Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 38

AsiaElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AsiaElec
to low carbon footprint and hopefully to
a zero carbon electricity, which is tapping renewables,” Espinosa said during the press briefing of the Association of Electricity Supply Industry of East Asia and the Western Pacific (AESIEAP) CEO Conference here.
“Energy transition into renewables is inevitable given the twin perils of global warming and dwindling ... fossil fuel supplies,” he said.
Rogelio Singson, president of Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), Meralco’s power generation arm, noted that other countries across the globe are gearing towards a 10-year roadmap to move away from fossil fuels and into renewables.
However, Meralco’s transition plan does not necessarily mean that the country’s largest power distributor will immediately do away with coal-fired power plants.
“We cannot stop coal... you cannot just stop coal plants what will be the alternative
to coal facilities?” Espinosa said. “Renewables alone are not capable of meeting the country’s power requirements,” he added.
Espinosa explained that coal facilities nowadays are equipped with carbon dioxide capture and storage technology, which can capture up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced from power plants that run on fossil fuels, preventing the CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
Jinko becomes first solar
manufacturer to make 100%
renewable energy pledge
JinkoSolar CEO Kanping Chen was among the business executives lauded today by non- profit The Climate Group for signingup to its RE100 pledge.
By doing so, the world’s biggest solar module manufacturer became the first PV maker to sign the pledge to source all of
its power from renewables by 2025. The Shanghai-based business also signed up to an interim target of procuring 70% of its power from clean energy sources by 2023 and will do so, according to The Climate Group, by buying solar energy from sister company JinkoPower, covering its factories with solar arrays and by siting new production lines in locations with access to renewable energy.
“At JinkoSolar, we care as much about the sustainability of our products as we do the way we build them,” said Chen, quoted in The Climate Group’s press release. “Going green is our business, from the inside out, and we’re thrilled to be the world’s first solar manufacturer to be a member of RE100
and EP100 [energy productivity pledge] simultaneously. It makes business sense to save energy and switch to renewables. Being a responsible corporate citizen is more than just good business practice – it helps make society more sustainable and healthy.”
t certainly does makes business sense for Jinko, which will not have to look far for solar electricity or modules, given the business it
is in.
It is the last part of its roadmap to renewable energy that is notable, the line relating to new factory locations.
GE to supply grid-scale
battery technology to Solar
River Project in South
Australia
GE has secured a contract to supply and integrate a grid-scale battery technology at the Solar River solar farm in South Australia.
Called Reservoir, the energy storage system will be installed at the Solar River Project, which has a capacity of 200MW.
GE’s 100MW three hours battery storage system has been designed to store 300MWh of power and will have the capacity to supply up to 400MWh of electricity per day.
The Solar River Project CEO Jason May said: “The award of the battery to General Electric is another major milestone for the project.
“General Electric is a world leader in renewable energy storage technology,
and we are very excited to have them on board. General Electric brings cutting-edge technology to South Australia, by delivering huge energy transfer capacity with an intelligent operating system.”
The battery storage system will help South Australia Electricity Grid in addressing peak electricity demands as well as providing a stable network in the future.
The solar facility is claimed to be one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
GE Renewable Energy Renewable Hybrids CEO Prakash Chandra said: “The Solar River Project will be a flagship for the renewable energy industry and for GE’s role in building out Renewable Hybrid plants.
“Hybrid solutions have become a reality, driven by the demand for reliable and dispatchable renewable energy, which we can integrate using our proprietary controls technology to optimize asset and customer outcomes.
“We are proud to have been selected by the Solar River Project to deliver this very important project that will benefit a large community in this part of the world.”
Located in South Australia’s Mid North region, Solar River Project has over 640,000 solar panels, is one of the world’s largest grid-scale hybrid renewable projects and can meet the electricity needs of 90,000 South Australian homes.
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Week 38 24 •September•2019