ENERGY NEWS - TURKEY
Turkey to Invest TL 8.75 Billion in Electricity Distribution

Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez announced that the distribution sector will invest TL 8,75 billion within 2 years.

Donmez stated that the sector made TL 12,3 billion of investment in the last 3 years.

“We will achieve our targets by making another TL 8,75 billion of investment in total this year and the next year,” he said.

The announcement from the Minister came during the opening ceremony of the 12th Sector Gathering of the Association of Distribution System Operators (ELDER) in Afyonkarahisar.

The minister Donmez said they have taken important steps for the liberalization of the energy markets and for the formation of the competition-based energy market in recent years.

Expressing that competition means energy supply with reasonable cost for the consumers, service quality of which the standards advances day by day and increase in the customer satisfaction in every sense, Dönmez noted that competition means more investment and chance of business growth for the employers, more employment for the employees, extra financial income for the commonwealth, as well.

“30 billion Turkish Lira of investment budget of which TL 18 billion from private sector, TL 12 billion from the state has been determined for the period 2016-2020 for the renovation of both transmission and distribution infrastructure to give world class service in Turkey. We made TL 12,3 billion of investment in the last 3 years. Our planned realization target for 3 years was 55 percent. We reached 63 percent in that ratio, in our realization target of the last 3 years. We will achieve our targets by making another TL 8,75 billion of investment in total this year and the next year. In the transmission side, we realized almost TL 3,4 billion of investment in 2018, by the 119 percent of realization. We project another 2 billion of investment in 2019, too,” he explained.

Electricity Demand Getting Bigger in World

The chairman of the Committee on Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural resources, Information and Technology of TGNA Mustafa Elitas said in his speech in the 12th Sector Gathering of ELDER that electricity demand is getting bigger in the world day by day.

Expressing that energy need of our country is increasing more rapidly than European countries due to the reasons like economic growth and increasing population growth, Elitas said “To reduce foreign dependency in energy and to supply increasing energy demand without problem is our primary focus.”

Elitas explained that the leakage in the electricity distribution sector of Turkey reduced almost to the level of 12 percent that was 24 percent before 2000.

TL 3,5 Billion Invested in 2018

The President of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) Mustafa Yilmaz said “Distribution companies made TL 3,5 billion of investment in 2018. An extra of almost 14 percent of the projected investment limit of 3 years was realized.”

Emphasizing that all the companies need to pay more attention to the corporate communication, the President of EPDK Yilmaz spoke as “We are waiting for the media planning of the distribution companies to be done. Even a single social media post can affect the perception of the millions of people. So, it is your responsibility to get up to date, to put forward up-to-date communication strategies, to employ personnel with good education and qualities in this field.”

The President of EPDK Yilmaz made some statements also about leakage ratio, as well. Yilmaz said these:

“As of 2018, the leakage ratio in electricity distribution sector has come to the level of 11 percent, by reducing around 25 percent since 2013 when the privatizations were completed. This reduction is an important reflection of the investment on the network and the improved operation practices, the system applied by the institution and the developed R&D projects.”

The Priority in The Distribution is Renovation of Network Older Than 30 Years

The Chairman of the Board of ELDER Serhat Ceçen made the statement that “We have TL 28,5 billion of undertaking for the tariff period including the years 2016-2020 as the distribution sector. As of 2018, we have realized the TL 20 billion of this amount.”

The President of the Association of Distribution System Operators (ELDER) Serhat Ceçen said that their primary focus for the upcoming period is to renovate the network infrastructure older than 30 years as the sector.

Ceçen pointed out in his speech in the opening of the 12th Sector Gathering of ELDER that electricity sector is not only the locomotive of the economy, it is also one of the decisive elements of the welfare level, as well.

Expressing that they work for 43,5 million subscribers, Ceçen stated that as the distribution sector, they have 28,5 billion of undertaking for the tariff period including the years 2016-2020 as the distribution sector and as of 2018, they have realized the TL 20 billion of this amount.

Turkey Produces 86% Electricity from Local, Renewable on May 1

Turkey produced 86.14% of its electricity from domestic and renewable resources on Wednesday, May 1, according to statistics from Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.

The statistical data showed that the country produced a total 665.19 million kilowatt-hours of electricity on Wednesday. From this total, hydro plants constituted the largest percentage of 50.12% or 333.33 million kilowatt-hours.

Local coal plants contributed 19.98% to electricity generation, wind plants powered 10.67%, and natural gas power plants added 6.83%, while 7.03% consisted of imported coal.

The remaining 5.37% was generated from geothermal, fuel oil and biogas plants.

Source: AA

ENERGY NEWS - WORLD
Green Economy is Future: UN Secretary

Winning the race against climate change to keep our planet livable and on a healthy trajectory requires action rooted in sustainable solutions aligned with the Paris Agreement and the UN-driven 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Saturday.

“To put it simply, we need green development. We need sustainable development. And we need it now,” the UN chief told world leaders in Beijing, discussing ways to boost green development as part of a conference on China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Painting a sobering picture of the challenges ahead – for the planet and the broader effort to secure improved human well-being while reducing environmental risks – Mr. Guterres recalled that the last four years were the hottest on record and that natural disasters have wreaked havoc in nearly every region of the globe.

“No country or community is immune. And, as we know, the poor and vulnerable are the first to suffer, and the worst hit,” said Mr. Guterres, warning that the climate crisis threatens decades of progress and jeopardizes all our plans for inclusive, sustainable development.

“And the clock is ticking. Science has clearly told us that we have only 12 years for this transformation, if we want to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

Yet the race to head off a climate catastrophe and ensure a safe and secure planet for all can be won, he said, with global action rooted in solutions that are sustainable and aligned with the landmark Paris accord and the UN 2030 Agenda.

To help generate ambition and to showcase practical, feasible and ambitious solutions to meet globally agreed goals, Mr. Guterres is convening a Climate Action Summit in New York on 23 September.

“I am calling on leaders to come with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2020,” he said, referring to efforts by each country under the Paris Agreement to reduce national emissions and adapt faster to the impacts of climate change.

The Secretary-General said these plans must show how greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 45 per cent over the next decade and how the world can get to net zero emissions globally by 2050 through strong mitigation and adaptation measures.

“It is why I have been asking leaders around the world to adopt carbon pricing that reflects the true cost of emissions, end subsidies on fossil fuels, and stop construction of new coal plants beyond 2020,” he explained, noting that he is also counting on leaders to make sure their plans include women as key decision-makers and address the disproportionate impacts many women experience from climate change.

In all this, Chinese leadership will continue to be crucial, said Mr. Guterres, stressing that new renewable energy jobs in China now outnumber those created in the oil and gas industries. China also played a pivotal role in building bridges and securing an agreement at last December’s UN Climate Conference in Katowice – and will host next year’s second Global Sustainable Transport Conference.

The Belt and Road Initiative, with its huge volume of investment, said, Mr. Guterres, is an opportunity to propel the world into a green future and help countries transition to low-carbon, clean-energy pathways with new infrastructure that is sustainable and equitable.

“The momentum for transformational change is growing,” said the Secretary-General, stressing that the “green economy is the future,” and more governments, cities and businesses than ever understand that climate solutions strengthen economies and protect the environment at the same time.

New technologies are delivering energy at a lower cost than the fossil-fuel-driven economy, he continued, and solar and onshore wind are now the cheapest sources of new power, in virtually all major economies.

Source: Europeansting

Falling Costs Make Wind, Solar More Affordable

Harnessing wind and solar energy for low-carbon electric power generation was once considered uneconomical. Now, rapidly falling costs for these technologies are boosting global renewable energy capacity. Renewable energy sources can help reduce carbon emissions substantially and the effects of global warming.

As the Chart of the Week from the April World Economic Outlook shows, solar and onshore wind turbines saw the biggest price declines among low-carbon energy sources between 2009 and 2017. Prices dropped 76 percent for solar panels and 34 percent for turbines during that time, making them competitive alternatives to fossil fuels and more traditional low-carbon energy sources such as hydropower and nuclear.

The numbers are based on the so-called levelized cost of electricity, a method of calculating the cost per unit of power that would be needed to recover the investment in building and operating different generating technologies.

Global investment in renewable energy capacity has accelerated in the past decade, as wind and solar have emerged as cost-effective power sources. While hydropower attracted the most investment in renewable energy up to 2008, wind turbines took the lead in 2009, and solar panels became the dominant investment choice by 2016. In 2017, more was invested in solar than in all other low-carbon technologies combined.

While the cost of wind and solar power generation declined, nuclear and hydropower costs rose 21 percent and 9 percent, respectively, during the same period. Unlike wind and solar power, nuclear and hydro are mature technologies that require large investment in structures with low standardization, like other large-scale civil engineering projects such as bridges and railroads. These factors tend to limit the potential for cost reduction for these kinds of projects.

In contrast, research and development in solar and wind technologies, their standardization, and economies of scale in manufacturing have resulted in increasingly efficient solar panels and larger wind turbines.

While predictions are difficult, the experience with wind and solar technologies may suggest a similar path for the cost of producing electric batteries, whose production could become significantly more efficient with standardization and economies of scale.

Source: IMF

Greece Plans to Tender Extra 300 MW of Solar in July

The energy ministry has published a plan for renewables auctions for this year and next. Under the program, Greece’s energy regulator has announced the next PV tender will take place in the summer.

Greek PV projects are still hampered by a requirement to hold a generation license and grid connection agreement.

Greece’s next renewable energy tender will take place on July 1 and will offer investors up to 300 MW of PV capacity and the same amount of wind power, energy regulator RAE has announced.

The tender concerns PV projects with a capacity of up to 20 MW and wind farms smaller than 50 MW in scale. It is not clear whether developers with larger projects will be permitted to split their farms into separate, smaller slices of capacity, as German developer Juwi Group recently did in a similar procurement round, the results of which were published last week. Applications to bid in the exercise must be submitted to the RAE by the end of May, at 5pm local time. The regulator is yet to announce the date it will start fielding bids but did add that all solar bids must pay a €500 application fee.

Tender starting prices will be set at €0.0692/kWh and €0.6918/kWh, for PV and wind systems, respectively.

The regulator applies a competition rule that demands tenders be oversubscribed by at least 40% for results to be valid. That requirement has been relaxed since last year’s tenders, which had to be oversubscribed by at least 75%, but means bids amounting to at least 420 MW of PV must be received for the full 300 MW capacity to be allocated in July.

However, the 300 MW of solar capacity set to be tendered in July falls short of the 430 MW of PV projects Greece’s Environment and Energy Ministry said it wanted to see developed this year, in plans outlined days before the RAE publicized details of the summer procurement.

The ministry had outlined an ambition of adding 430 MW of solar this year – through dedicated solar auctions for projects with a generation capacity of up to 20 MW – with a further 300 MW planned next year. The ministry plan also envisages a mixed PV and wind tender next year for larger projects, that will offer up 500 MW of capacity to investors.

Another mixed tender has also been proposed this year to provide renewable generation capacity for the island of Evia. The island’s great wind power potential prompted the government to decide a few years back to build a subsea cable linking Evia to the mainland, with wind power generated on the island to be transmitted to Athens.

However, not all the wind power investors were willing to contribute to the cable costs, meaning some generation capacity was left unallocated. As a result, some of that outstanding wind and solar capacity could now be awarded through the proposed mixed tender, although the ministry has not confirmed how much.

The biggest hurdle to securing renewable power capacity in Greece remains a requirement that bidding projects hold a generation license and grid connection agreement. Few planned projects currently meet that qualification, driving down the number of projects that are eligible to bid, with the eventual capacity awarded further handicapped by the aforementioned over-subscription rule.

The fact tender exercises fall short of allocating their headline capacity figures may explain why the RAE has undershot the ministry’s solar target.

Source: PV Magazine

France Announces €200 Million for Autonomous Electric Public Transport

France’s minister of Transport, Élisabeth Borne has announced a plan to invest €200 million in the development of electric, autonomous public shuttle transport, and new legislation to support autonomous vehicles.

The government intends to invest the funding into shuttle transport in 16 rural and urban areas across France and, has committed to create the legal framework to support the initiatives.

Current legislation doesn’t make allowance for autonomous transport on public roads, and new legislation is expected. A proposal called LOM (la loi d’orientation des mobilités or, mobility orientation law) has already been passed by Senate and is expected to be adopted later in 2019. The legislation will permit autonomous vehicles on French roads from 2020.

Service operators will be sourced from the public and private transport as well as the freight or logistics industry.

One of the trial projects will see two autonomous electric shuttles serving the area of Heart of Brienne in Indre. Vehicles are already running in Paris and can carry up to five passengers each. A further trial is set to take place in Nantes, which will use and abandoned railway as the route for two autonomous vehicles which will ferry up to 300 passengers per hour during peak transport periods.

The minister says the new initiatives are hoped to encourage the use of public transport and will also improve transportation services for the elderly.

Source:  Smart Energy International

REPORT OF THE WEEK

Renewables (Em)Power Smart Cities

As cities expand, so does their energy use. And as cities strive to become “smart,” renewable solar and wind power can play a crucial role in helping them achieve their goals. Cities small geographical footprint belies their significance. They cover 2 percent of the world’s landmass, but account for most of the world’s population, economic activity, and energy use. Here, we focus on the third aspect—energy use—as cities and renewable electricity have, respectively, become the habitat and energy of choice globally. The two are increasingly inseparable. As cities vie to attract growing businesses, talent, and innovation in an increasingly global competition, solar and wind power have become key for many in achieving their smart city goals.

Please click here to read the full report.

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