THE ENERGY INDUSTRY T I M E S February 2017 • Volume 9 • No 12 • Published monthly • ISSN 1757-7365 www.teitimes.com Special Project Supplement Managing solar risks Uruguay enhances its wind power credentials. As governments reduce feed-in tariffs, developers will need to look at ways to reduce risk. Page 14 News In Brief Quality issues cast cloud over Hinkley C Further Investigations by French nuclear regulator ASN could have a knock-on effect on the UK’s new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant. Page 2 Trump sets out “America First” energy plan The USA’s new President has stopped short of decisive action on the Clean Power Plan, but hopes to expand production of domestic oil and gas. Page 4 China Five Year Plan maintains clean energy focus China’s latest Five Year Plan demonstrates its continued efforts to cut pollution by increasing its use of renewables while reducing its dependence on coal fired generation. Page 5 Auction green light will aid Energiewende The European Commission has ruled Germany’s plans to introduce competitive auctions for the deployment of renewable energy meet European state aid guidelines. . Page 6 Viewpoint: Incentivising greater flexibility Aggregators and integrated utilities need to define their strategy to seize the business potential that demand side management offers as a flexibility solution. Page 12 Industry Perspective: Redefining grid efficiency Once treated as separate domains, IT and OT are now intersecting to enable more efficient and reliable utility operations. Page 13 Technology: Redefining wave power The WaveBoost project is a three-year innovation programme targeting significant improvements in the reliability and performance of wave energy converters. Page 15 Advertise advertising@teitimes.com Subscribe subscriptions@teitimes.com or call +44 208 523 2573 Final Word Trump should sit in the chair of King Canute, says Junior Isles. Page 16 China champions climate change President Xi placed a strong emphasis on climate change at Davos China is taking on the role of global leader on combatting climate change as the US alienates itself from the international energy community. Junior Isles With Donald Trump absent from the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, China’s President Xi Jinping took the opportunity to voice his country’s readiness to take the global leadership role on climate change. President Xi placed a strong emphasis in his speech on climate change, especially the need to stick with the international Paris Agreement. As the first ever President of China to attend Davos, President Xi said: “The Paris Agreement is a hard-won achievement… All signatories should stick to it rather than walk away from it, as this is a responsibility we must assume for future generations.” Commenting on President Xi’s address just ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Li Shuo, Senior Global Policy Advisor, Greenpeace East Asia said: “As Mr. Trump drops President Obama’s climate legacy, Mr. Xi might well establish one of his own. 2017 presents a real opportunity for China to rise to the challenge of responsible climate leadership. Having moved from climate villain to a reluctant leader in five short years over the first half of this decade, it’s reasonable to expect China to become a true leader by its end.” While China remains the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) its growth in emissions has levelled off, and emissions dropped in both 2015 and 2016. It plans to meet its goal of peaking emissions by 2030 at the latest. China has a clear goal of reducing ‘emissions intensity’ (the volume of emissions produced relative to economic activity) more than any other major economy. Notably it is already exceeding most of its lowcarbon energy and decarbonisation targets and has made its 2020 targets more ambitious. In early January the government announced it would invest $361 billion in renewable power between now and 2020. While China needs to invest in clean energy to tackle severe air pollution at home, it also sees decarbonisation as a Continued on Page 2 Falling cost is spurring renewables deployment Falling cost, driven by innovation in technology and policy, is spurring renewable energy deployment and bringing a multitude of socio-economic benefits, according to a new report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The publication titled ‘REthinking Energy 2017’ states that global investment in renewables has steadily grown for more than a decade, rising from less than $50 billion in 2004 to a record $305 billion in 2015. Launching the report Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA’s General Director, said: “Renewables are gaining ground by nearly every measure… We are seeing more and more countries hold auctions to deploy renewables, and as variable and distributed sources of renewables take-on a greater role, regulators have implemented changes to enable grid integration at scale.” The International Energy Agency (IEA) also noted that renewable energy continues its inexorable rise and that it is here to stay. Speaking at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) in January, Fatih Birol, Executive Director at the International Energy Agency said: “Renewables are getting cheaper. Last year, more than 50 per cent of all new capacity additions globally was renewables. Renewable energy is not just a romantic story, but a real business.” The IRENA report states that solar PV will grow the fastest in terms of capacity and output. The Middle East will be a hotspot for new renewable capacity, in particular solar. Last month, the United Arab Emirates announced plans to invest Dirhams600 billion ($163 billion) in projects to generate almost half the country’s power needs from renewable energy sources. Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment for the United Arab Emirates said that while coal would not disappear, nearly half of the nation’s energy should come from renewables in 2050. According to its “Energy Strategy 2050” unveiled in January, the UAE’s energy mix by 2050 will comprise 44 per cent renewables, 38 per cent gas, 12 per cent clean fossil fuel generation and six per cent nuclear. In June last year Dubai announced plans to build the 1000 MW Mohammed bin Rashid (MBR) Solar Park by 2030. The project is set to be the world’s largest on a single plot on completion and will set a record-low bid price for solar power generation of US 2.99 cents/kWh. Last month, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company Masdar said they were starting construction of the 800 MW phase three of the $13.6 billion project. The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was announced at the ADSW. DEWA also issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to all qualified bidders for a 200 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) Plant, the fourth phase of the MBR Solar Park. The project supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to diversify the energy mix so clean energy will generate 7 per cent of Dubai’s total power output by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2050. Identifying the opportunity the region presents, at ADSW the “French Efficiency – Clean Energy” regional Club for the Middle East was officially launched. According to Jean Ballandras, National Coordinator for Renewable Energy, the club will offer countries in the region a “one-stop shop” when cooperating with France on renewable projects. Several Middle Eastern countries – including Kuwait and Qatar – are trying to shift away from their economic and domestic energy reliance on oil, after prices fell by over 50 per cent last year. THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES is published by Man in Black Media • www.mibmedia.com • Editor-in-Chief: Junior Isles • For all enquiries email: enquiries@teitimes.com
Energy Industry Times February 2017
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