Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 27

AsiaElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AsiaElec
SUPPLY
Marubeni consortium gets
OK to power Philippines
‘smart city’ project
A consortium of Manila Electric Co. and three Japanese companies including trading house Marubeni Corp. has received approval to power the Philippines’ rst “smart city,” which is to be developed at a former US military base.
e power will apparently be supplied by a private-public joint venture to be 90 percent owned by Kansai Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power Co. e rest will be held by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, which is owned by the Philippine government.
e antitrust Philippine Competition Commission said the consortium’s launch of the venture is “not likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the retail electricity supply market.”
e venture plans to supply electricity to the new city, to be built in the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga Province, about 120 km northwest of Manila, for at least 25 years. It also aims to supply power to companies operating in the zone.
RENEWABLES
Hitachi Zosen, Naval
Energies to build offshore
wind farms in Japan
Japan’s Hitachi Zosen and France’s Naval Energies are to work together to develop oating wind farms in Japan.
e two companies unveiled plans to design and build oating wind turbines with a capacity of several hundred megawatts using Naval Energies’ semi-submersible oater solution, during President Emmanuel Macron’s recent trip to Japan.
“Among all oaters developed in the world, we consider that Naval Energies’ semi-submersible oater, which has many advantages, is one of the best on the market,” said Takashi Fujita, general manager of Hitachi Zosen’s wind power business unit.
“We appreciate that Naval Energies is participating with us in this feasibility study and we hope that Naval Energies and Hitachi Zosen will contribute to the development of an industrial oating wind energy industry
in Japan.” Laurent Schneider-Maunoury, President of Naval Energies said: “ e environmental conditions in Japan are
very favourable for the installation of this technology and we have all the necessary know-how for the local development of this new industrial sector.”
India sets $330bn green investment target
India needs to invest $330bn by 2030 to meet its renewables target of 500 GW, or 40% of capacity, although coal is set to retain its central position in the generation sector.
Around 22% of India’s current total capacity of 357 GW can be classed as green.
“Additional investments in renewable plants up to year 2022 would be about $80bn at today’s prices and an investment of around $250bn would be required for the period 2023-2030,” the government’s recent economic survey stated.
e government has set an interim green target of 175 GW by 2022.
India wants to concentrate most investment on solar – both on- and o -grid – but also wants to make use of its cheap coal reserves, the h-largest in the world.
e economic survey, which was presented to parliament on July 4, also highlighted that that the country’s existing power sector faced power cuts, banking and investment risks and an unstable electricity grid.
“It may not be advisable to e ect a sudden abandonment of coal-based power plants without complete utilization of their useful lifetimes as it would lead to stranding of assets that can have further adverse impact on the banking sector,” the survey said.
New Zealand set to build largest solar farm
New Zealand’s largest solar farm could be built in Northland to supply power to the NZ Oil Re nery at Marsden Pt.
Re ning NZ, the owner and operator of the Marsden Point oil re nery is exploring the viability of a 26 MW solar farm to be potentially developed adjacent to the re nery to supply it with renewable electricity.
e 31 hectare solar farm would be situated on land belonging to Re ning NZ and is estimated to cost NZ$36-NZ$39mn ($24mn-$26mn).
e farm would be funded via a combination of non-recourse project debt funding and NZ$12-15mn ($8mn-$10mn) of equity from the company.
Re ning NZ chairman Simon Allen said that progressing the solar farm is contingent on the Re ning NZ Board being satis ed the project is economically viable.
Re ning NZ CEO Mike Fuge said that the potential to develop renewable electricity from solar would be a further step by the Company in the transition towards a lower carbon future.
“ is solar facility is one of a number
of options being considered as part of the Company’s long term business strategy,
the potential bene ts of which are exciting. First and foremost, this facility would allow Re ning NZ to reduce its electricity costs, which is one of the biggest costs for the Company.”
Week 27 09 •July•2019
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