The Global Energy Transformation is Happening
By Kheng Hiang, with additional reporting by IRENA
The Thinktank Roundtable F session organised by IRENA on “Global Energy Transformation” opened with a speech by Roland Roesch, Deputy Director, Innovation and Technology Centre, IRENA.
He highlighted that the global energy transformation is not one which is constrained by costs of renewables but rather one that uplifts society, fosters economic growth and boosts employment and sustainability.
Mr. Roesch explained that while the cost of renewable continues to decline rapidly, production cost of renewable energy is now comparable to that of fossil fuels (of $0.05/kWh to $0.16/kWh).
The key message was that about 90 per cent of the solutions to decarbonise, from electrification from energy efficiency improvements, are related to the political agenda to stabilise the global temperature to increase by no more than 2 degrees Celsius as per the Paris agreement.
Nicholas Wagner, Programme Officer, Renewable Energy Roadmaps (REmap), IRENA, presented on key technology solutions to achieve a global energy transformation.
He said that the energy transition is not about climate, is also about social economic consequences. For decarbonising and digitalising the transport sector, he stated that ideas like multimodal transport which can be big in some countries, going from car sharing to ride sharing and alternative modes to e-scooters can revolutionise transport. There is a need to design a system that builds on the synergies.
Dr. Partha Dutta, Senior Vice President, Data Science, Digital & Technology, Sembcorp, shared that information detail collection is important for the front and centre, and from across gas power, energy retailer and renewable energy sectors.
In gas power, highly complex equipment is critical to the national infrastructure, and the goal is to squeeze out efficiency of these critical assets. To get the right kind and amount data is the goal. A lot of digitalising is required to increase the quality of the data from OEM and instrumentation. With this data, there will be new opportunities for efficiency and dispatch operations, which are significant dial movers given power plant footprints around the world.
He shared that in the renewable energy sector, the variability of energy from wind and solar is a challenge from the commercial and sustainability perspectives. Sembcorp is doing a lot of machine learning to increase predictability to give Sembcorp the edge in planning and providing services to their clients.
Dr. Liu Qiang, Co-chair and Secretary-General, Global Forum on Energy Security (GFES), Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), shared how, as part of the energy transformation in the past 10 years, regional interconnection for cross-border energy trade contributed to the increase in renewables capacity. He cited examples such as the power connection from Russia for natural gas and oil, importing crude oil from Central Asia, natural gas imports from Myanmar, and electricity trade with Laos.
He also pointed out that China’s economic growth is slowing down, with quarterly GDP growth falling from 6.5 to 6.2 per cent. This will lead to a reduction in the share of coal and natural gas and enable China to integrate more renewable power to the grid.
Energy demand will rise by 20% by 2050 throughout APAC. And while China will continue to play a big part, Southeast Asia is definitely growing in impact - David Wogan, Assistant Vice President, Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre shares more at #SIEW2019's Thinktank Roundtable F. pic.twitter.com/AynTyOR3gJ
— SingaporeInternationalEnergyWeek (@SIEW_sg) October 31, 2019
Around 55% of new power capacity added in #ASEAN in 2019 are #renewables. There is strong commitment to bring in more #renewables to meet the growing energy demand in #ASEAN - Beni Suryadi, ASEAN Centre for Energy during Thinktank Roundtable F @SIEW_sg #SIEW2019
— Wei Chian (@pohwc1) October 31, 2019
Because of the tremendous pace of transition and technological advancements, systems in place today will play very different roles in the future. Therefore, technologies need to be flexible in order to serve future needs - @aivanberkel, Research Director, @LuxResearch. #SIEW2019
— SingaporeInternationalEnergyWeek (@SIEW_sg) October 31, 2019
.@IRENA @SIEW_sg ‘think tank’ panelists on the key to accelerating energy transformation progress:
— IRENA (@IRENA) October 31, 2019
🔹“More flexible financing”
🔹“Overcoming human reluctance to change”
🔹“Better public–private communication”
🔹“Stronger political economies”#itspossible #SIEW2019 pic.twitter.com/zaMbuow6Fn
The second session highlighted the socio-economic impact of such energy transformation in terms of GDP growth, employment creation, and human welfare improvements. These impacts have found to be positive at the global level while that on individual countries and regions depends not only on the level of policy ambition, but also on the degree to which they leverage and enhance their domestic capacities.
The panelists concurred that for global energy transformation, we need good investment plans, a change in attitude towards transformation, cultural changes, regulation to make the market environment conducive and economic subsidies that are more targeted to consumers and the general population.
Why make the renewable energy transition? To enjoy the socio-economic benefits that come with it. Therefore, it becomes easy to make business cases - Thomas Capral Henriksen, Head of Energy Cooperation, Embassy of @DKinIndonesia speaks at #IRENA’s Thinktank Roundtable. #SIEW2019
— SingaporeInternationalEnergyWeek (@SIEW_sg) October 31, 2019
Access to clean cooking is still lacking in many parts of Asia. Usage of traditional biomass to heat & cook leads to poor environmental conditions. Women and children are often the hardest hit - says @REN21's Hannah E Murdock, Project Manager & Analyst. #SIEW2019
— SingaporeInternationalEnergyWeek (@SIEW_sg) October 31, 2019
The #decentralization nature of distributed generation opens up more opportunities for people to participate in this #EnergyTransition - Dr. Chen Shiun, Vice President of Sarawak Energy, at @IRENA Roundtable F @SIEW_sg #SIEW2019
— Wei Chian (@pohwc1) October 31, 2019
Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, Founder-CEO, The Council on Energy, Environment and Water concluded the session by stating: “The trilemma of sustainability, growth and jobs can be squared off with equilibrated polices because the future is going to decarbonise, digitalise and decentralise.”Badariah Yosiyana, @IRENA, wraps up the Thinktank Roundtable by drawing out key points from the panel to address #energy transformation: 1. Affordability 2. Highlighting socio-economic costs 3. Priorities in jobs, growth & sustainability and, 4. Ambitious targets. #SIEW2019
— SingaporeInternationalEnergyWeek (@SIEW_sg) October 31, 2019