Page 9 - AsiaElec Week 02 2021
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AsiaElec FUELS AsiaElec
Indian fuel prices soar
INDIA INDIAN gasoline prices climbed to an all- would to cut 1mn barrels per day (bpd) of its own
time high this week amid improving domestic crude production in February and March. While
demand and stronger international oil prices. most other OPEC+ countries will continue pro-
Oil marketing companies (OMCs) hiked ducing at similar levels, Russia and Kazakhstan
gasoline prices in Delhi by INR0.23 on January will increase their output slightly.
7 to INR84.2 ($1.15) per litre, while diesel prices Although Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdu-
climbed by INR0.26 to INR74.38 ($1.02) per laziz bin Salman has described the move as a gift
litre. Delhi’s previous gasoline price high was “to support the market”, some observers have
INR84 ($1.15) per litre on October 4, 2018, when speculated that it is more of a gift to Russia. The
diesel sold for INR75.45 ($1.03). two sides reportedly locked horns over a produc-
Gasoline prices in Mumbai climbed to tion agreement, forcing negotiations to spill over
INR90.83 ($1.24) on January 7, to INR86.96 into a second day.
($1.19) in Chennai and to INR85.68 ($1.17) in Saudi’s commitment to production cuts
Kolkata. Diesel prices reached INR81.07 ($1.11) helped Brent crude climb to $54.38 per barrel on
per litre, INR79.72 ($1.09) and INR77.97 ($1.07) January 7. While India’s OMCs have been trying
respectively. to keep fuel prices stable during the pandemic,
India’s fuel prices have been responding to rising international fuel and crude prices have
both a resurgence in local demand in recent encouraged them to begin hiking prices.
months, which has seen refineries return to “The oil companies have kept the retail prices
100% capacity, as well as a rally in oil prices a bit stable. The [crude] price has gone up a lot.
driven by OPEC+ decision-making this week There is no cushion,” local financial daily Mint
over production cuts. quoted an unnamed senior government official
Saudi Arabia announced on January 5 that it as saying on January 6.
RENEWABLES
JinkoSolar aims to open world’s largest
solar cell manufacturing facility
CHINA JINKOSOLAR has recently started construction Some of the key special equipment used in this
of a 20-GW large-scale base in Chuxiong, plant was jointly developed by the equipment
Yunnan Province, China, which once complete manufacturers and Jinko’s engineering team,”
will become the world’s largest single cell pro- said Kangping Chen, the company’s CEO.
duction plant. Over the last year, soaring material costs and
Covering an area of around 666,500 square OEM cell bottlenecks have had an impact on
metres, the new base will increase Jinko’s Jinko’s capacity, rendering it necessary to accel-
in-house solar cell capacity from around 11 GW erate the construction of the new manufacturing
as of last month to more than 30 GW by the end facility. The new 20-GW cell plant is critical to
of this year. Jinko’s growth plans, enabling it to meet its inter-
That capacity will be enough to propel Jinko nal cell supply requirements and reduce procure-
to become the third-largest solar cell manufac- ment costs.
turer in the world, following Tongwei (40 GW) Jinko commented that by utilising cheaper
and Aiko (32 GW). renewable energy through vertical integration
Phase I of the Chuxiong facility, which will and supply chain development, it would further
have a cell production capacity of 10 GW, is reduce cell production costs through automated
scheduled to be commissioned by April 2021. and digitalised management. The methods to be
It will enable Jinko to double production of its adopted would include improving economies of
Tiger Pro series module this year, the company scale, reducing waste and optimising processes.
stated. Furthermore, the Chuxiong facility will be
The facility will be equipped with technologi- powered 100% by renewable energy once com-
cally advanced and automated production lines, plete – deriving its power from a mix of rooftop
boosting the plant’s efficiency and yield while solar PV modules installed on-site and local
helping to bring new technologies from the R&D hydropower – becoming what the company
lab to production lines. claims will be the world’s first carbon-neutral
“It sounds easy, but in fact it is very difficult. solar cell production facility.
Week 02 13•January•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
