Asian Power

OPINIONRenewable energy trendsMainstream bound

PAGE 22

SPECIAL REPORTMore Asian IPP woesWhen will we see the light?

PAGE 04

FEATUREChina demands less powerYet asks for more capacity

PAGE 08

OPINIONJapan’s troubled power sectorSerious overhaul required

PAGE 21

ISSUE 51 | DISPLAY TO 30 June 2012 | www.asian-power.com | A Charlton Media Group publication US$360P.A.

MICA(P) 248/07/2011

DIRECTOR FAZIL E. ALFITRI POSES FOR A QUADRUPLE POWER CAPACITY JUMP

- WILL HE MAKE IT?

MEDCO POWER INDONESIA AIMS FOR 1000MW BY 2015

AsianPower_MayJune2k12indd.indd 1 5/22/2012 11:50:15 AM

2 ASIAN POWER

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MOST READ

Philippine company to begin mass production of PV panelsThe solar power subsidi-ary of the Philippines’ largest conglomerate prepares to foray into an already oversupplied photovoltaic panels sector. Integrated Microelec-tronics, Inc. (IMI) will start mass-producing solar panels this year at its renewable energy unit in California and at its plant in Jiaxing, a city in China’s northern Zhejiang province.

KEPCO to build more nuclear power plants abroadThe largest electric utility in South Korea re-ports a surge of foreign interest in its nuclear power plants. Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) plans to spend US$706 million this year on overseas resources de-velopment that includes the construction of nuclear power plants. It will begin talks in 2013 with the United Arab Emirates on a new deal for four nuclear power plants. KEPCO is also holding talks with India, Kaza-khstan, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam over probable exports of its nuclear reactors.

China to build more nuclear power plantsA positive report em-boldens China to push ahead with its plans to

Asian Power is a bi-monthly news magazine published by Charlton Media Group Pte Ltd registered in Singapore. Its circulation is to leaders in the Asian power industry and is available on a controlled circulation and paid basis.

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CONTACT THE PUBLISHERCharlton Media Group, #06-09 E, Maxwell House 20 Maxwell Road Singapore 069113www.charltonmedia.com, +65 3158 1238All editorial is copyright and may not be reproduced without consent. Contributions are invited but Asian Power can accept no responsibility for loss.

MICA(P) 248/07/2011

source more electricity from nuclear power. Safety revisions on 27 reactors being built have revealed no risks similar to the catastro-phe that afflicted the ill-fated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan in March 2011. Zhang Guobao, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the National Energy Administration, says that the 27 new plants are safe. China will continue building more nuclear power plants “in a safe environment” to meet its energy demands, Zhang says.

Japan to build its larg-est solar energy plant this yearElectric power derived from solar energy has just taken a great surge forward in Japan.

Three of Japan’s leading corporations have banded together to build a “mega-solar power plant” capable of producing 70 megawatts of solar energy. It will be the largest solar power plant in Japan to date. The plant is a dramatic solution to Japan’s ef-forts to divorce itself from nuclear power in the wake of the cata-strophic Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011.

China’s waste-to-pow-er developers score a great rateThe rate received by waste-to-power devel-opers is almost double that of coal-fired pro-ducers. China’s National Development and Re-form Commission says

developers of waste-to-energy power plants will be paid US$0.10 per kilowatt-hour to encour-age renewable energy development. This com-pares to the US$0.03 and US$0.04 received by coal-fired power firms.

Wind power to blow strong in New ZealandFalling wind turbine prices are set to spark a surge in wind power investments in New Zealand. New Zealand’s Wind Energy Association pre-dicts that the country’s wind farm capacity over the next 20 years could increase by as much as six times compared to today. Wind capacity is presently estimated at 622MW but is forecast to rise to 3500MW by 2030.

Vietnam reaffirms economic importance of nuclear power plantsVietnamese President Truong Tan Sang says that nuclear power plants are of essential significance for national development. He adds that Vietnam needs support from Russian experts to complete its nuclear projects and report on its progress to relevant government agencies and the Vietnamese people.

Japan struggles to wean itself from nuclear powerThe road to a nuclear energy-free Japan is bound to get tougher. In one of the boldest anti-nuclear statements yet by a ranking govern-ment official, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano says Japan should strive to totally phase out nuclear power. He hesitated, however, to call for its outright ban in the face of strong opposition from the nuclear power industry and its allies.

Taiwan committed to becoming nuclear-freeRenewable energy, although more expen-sive, will replace nuclear power in Taiwan. Shih Yen-hsiang says Taiwan’s goal is to become a nuclear-free country and that it will diversify its energy resources to achieve this aim.

FIRST


ASIAN POWER 3

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close working relationships with cable manufacturers and utilities alike. And, with

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tions for MV, HV and EHV cables, you can now specify cables that exceed industry

performance standards and are built to last for decades of service.

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4 ASIAN POWER

SPECIAL REPORT: ASIAN IPP MARKET

The statistics came from GDF Suez Asia’s Head of Strat-egy, Markets and Sales Lucas

Hautvast based on their latest study implying vast growth opportunities for IPPs in the region. Experts dur-ing the Power and Electricity World Asia 2012 however note that much of the promised gains for IPP remain elusive since its introduction in the 1990s.

The case in IndonesiaIn 2008, the Indonesian government announced a development project of

10,000 MW steam power plants by 2014 with large private sector partici-pation. The first phase of the project aimed at producing 4,135 MW in 2010, but only 930 MW were in fact produced. Currently, there remains 25 milllion Indonesians, which is 40% of their population, who don’t get electricity.

Asian Power spoke with Med-coEnergi Chief Financial Officer Syamsurizal Munaf. He boldy shares probable reasons why the apparent-ly “ambitious” target remains to be reached.

Currently, there remains 25 milllion Indonesians, which is 40% of their population, who don’t get electricity.

Problems plague Asian IPP marketIPPs are expected to meet 33% of the 350GW Asian demand in the next 10 years, but is this feasible? Report by Krisana Gallezo

Country Needed Capacity (GW) % for IPP

Indonesia 20-30 40-60%

Malaysia 10-20 20%

Thailand 15-25 30-50%

Philippines 15-20 90%

Vietnam 15-20 20-50%

Others 20-30 30%

Asia 250-350 33%

Source: GDF Suez Asia

According to Munaf, there have been series of hurdles on implemen-tation ranging from the prospects, all the way to the sponsors’ ability to ac-cess capital market.

“When talking about funding a project, if you are looking at the first 100-200 MW you would probably be looking for domestic financing. It is not as huge as international financ-ing though. You are faced with the scarcity of liquidity, notwithstanding the fact that we are not the only IPP


ASIAN POWER 5

SPECIAL REPORT: ASIAN IPP MARKETPower plants beyond 50 years are already unreliable.

around,” he says. Munaf also mentions ambiguities

regarding policies on pricing of elec-tricity that developers purchase from the IPP. “It is different from one place to the other. In eastern Indonesia they price higher while in western In-donesia they price less,” he says.

Beyond pricing issues, Munaf says that the hardest part is dealing with the government. “I think one of the major challenges is the slow proc-ess of negotiation with the govern-ment. Processing is complicated and lengthy. Before winning a bid, deter-mining the price takes ages and most developers don’t have enough capi-tal to close the deal. In the end, only those with strong capital and capa-bility to cope with the slow grind are most likely to succeed,” he says.

Munaf says that in Thailand, the IPP market is more lucrative because they have long-term Power Purchas-ing Agreements. “In 25 years, their power generation system can secure gas that is enough for another 25 years. In Indonesia, you barely see anything close to that. Instead, you get a gas sales agreement contract of not more than six to seven years. It’s not even a commitment-based con-tract,” he says.

“It is difficult to secure a healthy IPP contract in Indonesia. The gas supplier, the gas supplies, and the PPA would not go beyond eight or nine years. Gas prices compete with the purchasing ability of any IPP. And producers cannot purchase too much because they will suffer criticism from the parliament,” adds Munaf.

To achieve the target, Munaf sug-gests for the government to look into the country’s power capabilities, re-sources, fees, and distribution.

Aging infrastructureAgrekko, a world leader in providing temporary power generation, mean-while blames the region’s aging power infrastructure for keeping investors away. “We operate in a region which is home to many developing econo-mies where the rate of demand for electricity is growing faster than the supply available in the market. There-fore, these economies are playing catchup,” Aggreko Managing Direc-tor for Asian Operation Debajit Das says noting that the problem is even made complicated by an aging power infrastructure in the region.

“Statistics indicate that globally, there is approximately 53 GW of pow-er generation capacity that will cross the 40-year mark in the next three years, of which 37 GW are in Asia

alone. In general, power plants have a useful lifespan of approximately 25-35 years. Crossing the 40-year mark for power plants could be a stretch, and beyond that, they are generally unreliable and prone to break down. Once plants break down, they may take a considerable amount of time to repair. At this stage, using interim power solutions can be beneficial,” adds Das.

According to Das, forty years for a powerplant is quite long. Power plants beyond 50 years are already unreliable. He says, “On hydropower plants, once it breaks down, you can-not fix it in a month. Normally, 25-30 years is how long power plants live.”

The case in MongoliaDas’ claims are probably best exem-plified in Mongolia where the latest IPP project, which was in Novem-ber 2011, was the first in 20 years. Prophecy Coal speaks proudly of Chandgana mine-mouth power plant project, a first of the its kind for Mon-golia and one designed to augment, and ultimately replace, that country’s aging power supply infrastructure. “There are four existing power plants in Mongolia but they have been there as far back as the 1970s and, in tech-nical terms, are very aged already,” says Prophecy Coal Corp.’s CEO and Founder John Lee while noting that some other projects which were li-censed in 1990s are currently inac-tive.

Chandgana project is a 600 MW

thermal coal power plant in central Mongolia that will be ramped up to 4200MW after phase 2. The initial 600MW capacity will be dedicated toward domestic consumption. Ac-cording to Lee, the proposed output increase to 4200MW would enable Mongolia to export power directly into China via existing ultra high voltage lines.

Merging and acquisitions in AsiaAccording to Hautvast, some com-panies are looking into merging and acquisitions to further IPP develop-ments. He cautions, however, that this may not be a viable option for now because of the lack of opportu-nities. “It is difficult to do merging and acquisition strategies in Asia. The problem is that while there are many players coming into play, mostly from the domestic front, there is a limited number of companies looking to in-vest outside,” he says. “There are no exit strategies, no announced or re-viewed privatization programs like in the Philippines or Singapore over the last few years,” Hautvast notes adding that there are notable exceptions like India and Japan. India is looking into thermal power while Japan is consid-ering selling some nuclear facilities.

Hautvast notes that for the mean-time, the region’s primary thrust should be to find ways on how to ad-dress major bottlenecks in the IPP process. “Generally, the challenge is to improve the IPP process,” he con-cludes.

Singa Gas Processing Facility of Medco Energi


6 ASIAN POWER

Mainland China is facing sustained power outages this year due to the country’s ever increasing de-mands for energy and the lack of growth in the de-

velopment of new power plants. Forecasts say that China will continue to face a tight power supply situation throughout the year.

CEC expects more power outagesThe power outages in the country are expected throughout certain regions during high seasonal demands and the peak energy usage times throughout the year, according to the China Electricity Council (CEC), which represents the na-tion’s electric power producers. The CEC says that during this year, the effect from the country’s macro-economic tighten-ing will be further demonstrated as the demands for energy slow down.

The CEC has forecasted that energy consumption will re-duce by between 8.5 and 10.5%, then growth in demand is expected to increase during the latter part of the year.

The CEC says that it expects China’s power generating capacity supply gap to grow between 30 to 40 GW this year compared with the 30 GW last year. The power shortfall is caused by the serious lack of power transmission capacity to transmit excess power from the country’s north-east, north-west, and Inner Mongolia regions to the load centers of en-ergy consumption in the south-eastern, eastern, and central regions of the mainland China.

Demand to outstrip supplyChina’s power industry will add 85 GW of new power gener-ating capacity this year which will raise the nation’s installed capacity by 8.1% to 1,140 GW. This forecast by the CEC means that demands for energy will outstrip power supply for the third year in a row. This follows a time when power capacity and supply grew faster than demand between 2005 and 2009, which resulted in a significant reduction in power plant utilisation.

The utilisation of coal-fired thermal power plants is ex-pected to recover further, after jumping to 5% last year to 5,294 hours, which is the largest increase in utilisation since 2004. This is good news for the nation’s power producers, who suffered widespread losses for most of last year due to high prices for thermal coal and the State power tariff con-trols. It is expected that higher power plant utilisation will improve the generator’s profit margins by lowering the fixed operating costs per unit of power output.

Not all of China’s power generation units experienced higher utilisation rates as its hydropower plant use fell by 11% to 3,028 hours last year. This is the lowest level in 30 years which was caused by lower than average rainfall in central and western regions. Hydropower output fell 3.5% compared with the over 14% growth in coal-fired thermal power plants. A direct effect of the shortfall in hydropower was that it add-ed to the nation’s demands for thermal coal which was seri-ously affected by transportation bottlenecks that resulted in

The CEC says that it expects China’s power generating capacity supply gap to grow GW this year

higher spot-market prices for coal.Last year, the severe and widespread drought caused the

most severe hydropower supply shortages in many parts of China. In the meantime the country’s demands continued to soar as a direct result of its economic growth and devel-opment. These unfavorable conditions, when combined to-gether, created serious power shortages and outages across China which increased to as much as three million kilowatts at peak periods.

Severe power supply shortagesOne of the two major State-owned power transmission and distribution companies, Southern Power Grid, says that it ex-pects to see severe power supply shortages this year with the largest of these shortfalls ranging from eight million kilowatts (kW) to 14 million kW. The Chinese power supply company says that it believes that the early part of 2012 will experience the most difficult time for power supply and that the province of Guangdong will suffer the largest power shortfalls within the region’s power grid. It will most likely reach six million to 10 million kW.

It was back in November last year that China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the prices of thermal coal at nine major ports, including Qin-huangdao, Caofeidian, and Tianjin, should be less than RMB 800 yuan ($126) a ton starting on January 1st, 2012.. Howev-er, analysts say that the spot prices of coal will rebound when the government lifts its tight control on coal prices, which will most probably happen after the second quarter of 2012. It is generally felt that the recent electricity tariff rise and the coal price regulations have helped the country’s coal-fired power plants by reducing their costs and raising their incomes.

The CEC commented that this adjustment eased the pow-er generators’ pressures but possible coal price increases in the future will remain a major threat.

JOHN GOSS

Power shortages are set to continue in China

OPINION

[email protected]


ASIAN POWER 7

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8 ASIAN POWER

China forecasts slowing power demand

FEATURE

The latest official Chinese projec-tions suggest that electricity de-mand will slide below the recent

double-digit level in coming years. But the country could still require twice as much generating capacity in 2020 as in 2010.

The double-digit growth rate has already gone, albeit against the background of the international economic malaise. Chinese power demand increased by 6.7% on year to 749.7 TWh in the first two months of 2012, according to figures published by the China Electricity Council (CEC).

In January demand fell 6.5% on year, al-though this was primarily because the lu-nar new year holiday occurred earlier than in 2011. The contraction was more than an offset of the 22.9% rise in February when consumption jumped due to the earlier holiday and the leap year’s extra day.

Industrial electricity use rose by less than 5% on year during the two-month period to 543.9 TWh. While growth in overall demand is below average, industri-al electricity use still accounted for 72.5% of total consumption.

Within overall industrial electricity de-mand, the heavy industrial sector – which is dominated by often-inefficient, state-owned enterprises – saw growth of 6.6%

on year during the two months to reach almost 440 TWh. By contrast, the export-led and privately-oriented light industrial sector posted an on-year decline of 3.9% in electricity consumption for the period.

Residential sector electricity demand grew by a robust 14.9% to 111.7 TWh, driven by colder than average weather and the continued drive towards urbanization. Service sector demand grew by 10.3% to 94 TWh.

Meanwhile, the CEC reported that pow-er generation increased by 7.1% on year in the first two months of 2012 to reach 718.7 TWh. Because the output of small power

Chinese power demand is projected to rise at an annual average rate of 8.8% during the five-year period ending 2015

CEC estimates that five years of growth will be followed by five years of decline.

plants is omitted from the generation data, production appears lower than consump-tion in most official Chinese statistics.

The output of fossil-fueled, predomi-nantly coal-fired plants increased by 6.8% on year to reach 608.9 TWh during the two months, whereas hydroelectric out-put fell 0.3% on year to 68.7 TWh during the period. Nuclear output was up almost 17% to 12.6 TWh, whereas wind output jumped more than 23% to 14 TWh.

Looking ahead, Chinese power demand is projected to rise at an annual average rate of 8.8% during the five-year period ending 2015, according to the central growth projection in the latest forecasts is-sued by the CEC. The council projects that the growth rate will then slow to an annual average of 5.6% through 2020.

China consumed 4,692.8 TWh in 2011, with installed capacity reaching 1,056,000 MW at the year end. Coal-fired output dominated supplies at more than 3,690 TWh within the 3,825.3 TWh of fossil-fueled output, which was up 14.8% on year and represented more than 80% of total electricity output.

The CEC estimates that electricity con-sumption in 2015 will be between 6,020 TWh and 6,610 TWh, based on lower and upper annual average growth projections of 7.5% and 9.5%, respectively. By 2020, consumption is estimated to range from 8,000 TWh to 8,810 TWh, based on an-nual average growth rates of 4.6% to 6.6% from 2016.

Preventive measuresDespite the projected slow growth in de-mand, CEC believes that China could still face a tight power supply situation in 2012 and beyond because the rate of additions to the national generation fleet is also pro-jected to slow. The shortfall in 2012 could be between 30,000 and 40,000 megawatts, albeit with marked regional and seasonal variations, the CEC says, adding that the shortage could increase to 50,000 MW in 2013.

The additional capacity projected for commissioning in 2012 is estimated at only 85,000 MW. This would include 50,000 MW of fossil-fueled plant com-pared with the 58,860 MW added in 2011, whereas hydroelectric additions are pro-jected to increase to 20,000 MW in 2012 from the 12,250 MW added in 2011.

The low projected growth rate is borne by the actual figures for the first two months of 2012.

In order to meet the investment re-quirements and reduce unnecessary con-sumption, the CEC has said that in real terms, the average retail electricity price should reach Yuan 728.7/MWh ($115/MWh) by 2015, a 27.6% increase from the 2010 level and equivalent to an aver-age 5%/year rise.

Chinese electricity demand form January to February 2012

Sector TWh % on year

Agriculture, other primary 12.3 -4.7

Manufacturing (secondary) industry 531.6 4.8

of which, heavy 670 6.6

Commercial, other tertiary 466 10.3

Residential 992 14.9

Total 702 6.7

Source: China Electricity Council

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10 ASIAN POWER

Turbomach leads the gas turbine gensets marketTurbomach stamps its strong brand presence across the globe with unrelenting customer support and product developments.

With over 30 years of experience, Tur-bomach has built up its reputation as a valued supplier in the power generation

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Turbomach has been working with Solar® Tur-bines since 1985 and in 2004, Turbomach became wholly integrated with Solar Turbines, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc.. Since then, Turbomach leverages Solar Turbines’ 60 years experience and reputation as the leading manufac-turer of mid-range industrial Gas Turbines, with over 14,900 units installed.

Our dedication to the power generation market is demonstrated through Turbomach’s proximity to its customer base with local teams located in 16 countries around the world. Following a “solutions provider” approach to power plant projects, our ac-tivities include engineering, packaging, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of 1 to 22 MWe gas turbine generator sets. So that we provide com-prehensive power plant solutions up to 50 MWe, our array of products and services can be comple-mented by full power station engineering, procure-ment, and construction.

The manufacturing industry has been Tur-bomach’s traditional customer base with extensive project experience in many energy intensive sec-tors, such as pulp and paper, food and beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, refineries, textiles, printing, and coking. Indeed, Gas Turbine combined heat and power systems have proven to be a crucial technology to ensure reliable power and high-grade heat supply, while achieving sub-

stantial energy savings.Over the years municipalities and commercial

buildings around the world have chosen Tur-bomach’s products for the implementation of local district heating and cooling projects, while power and water utilities value our solutions including for quick and mobile power generation, blackstart, baseload, and combined cycle power plants, to-gether with renewable energy support solutions for wind power peaking sites, waste to energy applications, and biomass treatment applications. In order to support the power generation sector’s effort to limit their environmental footprint, we are able to offer dry low emissions gas turbines, based on Solar’s patented SoLoNOx™ combustion sys-tem, which is already in use on over 2,200 instal-lations. Our efficiency-led gas turbine design phi-losophy allows Turbomach to offer a wide range of best-in-class efficiency generator set, including the recuperated cycle Mercury™ 50 (4.6 MWe), together with the simple cycle Taurus™ 65 (6.3 MWe), Taurus™ 70 (7.8 MWe), Titan™130 (15.0

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One of the latest successful projects completed is with VVF, a manufacturing and marketing company of personal care and oleo chemicals, with a world-wide presence. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company has 15 operating centers spread over Asia, Middle East, the Far East, Europe and USA.

VVF was using grid power and operating three conventional fired Thermic Fluid Heaters to take care of their heating demand. Also multiple steam boilers and screw chillers were catering to the steam and chilling demands.

When VVF launched an initiative to reduce its energy costs, it opted for a Combined Heating, Power and Cooling system. VVF installed a Taurus 70 Gas Turbine (7 MWe) from Solar Turbines along with supplementary fired Thermic Fluid Heater (TFH) & high pressure Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) and Vapour Absorption Chillers to meet the various energy requirements.

The TFH and HRSG are equipped with burners to meet the gap between the heat recovery potential and the requirement. The combustion efficiency of these burners is as high as 99% compared to the existing conventional fired equipment efficiencies of 89% reducing gas consumption by as high as 10MWth. These equipments also have the flexibility to fire fresh air and operate when the Gas Turbine is not operational. The combined efficiency of this co-generation plant is over 82 %.

The plant has not only brought monetary ben-efits to the facility, it has substantially improved the power availability and quality for one of VVF’s largest production centers.

The recovery of waste heat means a more ef-ficient use of fuel and substantial reduction in the carbon emissions.

Leveraging Turbomach staff’s vast experience and plant engineering competence, we provide you with complete and customized solutions to power your business.

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ASIAN POWER 11

ANNOUNCING THE

The “Oscars” of the PowerIndustry are back for the

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of the Industry

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Lanie [email protected]

Tel: +65 6223 7660For Nomination Details

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OCTOBER 4, 2012BANGKOK, THAILAND


12 ASIAN POWER

How do you intend to achieve your 1000MW target?We’ve been growing externally since 2004 when we started this com-pany at 0 MW. Right now, we have invested 250 MW and 1,500 MW in operation.

On the investment side, our target is to reach 1000 MW by 2015. Late last year, the original shareholders in MetroEnergi decided to dilute shares. 51% of the shares were bought by a private equity firm, Sara-toga Capital, which is owned by two prominent Indonesians—Edwin Soeryad-Jaya and Sandiaga Uno.

We are quite active right now and we are looking at acquisition all over Indonesia as we have to grow the company four times. The road-map from 250 to 1000 MW is already laid out; we have permitted prop-erty calls and projects. We want to grow our global background. We are investing right now in superior hydro and geothermal power plants.

Also, partnership is very important for portfolio management. We never do a project that is 100% ours. We always try to maximize what-ever amount we have and stretch it for several projects. That way, we cre-ate a balanced portfolio. It’s basic financial management which is typical for a small developer.

On our competitive edge, we are not a big company; we are basically a small developer. We try to compete where we are at our best. To do so, we are concentrating on developing more isolated power systems. We are looking at an area on the west side of Indonesia, outside Java. Western Indonesia is more populous than the eastern side. 70% of the Indonesian population are in there.

Medco Power Indonesia targets quadruple increase in power capacity by 2015

Medco Power President Director Fazil E. Alfitri shares how the firm plans to reach 1000MW in just three years.

What are the current develop-ments on Sarulla Geothermal Project and what other big projects are you working on?The biggest geothermal project in Indonesia right now is the one we are doing —the Sarulla project. This 330 MW geothermal power plant is a consortium project with Ormat Industries, Japan’s Itochu Corp, and Kyushu Elextric. It is probably the largest geothermal project at one spot, in the world. The project is worth USD1.5 mil-lion and is therefore a big chal-lenge for us.

We are expecting this plant to be operational by the end of 2014 until the beginning of 2015. We have already started drilling and construction will follow next year. Engineering is pretty much done. An official contractor has already been appointed and we are just waiting for a partner to close.

I am also working on a sim-ple 100 MW project in Batam. Basically, it’s funded locally and backed up by a Power Purchas-ing Agreement. Right now, we

are already supplying to Batam’s 70%. Hopefully, the local part-nership continues for years to come.

Do you have difficulties in se-curing funds for your projects?The major challenge for me is not so much on funding but more on getting the right project for the size and the right align-ment for the project. Here’s the unique thing about Indonesia: The government gives several li-censes a year and yet there is so much demand and so little sup-ply. So, if you have a solution for a good power supply, you have a project. Actually, we don’t invent our own projects. People come to us to develop or execute their projects. They know that we can deliver, and that is our advan-tage. Our office screens 10-20 projects and take one or two good ones.

How do you go about the lengthy process of approving IPP in In-donesia?The challenge is for the devel-oper to see the opportunity. We don’t have anything against gov-ernment demands. The Indone-sian IPP sector has been here since 1995 and it has been going on until now. That means that the IPP complex has actually been good. If you are a develop-er with 10 million, invest by all means. Don’t think that Indone-sia will change its laws. The In-donesian IPP has been very solid and I am proud that we don’t ex-perience issues like what happen in China where the government changes the law every couple of years.

Today, people are more selec-tive of technology and its effect on the environment. In the case of Bali, a tourist area where peo-ple are highly religious, power plant constructions are frowned upon because for them, it is un-clean. People are now more aware of the environment and I think it is the right path. Although this may hamper opportunities, look-ing at the growth of IPPs in Indo-nesia, I think we have more than enough.

CEO INTERVIEW


ASIAN POWER 13


14 ASIAN POWER


ABB’s strategy for your future – Symphony PlusTotal plant automation for the power generation and water industries

Plant owners make significant capital invest-ment in the system hardware, engineering tools and application software that together

com- prise their initial distributed control system (DCS) installation. Upon commissioning, plant and corporate personnel add to the investment by en-hancing control system components, tuning and refining control application code and developing knowledgeable staff who operate and maintain the plant and control system.

The result of these investments are a highly trained and experienced staff of engineers, techni-cian and operators, as well as the creation of site-specific control strategies, procedures and graphics that enable the plant to maintain high unit availabil-ity and excellent operational performance.

ABB’s evolution strategy aims at supporting the customers who wish to protect and enhance their investments in both the control system hardware and the valuable intellectual property.

SymphonyTM Plus represents the new generation of ABB’s hugely successful Symphony family of dis-tributed control systems (DCS) – the most widely used DCS in the power generation and water in-dustries. In all, there are more than 6,000 Symphony DCS installations in operation all over the world, with more than 4,000 in power and water applications.

For more than 30 years, ABB has evolved the Sym-phony family through several evolutionary stages. Through our “Evolution without obsolescence” life cycle policy, each generation builds on and enhances its predecessors, adding technologies and new func-tionalities where it meets the performance objectives of various users – in operations, maintenance, en-

gineering, IT and management. And it targets the key focus areas of the power and water industries – plant productivity, energy efficiency, operation se-curity, plant safety and cost of ownership. It is an au-tomation system that integrates all area of the plant in a simple, scalable, seamless, and secure manner.

Defining great performanceSymphony Plus enables plants and personnel to perform at their peak. It balances performance ob-jectivities like asset availability, operational reliability and production efficiency with business goals like asset life extension, carbon reduction and regula-tory compliance. In so doing, it provides plant own-ers with an essential tool for achieving sustainable profitable growth. Its defining features include the following:

Total Plant AutomationSymphony Plus provides users with a comprehen-sive view of the plant by integrating data from all plant areas and systems, including turbine control, electrical balance of plant, and remote SCADA sys-tems. Through its open architecture, Symphony Plus

seamlessly consolidates and rationalizes plant data to improve operator response to changing condi-tions, thereby improving plant safety and uptime.

Transforms data into actionable business decisionsInformation is the key to successful business per-formance. In S+ Operations, historical, process and business data is collected from across the plant and stored securely. Transforming data into meaning-ful information, S+ Operations presents pertinent, easy-to-understand information in intuitive desktop displays to all levels of the organization.

Unified engineering workbenchShort time to production is the measure of engineer-ing efficiency. S+ Engineering provides a world-class integrated engineering environment, with the req-uisite functionality to engineer, configure, adminis-trate, secure, commission and maintain any system component – from field devices, electrical devices, control and I/O to operator workplace and gateway configuration.

Embedded ABB know-howABB brings more than 125 years of power and water expertise to each Symphony Plus solution. Our ex-pertise has been successfully deployed in thousands of demanding installations across all types of applica-tion in the power generation and water industries. For each plant type, ABB combines in-depth process knowledge with extensive electrical and automation know-how to provide a best-in-class solution includ-ing, boiler protection/burner management systems; turbine control; electrical balance of plant, water technologies and plant optimization.

Single control and I/O platformSymphony Plus provides total plant automation from a single control and I/O platform that encom-

“Symphony Plus system is sold to more than 8,000MW power plants globally and represents one of the largest installed bases of DCS in the world.”


ASIAN POWER 15


passes dedication interface modules and devices for all turbine types, OEMs and sizes, as well as an un-paralleled selection of combustion instruments.

Electrical and devise integrationSymphony Plus provides a process and electrical control from a single platform. Using open standard protocols like IEC 61850 and Modbus TCP, Sym-phony Plus integrates electrical devices with process control and plant operations. It provides full integra-tion of just about every type of device, and enables the monitoring and management of all plant assets at all levels of the plant.

Inherent system securityABB understands the need to maintain a secure, reliable control environment while expending mini-mal time and effort. In addition to the many secu-rity features built into Symphony Plus, ABB actively participates in several major control system security standards committees. The guidance provided by these committees is designed to increase the integ-rity and confidentiality of all system functions and help prevent unauthorized control system access. Seamless life cycle managementEvolution and investment protection are the cor-nerstones of ABB’s product life cycle strategy. Our “Evolution without obsolescence” policy helps cus-tomers find a balance between upgrading with new technologies and maximizing the return on asset in-vestments already made. Thanks to this policy, plant owners have the ability to extend the useful life of their systems through evolution and avoid the costly and high-risk rip-and-replace approach.

Life cycle servicesABB offers a complete portfolio of services, from re-pairs and spare parts to Full Service® contracts and complete plant upgrades and equipment retrofits. ABB services are available to enhance every phase of the plant life cycle, from first concept and front-

end engineering to commissioning, operation and decommissioning. With unparalleled process, ap-plication and technology expertise, ABB is uniquely positioned to support changing needs and industry requirements.

The evolution continuesAs Symphony Plus reaches the one-year anniversary of its introduction, ABB is excited to announce the addition of several new control and I/O products that are specifically designed to meet the present and future control needs of our customers.

The new products include a new high-perform-ance process controller named Symphony Plus Con-trol HPC800 and three interface modules that ex-pand the connectivity of the controller to intelligent electronic devices using the PROFIBUS DP and HART communication protocols.

HPC 800 joins existing Symphony Plus Rack con-trollers and is suitable for applications that require modular DIN rail packaging. It also features a fast Ethernet-based plant network that makes it ideal for geographically distributed control applications in conventional or renewable power plants and water networks.

The new controller combined with PROFIBUS and HART enables integration of intelligent devices such as smart transmitters, actuators, motor control centres, flame scanners and other electronic prod-ucts. By using the same function code algorithms as Symphony Plus, Harmony, and INFI 90 Rack control-lers, the HPC800 controller enables customers to ef-fectively reuse their extensive library of ABB control solutions. The products also add to ABB’s compre-hensive suite of new functionalities and enhance-ments introduced in all areas of the Symphony Plus platform. These range from electrical integration and alarm management to engineering efficiency and cyber security.

To learn more about Symphony Plus, contact your local ABB sales office or download a brochure at: www.abb.com/powergeneration

Senoko Energy selects Symphony Plus Senoko Energy recently selected ABB to upgrade the control system for units 3, 4 and 5 to S+ Operations, ABB’s intuitive and easy-to-use HMI for Symphony Plus systems. Senoko required a dedicated DCS historian for long-term data archiving to enhance plant integrity and confidentiality and provide inherent system security.

After looking at the rich features of S+ Operations and evaluating the alternatives, Senoko selected S+ Operations as the ideal HMI upgrade solution.

Stepwise evolutionABB’s stepwise evolution approach provides Senoko Energy with the flexibility to improve plant operations over time while maintaining its investment in human knowledge and in the existing DCS. Compared to rip-and-replace alternatives, S+ Operations was the lowest cost and lowest risk option for Senoko Energy to extend the operating life and attain the highest efficiency of its control system assets.

ABB will upgrade all the critical hardware and software components of the existing Symphony control system and perform the upgrade online without any interruption to plant operations. To ensure a risk-free transition, S+ Operations will operate in parallel to the Process Portal B consoles throughout the upgrade process. The upgrade is scheduled for completion in July 2013.

The benefits for Senoko Energy in evolving their existing Symphony HMI to S+ Operations are extensive and include:

- Upgrade of all critical hardware and software in accordance with ABB’s unique and long-term life cycle policy of ‘Evolution without obsolescence’

- Improved system reliability and cyber protection thanks to the inherent security features in all core functional areas of Symphony Plus, including S+ Operations, to protect the integrity and reliability of system operations

- Extended operating life of the ABB control system

- No plant shutdown during system upgrade activities

Courtesy of picture from Senoko Energy


16 ASIAN POWER


Perkins penetrates the Indian marketWith a new manufacturing facility scheduled to open in 2013, Perkins holds nothing back as it establishes its brand presence in India.

Staying true to its philosophy of manufacturing close to its customers, Perkins Engines Compa-ny Limited powers up its presence in India with

its new manufacturing facility. At the POWER-GEN India & Central Asia 2012 held in New Delhi, Asian Power was able to talk to Perkins as they shared the recent developments in their 120,000-square meter manufacturing site in the Shendra Industrial Area in Aurangabad and their future plans for the Indian market.

Perkins at PowerGen IndiaLocated at a prime spot, Perkins’ booth was one of the most visited at the PowerGen India. Matt Bradshaw, sales director for India, noted that Per-kins has a wide range of diesel engines available in India from 9 kVa to 2250 kVa prime and 2000 kVa standby, but on display were Perkins’ two key nodes in the country - the 4016 TRG which is their 2,500 kVa offering and the 2506TAG2 which is their 500 kVa offering. The 4016-61TRG Electro Unit is a newly developed turbocharged, air-to-wa-ter charge-cooled, 16-cylinder diesel engine, while the 2506C-E15TAG2 is a turbocharged and air-to-

air charge-cooled, 6-cylinder diesel engine.He said that PowerGen serves as a good avenue

for them to show their commitment to India and to talk to their customers. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase our brand, build brand awareness, and really tell our customers in India that there is a cred-ible alternative. We enjoy listening to what they are going to need in the future and developing those products and services to help them be successful in the market.”

Bradshaw noted that despite being a new en-trant to the Indian market, Perkins has made great progress since they started looking at the market in 2008, all thanks to a good range of product offer-

“Perkins invests another $150 million on a manufacturing facility for the 4000 Series range which is set to be completed by June 2013.”

ings and more product developments. According to Bradshaw, Perkins will be developing a 135kVa, a 150 and a 180 rating this year. Some of Perkins’ most exciting products available today are built in its factory in Wuxi such as the 1106A which is a 200kVa and the 400A Series which targets the telecom sec-tor that runs from 9kVa to 20kVa. But next year, Per-kins will start manufacturing in India as well with its new facility.

The new facility in AurangabadSince 2008 Perkins has invested more than $100m in two production lines at its Wuxi campus. After only five years, Perkins invests another $150 mil-lion on a manufacturing facility for the 4000 Series range which is set to be completed by June 2013. The Perkins 4000 Series is a range of 6, 8, 12 and 16-cylinder diesel and spark- ignited gas engines that range from 695kWm up to 2083kWm, capa-ble of producing power that is equivalent to each engine providing enough electricity for between 500 and 1,000 homes.

According to Richard Cotterell, large engines di-rector and managing director of Perkins India Private Ltd., work on the new facility begins now and will be completed by mid-2013. “We see this an oppor-tunity for us to develop a good supply base for our 4000 Series which may become providers for our global market,” he said. Cotterell also revealed that apart from the manufacturing equipment, they also invested in an engine development facility at the site, housing two endurance test beds that will provide the capability for component validation and emis-sions compliance testing to ensure high standards of production. “Our engines are used in many process-critical and even life-critical applications, so following

Richard Cotterell, Large Engines Director and Managing Director of Perkins India Private Ltd.


ASIAN POWER 17

the installation of manufacturing equipment next year, a thorough process validation will be under-taken to ensure that the very highest standards to which we manufacture across the world are in place here. This should be completed by March, putting us on target to manufacture our very first engine by June 2013,” he added.

The facility will also generate direct jobs in India as it will employ between 450 and 500 people, with just over 100 office-based staff, said Cotterell. “We have already started to recruit key manage-ment roles and our new employees will be trained throughout this and next year, in readiness for the facility opening in June 2013. The facility will have a high tech and modern training school, reflecting our determination to invest in our teams.”

Perkins’ manufacturing facility in Aurangabad will further stamp the company’s global presence. Per-kins engines are currently manufactured around the world, with facilities in: Peterborough, UK produc-ing the 400, 1100, and 1200 Series; Stafford, UK, producing the 1300, 1600, 2000, and 4000 Series; Curitiba, Brazil producing the 1100 Series; Griffin, North America producing the 400 Series; and Wuxi, China producing the 400 and 1100 Series.

India’s export capabilitySo why did Perkins decide to build the facility in In-dia? According to Cotterell, India offers opportuni-ties for Perkins from an electric power perspective, given that 50% of their engines go into this sector. “We also see India as a base for us for export, so India will be our Asian hub for manufacturing the 4000 Series,” he added.

Managing director for sales and marketing En-nodio Ramos noted that they initially came to Asia with the medium-sized engines and then built two plants in Wuxi, near Shanghai. But they decided to put the 4000 Series, Perkins’ largest and most pow-erful range, in India as they have been penetrating this market very successfully in the last three years, so establishing a local presence was necessary to bet-ter satisfy the market needs. “India, as compared to any other electric power market in Asia, is a self-con-tained market which means that it produces gensets that are consumed locally as compared to China that actually exports 60% of the gensets they produce,” he added.


One thing that sets Perkins apart is its strong relationship with its partners and OEMs. As Matt Bradshaw, sales director for India, puts it, “We need to go out of our way, and we do go out of our way to make sure that our customers have the right information at the right time that they need to go out and win business.”

Samir Mistry, managing director of Supernova Engineers, considers the wide range of products to be Perkins’ competitive advantage. “Our range of generators starts from 10 kVa to 2,000 kVa. Had Perkins not been there with us, our company would have remained in the SME sector. We would have been a small-scale player manufacturing generators up to 500 kVa but with Perkins we have an opportunity of making generators up to 2500 kVa.”

Sterling and Wilson’s senior vice president Sanjay Jadhav describes Perkins as ‘a single company that can offer you all.’ “The lower range, 9kVa going up to 500kVa, is where we would be very interested because we have aspirations to go into the retail market. Sterling also has aspirations to go global, and Perkins is the right partner because it has a global brand and a global product service,” he added.

The company’s global reach has always kept customers happy over the years, including Captiva Energy Solutions. Executive director Arijit Bose notes: “They have offices around the world. To be specific, they have 118 distributors operating in over 180 countries which gives them the reach to distribute their spares and their after-sales service.”

Perkins also leads the generator sets market in China as attested by its OEMs. Gary Shao, general manager of Saonon Electric & Machine, looks forward to seeing more engines being manufactured in Wuxi. “Since Perkins Wuxi plant started operation, we have seen a shorter lead time, which certainly helps us to shorten delivery time to our own customers.”

Perkins’ new 1600 Series was favorably received by the Chinese market. Benny Wang, general manager of Lei Shing Hong Machinery, notes that the first order came from their OEM customer PowerLink. “The new series have every feature of Perkins products: great flexibility, high reliability, and low cost of ownership. I have great confidence that this product will find their way into many installations in China.”

According to PowerLink Machine’s CEO Zhang Yabin, Perkins’ strong brand has boosted their international business. “Perkins’ worldwide product support network has facilitated PowerLink’s entrance into the international arena. We now operate a manufacturing facility in the UK and have plans to set up plants in Europe.”

This unrelenting product and customer support from Perkins made Tellhow Sci-Tech win a bid for a telecom project. Yang Jian, CEO at Tellhow Sci-Tech, recalls: “Perkins sent their technical personnel all the way from the UK to join our negotiation team. After we secured the order, support was provided from both Perkins and its distributor Sime Darby Elco’s sales team all through the project, up till delivery of the engines and commissioning.”

Perkins’ customers speak

Though India is predominantly a domestic mar-ket, Perkins aims to cultivate India’s export capability through its strong relationship with partners, wide range of products, and good infrastructure. “We had planned our initial capacity of 3,000 engines but we already have the infrastructure to easily expand to 5,000 engines without making any major invest-ment. So we are ready to grow. Even though the Indian market today is domestic, we see possibilities of exporting around Asia,” said Ramos.

Perkins’ plans for IndiaGoing forward, Perkins targets to strengthen its pres-ence in India through expanding its network distribu-tion. “We have two major distributors in this coun-try, one in Chennai and the other is in New Delhi. What we’re doing is we’re building specific outlets around the country and we have a targeted plan year over year as we build our population in the country to build more branches. In addition to that, we are working with our OEMs which have a large distribu-tion network, and then our distributor trains their

dealer to provide the basic service for our engine,” said Ramos. Perkins’ distribution partners in India are GMMCO Power and Powerparts Private Limited, which provide excellent product support including parts, fault diagnosis, servicing and warranty work.

Perkins works with a group of OEMs within the Indian sector. Bradshaw revealed that Perkins is now trying to tap the industrial business in India as well. “We are also working with some industrial OEMs because as a company we don’t just offer electri-cal power, we also offer variable speed engines, so we are exploring opportunities in India for industrial business.”

According to Cotterell, they are also planning to develop their relationships with their customers to build Perkins’ presence and continue delivering great products in order to meet the demand. “We also continue to sell a whole range of engines with-in India, so at this point in time we’ll continue to look at the opportunities to maybe do things with those engines in India over time. But for the time being, our focus in on our 4000 Series,” he added.

Matt Bradshaw, Sales Director for India


18 ASIAN POWER


Perkins to expand product support network in ChinaWith a manufacturing facility strategically located in one of Asia’s largest and fastest growing markets, what more does Perkins have in store for China?

According to Simon Gray, product mar-keting manager at Perkins, the com-pany aims to strengthen its brand

presence as well as the support it offers to the end users through prioritising the growth of its product support network in China. He noted that Elco Sime Darby opened a new headquarters last year, and this year Lei Shing Hong will be opening a new headquarters as part of its continued investment in its product support offering.

“Development of the Perkins network will continue throughout 2012 with the crea-tion of a distributor branch in each province, with ongoing development work planned for 2013,” he added.

Perkins has been manufacturing in China since 2008 when it opened two production lines in Wuxi for the 400 and 1100 Series range of engines.

And this year, two new products were launched at the 11th China International Power and Generating Sets Exhibition held in April.

Perkins’ new productsAmong other engines on display were Per-kins’ two new products in the line-up. Gray notes that the 1600 Series ElectropaK range

of full authority electronic control, turbo-charged, air-to-air charge-cooled engines have been developed to provide prime and standby power in a clean and cost-effective fashion with special emphasis placed on im-proved power density, reliability, and robust-ness.

The 6-cylinder, 9.3 litre range offers out-puts up to 300kVA (240 kWe) prime power and 330 kVA (264 kWe) standby power at 1,500 rpm – both key nodes – though the intention is to release a 350kVA (280kWe) standby version later in the year.

“For OEMs and genset packagers, the key benefits include the combination of higher power density and load acceptance, which effectively means that the 1600 Series can

achieve outputs normally associated with much bigger displacement engines, while of-fering a space saving opportunity during in-stallation,” said Gray.

Another new product is the 400A range. The 403A-15G2 model meets the all-im-portant 15kVA prime power node which is normally met by using larger displacement engines. But because of the 403A-15G2’s im-proved power density made possible through mechanical governing, the same perform-ance is achieved with a smaller package size.

“The 1104C-44TAG2 and the 1106A-70TAG4 support these two new engines, which are built at our Wuxi facility,” Gray added.

The Wuxi plantPerkins’ manufacturing facility in Wuxi is pivotal to the company’s business strategy in China and they are now continuing to ex-pand the capacity of the 400 and 1100 Series manufacturing lines.

In 2011, Perkins introduced a new 6-cylin-der assembly line, in addition to the 4-cylin-der line, which opened in 2010.

As Gray puts it: “At Wuxi we are now re-searching and developing our next stage of engines for markets in Asia and beyond. More than 300 engaged employees at our Wuxi facility are supporting our manufac-turing and development work, and over the coming years we will continue to grow our employee numbers to meet the growing de-mand for our engines and reach our capacity of 130,000 engines a year.”

“Perkins’ manufacturing facility in Wuxi is pivotal to the company’s business strategy in China and they are now continuing to expand the capacity of the 400 and 1100 Series manufacturing lines”

Simon Gray, Product Marketing Manager at Perkins


ASIAN POWER 19


20 ASIAN POWER

OPINION

Even though some Chinese solar suppliers – Suntech Power is a notable example – have frozen capacity expansions due to slow growth

in demand, China is reportedly pushing its top solar companies to expand.

As per the 12th Five-Year Plan, the country wants key domestic polysilicon suppliers to expand annual capacity to 50,000 MT each, and module suppliers to 5 GW each, by 2012. This is despite the fairly slow demand growth and the increasing likelihood of tar-iffs applied to Chinese modules imported to the US (and a potential for the same in Europe).

China’s goalThe goal of the Chinese plan is to increase its world-wide market share in solar and to some degree, to tighten the belt on the already-slim remaining man-ufacturing industry in the US and Europe. In addi-tion to its growing domestic market, those Chinese suppliers will likely seek out India and other emerg-ing markets as primary demand sinks.

When demand slows and inventory rises, the Chi-nese government will support those suppliers by buying modules at, or below, the cost of production. The strategy is not unique to solar, either; the same plan calls for similar action in an effort to commodi-tize membranes for water desalination and increase Chinese market share accordingly.

Global supply forecastsIn demand markets outside of India and China, ex-pect to see a major rise in market share from Japa-nese suppliers – Panasonic, but also Solar Frontier.

In the west, European suppliers like REC, Q-Cells, and SolarWorld may also be in position to make a comeback but they need to overcome both current financial troubles and a declining European demand market.

In Germany, governmental authority to change feed-in tariff levels without parliamentary approval has been removed from a broader incentive revi-sion law. This is a major win for the industry in that the government would have otherwise been able to quickly and easily revise feed-in tariff levels based on recent installation numbers, and limit the price premium on power to ratepayers that fund the in-centive.

Incentive reductionsIn the new version of the law, planned incentive re-ductions would have their magnitude determined by the amount of solar installed. Based on the previous four quarters, if installations exceed 7.5 GW (Ger-many’s installed total for 2011), incentive reductions are maximized at 29%.

If installations are between 2.5 GW and 3.5 GW – where the government would prefer them to be – incentives are cut by only 11.4%. The government projects installations in 2017 at between 900 MW and 1.9 GW.

In the world’s new largest market – Italy, at 9 GW in 2011 – the government is taking a much more ag-gressive approach. A new solar program likely to be implemented mid-year would cap subsidized instal-lations at 400 MW.

Further, if installations in H1 2012 exceed 2 GW, all H2 installations would be halted. Going forward, in addition to the 400 MW incentive cap, only sys-tems under 3 kW would be allowed.

As Lux Research mentioned in the State of the Mar-ket Report, “Market Size Update 2012: The Push to a Post-Subsidy Solar Industry,” European governments will find their backs against a wall, and continue to take major action to curtail installations – like those being taken in Italy.

Suppliers would be wise to begin planning for an industry beyond government incentives, and to ex-pect a reality check in the form of a flat demand mar-ket in 2012. While Germany and Italy’s total markets are likely to decline gradually as opposed to instant-ly, the solar market is relying on Asian markets for broader growth.

MATT FEINSTEIN

China’s 12th Five-Year Plan calls for major capacity expansions despite downturn

As per the 12th Five-Year Plan, the country wants key domestic polysilicon suppliers to expand annual capacity to 50,000 MT each, and module suppliers to 5 GW each, by 2015


ASIAN POWER 21

OPINION

Japan’s power sector proved vulnerable following the disaster in 2011. What now?

As a consequence of the devastating disaster in March 2011, the vulnerability of Japan’s power sector was re-vealed and has ever since been a critical component

to reassess. Obviously, the sector needs a serious overhaul.Shortly after the disaster, the Japan Renewable Energy

Foundation (JREF) was established to promote an Asian Super Grid to facilitate an electricity system fully based on renewable energy.

This initiative envisions the interconnection of the Japan, Korean, Chinese, Mongolian and Russian national grids with low loss High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines. These transmission lines would enable the delivery of electricity from the region’s most abundant renewable energy sources to its demand centers whilst simultaneously balanc-ing out the peaks and troughs of fluctuating renewable en-ergy sources over a wider area. The impact this will have on the Japanese transmission grid is enormous.

Power play in JapanCurrently the power sector in Japan for an overwhelming majority consists of regional monopolies, controlling both generation and transmission on a full cost pricing model.The uniqueness of the Japan transmission grid is further substan-tiated by the fact that there is a 50Hz (East) and 60Hz (West) network, with minimum interconnection, essentially limit-

The Asian grid: Japan’s perspective

Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) was established to promote an Asian Super Grid to facilitate an electricity system fully based on renewable energy

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Admiring the power of natureThe power of nature is admirable. Many species can thrive in extremely tough conditions, for example.

Guascor has taken this fact as inspiration for developing its cutting-edge solutions, which are environment-friendly too.

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Guascor is now part of Dresser-Rand.

ing any power flow between eastern and western Japan.The business model has created a relatively expensive

generation and transmission infrastructure as well as an in-flexible network. Specifically, Japanese standards to comply have limited the competition in the supply chain, resulting in higher capital and operational costs. Japan’s electricity rates are among the highest in the world.

“No nuke” campaignTo minimise the dependency on nuclear energy, which is widely supported by the people in Japan, alternative gener-ation resources need to be tapped and, in an efficient way, brought to the consumer.

HVDC solutions are widely used in the international arena and it could be an efficient and effective backbone of Japan’s future energy developments, as well as the Asian grid. Inte-gration of renewables, from a technology point of view, is also nothing new.

Solar and wind generation is increasingly becoming com-petitive and able to compete with traditional power gen-eration plants. What is critical now is decisive action from various stakeholders to create the framework policy that will supports required changes and provide a clear roadmap for implementation. Time is of the essence, change is unavoid-able.


22 ASIAN POWER

I am often asked, “So when will renewable energy be mainstream?”And I respond that it is now.

Renewable energy attracted over $250 billion in global private sector investment in 2011 accord-ing to the United Nation’s REN21 report by the

World Resources Institute as well as by a separate analy-sis by Bloomberg Energy.

While most of the media attention has been on utility-scale electric generation projects, some of the most in-teresting growth has been on hybrid-renewable energy generation tied to critical public infrastructure and criti-cal loads in facilities and buildings.

Renewable generation in public infrastructureCritical public infrastructure includes distributed elec-tric generation along electric transmission lines for line voltage augmentation and utility SCADA systems.

Municipal water and sewage systems also utilize on-sight generation (including photovoltaics, small wind, biogas, and in-stream [free flow] hydropower) for sens-ing and driving pipeline pumps.

Oil pipelines are also incorporating distributed gen-eration for cathodic protection (rust prevention), safety and protection systems. And municipal governments are more rapidly relying on these renewable energy systems to power biological and nuclear sensors, surveillance, and traffic cameras.

Cellular companies are integrating renewable genera-tion to increase diesel generator life and a few are mov-ing to dedicated renewable energy systems to power their towers.

Corporate and government facilities with campuses composed of many buildings are the next trends for insight power. Primarily, corporations are looking for higher power quality to obviate the need for back-up die-sel generation which includes not only the capital costs but the monthly testing and the diesel fuel replacements. They also seek to provide electric power quality reducing electric surges (over-voltages), sages (under-voltages), and transients (spurts of electrons), all which harm dig-ital equipment.

Cheaper global alternativeIn countries with higher electric rates, many of the re-newable systems are not only more cost effective than diesel-electric generation but also than grid electricity costs, if unsubsidized. Renewable generation has more predictable costs, and predictability during these unpre-dictable times has higher market appreciation.

Air, land and water concernsThe final trend that is driving global use of on-site elec-tric and thermal generation (industrial process heat, wa-ter and space heating, and cooling) are concerns about intense weather and geological events and terrorism, and also water impacts. Traditional thermal-steam-to-elec-tric generation competes head-to-head with agriculture

and industrialization.The “energy/water nexus” is being addressed by many

countries in Asia and throughout the globe. Distributive, renewable energy generation is as disruptive as cellular and the Internet have been to communications and in-formation respectively.

Recent advances in solid-state lighting, inverters, and storage (batteries, supercapacitors, flywheels, com-pressed storage, hydrogen, and pumped hydropower, etc.) are also creating flexibility in power and load man-agement. These aforementioned technologies are all now manufactured in Asia and are also being utilized within the Asian power markets.

Renewable energy goes mainstreamI am often asked, “So when will renewable energy be mainstream?” And I respond that it is now – actually ubiquitous throughout our existing infrastructure.

But this portfolio of new technologies in renewable energy, advanced storage, and high-value energy effi-ciency have just begun to “scale” in manufacturing and are just at the start of becoming integrated in standard-ized systems with standardized financing and mainte-nance formats.

These new industries have yet to move into the merger and acquisition phase, which should begin in the fol-lowing decade, and will signal the step from childhood to adolescence. This trend is following the exact same growth curves with their fits-and-starts as did cellular and computing. Asia will be in the forefront of both manufacturing and utilization.

SCOTT SKLAR

On-site renewable energy trends for the Asian power market

OPINION

Siemens has a tradition of setting highest standards in the field of ener-gy automation. With ENEAS (Efficient Network and Energy Automation Systems) solutions for distribution automation, the flexible adaptation of supply systems to future needs becomes possible.

Distribution automation is the interface between the medium-voltage and low-voltage systems. It provides the option to completely monitor and automate all controllable devices, such as reclosers, breakers, and switches. Siemens ENEAS solutions for distribution automation are field-tested and based on proven Siemens devices.

Siemens can design the best solution by analyzing the grid in the early planning phase and, together with the customer, pave the way to imple-ment a tailored solution up to a self-healing grid. This allows making the right decisions for monitoring or automation configurations.

ENEAS solutions for distribution automation enable flexibility in design for comprehensive control of the entire distribution network. Siemens ENEAS solutions implement new business models in the framework of Smart Grids.

Precise fault location creates the basis for automated switching and highly efficient workforce management. Design, development, configu-ration changes, and updates of automation equipment are made easier. Asset data enable the reduction of maintenance times.

Siemens ENEAS solutions for distribution automation create the highest possible degree of reliability, and the basis for sustainable success in a cost-efficient way.

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1-E

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www.siemens.com/eneas

Roadmap for self-healing distribution gridsSiemens ENEAS solutions for distribution automation

Fault detection and location

Asset monitoring

Grid quality

Med

ium

-vo

ltag

eLo

w-v

olt

age

Monitoring Automation

Restoration

Reconfiguration

Self-healing

Power quality Low-voltage control

Answers for infrastructure and cities.

_FB_697_ENEAS_DA_eng_250x335.indd 1 13.03.12 17:19


ASIAN POWER 23

Siemens has a tradition of setting highest standards in the field of ener-gy automation. With ENEAS (Efficient Network and Energy Automation Systems) solutions for distribution automation, the flexible adaptation of supply systems to future needs becomes possible.

Distribution automation is the interface between the medium-voltage and low-voltage systems. It provides the option to completely monitor and automate all controllable devices, such as reclosers, breakers, and switches. Siemens ENEAS solutions for distribution automation are field-tested and based on proven Siemens devices.

Siemens can design the best solution by analyzing the grid in the early planning phase and, together with the customer, pave the way to imple-ment a tailored solution up to a self-healing grid. This allows making the right decisions for monitoring or automation configurations.

ENEAS solutions for distribution automation enable flexibility in design for comprehensive control of the entire distribution network. Siemens ENEAS solutions implement new business models in the framework of Smart Grids.

Precise fault location creates the basis for automated switching and highly efficient workforce management. Design, development, configu-ration changes, and updates of automation equipment are made easier. Asset data enable the reduction of maintenance times.

Siemens ENEAS solutions for distribution automation create the highest possible degree of reliability, and the basis for sustainable success in a cost-efficient way.

E50

00

1-E

72

0-F

33

8-X

-4A

00

www.siemens.com/eneas

Roadmap for self-healing distribution gridsSiemens ENEAS solutions for distribution automation

Fault detection and location

Asset monitoring

Grid quality

Med

ium

-vo

ltag

eLo

w-v

olt

age

Monitoring Automation

Restoration

Reconfiguration

Self-healing

Power quality Low-voltage control

Answers for infrastructure and cities.

_FB_697_ENEAS_DA_eng_250x335.indd 1 13.03.12 17:19


24 ASIAN POWER


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Asian Power