How Southeast Asia can ensure a swift and just transition away from coal [Agora Energiewende]
November 30, 2023| Published by Agora Energiewende | READ THE STORY HERE Despite their climate commitments, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines expect to build 45 GW new coal power by 2030. Concrete coal phase-out strategies would help reduce emissions and avoid stranded assets if they reassess new projects and retire existing power plants. To ensure a successful implementation of these strategies, international financing partnerships such as the just energy transition partnerships (JETPs) are key. #Coal phase-out Berlin, 30 November 2023. The currently planned new coal power capacities in the Southeast Asian countries Indonesia, Vietnam and the [...]
Profiting from outages
Windfall earnings from spot market spikes go to a blessed few, while the public chafes under rising electric bills. by Atty. Pedro Maniego Jr. | March 26, 2022 | Published by BusinessMirror | READ THE STORY HERE POOR Filipinos. On top of their suffering from the pandemic, they have to cope with ever-increasing electricity prices. Lower economic activity during the lockdowns resulted in lower power demand. But why did electricity costs remain high during this period? The higher rates are mainly traceable to higher spot market prices. Theoretically, available base load supply is more than enough to meet current [...]
Power supply for elections, rest of Q2 2022 in critical state – ICSC report
QUEZON CITY, 8 February 2022 – A climate and energy policy group predicts an electricity shortfall across the Luzon grid this summer, especially during the weeks leading up to and immediately after the coming elections this May, in a new report released today. The report by the Institute of Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), entitled “Luzon Power Outlook: Determining the Adequacy of Power Supply for April to June 2022”, challenges projections of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) that the Philippines will have sufficient power supply in the second quarter of 2022. “Unreliable electricity supply would undermine [...]
Indonesia’s retreat on coal export ban highlights battle to meet climate goals
by Prime Sarmiento | January 20, 2022 | Published by China Daily | READ THE STORY HERE Indonesia's decision to lift its coal export ban, in response to lobbying by its key clients in Asia, illustrates why the region continues to struggle with its climate commitments, experts said. The Southeast Asian nation, the world's largest thermal coal exporter, announced on Jan 1 a monthlong ban on coal exports to avoid domestic outages caused by low coal supplies. It partially lifted the ban on Jan 13 after Japan, South Korea and the Philippines lobbied against this move. Most Asian governments [...]
Indonesia poised to ease export ban on thermal coal
by Ashley Westerman | January 12, 2022 | Published by The World | READ THE STORY HERE In an effort to protect Indonesia’s thermal coal supply, the country imposed an export ban in early January. But after several countries in Asia that depend on the crucial commodity lamented the move, the country has indicated an imminent ease of the ban. In an effort to protect Indonesia’s thermal coal supply, the country imposed an export ban in early January. Indonesia has now indicated that it will ease the ban after several countries across Asia that depend on the crucial commodity — such as Japan, South Korea and [...]