Page 12 - AsiaElec Week 30

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

While respecting daily flow rates for down- reduce solar curtailment and ease the need for
stream ecological and agricultural purposes, aggressive daily cycling up and down of the coal
hydro energy will need to be reserved for meet- fleet. By 2030, battery storage to the order of 120
ing daily morning and evening peaks, and the GWh could be required.
dispatch of hydro optimized at the regional and Thirdly, India’s integrated power grid will
national level. need to be deployed to maximize the transfer of
The coal fleet will need to ensure that it can power across the country to balance surplus and
meet the 55% technical minimum, including for deficit renewable energy generation at different
state-owned plants. times and locations in the grid.™
Secondly, battery storage would help to

South Korea takes green steps

with conversion of coal to solar

SOUTH KOREA SOUTH Korea has completed construction of its South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy,
first “green conversion” power plant as President has about 60 coal-fired power plants, generating
Moon Jae-in pushes forward the country’s Green around 40% of the country’s electricity. Nuclear
New Deal. makes up about 30% of supply, followed by gas at
The Dangjin-Eco Solar Power Plant was around 20% and the rest renewables.
opened last week and has 9.8MW of solar gen- The country’s green sector is less developed
erating capacity and enough energy storage than in comparable OECD economies. Renew-
devices (ESS) to supply 13,000MWh per year. able resources currently contribute a mere 6% of
The project was originally conceived as a generating capacity, although the government
coal-fired power plant, but was changed to a aims to raise this to 20% by 2030.
renewable project It is the first time that a coal- Although coal is losing pace in the country,
fired power plant has been converted into a gas still holds a strong place in the generation
renewable energy facility. mix.
The project in in Seokmun-myeon, Dangjin, However, UK think tank Carbon Tracker has
South Chungcheong Province, is expected to warned that the planned construction of new gas
reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5,756 tonnes capacity is inconsistent with Paris Agreement;s
per year. temperature goals, and the government’s own
Moon has been a strong supporter of closing ambition to deliver net-zero carbon emissions
coal plants in South Korea. In March, the gov- by 2050.
ernment said it would close down temporarily Carbon Tracker said that state-owned KEP-
up to 28 of the country’s oldest coal-fired power CO’s gas units receive more state support than
plants. Independent Power Producer (IPP) gas units.
The decision follows a series of temporary Indeed, new wind (both onshore and off-
closures since 2017 of plants over 30 years old as shore) and solar PV could be cheaper than new
the government of new President Moon Jae-in gas power plants. It will soon cost more to run
pursues a more pro-renewables policy, despite gas than build new onshore wind, offshore wind
the country’s reliance on imported fossil fuels and solar PV, the think tank said.™
for the majority of its power.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 29•July•2020