Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 31 2021

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The other facility would be used to jump-start
investments in renewables and storage to take commitments.
over the energy load from the plants as it grows, The ADB has already allocated $1.7mn for
attracting finance on its own. feasibility studies covering Indonesia, Philip-
The model is already familiar to infrastruc- pines and Vietnam, Reuters reported, to estimate
ture investors who rely on blended finance in the costs of early closure, which assets could be
so-called public-private deals, backed by gov- acquired, and engage with governments and
ernment-financed institutions. other stakeholders.
In this case, development banks would take “We would like to do the first (coal plant)
the biggest risk by agreeing to take first loss as acquisition in 2022,” ADB’s Saeed told Reuters,
holders of junior debt as well as accepting a lower adding the mechanism could be scaled up and
return, according to the proposal. used as a template for other regions, if successful.
The framework has already been presented to It is already in discussions about extending this
ASEAN finance ministers, the European Com- work to other countries in Asia, he added.
mission and European development officials, To retire 50% of a country’s capacity early at
Kanak, who co-chairs the ASEAN Hub of the $1-1.8mn per MW suggests Indonesia would
Sustainable Development Investment Partner- require a total facility of roughly $16-$29bn,
ship, said. while the Philippines would be about $5-$9bn
The ADB aims to use the COP26 confer- and Vietnam around $9-$17bn, according to
ence in November to attract finance and other estimates by Prudential’s Kanak.™

IRENA points to resilient and sustainable

potential of offshore wind

ASIA OFFSHORE wind has the potential to accelerate strengthening of oceans governance in line with
the energy transition and allow G20 countries to UN Law of the Sea, the integration of offshore
build a resilient and sustainable energy system. renewables into national marine spatial plan-
This would require offshore wind capacity to ning and early planning for infrastructure such
grow from 34 GW today to 380 GW by 2020 and as underwater cables and grids.
2,000 GW by 2050, the International Renewa- Policy frameworks, international co-opera-
ble Energy Agency (IRENA) found in a recent tion and investment in R&D are key recommen-
report. dations to drive offshore globally.
Ocean energy, such as wave and tidal technol- In terms of sustainability, offshore renewables
ogy, would represent an additional 350 GW of have the potential to contribute greatly to the
offshore renewable generation capacity by 2050. UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
These targets would need to be met in order especially SDG 14, which covers the sustaina-
to limit global warming to 1.5°C, the report said. ble use of oceans while boosting blue economy
The IRENA report, called Offshore Renewa- activities such fishery, shipping and tourism.
bles: An Action Agenda for Deployment actively A blue economy fuelled by offshore renew-
contributes to the G20, called for more commer- ables would help islands and countries with
cialisation of offshore technologies such as wind, coastal areas to meet their national goals aligned
wave, tidal, ocean thermal and floating PV. with the Paris Agreement and 2030 Sustainable
“Offshore renewables have the potential to Development Agenda, the report argues.
meet more than twenty times of today’s global G20 members, which include South Africa,
power demand”, said Francesco La Camera, are home to over three-quarters of total offshore
Director-General of IRENA. renewable installed capacity to date.
“Particularly offshore renewables constitute a 99.3% of total offshore wind capacity and
critical pillar for decarbonising energy systems nearly all installed ocean energy capacity glob-
and fostering a global blue economy. I congratu- ally can be found in G20 countries.
late the G20 Presidency for their forward-look- However, South Africa currently has no off-
ing decision to integrate offshore renewables in shore wind developments, and none of its 14.4
the G20 agenda. IRENA is pleased to support the GW of planned wind farms to be built by 2030
G20 Offshore Renewables Action Agenda with are offshore.
our energy transition expertise and valuable However, the South African Wind Energy
input from our global membership.” Association (SAWEA) has argued that offshore
IRENA put forward a number of pol- wind could potentially help resolve the country’s
icy requirements in its report, including the ongoing energy crisis.™

Week 31 04•August•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7