www.teitimes.com
February 2020 • Volume 12 • No 12 • Published monthly • ISSN 1757-7365
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
It’s coming home
Scoring PV+batteries
Home Energy Management is
where the action looks set to be.
Page 13
Weighing up the likely uptake of solar
plus batteries for various applications.
Page 14
News In Brief
Businesses show leadership
in climate crisis
While US President Donald
Trump labelled climate activists
as “perennial prophets of doom”
during his address at last month’s
World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, corporations continued
to show that they view climate
change as a serious threat.
Page 2
Brazil sees offshore wind
horizon
Brazil could deploy as much as
700 GW of wind energy in offshore
regions with water depths of 50 m
or less, according to new analysis
by EPE.
Page 4
Coal tax waiver could
threaten clean energy
growth
The Indian government’s proposed
carbon tax waiver on coal could
pose signicant risk to the country’s
renewable energy sector growth.
Page 5
Terna drives grid overhaul
Italian grid rm Terna is overhauling
the country’s electricity network
with the help of innovative storage
technologies.
Page 7
Saudi Arabia launches NREP
third round
Saudi Arabia will add 1200 MW
of solar PV capacity to its grid
following the third round of its
National Renewable Energy
Programme.
Page 8
R-R ready for “pivotal”
storage role
Rolls-Royce has increased its
holding in energy storage specialist
Qinous in a bid to broaden its reach
and boost its microgrid offering.
Page 9
Technology: Making a
sterling effort in energy
storage
New technology that combines
thermal energy storage with Stirling
engines is being developed to bring
cost-efcient, 24/7, renewable power
closer to commercialisation.
Page 15
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Germany has agreed to close its coal red plants three years earlier than planned but not all
are happy with the decision. Junior Isles
Renewables must double to advance energy
transformation, says Irena
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY
TIMES
Final Word
The climate change
battle is no walk in the
park, says Junior Isles.
Page 16
Germany has bowed to public pres-
sure, with its move to speed up its exit
from coal red generation. But the
decision to close down the country’s
coal red plants earlier than origi-
nally scheduled has not been well
received by environmentalists or coal
red generators.
Last month Chancellor Angela
Merkel and ministers from the coal-
mining states of Saxony-Anhalt, Sax-
ony, North Rhine-Westphalia and
Brandenburg agreed overnight a
“shutdown plan” for the country’s
coal plants. The scheme has been writ-
ten into a draft law and is expected to
be ratied by mid-2020.
With the announcement that plants
would be closed by 2035, instead of
2038 as previously planned, “the exit
from coal begins now, and it is bind-
ing”, Environment Minister Svenja
Schulze told reporters in Berlin.
The agreement also provides for an
end to operating licences in the former
Hambach forest (west), threatened by
the extension of a lignite mine, which
became the symbol of the ght against
coal in Germany. RWE said more than
half of its 2.1 billion tonnes of coal
reserves would now remain buried.
The agreement is part of the coun-
try’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis,
the government said. A plan agreed in
December under pressure from anti-
coal demonstrators calls for Germany
to reduce output of greenhouse gases
by 55 per cent compared with 1990s
levels. The country has already admit-
ted it will miss an intermediate target
for 2020 but the task of quitting coal
has been complicated by Merkel’s de-
cision to end nuclear power genera-
tion by 2022.
Eric Schweitzer, who heads the As-
sociation of German Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, said a key
question is how the electricity cur-
rently coming from coal red power
plants will be replaced. Schulze ac-
knowledged that Germany will need a
“massive expansion of wind and solar
energy”.
The government said reviews will
be carried out in 2026 and 2029 to de-
termine whether Germany can exit
coal red electricity generation in
2035, three years before the nal
deadline.
Economy Minister Peter Altmaier,
said: “What we have here is a good
agreement for climate protection be-
cause it makes clear that we mean it
seriously.”
The Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz,
said that the coal plant operators
would receive €4.35 billion in com-
pensation for switching them off early,
with payouts spread out over the 15
years following the shutdown. The
money will be on top of €40 billion
that the government has already
promised to coal-mining regions to
soften the economic blow of abandon-
ing the fossil fuel.
RWE is set to receive €2.6 billion of
the compensation package, with the
remaining €1.75 billion set aside for
Continued on Page 2
The share of renewables in global
power should more than double by
2030 to advance the global energy
transformation, achieve sustainable
development goals and a pathway to
climate safety, according to the Inter-
national Renewable Energy Agency
(Irena). Renewable electricity should
supply 57 per cent of global power by
the end of the decade, up from 26 per
cent today.
A new booklet ‘10 Years: Progress
to Action’, published for the 10th an-
nual Assembly of Irena, charts recent
global advances and outlines the mea-
sures still needed to scale up renew-
ables. The agency’s data shows that
annual renewable energy investment
needs to double from around $330 bil-
lion today, to close to $750 billion to
deploy renewable energy at the speed
required.
Much of the needed investment can
be met by redirecting planned fossil
fuel investment, said the report.
Close to $10 trillion of non-renew-
ables related energy investments are
planned to 2030, risking stranded as-
sets and increasing the likelihood of
exceeding the world’s 1.5°C carbon
budget this decade.
“We have entered the decade of re-
newable energy action, a period in
which the energy system will trans-
form at unparalleled speed,” said Ire-
na Director-General Francesco La
Camera. “To ensure this happens, we
must urgently address the need for
stronger enabling policies and a sig-
nicant increase in investment over
the next 10 years.”
According to Irena, additional in-
vestments bring signicant external
cost savings, including minimising
signicant losses caused by climate
change as a result of inaction. Sav-
ings could amount to between $1.6
trillion and $3.7 trillion annually by
2030, three to seven times higher
than investment costs for the energy
transformation.
In January the Abu Dhabi Fund for
Development (ADFD) approved the
allocation of approximately $105 mil-
lion for eight renewable energy proj-
ects recommended by Irena. The proj-
ects recommended under the seventh
cycle of the Irena/ADFD Project Fa-
cility, marks a record level of funding
for any cycle since the facility was
launched.
The facility supports developing
countries in securing low-cost capital
for renewable energy projects to in-
crease energy access, improve liveli-
hoods and advance sustainable devel-
opment on the ground.
The new projects – in Antigua and
Barbuda, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cuba,
the Maldives, Nepal, Saint Lucia and
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines –
bring the total to 32 projects and
around 200 MW of new renewable
energy capacity under the partnership.
All of the eight new projects are
based on solar, with the exception of
those in Antigua and Barbuda (hy-
brid solar and wind), the Maldives
(waste-to-energy) and Nepal (biogas
digesters).
Falling technology costs continue to
strengthen the case for renewable en-
ergy. In its report, Irena points out that
solar PV costs have fallen by almost
90 per cent over the last 10 years and
onshore wind turbine prices have
fallen by up half in that period.
By the end of this decade, solar PV
and wind costs may consistently out-
compete traditional energy. The two
technologies could cover over a third
of global power needs.
Germany’s move
to speed up coal
plant closures
meets backlash
Merkel and ministers from coal-
mining states agreed to 2035 closures
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - FEBRUARY 2020
3
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THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - FEBRUARY 2020
9
Companies News
The Ocean Renewable Energy Action
Coalition says it will bring together
industrial groups with civil society
and intergovernmental institutions to
prepare a pathway to 2050 for ocean
energy technologies as well as repre-
sent the sector in the global dialogue
on climate action.
The coalition’s members include
CWind, Global Marine Group, JERA,
MHI Vestas, Mainstream Renewable
Power, Shell, Siemens Gamesa, Ten-
neT and The Crown Estate.
According to a report publisehd by
the Expert Group of the High-Level
Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Econ-
omy, ocean based renewables such as
offshore wind, oating solar, tidal and
wave power, could account for almost
ten per cent of the annual greenhouse
gas emissions reductions needed by
2050 to keep global temperatures at
less than 1.5°C above pre-industrial
levels. Most of this climate change
mitigation potential is expected to
come from offshore wind.
“If we’re serious about ghting the
climate crisis, it’s vital we decarbo-
nise the world’s energy use as quick-
ly as possible through technologies
like offshore wind,” said Benj Sykes,
Vice President at Ørsted. “The Ocean
Renewable Energy Action Coalition
will work together to accelerate the
opportunity presented by ocean re-
newables to achieve the Paris Agree-
ment goals.”
Stephen Bull, Senior Vice President
for Wind and Low Carbon at Equinor,
said: “Collaboration between nations
and companies is needed to accelerate
the sustainable deployment of ocean
renewable energy. This Action Coali-
tion includes leading industry players
in offshore wind and we are working
together to unleash the full potential
of offshore wind globally.”
The Action Coalition was formed in
response to the September 2019 Call
for Ocean-Based Climate Action
made by the High-Level Panel for a
Sustainable Ocean Economy, with ad-
ditional partners including Global
Wind Energy Council and the UN
Global Compact.
It will devise a vision for 2050, high-
lighting the actions that industry, -
nanciers and governments can take to
sustainably scale-up offshore wind,
and thereby contribute to the UN Sus-
tainable Development Goals and
global decarbonisation goals.
Initial outputs will be announced at
the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon
in June 2020.
Siân Crampsie
UAE rm Masdar is extending its
global reach with new international
joint ventures targeting renewable en-
ergy in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa.
The company has signed an agree-
ment with France’s EDF to establish a
company offering energy efciency
and distributed solar energy services
in Abu Dhabi, and has also established
a joint venture with Spain’s Cepsa to
develop renewable energy projects in
the Iberian Peninsula.
In a third deal, Masdar and Egypt’s
Innity Energy have announced plans
to develop utility-scale solar energy
and wind power projects in Egypt and
Africa.
Masdar and EDF’s new joint venture
will leverage the support of their re-
spective subsidiaries, including
Dalkia, EDF ENR, EDF Renewables
and Citelum, to provide solutions such
as Energy Performance Contracts.
The company will help tackle the
“signicant challenge” of reducing
building and industry-related emis-
sions, and support Abu Dhabi’s 2030
energy efciency strategy, Masdar
CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi
said.
In Europe, Masdar and Cepsa have
established a 50:50 joint venture called
Cepsa Masdar Renovables that will
focus on developing wind power and
solar photovoltaic projects with an ini-
tial target of 500 to 600 MW in Spain
and Portugal.
Renewables accounted for more than
half of Portugal’s electricity demand
in 2019, with the country targeting
80 per cent clean power by 2030. Spain
is looking to reach 74 per cent electric-
ity generation from clean power sourc-
es by the end of the decade.
“The Iberian Peninsula is an attrac-
tive location for renewable energy in-
vestors and we look forward to expand-
ing our renewable energy portfolio
further into the region, while strength-
ening our partnership with Cepsa,” Al
Ramahi said in a statement.
Last month Masdar announced an
agreement with renewable energy rm
Innity Energy to take advantage of
renewable energy opportunities in
Egypt and Africa.
The joint venture Innity Power
“will bolster the progress Egypt has
made in renewable energy and catalyse
further development in the region”, Al
Ramahi said.
Innity Energy currently operates six
solar plants with a total capacity of
235 MWp, and is the leading renew-
able energy developer in Egypt. “Inn-
ity Power will also extend its commit-
ment to our home continent – Africa,”
said Mohamed Elamin Ismail Man-
sour, Managing Director and co-
founder at Innity Energy. “We believe
in Africa’s large growth potential in the
power sector and we look forward to
implementing renewable energy gen-
eration projects where they are needed,
and to seeing the positive impacts of
these projects on the local communities
where they are located.”
The European Bank for Reconstruc-
tion and Development recently com-
mitted an investment in Innity En-
ergy of up to $60 million in the form
of capital increase to nance the devel-
opment of renewable energy projects.
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
(SGRE) has expanded its geographical
reach in the lucrative wind turbine ser-
vices market with the completion of a
deal to buy part of its insolvent German
rival, Senvion.
SGRE announced in January that it
had sealed the €200 million deal, ac-
quiring large parts of Senvion’s ser-
vices business across 13 European
countries and securing around 2000
jobs.
It called the move “transformation-
al” because it will strengthen its com-
petitive position in Europe with the
addition of around 9 GW of serviced
capacity.
The deal also includes Senvion’s in-
tellectual property. “This has been a
unique opportunity for consolidation,
a win for all parties and a perfect match
for Siemens Gamesa,” said SGRE
CEO Markus Tacke. “By integrating
these assets and highly skilled profes-
sionals we will improve our position
as a leading global service partner at a
crucial moment for the wind industry´s
growth.
“The transaction also offers Senvi-
on’s customers a long-term solution for
their servicing needs, following Sen-
vion’s insolvency.”
“This acquisition is an important
part of our strategy to grow our multi-
brand service business. Now that
we’ve successfully closed the transac-
tion, we will focus on the integration
and ensuring that operations continue
smoothly,” said Mark Albenze, CEO
of Siemens Gamesa’s Service busi-
ness. “By acquiring all relevant know-
how and IP to access the SCADA and
controller software, technical knowl-
edge on spare parts supply and Sen-
vion’s remote control centre, we are
well positioned to offer competitive
service solutions to all of Senvion’s
customers worldwide,” he added.
Senvion went into administration in
2019 and says that the deal with SGRE
will save around 60 per cent of its
workforce.
The company had struggled nan-
cially in the competitive wind energy
market faced with falling levels of
government support and lower energy
prices.
Rolls-Royce has increased its holding
in energy storage specialist Qinous in
a bid to broaden its reach and boost its
microgrid offering.
The engineering rm says it is acquir-
ing the shareholdings of other current
nancial investors in Qinous to take its
holding to 73.1 per cent.
The details of the transaction have
not been disclosed but will give Rolls-
Royce a broad range of battery storage
options and enable it to pool all of its
microgrid activities operating under its
Power Systems Division.
Rolls-Royce had already acquired a
19.9 per cent stake in Berlin-based
Qinous as a start-up back in October
2018. The company is involved in
battery storage systems and associ-
ated control systems, and has already
implemented storage solutions
around the world.
Qinous will become the competence
centre for microgrid solutions within
Rolls’ Power Systems division, with
its founding shareholders continuing
to hold shares in the company and re-
taining their current roles, Rolls-Royce
said.
“Our new subsidiary is to play a piv-
otal role going forward,” said Andreas
Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power
Systems Division. “This is where we
are going to pool all the division’s mi-
crogrid activities – from simple stor-
age solutions to complete, complex
microgrid solutions of various sizes
and congurations.
“As a young, start-up-style company,
Qinous brings expertise that is an
ideal complement to Rolls-Royce’s
industrial credentials.”
According to Schell, the two compa-
nies have been working jointly on stor-
age technology development and be-
lieve they can “achieve new market
potential by integrating more closely.
We see great market potential for sus-
tainable power supplies, especially for
distributed, environmentally-friendly
MTU microgrid solutions.”
Qinous specialises in modular, scal-
able, prefabricated plug-and-play bat-
tery products that combine renewable
energy sources, power generators and
battery storage technology.
“This even closer partnership be-
tween Rolls-Royce and Qinous is a
logical and consistent step towards
opening up the rapidly growing mi-
crogrid market,” said Steffen Hein-
rich, co-founder and co-managing
director of Qinous.
“The functionality and reliability of
the solutions have been proven in a
large number of projects. Now, with
MTU’s experience and global pres-
ence, we can meet demand more
quickly and more comprehensively.”
R-R ready for
“pivotal” storage
role
Masdar
builds
with new JVs
SGRE expands with Senvion deal
Ocean coalition aims to
accelerate offshore wind
A new global partnership has been created by energy giants Ørsted and Equinor in a bid to help accelerate the growth
of offshore wind and other ocean renewable energy technologies.
n Masdar targets Iberia with Cepsa
n EDF, Masdar boost Abu Dhabi
buildings efciency
Equinor has assumed stable frame-
work conditions and necessary in-
vestments in the electricity grid.”
Japan’s Marubeni and French energy
major Total are to build an 800 MW
solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Qatar.
Marubeni announced it has signed
a 25-year power purchase agree-
ment (PPA) with Qatar General
Electricity and Water Corporation
(Kahramaa) for the output of the Al
Kharsaah Solar PV independent
power project. It will own a 20.4
per cent stake in the project, while
Total will own 19.6 per cent.
Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Elec-
tricity & Water Company (QEWC)
will own the remaining 60 per cent
of the project.
The Tunisian Ministry of Mines and
Energy and STEG has selected a con-
sortium led by Engie and Nareva as
the preferred bidder for constructing
the Gafsa photovoltaic power plant in
Tunisia.
The consortium will develop, de-
sign, nance, build, operate and
maintain the 120 MWp plant, which
will be one of the rst solar IPPs in
Tunisia and part of the country’s re-
newable energy sector development
programme.
The project is the rst collabora-
tion between Engie and Nareva in
Tunisia. The two companies have
previously jointly developed the
300 MW Tarfaya wind farm located
in Morocco.
SNC-Lavalin’s Candu Energy has
been awarded a $10.8 million contract
by Societatea Nationala Nuclearelec-
trica (SNN) for engineering analyses
and assessments on the Cernavoda
Unit 1 nuclear reactor in Romania.
Under the contract, Candu Energy
will focus on the fuel channel and
feeder assemblies of the plant, with
the objective of extending its oper-
ating life by around four years, or
up to 245 000 effective full power
hours (EFPH).
The work will enable the plant to
continue operating safely until it is
ready for refurbishment in 2026.
Cernavoda 1 produces over 700
MW of electricity, about 10 per cent
of Romania’s electricity demand. It
was commissioned and began com-
mercial full power operation in De-
cember 1996.
GE has received a second order from
the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC)
for a 9HA.01 heavy-duty gas turbine
for the Orot Rabin plant, located in
Hadera, Israel.
The unit will be installed at the
Orot Rabin power plant, which is
being converted from coal to gas
ring. For the conversion, GE will
also provide a steam turbine, gener-
ator, heat recovery steam generator
and balance of plant equipment – as
well as a 15-year multi-year servic-
es agreement.
Once operational, the Orot Rabin
combined cycle gas turbines are ex-
pected to be the largest and most
efcient gas red power units in
the country, delivering up to 1260
MW, i.e. more than eight per cent
of Israel’s current total power gen-
eration capacity.
BWSC has entered into a Technology
Supply contract and a 15-year O&M
contract for Gentse Warmte Centrale
(GWC), a 20 MWe biomass power
plant located in Ghent, Belgium.
BWSC will design and supply
GWC’s biomass feeding system,
the biomass red boiler and the ue
gas treatment system. Belgian Eco
Energy (BEE) is the developer of
the project.
Elecnor, based in Bilboa, Spain, is
the turnkey contractor for the plant.
The construction period is sched-
uled for 25 months with the plant
expected to be operational early
2022.
Iberdrola has selected DNV GLs
GreenPowerMonitor (GPM) solution
to monitor the 500 MW Núñez De
Balboa solar power plant in Spain.
The solar farm is the largest under
construction in Europe and is due to
start operating in the rst quarter of
2020. The plant will be monitored
with GPM SCADA management,
which allows control of each indi-
vidual device in the solar plant.
The Núñez de Balboa solar proj-
ect is the biggest photovoltaic plant
monitored by DNV GLs GPM. It
joins a portfolio of over 4000 solar
and wind facilities that produce
more than 29 GW of clean energy
around the globe.
DNV GL acquired GreenPower-
Monitor in June 2016.
Nordex has won a contract in the
Netherlands to equip the De Drentse
Monden en Oostermoer wind farm.
The manufacturer will supply 44
of its N131/3900 turbines including
the foundations with a total capaci-
ty of 171.6 MW to Duurzame Ener-
gieproductie Exloermond BV,
Raedthuys DDM B.V. and Wind-
park Oostermoer Exploitatie B.V.,
who are jointly developing the proj-
ect, located in Groningen.
Nordex will also be providing ser-
vice for all these turbines after in-
stallation on the basis of a Premium
Service contract for a period of 25
years. The turbine delivery and in-
stallation will start from the second
half of 2020.
Norwegian energy giant Equinor has
announced plans to cut absolute
greenhouse gas emissions from its
offshore and onshore operations to
near zero by 2050.
Under the plan Equinor is aiming
to reduce emissions from its Nor-
wegian operations by 40 per cent
by 2030 and 70 per cent by 2040,
requiring annual cuts of more than
5 million tonnes.
It will achieve the targets through
large scale industrial measures, in-
cluding energy efciency, digitali-
sation and the launch of several
electrication projects at key elds
and plants, including the Troll and
Oseberg offshore elds and the
Hammerfest LNG plant.
“We plan investments in the order
of 50 billion Norwegian kroner
($5.46 billion) together with our
partners by 2030 to cut emissions in
order to strengthen the long-term
competitiveness for our elds and
plants,” said Eldar Sætre, CEO of
Equinor. “In setting these ambitions
Burns & McDonnell will serve as the
engineering, procurement and con-
struction (EPC) contractor for a $134
million electrical control system up-
grade and modernisation project at
the New York Power Authority’s
2525 MW Robert Moses Niagara hy-
dropower plant.
Burns & McDonnell will work
with Emerson to implement the up-
grade, which is part of a $1.1 billion
programme to extend the life of the
hydropower plant. Emerson will
provide its Ovation automation sys-
tem as well as associated congura-
tion and commissioning services.
The project will be implemented
in a phased approach and started in
late 2019.
Wärtsilä has signed a two-year opera-
tion and maintenance (O&M) agree-
ment with the Bahamas Power and
Light Company Ltd (BPL) for a 132
MW power plant that it recently com-
pleted in the Bahamas.
Wärtsilä will train and develop the
owners Bahamian work force for
managing the new technology,
while also providing key perfor-
mance guarantees.
The Clifton Pier Station A power
plant project was awarded to Wärt-
silä in December 2018 on an engi-
neering, procurement, and construc-
tion (EPC) contract. The plant was
urgently needed to replace an age-
ing facility, and to improve the reli-
ability of the local grid. Wärtsilä
delivered the new plant on a fast-
track basis in just 12 months.
The New Providence-based
plant’s output is generated by seven
Wärtsilä 50 engines, running on
heavy fuel. Its engines can play an
effective balancing role, ensuring
system stability to offset the inevi-
table uctuations in supply from
wind and solar sources.
The US Department of Energy (DOE)
has awarded funding to Expert Micro-
systems to develop technology to im-
prove operations at coal red power
plants.
Expert Microsystems will lead a
project to develop, demonstrate, and
commercialise a novel approach to
improve coal red power plants’
ability to follow loads and handle
transient behaviour by integrating
two proven real-time monitoring
techniques.
“The future role of coal plants will
depend on the ability to cycle power
output and follow loads to meet
marginal power demands, accom-
modate renewables and support the
grid,” commented Randy Bickford
President & CTO of Expert Micro-
systems.
The hybrid analytics approach pro-
vides a single solution that inte-
grates an established, advanced data-
driven analytics solution that in-
cludes articial intelligence, ad-
vanced pattern recognition, and ma-
chine-learning techniques provided
by Expert Microsystems with a well-
proven, rst-principle thermal heat
balance model solution provided by
MapEx Software Inc.
XMPLR Energy is also supporting
the project.
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
(SGRE) has been named as the
preferred turbine supplier for the 2640
MW Dominion Energy Virginia off-
shore wind project in the USA.
The wind farm is the largest US
offshore wind farm in development
to date. Dominion is expecting to
complete turbine installation off the
coast of Virginia by 2026 but has
yet to determine the nal number of
units and exact turbine model.
The agreement is subject to cer-
tain conditions including Dominion
Energy’s nal investment decision,
governmental permitting, and other
required approvals, SGRE said. It
will also include a long term service
and maintenance agreement.
Dominion Energy Virginia Off-
shore Wind will expand on knowl-
edge gained though the current two-
turbine, 12 MW Coastal Virginia
Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. It
is the rst offshore wind project to
be built in US Federal waters and
will utilise SGRE’s 6 MW SWT-
6.0-154 wind turbines.
CVOW is set to be online in 2020
within a research lease area adja-
cent to the site where the 2640 MW
project will be located.
Wärtsilä has signed an engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC)
contract for a new 100 MW/100 MWh
energy storage project in an unnamed
location in South East Asia.
The new facility will use Wärt-
silä’s GEMS energy management
software and will provide grid sup-
port services. It will enable the tran-
sition towards the greater use of re-
newables in the region by boosting
grid reliability, Wärtsilä said.
A Chinese consortium has signed a
deal to build the world’s largest oat-
ing solar hybrid power project.
BGRIM Power Energy China, a
consortium of B Grimm Power Plc
(BGRIM) and China Energy Engi-
neering Group Shanxi Electric
Power Engineering Co Ltd. (Energy
China) has signed an engineering,
procurement and construction
(EPC) contract with the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand
(Egat) to build the project at the Sir-
indhorn Dam.
BGRIM will install a 45 MW so-
lar power plant on the water surface
of the Sirindhorn reservoir and
combine it with the output of exist-
ing hydropower capacity at the site.
The project will help to create a
synergy between solar and hydro-
power and is an important step in
the development of renewable ener-
gy in Thailand, according to Egat
Director Gen Somsak Rungsita.
The solar project is set to start op-
erating at the end of 2020.
JinkoSolar Holding has signed deals
to deliver 150 MW of photovoltaic
(PV) panels for three projects in
Cambodia.
JinkoSolar will supply panels for
one 60 MW and one 30 MW PV
park in Krakor district, in Cambo-
dia’s Pursat province. The third
plant, with a capacity of 60 MW,
will be located in the central prov-
ince of Kampong Chhnang.
The solar farms are part of gov-
ernment efforts to increase renew-
able energy generation in Cambo-
dia, where electricity demand is set
to grow from 1.5 GW currently to
2.3 GW by 2020 and 2.8 GW by
2021.
Americas
Asia-Pacic
NYPA orders hydro
upgrade
Wärtsilä brings Bahamian
plant on line
Wärtsilä supports ASEAN
grid
BWSC wins Belgium
contract
DNV to monitor Núñez de
Balboa
Total and Marubeni to
build Qatar PV plant
Engie and Nareva win bid
for Gafsa
SNC-Lavalin to assess
Cernavoda 1
Israel opts for GE
HA technology
Nordex adds 172 MW to
the Netherlands
Equinor commits to
zero CO
2
Egat to build oating solar
JinkoSolar powers
150 MW in Cambodia
Expert Microsystems gets
DOE support
SGRE selected for
Dominion offshore wind
International
International
Europe
10
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - FEBRUARY 2020
Tenders, Bids & Contracts
typically high cost kerosene or batter-
ies (used in lamps) or diesel generated
electricity, the economics of solar
with batteries is very attractive.
Rating: *****
n Application 2: Displacement of oil
generation. Developing countries use
large quantities of heavy fuel oil and
diesel to produce power. Costs vary by
country and region, but it is expensive
and polluting. Fuel savings can be
achieved by reducing demand for
heavy fuel oil and diesel-powered gen-
eration using PV and storage.
Solutions rely on tying the technolo-
gies together into a grid and providing
energy management to balance the
contributions of each energy source
and load requirements.
Currently, PV can typically account
for 10-15 per cent of energy intensive
users baseload demand, and 20-25
per cent of energy demand for domes-
tic dominated demand.
Hybrid PV-storage-diesel solutions
are suitable for isolated heavy indus-
tries or villages that use diesel genera-
tors. With typical requirements from
hundreds of kilowatts to tens of
megawatts, shifting from diesel-only
generation to hybrid solutions brings
economic and environmental benets,
extending the diesel generators ser-
vice life. Competing against diesel,
the economics are strong. Even versus
heavy fuel oil, such applications are
attractive.
Rating: ***** versus diesel; and ****
versus heavy fuel oil.
n Application 3: Managing PV ramp
rates where grid connected. In some
countries, PV makes up such a large
proportion of the energy mix that
weather-related uctuations in output
can cause network instability and
centrally controlled PV generation is
often curtailed. Grid operators in
Costa Rica and other countries have
addressed this by requiring PV plants
to ramp-up and ramp-down produc-
tion on demand.
Grid-tied PV and batteries can
comply with this ramp requirement.
The PV inverter is set up to provide
the ramp-up slope. Batteries can be
deployed to prevent steep falls, thus
providing the ramp-down slope. This
does not require large storage – only
equivalent to about 15 minutes of PV
capacity is needed.
Adding storage to a PV system will
increase the cost of the solution but
T
he percentage of renewable en-
ergy (RE) in the global energy
mix has increased signicantly
in recent years. Solar photovoltaic
(PV) technology is leading this emer-
gence, with large-scale grid-tied proj-
ects dominating in both developing
and developed countries.
Success is due to the modularity of
PV systems, which can be designed in
capacities ranging from kilowatts to
megawatts, and are simple to install,
operate and maintain.
The steep reduction in project costs
from component manufacturing, in-
stallation, operations and mainte-
nance and other costs, are the main
drivers for the rapid spread of PV
technology globally.
Grid-tied PV systems are connected
to the utility grid and have to supply
energy at a specied voltage and fre-
quency. Grid operators have addi-
tional requirements such as reactive
power control.
The main limitation of grid-tied PV
is its dispatchability – the ability to
supply power on demand. Steeply
falling energy storage costs are help-
ing PV operators respond to the
challenge, countering weather-related
intermittency to achieve a smoother
energy output curve.
Batteries are competing in the elec-
tric vehicle (EV) market as well as
bulk energy management, and inte-
grating solar PV and batteries is
opening up novel possibilities. The
following four examples cover the
main opportunities this combination
of technologies can address.
In each case, we give an indicative
scoring of the likely uptake based on
a ve-star rating, with a two-star
score indicating a marginal case for
deployment, while ve-stars indicates
a very attractive economic return.
n Application 1: Rural electrication
in developing countries. Much of Af-
rica remains off-grid. Many national
governments are not planning to ex-
pand their electrical networks into
rural areas in the foreseeable future as
low population density makes it hard
to recoup the cost of investment.
Off-grid PV offers a solution. It can
meet the needs of isolated homes,
health centres and industries. PV with
batteries can meet needs ranging from
1-10 W ‘pico’ systems for street light-
ing, for example, to domestic and
community scale. When meeting the
needs of several consumers, solutions
will involve a distribution network
and metering – so-called ‘micro-‘ or
‘mini-grid’.
Advantages of off-grid applications
include: ability to meet different load
proles; wide range of capacity from
watts to megawatts; low cost of distri-
bution due to the short distance be-
tween points of production and use;
and ability to interconnect with diesel
or hydro generation to achieve 24/7
power.
Given that the benchmark option is
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - FEBRUARY 2020
Energy Outlook
14
Integrating solar
PV and batteries is
opening up novel
possibilities. Mott
MacDonald examines
four examples that
cover the main
opportunities this
combination of
technologies can
address, in each
case providing an
indicative scoring of
the likely uptake.
Oscar Velasco
Strengthening the PV offer
with batteries
Falling cost is the main driver for the rapid spread of PV technology
Main characteristics of solar and batteries in the four different applications
Application Main Storage Share of Output Economic Indicative
grid duration output Prole attractiveness cost 
connected ¢/kWh
Rural electrication No 3-4 hours 70% Load tracking **** 25-30
Displacement of No 15-30 20-25% Natural bell ***** 8-12
oil generation mins shape
on mini grid
Managing PV Yes 15 mins Not Natural bell *** 8-12
ramp rates meaningful shape
Capacity Yes 3-4 hours Not Truncated *** 25-30
rming Meaningful bell shape
will make it technically feasible for
countries to continue to increase PV
penetration into their electrical net-
works.
The economics of adding batteries
to manage ramping are signicantly
less strong for the owner of the gen-
erator, although on an overall system
basis, this often provides a signicant
net benet. The star rating depends on
whether the generator can access the
overall system benets.
Rating: *** where benets can be ac-
cessed; otherwise **
n Application 4: Capacity rming
where grid connected. Capacity rm-
ing enables PV plus storage to dispatch
a committed power output over an
extended time period, but much less
than 24/7. Capacity rming is achieved
by storing a proportion of the energy
generated from the PV array during
peak sunlight hours, then exporting it
to the grid after sundown or even re-
taining it for early morning, when ir-
radiance is low.
Typically, this solution requires
around three generating hours of stor-
age. Committed power output will
vary depending on the power pur-
chase agreement (PPA); the PPA
needs to provide an uplifted purchase
price for delivering power outside of
the peak daylight hour which is suf-
cient to make investment in addi-
tional PV capacity and storage
worthwhile.
Rating: *** where the PPA provides
the incentive.
The table summarises the main
characteristics of solar and batteries
in the four different applications. The
indicative costs are in ¢/kWh and all
relate to a megawatt scale application
in an average African country.
Overall, we see investments in solar
continuing. It is exible, increasingly
robust and in time can be linked with
emerging technologies such as ‘green’
hydrogen – that is, hydrogen pro-
duced from water by electrolysis us-
ing renewable energy. By strengthen-
ing PV systems with batteries, the
scale of installations will increase. In
large power systems, we anticipate
single projects touching 2-3 GW in
capacity by 2030, calling for HVDC
grid connections due to increasing
distances from the power source.
Oscar Velasco is Solar Engineer at
Mott MacDonald Limited.
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - FEBRUARY 2020
15
Technology
New technology that
combines thermal
energy storage with
Stirling engines is
being developed to
bring cost-efcient,
24/7, renewable
power closer to
commercialisation.
Junior Isles
explains.
R
enewables plus storage, and
in particular solar plus stor-
age, is fast becoming a major
disruptor technology in the electrici-
ty sector – whether as an off-grid so-
lution for remote communities in de-
veloping countries or for owners in
more developed markets looking to
produce their own power and poten-
tially sell excess electricity back to
the grid.
Typically, these systems take the
form of solar photovoltaic (PV)
panels connected to batteries, usual-
ly lithium-ion. But while battery
storage systems are cost-effective
for providing a few hours of storage
per day, they are not the ideal solu-
tion in scenarios where longer term
storage is needed.
In September last year, Swedish
solar energy company Azelio
launched a partnership with Abu
Dhabi Future Energy Company
(‘Masdar’) and Khalifa University
of Science and Technology to run a
pilot project in Abu Dhabi that will
evaluate a new technology in power
storage. It is the second such pilot
that is being built to ofcially verify
this promising technology.
This latest pilot will be installed
within the site of the Sustainable
Bioenergy Research Consortium
(SBRC) – a research centre located
at the Masdar City campus of Khali-
fa University. Electricity generated
from the installation will be used to
power the air conditioning for the
project’s ofce and storage units.
The pilot aims to test and demon-
strate Azelio’s Stirling engine sys-
tems and integrated thermal energy
storage (TES) solution for renewable
energy projects that use solar PV,
concentrated solar power (CSP) and
wind energy, or projects that provide
off-grid solutions, with the purpose
of determining if the technology can
be included in current and future re-
newable energy projects.
Commenting on the drivers behind
the technology’s development, Jonas
Eklind, Azelio’s CEO, said: “The
key driver for all our projects is that
if you want storage that can provide
you with renewable energy 24 hours
a day, our technology is the most
cost-efcient alternative.
“And the most unique thing is that
we can build these 24 hr/day solu-
tions in a distributed way, so you can
have small-medium sized projects
close to the end-user. Of course you
can build 24 hr storage with stored
hydropower but you need quite a big
end-user. Ours is a solution for what
you call distributed baseload, where
projects are based on 100 kW mod-
ules that can provide electricity for
13 hours. Plants will be typically be-
tween 500 kW and 20 MW.”
Typically, the system would com-
prise wind turbines or solar panels,
an energy storage media and a Stir-
ling engine for converting the heat
from the storage media to electricity.
Eklind explained: “The heat stor-
age is done at a very high tempera-
ture of 600°C. Firstly, this gives a
very high energy density, for more
cost-efciency; and secondly it gives
a high efciency when you convert
that heat back into electricity, since
that efciency very much depends
on the temperature potential between
the ambient temperature and the
storage temperature.”
Research and tests showed that an
aluminium alloy, with a melting
temperature of 577°C was the opti-
mum material to use as the storage
media. Eklind also explained that
having a storage media that goes
through a phase change, e.g. from
solid to liquid, allows an even high-
er energy density. He added: “We
have a maximum temperature in the
system of 670°C. As we need to do
this phase change at least one time
every day for 30 years, we need a
material that is not destroyed by the
high temperature. Salt [as the ener-
gy storage media] could not survive
such a high temperature. And even
at a lower temperature, salt could
not survive one phase change per
day for 30 years.”
Notably, the aluminium alloy is
stored in a specially shaped contain-
er that not only accommodates the
changing shape of the melting alloy
but also maximises heat transfer
from the electrical heating element
into the block of alloy. Eklind also
notes that one of the biggest innova-
tions is in the energy transport within
the system. “At the other end of the
system we have to transport the heat
energy stored in the aluminium into
our conversion unit, which is a Stir-
ling engine.”
The Stirling engine basically oper-
ates in a closed system, extracting
the heat from the storage media to
drive a piston that is connected to a
generator to produce electricity.
Azelio has been working on the
system for several years. It has been
using its Stirling engine since 2008
and developed the thermal energy
storage system in 2016. Eklind says
the company has put all the compo-
nents of the system together and is
currently running a demonstration
project in Sweden.
In addition to this, the rst pilot
plant is under way at the Noor solar
complex in Morocco. In collabora-
tion with Morocco’s Agency for
Sustainable Energy (Masen), the pi-
lot aims to produce verication data
under the more challenging ambient
conditions in which it will typically
operate.
“Operating in Morocco is different
to Sweden,” said Eklind. “There is
different ambient temperature, there
is a lot more sun and more heating
up of enclosures and there is a lot
more dust. The quality of the elec-
trical output also has to be tested. In
Sweden, there is no sun in the win-
ter, so we are charging it with grid
electricity, this quality will be dif-
ferent from the electricity produced
from PV panels.”
This pilot started operating at the
end of December last year and Aze-
lio is now optimising and tuning the
system before starting a formal ver-
ication run that will be supervised
by an external company. Data pro-
duced from this verication will be
important in securing nancing for
future commercial projects. “For
normal projects, you typically need
6-12 months of data,” said Eklind.
Formal verication will start dur-
ing the rst quarter of this year to
provide data which demonstrates
that the system can, for example, be
charged in the predicted time, con-
tain the specied amount of energy,
and discharge it in the predicted 13
hours at the specied power output.
It also needs to demonstrate the
predicted operational availability.
“We need to demonstrate that it has
run as it should with only the need to
stop it for normal service every 6000
hours,” said Eklind. “It should also
not need any special tuning or ad-
justments that requires specialists.
Essentially it must run as a commer-
cial or industrial project, that can be
serviced by local people.”
The pilot in Abu in Dhabi is a sec-
ond verication unit that will be
started in the second quarter of this
year. Here Khalifa University will
provide the research support and
expertise needed for the two testing
periods at the pilot and the data col-
lected by the researchers during the
testing phases will be compared
with data from existing dispatchable
technologies.
Following this, Azelio expects to
start volume production of its units
during the summer of 2021 and then
start “more industrial deliveries” in
the second half of that year.
There has already been signicant
interest from potential customers. In
January Azelio signed a Memoran-
dum of Understanding (MoU) with
the Jordanian company Hussein
Atieh & Sons Co. (HAE), to work
together on setting up a small-scale
project in Jordan.
The project paves the way for a
commercial collaboration of about
25 MW of Azelio’s energy storage
technology in the Jordanian market
until 2023. This capacity is forecast-
ed to provide 50 kW in 2020, 3 MW
in 2021, 7 MW in 2022 and 15 MW
in 2023. The rst project of 50 kW
with 13 hours of storage will be in-
stalled in Q4 2020.
Eklind added: “We actually have
MOUs for ve projects that have
specied timelines. These are MOUs
for projects that have a request for
deliveries of around 160 MW in total
for the period of 2020-2024. These
are in sub-Saharan Africa, Oman,
Jordan and California. We also have
MOUs with three companies for
projects without specied timelines.”
With agreements for expected de-
livery of small commercial installa-
tions this year, Azelio’s system is
essentially already a commercial of-
fering. Verication data will allow
these projects to secure nancing
and for the end customer to achieve
nancial closure.
Certainly the future looks promis-
ing, with potential customers already
lining up. According to Eklind the
company is currently evaluating a
project pipeline with a value of €16
billion.
“When we presented the solution
for the rst time in June 2018, dur-
ing that summer we received re-
quests for more than 100 projects in
20-25 different countries,” he said.
Eklind concluded: “The huge pipe-
line shows that the market is vast
and that the technology can be used
in so many different places… but at
the same time we are directly replac-
ing fossil fuels with dispatchable re-
newables. Being able to bring elec-
tricity 24 hours/day to regions that
have no access to electricity at all
has a big social impact. This makes
working on such a development very
rewarding.”
Making a
sterling effort in
energy storage
Eklind: “… the most unique
thing is that we can build
these 24 hr/day solutions in a
distributed way”
Dispatchable wind and solar, 24/7: an
artist’s rendering of Azelio’s solution
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - FEBRUARY 2020
16
Final Word
U
S President Donald Trump
may have been the most men-
tioned participant at the recent
World Economic Forum (WEF) An-
nual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland,
but he offered little in terms of his
country’s contribution to the battle
against climate change.
While topics like geopolitics and
cyber threats were among the top
subjects of the week-long debates, the
main discussions centred on climate
change and the associated risks. Much
of Trump’s speech, however, was de-
voted to lauding his administration’s
domestic economic policies.
Clearly Trump – a long time climate
change sceptic, who in the early days
of his presidency dismissed it as a
hoax created by the Chinese – either
remains unchanged in his beliefs or
puts his own domestic economy
ahead of tackling what is by common
consensus a global crisis.
Indeed in his Davos address the US
president poured scorn on what he
sees as pessimism and alarmist rheto-
ric from climate change activists and
environmentalists.
“To embrace the possibilities of
tomorrow we must reject the peren-
nial prophets of doom and their pre-
dictions of the apocalypse. They are
the heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune
tellers,” he said, adding that those
people “want to see us do badly”. He
compared such “alarmists” to the
Cassandras of earlier decades who
warned of over-population, “mass
starvation,” and the “end of oil”.
“We will never let radical socialists
destroy our economy, wreck our
country…,” he said. This begs the
question: does Trump see “radical
socialists” as a greater threat than
climate change? Perhaps he knows
something we do not, although I
doubt it.
Trump said that with “US research-
ers and companies leading the way, we
are on the threshold of virtually unlim-
ited reserves of energy including from
traditional fuels: LNG, clean coal, next
generation nuclear power and gas
hydrate technologies”. Trump should
note that such energy reserves are from
unlimited and with the exception of
nuclear, all emit carbon when burned.
In fact, although a potentially valuable
energy resource, gas hydrates release
large amounts of methane – an even
more potent greenhouse gas than CO
2
– when they decompose.
So apart from investing in “virtually
unlimited reserves of energy”, what’s
his plan? The only statement related
to climate change that received ap-
plause from the audience was his
commitment to the ‘1 Trillion Trees
Initiative”, a programme to protect and
restore one trillion trees by 2050.
Planting more trees is admirable; trees
are nature’s carbon-sink and efforts are
needed from all directions. Yet it is
hardly a strategy that Trump needs to
announce with such fanfare. Putting it
into perspective, 1 trillion trees is al-
most three times the amount of all the
trees in the amazon rain forest. Just
nding space and physically planting
that many trees is a tall order; and how
much of an effect will they have?
Equally critical, is how fast would they
have an impact?
Trump would do better to clean up
industries and their energy supplies,
and redouble efforts in energy ef-
ciency in both electricity supply and
heat. Further, there is increasing evi-
dence that investing in clean tech will
not “wreck our economies”. To the
contrary, businesses see investing in
clean and sustainable technology as
crucial to addressing their future busi-
ness challenges, of which risks linked
to climate change rank as the greatest
concern.
During the Davos meeting the WEF,
in collaboration with Marsh &
McLennan and Zurich Insurance
Group, launched its ‘Global Risk
2020 Report’. The report is part of the
Global Risks Initiative, which brings
stakeholders together to develop
sustainable, integrated solutions to
the world’s most pressing challenges.
In compiling the report, over 750
global experts and decision-makers
were asked to rank their biggest
concerns in terms of likelihood and
impact. For the rst time in the sur-
vey’s 10-year outlook, the top ve
global risks in terms of likelihood are
all environmental.
The report sounds the alarm on:
extreme weather events with major
damage to property, infrastructure
and loss of human life; failure of
climate change mitigation and adap-
tation by governments and busi-
nesses; man-made environmental
damage and disasters, including en-
vironmental crime, such as oil spills,
and radioactive contamination; major
biodiversity loss and ecosystem col-
lapse (terrestrial or marine) with ir-
reversible consequences for the envi-
ronment, resulting in severely
depleted resources for humankind as
well as industries; and major natural
disasters such as earthquakes, tsuna-
mis, volcanic eruptions, and geomag-
netic storms.
It adds that unless stakeholders adapt
time will run out to address some of
the most pressing economic, environ-
mental and technological challenges.
This signals where action by business
and policy-makers is most needed.
John Drzik, Chairman of Marsh &
McLennan Insights, said: “There is
mounting pressure on companies –
from investors, regulators, customers,
and employees –to demonstrate their
resilience to rising climate volatility.”
Corporations appear to be embracing
the changes needed to build sustain-
able, clean businesses – not just to gain
PR points but because it makes busi-
ness sense. The growing number of
RE100 members and companies
achieving carbon neutrality is grow-
ing. RE100 is a global corporate
leadership initiative bringing together
inuential businesses committed to
100 per cent renewable electricity.
Since it was launched at Climate
Week NYC 2014, the initiative has
expanded across Europe, North
America, India, and China, and is now
seeing rapid growth in areas such as
Japan and Australia.
Led by The Climate Group in part-
nership with CDP, RE100’s purpose is
to accelerate change towards zero
carbon grids, at global scale. Both The
Climate Group and CDP are part of
the We Mean Business coalition,
working to catalyse business action
and drive policy ambition to accelerate
the zero-carbon transition.
According to the coalition, 1176
companies globally now recognise the
transition to a zero-carbon economy is
the only way to secure sustainable
economic growth and prosperity for
all. It says businesses are harnessing
climate action as a driver of innova-
tion, competitiveness, risk manage-
ment and growth, while delivering the
emissions reductions needed to avoid
dangerous climate change.
With energy systems being the
driver of economic growth, corpora-
tions are making the transition by
committing to sourcing 100 per cent
of their energy from renewables and
increasing energy productivity.
Last month Visa announced it had
reached its goal to use 100 per cent
renewable electricity by 2020, while
Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor
Corp. said it successfully powered its
European operations and facilities
with 100 per cent renewable electric-
ity in 2019. And in a blog post pub-
lished during the week of the Davos
meeting, Microsoft went one step
further, pledging to become “carbon
negative” by 2030. The $1.2 trillion
software giant said it would launch a
$1 billion innovation fund to tackle the
climate crisis with new carbon reduc-
tion, removal and storage technology
and said would offset all the carbon
emissions it has produced since it was
founded in 1975.
These announcements illustrate that
clean energy and sustainability is not
only essential to avoid irreversible
climate change but is also big business.
In January research company
BloombergNEF (BNEF) reported
that a new record was set in 2019 for
the volume of sustainable debt issued
globally in any one year, with the
total hitting $465 billion globally, up
from $261.4 billion in 2018.
Jonas Rooze, lead sustainability
analyst at BNEF, commented: “Our
data show sustainable nance con-
tinuing to power ahead on a global
basis. The steep increase is fuelled by
end-investors’ concerns about the
threat of climate change, and the
desire of many big company, bank
and government leaders to be seen as
behaving responsibly.”
The path ahead, however, will not
be easy. As Mathias Lelievre, CEO at
Engie Impact, points out: “Compa-
nies are increasingly embracing the
notion of sustainability transforma-
tion, but the challenge of achieving
carbon reduction targets is highly
complex – that’s why according to
Engie Impact analysis, only 25 per
cent of companies are on pace to
achieve their commitments.”
Clearly the battle against climate
change is no walk in the park, no
matter how many trees are planted.
More trees just won’t cut it
Junior Isles
Cartoon: jemsoar.com