THE ENERGY INDUSTRY T I M E S
November 2017 • Volume 10 • No 9 • Published monthly • ISSN 1757-7365 www.teitimes.com
Special Project
Supplement
China’s march
When it begins commercial operation, the
Tees Renewable Energy Plant will be the
largest and most efficient dedicated biomass
fired power plant in the world.
China looks set to become
the leading electricity foreign
investor globally. The
trend has started and the
motivation is high. Page 13
News In Brief
Digital transformation
gathers momentum
Siemens is moving its EnergyIP
platform apps on to MindSphere
in another move that shows how
distributed generation is driving
digitalisation.
Page 2
Battery packs boost
Caribbean grids
Energy firms in the Americas have
highlighted how energy storage
has helped the region cope with the
effects of extreme weather events.
Page 4
China counts cost of clean
energy funding
China may struggle to pay billions
in subsidies to clean energy
companies, with the shortfall set to
quadruple by 2020, according to a
government official.
Page 5
UK sets out clean growth
plan
Renewable energy developers in the
UK have welcomed the news that
the next renewable energy auction
will be held in early 2019.
Page 6
Oil majors keep faith in CCS
Shell and Total are joining Statoil
to develop a carbon storage site on
the Norwegian continental shelf in
a move that reflects the companies’
desire to put carbon capture and
storage at the forefront of their
strategies.
Page 9
Energy Outlook: Power to
the people
Demand-side management is
crucial in delivering flexibility
and added value in a decentralised
system.
Page 14
Technology: Hydrogen rising
Hydrogen is proving to be an
important part of the future energy
mix, thanks to its ability to bring
together renewable generation and
the need for energy storage, clean
transport and smart energy systems.
Page 15
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Final Word
Maybe it’s time to stop
looking in the rear view
mirror, says Junior Isles.
Page 16
Turnbull
accused of
following
Trump’s lead
Turnbull: Australia must
have a certain level of
dispatchable power
Australia’s decision to scrap its clean energy target is seen as a copy of US President Donald
Trump’s move to dismantle its own Clean Power Plan, and one that threatens its climate
change efforts. Junior Isles
Australia is to abandon its clean energy
target after giving the green light
to a policy that threatens its ability to
meet its emissions reduction targets
under the Paris climate agreement.
The government recently rejected a
plan to generate 42 per cent of its energy
from renewable sources and will
instead pursue cheaper and more reliable
power.
In a move seen by some as mimicking
that of US President Donald
Trump’s decision to dismantle the
US’s Clean Power Plan, Australia’s
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has
declared that energy companies in
Australia must deliver a certain level
of dispatchable power from sources
such as coal, gas, hydro or batteries.
He also aims to phase-out subsidies
for renewable energy from 2020.
Announcing the policy, Turnbull
said: “Past energy plans have subsidised
some industries, punished others
and slugged consumers. Our plan
has no subsidies, no certificates and
no tax.”
He said the policy would deliver
lower prices, more reliable power
supplies, and claimed it would help
Australia meet its international commitments
to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
“Energy companies will have to
guarantee the reliability of their energy
supplies to ensure the lights stay
on. These guarantees will ensure there
is a place for all power sources in the
nation’s future energy mix: solar,
wind, coal, gas, batteries and pumped
hydro,” he claimed.
Many industry experts, however, are
not convinced. Bruce Mountain, director
at Carbon and Energy Markets,
an economics consultancy focusing
on energy markets, told the Financial
Times: “It looks like a carbon copy of
the new Trump energy policy in the
US as it would likely mandate energy
retailers to purchase electricity from
coal-fired generators.”
Earlier this year President Trump
proposed a new payments system
available only to coal and nuclear
power plants to protect them from
competition from lower cost gas and
renewables.
Australia’s plan, which the government
said was new and not lifted from
another country, will not provide direct
incentives to generators. Retailers
would have to buy a set amount of
power from reliable sources, which
Continued on Page 2
EPA may still have to address carbon emissions
The US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) may still have to demonstrate
that it intends to address carbon
pollution from power plants despite
dismantling former President
Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP).
In October, EPA Administrator Scott
Pruitt announced a process to formally
undo the CPP, which called for
strict limits on power plant emissions
and was specifically designed to limit
the use of coal.
Some experts argue that because the
Supreme Court has classified carbon
dioxide as a dangerous greenhouse
gas that should be addressed, the EPA
cannot ignore a major source of emissions
such as existing power plants
and must take some action.
James Coleman, a law professor at
Southern Methodist University in
Dallas, who specialises in energy
and regulatory issues, told the Washington
Times: “They have to say
what they’re going to do, but what
they could say is, ‘We’re not going to
adopt any regulations.’”
Environmentalists went further.
“Whether it’s straight repeal or repeal
plus-do-nothing-replacement,
the Trump/Pruitt Dirty Power Plan
will not meet EPA’s obligations under
the law,” said David Doniger,
Director of the climate and clean air
program at the Natural Resources
Defense Council. “The law requires
EPA’s standards to be effective – a
standard doesn’t represent the ‘best
system of emission reduction’ if it
does not achieve as much carbon pollution
reduction as can be accomplished
at an acceptable cost.”
The Obama-era air pollution rules
were intended to cut US carbon emissions
by about one-third below 2005
levels by 2030 but was seen as legally
flawed. Pruitt says he is on solid legal
footing, and that the repeal will save
as much as $33 billion over the next
13 years.
“The Obama administration pushed
the bounds of their authority so far
with the CPP that the Supreme Court
issued a historic stay of the rule,
preventing its devastating effects to
be imposed on the American people
while the rule is being challenged in
court,” Mr. Pruitt said in a statement.
“We are committed to righting the
wrongs of the Obama administration
by cleaning the regulatory slate. Any
replacement rule will be done carefully,
properly, and with humility, by
listening to all those affected by the
rule.”
Two days after the EPA announcement,
former New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s foundation donated
$64 million to a Sierra Club
programme seeking to phase out coal
fired power plants and reduce carbon
emissions.
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