Asia’s heatwaves record is putting its surging renewable power fleet to the test, transmission system upgrades, fare reforms to ensure reliability, highlighting the need for backup supply, and staving off a slowdown in green energy adoption.
Asia’s heatwaves cause temperatures in parts of the region hit 40 Celsius in late April, earlier than usual causing widespread infrastructure damage and power outages.
In China, authorities are keeping coal and gas generators in reserve to meet demand and the sudden spike in consumption since the start of the heat, consultancy Rystad said.
India’s top solar producing state, Rajasthan, has received an “early warning” of the technical challenges that could arise as renewable energy use increases.
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India is extending the life of coal-fired power plants and China is building new ones to ensure there is sufficient spare supply to cope with higher electricity demand, potentially increasing emissions in the absence of regulatory and policy reforms.
Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Center for Research on Clean Energy and Air said that there is no tariff structure in most of Asia to encourage the operation of coal or gas based power plants. Solar and wind power are more difficult to control because they vary depending on local weather conditions, and cannot respond to a sudden drop in demand, unlike hydro and gas power.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, green energy capacity in Asia will grow by 12% by 2022, the fastest pace of any major region. Wood Mackenzie predicts that the share of renewable energy including water in Asia’s energy mix will double from 2011 levels to 28% this year. Most of that growth will come from wind and solar which combined would top 14%.
Source: Reuters
