Page 13 - AsiaElec Week 40

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

and partnership we have been able to make in are now the cheapest sources of power in the
Pakistan,” said Enrique Pedrosa, chief regions country.
officer of Siemens Gamesa’s Onshore business The Pakistani government aims to boost
unit. modern renewable energy in its energy mix to
“Renewables are at the centre of the global 30% by 2030.
energy transition and will play an essential role Siemens Gamesa has grown in the Asia-Pa-
in economic recovery post Covid-19. We’re well cific region since the 1980s and has now installed
positioned and committed to bringing more sus- more than 8.5 GW of onshore turbines in China,
tainable and affordable clean energy for genera- Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indone-
tions to come in Pakistan,” he added. sia, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia and New
Siemens Gamesa signed its first project in Zealand.
Pakistan (for 50 MW) in 2017. Offshore, the company completed the instal-
As a country that is heavily reliant on lation of Taiwan’s first offshore wind power
imported natural gas and oil for power gener- project in 2019 (128 MW) and in addition has
ation, Pakistan is now promoting renewable reached close to 2 GW of firm orders on the
sources with a focus on wind and solar, which island.™

NEWS IN BRIEF

GAS-FIRED GENERATION Generating Authority of Thailand, providing import capacity by 900 megawatts, with year-
high efficiency, clean energy to support the round firm energy imports of 3,000 gigawatt-
Mitsubishi to build gas- power demand in the country. hours.”
Afghanistan relies on energy imports
MITSUBISHI POWER
fired power plant in from neighbouring countries to meet its
domestic demand, with only about 34% of the
Thailand HYDRO population having access to grid-connected
electricity.
Mitsubishi Power, a major subsidiary of the ADB grant to help The project will finance the construction
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), signed of 201km of a 500-kilovolt overhead
a full turnkey contract for the engineering, enhance power supply in transmission line from the Surkhan substation
procurement and construction (EPC) of a in Uzbekistan to the Khwaja-Alwan substation
1,400 MW power plant with Hin Kong Power Afghanistan in Afghanistan – a key interconnection
Company Limited, an independent power node to receive power from Tajikistan,
producer (IPP) in Thailand. A $110 million grant has been approved by Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It will also
Mitsubishi Power will provide two the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help fund the expansion of a line bay, including
M701JAC gas turbines for the natural gas- improve energy sustainability and promote associated equipment, at the Khwaja–Alwan
fired turbine combined cycle (GTCC) facility. cross-border trade in Afghanistan. substation. The project will allow Uzbek
The contract includes a 25-year Long Term The funds will be used towards a project power into the Afghan grid under a 10-year
Service Agreement (LTSA) for the project. that help address Afghanistan’s chronic power power purchase and sales agreement signed
Under this agreement, Mitsubishi Power will shortage by immediately doubling the volume in August 2020 by the Afghanistan and
provide maintenance on the power plant’s gas of power imports and ensuring long-term Uzbekistan governments.
turbines to help ensure reliable operations. cost-competitive electricity supply. It will also Under the project, staff, including female
Commercial operations will begin in March facilitate the Afghan system’s first parallel engineers at the national power utility Da
2024 and January 2025.The GTCC facility will (synchronous) operation with the Uzbek Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), will
be built approximately 100 kilometers west of system and the Central Asia Power System be trained to manage cross-border power
Bangkok. (CAPS). transfer and parallel operations, including
The owner, Hin Kong Power Company “Demand for electricity is growing emergency operation systems with CAPS.
Limited, is a special purpose company rapidly in Afghanistan and is essential for the Hydropower is the dominant source of
(SPC) jointly established by RATCH Group country’s economic growth,” said ADB Energy electricity in Afghanistan, with capacity in the
Public Company Limited and Gulf Energy Specialist Nana Gurgenidze. “The project country at 461MW
Development Public Company Limited, two will help provide reliable and affordable
major IPPs in Thailand. Power generated electricity to households and businesses by
from the plant will be sold to the Electricity strengthening the grid and increasing power

Week 40 07•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13