Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 01

AsiaElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AsiaElec
COMPANY NEWS
Ørsted appoints APAC Head
Offshore wind giant Ørsted has appointed Matthias Bausenwein, president of Ørsted Asia Pacific, has been appointed to the new role of Head of the Asia Pacific Region (APAC), based in Taipei.
He will continue to lead the regional activities but in a now strengthened setup, holding end-to-end responsibility for the offshore wind business in Asia-Pacific.
Christy Wang, until now head of regulatory affairs, communications and stakeholder management in Ørsted Asia Pacific, has been appointed to the new role as General Manager for Taiwan.
Christy was instrumental in shaping Ørsted’s leading role in Taiwan’s offshore wind development. Her appointment also demonstrates Ørsted’s commitment to deepen its root in Taiwan and further utilise and cultivate local talents.
Matthias Bausenwein, Head of the Asia Pacific Region, Ørsted, said, “The evolution of Ørsted’s business strategy is a result of the increasing importance of offshore wind in the regions and in new markets. Offshore wind is forecasted to flourish in APAC and our new operating model will prepare us for the next decade of growth.”
Ørsted has introduced a new operating model for its offshore wind business to best support the further development, execution and operation of Ørsted’s project pipeline and future growth.
The new operating model creates a more scalable organisation for Ørsted’s international expansion, combining market proximity with global scale and efficiency.
Ørsted’s offshore business will be organised into four regions with full responsibility for Ørsted’s business in the region. Each region will be accountable for its market, project development and asset management.
Whereas, construction and operations activities will be delivered from Ørsted’s global EPC and O&M organisation, in close collaboration with each region.
POLICY
Thai power consumption to grow in 2020
Thailand’s Energy Policy and Planning
Office (Eppo) forecasts the country’s energy consumption in 2020 to rise by 1.8% to 2.78mn barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED), in line with Thai GDP and demand.
This projection is based on GDP in 2020
growing 2.7-3.7% and the baht trading at 30.50-31.50 baht per US dollar. Crude oil prices are projected to stay at US$55-67 per barrel (Dubai) and $60.1-63 per barrel (Brent) this year.
Wattanapong Kurovat, Eppo’s director- general, said the country’s oil consumption has grown 1.2%, driven by economic growth and low oil prices.
Natural gas and coal consumption are expected to rise 1% and 1.4%, respectively, for the country’s power generation and industrial operations.
Renewable energy is estimated to see 3.9% consumption growth, thanks to support measures from the government.
Imported electricity from Laos is expected to see the highest growth in 2020 with a 7.3% rise. Three new hydroelectric power plants
in Laos have begun commercial operations since late 2019. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand buys most of the output from those projects.
Electricity consumption is forecast to grow this year by 2.6% to 199,993GWh hours, Mr Wattanapong said.
“Peak demand in the summer will increase 0.3% to 37,437MW,” he said.
In 2019, Eppo reported that the country’s energy consumption rose 0.7% to 2.73mn boepd, due to GDP growth of 2.6% and Dubai’s crude oil price of $63.20 per barrel.
The country’s oil consumption rose 1.6% from all types. Petrol and diesel consumption grew 3.9% and 4.3% respectively, driven by retail price tags.
“Many Thais have shifted to use electric stoves and ovens instead of gas-fuelled home appliances, resulting in a contraction of LPG, while the energy consumption is moving to cleaner energy,” Mr Wattanapong said. “Jet fuel grew only slightly, by 0.6%, from low tourists in the first half of 2019.”
Natural gas consumption in 2019 rose 1.9% from the country’s power generation, and electricity consumption increased 3.8% for the period to 194,949 gigawatt-hours, driven by the hot weather.
“Peak power demand in 2019 also rose 8.7% to 37,312MW on May 3,” Wattanapong said.
Study calls for China to rein in coal
Chinese government-backed research has called for the country to end the construction of all new coal-fired power plants in order
to meet long-term climate goals in the most economically feasible manner, Reuters reported.
A study released this week by Chinese
government researchers and the University
of Maryland Center for Global Sustainability said that China’s energy strategy over the next decade was under close scrutiny as it aimed to bring climate warming carbon emissions to a peak by 2030 and fulfil a pledge made as part of the 2015 Paris agreement.
“Well-designed policies can help lower
the cost of coal-power deep decarbonisation,” said Jiang Kejun, research professor with the Chinese government-backed Energy Research Institute, one of the report’s authors.
China should also change the role of coal- fired power in its energy system. By reducing the total operating hours of each plant, China could make coal-fired power a “peak load” supplier during periods of high electricity consumption, rather than the main “baseload” power source.
But with economic growth at its slowest pace in nearly 30 years, Beijing has continued to approve new coal-fired plants, raising fears the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gas is backtracking on its commitments.
Beijing is capable of phasing out coal to help meet a global target to keep temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, but only
if it embarks on a “structured and sustainable” closure strategy to minimise the economic impact, according to the study.
The report said China must first end new construction and then rapidly close older and inefficient plants. Up to 112GW does not meet environmental standards and could be shut down immediately.
China currently has over 1,000GW of coal- fired capacity, accounting for about 60% of the country’s total installed generation capacity.
TARIFFS
Singapore electricity tariffs to rise 3.5%
Singaporean households can expect higher electricity and lower gas bills for the next three months.
Electricity tariffs are set to rise by an average of 3.5% in the first quarter of next year, SP Group said.
For the period from Janu1 to March 31, electricity tariffs will increase by 0.81 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) compared with the previous quarter.
Excluding the goods and services tax (GST), this translates to a rise from 23.43 cents per kWh to 24.24 cents per kWh for households powered by SP Group.
This is the highest it has been since the period from October to December 2014, when it was 25.28 cents before GST.
It exceeds the rate of 24.22 cents from July
Week 01 08•January•2020
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