ENERGY NEWS - TURKEY
Turkey Holds First Digital Energy Forum

Energy Digitalization Forum, which is the first digital energy forum in Turkey hosted with 32 speakers and over a thousand attendees from the public, private sector and academia.

Opening speeches of the program were carried out by Head of Energy Efficiency and Environment Department, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Oguz Can, Energy Market Regulatory Authority, Head of Electricity Market Department Refik Tiryaki and EDIDER President, Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University Faculty Member Dr. Kamil Cagatay Bayindir.

During his speech at the forum, Tiryaki said that with the increase of distributed electricity production such as roof type solar panel, there may be energy constraints in the network, which lead the roles of electricity producers and consumers in the market.

He noted that the conventional power system infrastructure has changed.

“These changes due to more integration of renewables in the system could create some problems for power distributiors. At this point, companies will need more cooperation,” Tiryaki said.

President of the Digitalization Association in Energy (EDIDER) Dr. Kamil Cagatay Bayindir stated that the new type of coronavirus epidemic seriously affected the economies all over the world.

Turkey’s Association of Distribution System Operators (ELDER) General Director Mustafa Ozge Ozden stated that digitalization should be handled as a whole.

“In addition to the benefits of digitalization processes to consumers, they need to benefit companies in terms of cost,” he said during the panel entitled Digitalized Energy.

Ozden explained that digitalization will be felt more in the near future adding that technologies promising full digitalization will be an important part of operations.

MRC Turkey General Manager Serhat Can, GDZ Electric General Manager Ugur Yuksel and Oracle Service Sales Manager Muge also shared their thoughts at the panel moderated by EDIDER Board Secretary General Dr. Alper Terciyanlı.

GDZ Electric General Manager Ugur Yuksel said that unlike other sectors, digitalization is a platform to facilitate the work of the distribution sectors. He expressed that digitalization provides lower cost benefits in reducing field operations.

MRC Turkey General Manager Serhat Can stated that they had done the TAS 2023 project as a company. He emphasized that distribution companies have a heterogeneous structure in terms of technology maturity levels. Oracle Service Sales Manager Muge Gokcek noted that each company has its own digital process.

Turkey Sees All-Time Daily Record As 90% of Power Produced from Local, Renewable Resources

Local and renewable energy resources accounted for 90% of Turkey's electricity generation on May 24, a new all-time daily high, the country's energy and natural resources minister said Tuesday.

Sunday marked the beginning of the three-day Feast of Ramadan better known as Eid al-Fitr. Turkey had imposed a four-day curfew over the holiday from May 23 to 26 to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

"On May 24, we achieved a new record in daily production by generating 90% of our electricity from domestic and renewable resources," Fatih Donmez said on his Twitter account, while he didn't specify the amount of the electricity generated in the day.

"Our National Energy continues to renew and our investments bear fruit," Donmez said. Hydro plants constituted the largest percentage of 43.7%, while local coal plants contributed 16.5% to electricity generation, according to the minister.

Wind plants powered 14.5% and solar plants constituted 7.2%. Geothermal and biomass plants added 5.3% and 2.6%. According to official figures of Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAS), total electricity production reached 457,921 megawatt-hours on Sunday. The majority of the output came from hydroelectricity plants at 119,335 megawatt-hours. Run-of-river plants and hard coal followed with 96,201 megawatt-hours and 73,170 megawatt-hours, respectively, the data showed.

Donmez last week said around 70% of Turkey's additional capacity in the last five years had come from domestic, renewable energy sources. In just over a decade, Turkey has tripled its installed renewable capacity to around 45,000 megawatts and invested nearly $40 billion in renewable energy projects. Turkey ranks sixth in Europe and 13th in the world in terms of renewable capacity. According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Turkey's renewable energy capacity of 42 gigawatts (GW) is predicted to reach 63 GW by 2024, placing Turkey among Europe's top five and 11th worldwide in terms of renewable capacity.

Source: Daily Sabah

ENERGY NEWS - WORLD
Record Drop in Energy Investment, Warns IEA

The coronavirus crisis is causing the biggest fall in global energy investment in history. Before the pandemic, funding was set to rise 2%, but now it’s predicted to plunge 20%, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Fossil fuels are hit hardest, with a 30% funding drop expected for oil and a 15% fall for coal.

Renewables investment is down 10% - and it's only about half what’s needed to combat climate change.

Due to coronavirus lockdown measures imposed by many countries, for the time being, the fall in investment is leading to a drop in planet-heating carbon emissions.

But the IEA warns that that use of fossil fuels is likely to rebound when the crisis is over, leading to a spike in CO2.

One reason is because China and other Asian nations are putting in orders now for a new generation of coal-fired power plants to supply energy in the future.

“We see a historical decline in emissions, but unless we have the right economic recovery packages, we might see emissions again skyrocket and the decline of this year would be completely wasted," the IEA's executive director Fatih Birol told the BBC.

“Remember the 2008-2009 crashes. We immediately saw a decline in emissions, but afterwards it rebounded. We must learn from history.”

Approvals of new coal plants in the first quarter of 2020, mainly in China, were running at twice the rate observed over the whole of 2019, he added.

Overall energy investment has fallen almost $400bn (£324.3bn) short of what was expected in 2020, and the IEA says there are now serious doubts about secure energy supplies when the global economy picks up, because energy projects take so long to deliver.

The report says the decline in investment is “staggering” in its scale and swiftness, mostly due to low demand and low prices for energy, especially oil.

Dr. Birol said: “The historic plunge in investment is deeply troubling. It means lost jobs and economic opportunities today, as well as lost energy supply that we might well need tomorrow, once the economy recovers.

“The slowdown in spending also risks undermining the much-needed transition to more sustainable energy systems.”

The report says a combination of falling demand, lower prices and a rise in non-payment of bills means energy revenues to governments and industry are set to fall by well over a trillion dollars in 2020.

Oil accounts for most of the total of this decline. Shale gas – previously the darling of the energy sector - is anticipated to take the biggest percentage hit overall, with a 50% investment fall.

Renewables investment has been more resilient, but spending on rooftop solar installations by has been strongly affected. Energy efficiency is suffering too, as investment is set to fall by an estimated 10-15%.

The overall share of global energy spending that goes to clean energy has been stuck at around one-third in recent years.

In 2020 it will jump towards 40% of total investment - but that’s only relative, because fossil fuels are taking such a battering.

Dr. Birol added: “The crisis has brought lower emissions but for all the wrong reasons. If we are to achieve a lasting reduction in global emissions, then we will need to see a rapid increase in clean energy investment.”

Decisions to commission new coal-fired plants are down more than 80% since 2015, but the global coal fleet continues to grow.

Source: BBC

As Europe Unveils “Green” Recovery Package, Trans-Atlantic Rift on Climate Policy Widens

The United States and Europe have each responded to the virus-induced recession with aggressive economic policy. But their tactics have diverged in one major respect: climate.

That rift widened further on Wednesday when the European Commission — the bloc’s executive arm — unveiled a €750 billion ($824 billion) plan featuring heavy spending on long-term climate goals, such as electric vehicles, low-carbon electricity production and hydrogen fuels.

The full details have not yet been finalized. But a preliminary version calls for spending €91 billion per year in grants and loan guarantees on renewable heating systems, rooftop solar panels, and other sustainability initiatives; €25 billion for renewable energy generation as well as a two-year €20 billion package to increase sales of low-carbon vehicles; and installing two million electric and hydrogen vehicle charging stations by 2025, according to a draft document obtained by Reuters.   “Next Generation EU,” as the proposal has been dubbed, integrates many elements of the vaunted “Green Deal” that aims to make the bloc carbon-neutral by 2050 and that the European Union Parliament approved in January. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has championed the green deal as a central mandate of her tenure.

“The green deal elements will slipstream behind the broader economic mandate of the recovery” package announced today, said David Livingston, an energy specialist with the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. “The current leadership in the EU views its strategic interests and geopolitical relevance as intrinsically intertwined with the global energy transition.”

Not so the US.   The US federal government’s successive economic stimulus packages have so far provided no or little support for the renewable energy sector and other climate initiatives. Instead, the Trump administration’s relief efforts for the energy sector have focused on the oil and gas industry.

“The current leadership in the US...sees the energy transition as at best irrelevant, and perhaps even a threat, to its strategic interests and geopolitical relevance,” said Livingston, “insofar as it erodes the value of prolific American oil and gas resources that have provided additional foreign policy leverage for the US over the past decade." 

So far the Trump administration has declined to grant the oil and gas industry the kind of broad-based relief it has lobbied for. But a handful of targeted policies have provided support. For example, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management has begun granting temporary breaks on what is normally a 12.5% royalty payment — akin to a tax — that all oil and gas companies producing on federal land must pay. The policy is designed to ease the burden on oil and gas firms contending with a historic decline in oil prices.

Some experts say that the plan could actually result in increased money for federal coffers.

Provided that such relief allows some oil wells to avoid being permanently shut down due to bankruptcy, “it is entirely plausible that the present value of the aggregate stream of royalty payments would be higher with such relief,” said Benjamin Zycher, an energy expert at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.  

More relief for oil and gas might be in the works. According to a report by commodities specialist publication Argus Media, citing industry officials, the White House is reviewing a proposed rule change that would allow oil and gas firms to defer royalty payments altogether for three months. 

Such a policy would allow smaller and independent oil and gas producers without deep pockets to survive a cash crunch that many now face as a result of the oil price crash.

Source: Forbes

COVID-19 Intensifies Urgency to Expand Sustainable Energy Solutions Worldwide

Despite accelerated progress over the past decade, the world will fall short of ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030 unless efforts are scaled up significantly, reveals the new Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA) the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the report, significant progress had been made on various aspects of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 prior to the start of the COVID-19 crisis. This includes a notable reduction in the number of people worldwide lacking access to electricity, strong uptake of renewable energy for electricity generation, and improvements in energy efficiency. Despite these advances, global efforts remain insufficient to reach the key targets of SDG 7 by 2030.

“Renewable energy is key to achieving SDG 7 and building resilient, equitable and sustainable economies in a post COVID-19 world. Now more than ever is the time for bold international cooperation to bridge the energy access gap and place sustainable energy at the heart of economic stimulus and recovery measures. IRENA is committed to scale up action with its global membership and partners to channel investment and guide policy intervention in pursuit of sustainable development for all humankind,” said Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

The number of people without access to electricity declined from 1.2 billion in 2010 to 789 million in 2018, however, under policies that were either in place or planned before the start of the COVID-19 crisis, an estimated 620 million people would still lack access in 2030, 85 percent of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. SDG 7 calls for universal energy access by 2030.

Other important elements of the goal also continue to be off track. Almost 3 billion people remained without access to clean cooking in 2017, mainly in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Largely stagnant progress since 2010 leads to millions of deaths each year from breathing cooking smoke. The share of renewable energy in the global energy mix is only inching up gradually, despite the rapid growth of wind and solar power in electricity generation. An acceleration of renewables across all sectors is required to move closer to reaching the SDG 7 target, with advances in heating and transport currently lagging far behind their potential. Following strong progress on global energy efficiency between 2015 and 2016, the pace has slackened. The rate of improvement needs to speed up dramatically, from 1.7 percent in 2017 to at least 3 percent in coming years.

Source: IRENA

Renewable Energy May be Switched Off as Demand Plummets

Hundreds of renewable energy projects may be asked to turn off this weekend to avoid overloading the grid as the UK’s electricity demand plummets to record lows.

Britain’s demand for electricity is forecast to tumble to a fifth below normal levels due to the spring bank holiday and the shutdown of shops, bars and restaurants mandated by the coronavirus lockdown.

National Grid is braced for electricity demand to fall to 15.6GW on Saturday afternoon – a level usually associated with the middle of the night – and continue to drop even lower in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, the sunny weather is expected to generate more renewable electricity than the UK needs. “Bank holidays see reduced demand for electricity, and even more so with the current lockdown measures in place,” said Amy Weltevreden, a manager at the energy system operator.

The National Grid control room plans to use a new scheme this weekend that will pay small wind turbines and solar installations to stop generating electricity if the UK’s renewable energy sources threaten to overwhelm the energy system.

About 170 small-scale renewable energy generators have signed up to the scheme, with a total capacity of 2.4GW. This includes 1.5GW of wind power and 700MW of solar energy. Other companies have also signed up to boost their electricity use when demand falls too low.

“If we’re anticipating the wind blowing at a given time when we’re also expecting low demand, we’re now able to instruct these smaller-scale distributed generators to reduce output to help balance the system,” Weltevreden said.

“Much of the renewable electricity generated in Great Britain comes from these smaller units – what we call distributed or embedded generation. Because they’re not connected directly to our transmission system, in the past we haven’t had as much ability to control the power they’re producing to balance the grid.”

National Grid warned last month that the low demand for electricity could mean that renewable energy is turned off to avoid overloading the grid with more electricity than the UK can use.

Roisin Quinn, head of National Grid’s control room, said: “The assumption will be that lower demand makes it easier for us to do our job, with less power needed overall and therefore less stress on the system. In fact, as system operator, it’s just as important for us to manage lower demand for electricity as it is to manage the peaks.”

Electricity demand fell to record lows of 15.2GW over the Easter weekend, well below National Grdi’s forecast lows of 17.6 GW for this summer.

Source: Guardian

REPORT OF THE WEEK

Energy Subsidies: Evolution in the Global Energy Transformation to 2050

Despite the prevalence of subsidies throughout the energy system, the sector lacks any systematically applied, standardised definition of what subsidies are. This Staff Technical Paper published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) contributes to ongoing research and debate on how energy sector subsidies are calculated and the impact of different methodologies and definitions. It highlights the difficulty of determining true subsidy levels, considers the various sources for such analysis and outlines key results.

Please click here to read the full report.

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