Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 23

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

India set for wind-solar hybrid expansion

INDIAN ratings agency CRISIL expects 15 CRISIL Research said that there are proposals
INDIA GW of wind-solar hybrid (WSH) projects to to build around 3.9 GW of pure-play WSH pro-
come online in India by 2025, taking advantage jects and 4.5 GW of WSH projects with energy
of strong support from both federal and state storage systems.
governments. India currently has 37.69 GW of standalone
The agency said that of the 15 GW of WSH wind capacity and 35 GW of solar capacity.
capacity, about 10 GW is already in the works Storage allows WSH projects to meet peak
– either under construction or being tendered – load demand and also improves the capacity
and will start feeding the grid by fiscal year 2024. utilisation factor.
WSH projects feature both solar and wind CRISIL said such projects had the potential
generation in the one installation, and often to reduce the country’s dependence on gas and
come with storage capacity as well. pumped hydro-based peaking plants.
“We expect the WSH market to grow and “This could help distribution companies
evolve as the number of projects and develop- (discoms) overcome their reluctance in power
ers who seek to unlock value from the hybrid offtake from renewables plants. Also for devel-
increases. However, the availability of good opers, cohabiting solar and wind plants could
sites with strong irradiation and high wind result in a higher capacity utilisation factor
speeds would be a key challenge, as evident in (CUF), even if they do not get the optimum gen-
waning developer interest in the wind energy eration sites in terms of irradiance and high wind
sector,” said Rahul Prithiani, director of CRISIL speeds,” the ratings agency said.
Research. Pinal Mehta, associate director of CRISIL
State-run Solar Energy Company of India Research, says: “As with all power projects, pric-
(SECI) aims to set up 5 GW of solar and wind ing will be key to the success of WSH projects.
projects with storage using engineering, pro- We expect WSH tariffs to be in the INR2.8-2.9
curement and construction (EPC) contracts ($0.04-0.041) per kWh range, with a wind-heavy
over the next 10 years. WSH configuration. We believe WSH pricing
WSH projects are anticipated to account for a will become more competitive if the co-loca-
good chunk of the pipeline. In January this year, tion clause (necessitating the wind and solar
SECI invited bids for 1.2-GW WSH capacity components to be located at the same place) is
under its tranche-III tender for RE projects. removed.”™

TEPCO to invest $18bn in renewables

JAPAN TEPCO is to invest JPY2 trillion ($18bn) by 2030 originally concentrated on importing LNG,
to expand its green exposure by up to 70%. has ambitions in the UK and Taiwan offshore
TEPCO Renewable Power aims to build 7 sectors.
GW of mainly offshore wind and hydro capacity Fubasami earlier told Reuters that Southeast
both in its home market and worldwide in part- Asia and North America were key target markets
nership with major developers. The company for offshore wind, while Southeast Asia was also
plans to help fund its new ventures through a a focus for hydro.
green bond offering that may exceed JPY10bn Offshore expansion in Japan is now mak-
($92mn) and is likely to take place before March ing waves after Tokyo included 10 GW of wind
2021, TEPCO president Seiichi Fubasami said. capacity by 2030 in its Fifth Basic Energy Supply
“To cope with climate change, we are moving Plan, dated July 2018. This called for the coun-
toward a carbon-free society,” he told Bloomb- try’s electricity to be 24% green by 2030, up from
erg on June 10. “Our target is to make renewable 17% at present.
energy a main source of power.” TEPCO Renewable Power currently operates
TEPCO has already teamed up with Den- just 30 MW of solar and 21 MW of wind capac-
mark’s Ørsted to build a 370-MW wind farm in ity, although it also runs 9.96 GW of hydro.
the Choshi City offshore area in Chiba Prefec- Across Asia-Pacific, total investment in the
ture. The two companies signed a memorandum offshore wind sector surpassed Europe for the
of understanding (MoU) in January to work first time in 2019. Research from the Renewables
jointly on offshore wind projects. Consulting Group (RCG) found that financial
TEPCO aims to learn from Ørsted and to closure was declared for $10bn of investment in
gain experience in the offshore sector. APAC, driven by Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam,
Meanwhile, Jera, a joint venture between while investment in Europe, previously the lead-
TEPCO and Chubu Electric Power that ing global region, stood at just over $5.5bn.™

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