Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 05

AsiaElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AsiaElec
e Ethiopia Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, Seleshi Bekele and Ethiopia Minister of Innovation and Technology, Abraham Belay also attended the hydro dam inauguration ceremony.
e hydro dam project built by the China Gezhouba Group Corporation cost around $451mn with the majority of the money needed to nance the project sourced through loans from the China Export-Import Bank.
Speaking to Xinhua, Moges Mekonen, Communication Director at Ethiopia Electric Power (EEP), said the 254MW Genale Dawa III hydro dam is expected to ll a critical
gap in Ethiopia’s ongoing e orts to meet
the energy needs of the country’s estimated 110mn people.
e 254MW Genale Dawa III hydro project is located in southeastern Ethiopia, 630 kms southeast of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
e energy sector is one of Ethiopia’s priorities as the country envisages to become a light manufacturing hub in Africa and middle-income economy by 2025.
Ethiopia recently unveiled a 10-year energy roadmap that aims to increase energy generation four-fold using various energy sources such as geothermal, hydro, wind, co- generation and solar power.
WIND
Global onshore wind
industry to reach maturity
in 2020s
Solar power has emerged as the biggest
threat to onshore wind’s dominance in the decarbonisation battle. However, the tools available to the wind sector to combat this challenge are diminishing, according to Wood Mackenzie.
e evolutionary marathon that occurred during the last decade will continue in
2020 and beyond, although constraints on technology innovation are on the horizon for onshore turbines.
While further cost reductions could
occur within the industry, the low hanging fruit has already been picked. Additional reductions will be marginal and dependent on the extended value chain as turbines reach maturity.
Dan Shreve, Wood Mackenzie Head of Global Wind Research, sees three key themes: a nal round of consolidation; transmission investment key to changing market growth trajectory and repowering running into recycling issues
Shreve said: “In some ways, the wind
energy market is beginning to resemble the natural gas CCGT market.
“ e nal wave of consolidation is already upon us within wind turbine OEM ranks. Senvion has folded, Suzlon is under re from investors in India and Enercon is reeling a er the collapse of the German onshore market.
“Siemens acquired Gamesa in 2017, while Vestas joined ranks with Mitsubishi Heavy
in 2013. e Nordex group will likely come back into play once the US market comes back down to earth in 2023, which will add an additional strain on western turbine OEMs who are locked out of a booming Chinese market.
“If regional giants fall prey to global corporations, it is feasible that 98% of the western wind market will fall under the control of three companies. A similar dynamic is likely to occur within the Chinese wind energy market, especially given the highly concentrated asset owner segment within the country.
“ e passing of industry pioneers is bittersweet, though likely a necessity to yield the next round of cost reductions for global wind.”
“Ground-breaking technology advancements generally fall within the o shore wind sector as opposed to the onshore industry.
“Key evolutionary changes in turbine tower design, blade materials and controls will cause further reductions in onshore wind’s LCOE, however none can be considered true game changers.
“We have previously outlined the primary barriers to the decarbonisation of the US power grid, most notably a lack of bulk transmission investment to support the expansion of wind power.
WOOD MACKENZIE
Vestas orderbook rises by 2.6GW
Vestas posted revenues of EUR12.1bn
for 2019, with total investments reaching EUR729m, all in line with the expectations.
Compared to 2018, revenue and earnings increased while free cash ow decreased. Order intake increased in 2019 compared to 2018, and the value of the combined order backlog increased to EUR34bn.
e wind turbine order intake increased year-on-year by 3,663MW to 17,877MW in 2019 and the value of the service
order backlog increased by EUR3.5bn to EUR17.8bn.
For 2020, Vestas expects revenue to range between EUR14bn and 15bn, including
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Week 05 05•February•2020