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Producción y mercados energéticos 01/02/19

Latest Energy News

01 February 2019

TOP STORY: Vietnam proposes draft feed-in-tariff scheme for solar and wind projects The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has released several draft documents for encouraging the development of rooftop and grid-connected solar power projects along with onshore and offshore wind power plants. New solar Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) have been proposed for the July 2019 – June 2021 period. Parties of the private sector can recommend revisions and amendments to the draft decision before the end of February 2019. As for solar FiT, the current rate is set at US$9.35c/kWh until June 2019. For the July 2019 – June 2021, the new tariffs will vary according to 3 different irradiation regions (higher tariffs will be proposed for provinces with lower solar irradiation and potential, mostly northern provinces of Vietnam), 4 different solar power technologies (floating solar, ground-mounted solar, rooftop solar and eventually integrated solar and electricity storage projects) and the year (gradual reduction of tariffs from July 2019-June 2020 to July 2020-June 2021). They will range between US$6.59c/kWh to US$9.85c/kWh. The MOIT also issued a Draft Decision to set out detailed guidelines for rooftop solar power projects up to 1 MWp (whole power selling model, consumption household model, direct power sale and purchase model and intermediary power sale and purchase model). 20-year FiTs will be provided to rooftop solar power projects commissioned before 30 June 2021. As for wind power, new guidelines have been outlined, focusing in particular on requirements for wind farm turbines, land use limitations for wind parks and tariffs for projects involving both onshore and offshore wind turbines. The document also confirms the new FiT rates of US$8.5c/kWh for onshore wind projects and US$9.8c/kWh for offshore wind parks, which were both implemented in September 2018.

Companies Ørsted’s renewable power generation reaches all-time high (Denmark) Danish energy company Ørsted has released its financial and operational results for 2018. The group generated over 17 TWh of electricity in 2018 (+3.6%), of which 10 TWh from its offshore wind parks (+18%), 6.7 TWh from its thermal power plants (-18%) and 0.6 TWh from onshore wind. Its offshore and onshore wind installed capacities stood respectively at 5.6 GW (+44%) and 0.8 GW,… Read more Chevron purchases 110,000 bbl/d Pasadena refinery from Petrobras (US) US-based oil and gas company Chevron has acquired the 110,000 bbl/d Pasadena refinery in Texas (United States) from the Brazilian state-held oil and gas company Petrobras for a total consideration of US$350m. The transaction includes the refinery, direct pipeline connections to increasing industry and equity crude oil production,… Read more Policy & Regulatory India’s SECI tenders 1.2 GW of large-scale solar power projects Indian state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a nationwide tender to set up 1.2 GW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity. For this process, it will implement less stringent terms and will allow a period of 12 months for financial closure, compared to just 7 months in the previous large-scale tender. Besides,… Read more Forecasts The United States is expected to become a net energy exporter as of 2020 According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States will start exporting more energy products than it imports by 2020, for the first time since 1952. The country has been a net net exporter of coal and coke for the last decades,… Read more Infrastructure & Investments Ørsted secures permit for Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind parks (Taiwan) The Taiwanese Bureau of Energy However has granted an establishment permit to the Danish power utility Ørsted for its 900 MW Greater Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind projects. In response to the 6% announced Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) reduction for offshore wind projects in Taiwan and the introduction of a cap on annual full-load hours,… Read more 13 companies interested in PGE’s 2.5 GW offshore wind projects (Poland) Polish power utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) reported that 13 companies responded to its invitation to take part in developing over 2,545 MW of offshore wind power capacity in the Baltic Sea. The first 1,500 MW would be located within an area covered by a concession held by Elektrownia Wiatrowa Baltica-2,… Read more Japanese companies scrap plans for 2 GW Sodegaura coal-fired project Chiba Sodegaura Energy, the equally owned joint venture of Japanese power utility Kyushu Electric Power, gas retailer Tokyo Gas and oil refiner Idemitsu, has agreed to scrap a 2 GW coal-fired power project at an Idemitsu-owned unused industrial site in Sodegaura, in the Chiba prefecture of Japan. Instead of simply abandoning the project,… Read more