woodside envisages large-scale hydrogen production taking off at a global level by 2030 and has argued that Australia needs to invest heavily now in order to be a sector leader. Greg- ory said last year that his company wanted to be at the forefront of a hydrogen export industry that might come to rival the liquified natural gas (LNG) scene.
Woodside signed a non-binding agreement with state-run Korea Gas (KOGAS) on the joint study of the technical and commercial feasibility of a green hydrogen pilot project. The agreement built upon a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two companies in mid- 2018. ™
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