ENERGY NEWS - TURKEY
Turkey to Announce YEKA Renewable Tenders This Month

Turkey will announce mini renewable energy resources zone (YEKA) tenders later this month that will be held in the first quarter of 2020, Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said Wednesday.

Speaking at the 12th International Energy Congress and Expo (EIF 2019) in Ankara, Donmez relayed that Turkey is moving towards reaching new goals in almost all energy sectors including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal and biomass.

Renewable energy resources combined saw a total share of 64% in electricity production in the January-October period of this year, he said.

"If we manage to close the year with those levels, we will save up to $1.5 billion,” he added.

He conveyed the success achieved over the last 17 years in the wind energy sector with a 400-fold increase in installed capacity, while geothermal capacity rose 78-fold, biomass saw a 38-fold increase and hydropower encountered a 2.5-fold boost.

"Having almost no installed capacity in solar energy until 2008, Turkey is now placed in 6th place in Europe and 12th worldwide with 5,600 megawatts of installed capacity," he stressed.

The country has also finalized preparations for winter and the country's natural gas storage facilities are already almost full, he said.

The YEKA tenders form part of Turkey's aim to supply 65% of its energy needs from domestic and renewable sources by 2023, which also includes the production of domestic coal, making the country's mining industry a large contributor to its local energy supply base.

- Compensations of Soma workers to be paid next year

Severance payment for miners, who had been sacked by the subcontracting company at Eynez Coal Mine, will be compensated in the first quarter of 2020, Donmez confirmed.

The Eynez Coal Mine is located in Soma district of Turkey’s Aegean city of Manisa, where 301 miners lost their lives in the country's deadliest mining disaster that occurred in May 2014

Last year, two mining company executives, Soma Holding CEO Can Gurkan and General Manager Ramazan Dogru, were convicted of murder in the disaster’s trial.

Donmez disclosed that workers are required to apply for compensation. He stressed that the government will also continue efforts through all legal means to pay severance to workers at the Isiklar and Atabacasi coal mines.

Production at Isiklar and Atabacasi coalmines, also located in Soma, was halted after the mining disaster. While production started in Isiklar in 2014, only production in part has resumed in Atabacasi.

The 12th EIF 2019 congress, in which Anadolu Agency is the global communication partner, is running from Nov. 6 to 8. It is hosting around 300 executives, experts and CEOs from more than 40 countries to discuss renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass, in addition to topics on the global energy market and investment opportunities in Turkey.

Source: AA

Turkey's Renewable Share in Electricity at 46% in 10 Months

Turkey produced 46% of its electricity from renewable resources during the first 10 months of 2019, Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said Tuesday.

This 46% ratio represents a steady monthly increase, Donmez said during his speech at the 8th Turkish Wind Energy Congress held in Ankara.

Local and renewable energy resources combined saw a total share of 64% in electricity production in the January-October period of this year, marking a record high level, the energy minister said.

"With these figures, we reached our objective of producing two-thirds of our electricity in the short-term from local and renewable resources. Now, we aim to raise this ratio to higher levels," Donmez said.

Currently, Turkey produces 8% of its electricity from wind energy but with increasing energy demand expected over the next three years due to economic growth, Turkey aims to raise this share to 10%.

"Our electricity production from wind energy rose 14.6% in October, from the same month last year, and increased approximately 70% in the last five years," he said.

"We rank fifth in Europe in electricity production from wind energy," the minister added.

Renewable energy resources have a 48% share of total installed capacity today. The total installed capacity of Turkey’s 262 wind farms, both licensed and unlicensed, has reached 7,500 megawatts, and represent an 8% share of total installed capacity, he noted.

"We rank 6th in Europe and 12th in the world in wind installed capacity," he asserted.

Out of the target to reach 10,000 MW installed capacity from wind farms for the 2017-2027 period "1,500 MW has been completed, he confirmed.

The minister hailed the progress that has been made since 2008 when wind energy only had an installed capacity of 19 MW in 2002. He said that capacity rose to 364 MW in 2008, but soared to the current 7,500 MW, marking a 400-fold increase.

In the future, further additions will be made through mini renewable energy resource zones (YEKA) in Turkey and through solar energy power plants (GES) to add 40-50 MW, he said.

- First domestic production wind turbines to go online

"The winning consortium of our first wind YEKA tender is about to complete a factory that will have 400 MW per annum capacity and will use domestically produced or supplied components. It will shortly start manufacturing wind turbines, in which at least 65% of components will be domestic."

Additionally, the factory will have a center for Research and Development (RD) in wind energy for 10 years employing 2,250 people, of which at least 90% will be local factory workers and at least 80% will be local workforce in RD.

Currently, the wind energy sector employs around 17,000 people but employment is expected to grow by 85% in the next five years, Donmez noted.

The minister concluded by explaining that Turkey has moved from a 'build-operate-and transfer model' to a 'full integration model' where wind energy technology is produced by domestic sources.

"Turkey meets 10% of its total energy needs from wind energy," the Chairman of the Committee on Industry, Trade, Energy, Natural Resources, Information, and Technology of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Mustafa Elitas, said.

However, he said that the country is only reaching a fraction of its potential.

"Turkey has wind energy potential of 50,000 MW. Over the last 10 years, our installed capacity has increased to reach approximately 8,000 MW today. This will further increase in the following years," he asserted.

Turkey has focused on increasing the share of local energy resources, such as coal, wind, hydroelectricity and geothermal in its energy portfolio applying sustainable and environmentally friendly production processes.

"The world’s population will reach 9.2 billion by 2040, and global energy consumption will increase 28% by then," Elitas said, in explanation for the need to expand production.

Source: Daily Sabah

ENERGY NEWS - WORLD
European Solar Manufacturer Body Hits out at EU Focus on Post-Production Eco Labelling

The European Solar Manufacturing Council says a decision by policymakers to disregard the carbon footprint of imported solar products ‘makes absolutely no sense’. Talk of ‘jobs which require a rather low qualification’, meanwhile, is unlikely to heal the widening rift with solar project developers and panel installers.

Upstream industry body the European Solar Manifacturing Council (ESMC) has criticized work being undertaken by the European Commission to draft policy aimed at ensuring solar products installed across the continent have rigid environmental standards.

The year-old ESMC wasn’t pulling its punches either, when it said yesterday the decision by European policy wonks to center environmental concerns on where solar panels are installed – rather than manufactured – “makes absolutely no sense with respect to the ecological footprint”.

Although no rival markets were mentioned in yesterday’s press statement, the suggestion Europe should turn its back on bargain basement Chinese imports manufactured using cheap, coal-fired electricity in favor of homegrown products with a much lower carbon footprint is likely to prove a popular one.

However, given the ESMC was launched in Brussels in September 2018 as a result of the tension between ‘downstream’ European project developers eager for ever cheaper components and an embattled manufacturing sector that cannot compete on such thin margins, the language used yesterday is unlikely to smooth relations.

Claiming the European Commission is wrong to prioritize downstream solar as the focus of its proposed new policy package simply because that portion of the industry employs more workers, the ESMC baldly stated: “The kind of jobs related to the downstream sector are, in general, jobs which require a rather low qualification. Installers are electricians and building sector workers, while the upstream part of the value chain employs highly qualified engineers and scientists.”

The point being made, albeit clumsily, was that the reservations many EU member states about opening the floodgates to as much solar as possible, as quickly as possible, relate to a fear of losing highly skilled jobs as Europe’s remaining manufacturers give up the fight. As the ESMC statement added, such “well-paid and highly qualified jobs in the upstream sector … can’t be replaced by downstream jobs”.

The ESMC, which was launched at last year’s EU PVSEC show in Brussels, was commenting upon work being undertaken by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center. Policymakers want to draft standards and policies which would foster the deployment of more eco-friendly solar modules, inverters and other system components across the bloc.

The solar manufacturing body said carbon footprint should be the “lead indicator” of how sustainably manufactured solar products are, rather than primary energy consumption, as is being suggested by commission researchers.

The ESMC also pointed out 2016 is being used as a base year for assessing solar technology and, as if that were not sufficiently out of date, data from as far back as 2010-11 – ancient history in PV industry terms – were being used. On those terms, said the ESMC, mooted eco labelling of products would be rendered meaningless as more than 90% of modules in circulation today would receive the badge of approval. The council suggested last year be used as the base year, and data should be revised every six months to attempt to keep pace with technological developments.

The organization’s strongest criticism was reserved for the idea the environmental impact of projects should focus on where panels are installed rather than where they are manufactured. Similarly, a policy focus on ensuring PV project development is the subject of environmental auditing, rather than component manufacturing, would amount to closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. The ESMC wants policymakers to focus on how much carbon is embedded in solar components.

The European Commission web page devoted to the PV component policy research project states the work began in October 2017 and is “expected to be completed in 2019”.

The statement released by the ESMC also revealed the organization will be established as a non-profit under Belgian law by the end of the year.

Source: pv magazine

Energy Majors Eye Swifter Shift to Green

This week brings quarterly results from the world’s biggest energy companies. Some will beat expectations, some will miss, and after a brief flurry of algo-driven share price adjustment your average investor will carry on hating oil stocks, regardless. But in the malaise gripping the sector may lie the chance for a bold executive to break free from the herd.

 John Browne, the former BP chief, said last week that it felt like the energy transition was “collapsing in time”, with changes towards cleaner energy that were once expected to take decades now being demanded by the public — and increasingly investors — within years. It will not have come as news to incoming BP chief executive, Bernard Looney, or his incumbent rivals at Royal Dutch Shell or Total, who these days spend almost as much time explaining their approach to climate change as they do chasing the next gusher. But despite unprecedented pressure, the heads of European majors have still taken only tentative steps to realign their companies with public expectations.

Oil and gas are the cash cows, the reasonable sounding argument goes, and investors want fat dividends to compensate for holding stocks increasingly viewed as long-term liabilities if oil demand peaks.

By keeping investments in alternative forms of energy below 5 per cent of capital expenditure, European oil executives can claim to be realigning their businesses, but in a prudent and conservative manner. And, hey, we’re doing more than our US peers, they can boast.

The problem is that this approach is barely convincing old investors, let alone attracting new ones. With oil and gas stocks making up a shrinking percentage of major indices around the world, they are becoming easier to ignore. At oil conferences and private briefings, the frustration from top executives is palpable. Since the oil crash five years ago they can reel off a list of achievements. Cost cutting means most are generating as much cash at $60 a barrel as they were at $100. Gas — still a fossil fuel, but cleaner — will make up a bigger percentage of their operations in the future. Cautious investments in renewables make sense until the future energy mix becomes clear.

But in quieter moments there is a dawning realisation that if investors will not buy the story they are selling, it might be time to consider a new approach. While none of the majors is about to renounce fossil fuels, if investors want a faster acceleration into the energy transition, then they need to find ways to profitably deliver one. The company that is first to deliver is likely to make far more impact than whatever shows up in the latest quarterly accounts. And the energy major with the vision to move first and at scale might be the one to win investors round. This might not be imminent. But is more dramatic action now under serious consideration? Definitely.

Source: Financial Times

Trump Serves Notice to Quit Paris Climate Agreement

The Trump administration formally notified the United Nations on Monday that it would withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, leaving global climate diplomats to plot a way forward without the cooperation of the world’s largest economy.

The action, which came on the first day possible under the accord’s complex rules on withdrawal, begins a yearlong countdown to the United States exit and a concerted effort to preserve the Paris Agreement, under which nearly 200 nations have pledged to cut greenhouse emissions and to help poor countries cope with the worst effects of an already warming planet.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the notification on Twitter and issued a statement saying the accord would impose intolerable burdens on the American economy.

“The U.S. approach incorporates the reality of the global energy mix and uses all energy sources and technologies cleanly and efficiently, including fossils fuels, nuclear energy, and renewable energy,” Mr. Pompeo said.

Though American participation in the Paris Agreement will ultimately be determined by the outcome of the 2020 election, supporters of the pact say they have to plan for a future without American cooperation. And diplomats fear that Mr. Trump, who has mocked climate science as a hoax, will begin actively working against global efforts to move away from planet-warming fossil fuels, like coal, oil and natural gas.

Keeping up the pressure for the kinds of economic change necessary to stave off the worse effects of planetary warming will be much harder without the world’s superpower.

“Yes, there are conversations. It would be crazy not to have them,” Laurence Tubiana, who served as France’s climate change ambassador during the Paris negotiations, said in New York recently, adding, “We are preparing for Plan B.”

Negotiators spent the early months of the Trump presidency debating strategies for salvaging American support for the accord. Mr. Trump proved immovable. President Trump had long held that the accord would cripple growth and intrude on American sovereignty. “It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; and Pittsburgh, Pa., along with many, many other locations within our great country, before Paris, France,” he said in 2017 when he announced that the United States would withdraw from the accord.

Around the world, a shift in diplomatic strategy has already begun. Making the accord work without the United States will require other major polluters like China and India to step up. China, now the largest emitter of planet-warming pollutants, has made significant promises but Beijing’s ability to deliver is still in question.

Source: New York Times

Battery Technology Improvements Outpacing Forecasts

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has released a new study which investigates the pace at which battery technologies are being revolutionised and the role they are playing in the energy transition.

According to the Breakthrough Battery Technologies report;

  • The prices of battery technologies continue to fall, investments to further innovate the technologies continue to grow and performance is improving faster than predicted.
  • In the first half of 2019 alone, over $1.4 billion has been invested to improve battery technologies.
  • Owing to improvements in technologies, the 'reality of a future energy system rich in renewables and electric vehicles is closer than ever'. The breakthroughs in battery technology improvements will enable humans to power our lives using renewables as early as 2030.
  • By aligning public and private sector efforts to revolutionise the industry, the US will become a leader in the battery industry, reveals the report.
  • The diversification of battery technology beyond lithium-ion is being made possible by robust private investment; governmental support of research and development; national-, city- and state-level electric mobility and renewable energy targets and growing adoption of EVs.
  • Factors driving the growth of the battery energy storage market include increasing demand for EVs, grid-tied storage, and other emerging applications.

Source: Smart Energy International

REPORT OF THE WEEK

Expanding Offshore Wind to Emerging Markets

As prices continue to fall, offshore wind power is increasingly gaining traction in emerging markets, beyond its current proliferation in Europe and China. By some estimates, offshore wind could add anywhere between seven and 11 gigawatts (GW) per year from 2019 to 2024, with substantial potential in developing countries. This new report estimates that the technical potential for offshore wind in Brazil, India, Morocco, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Vietnam at 3.1 terawatts – which is about three times the installed electricity generating capacity of all EU countries. This includes 1,016 GW of fixed and 2,066 GW of floating potential.

Please click here to read the full report.

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