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Includes News on Technology & Innovation Weekly News 6 October 2017 Rick Perry’s power plant payment plan dismissed as “nuts” Commentators have openly rebuked US Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s proposed bailout for coal and nuclear power plants. In a letter to FERC, Perry had directed the regulator to set up a rule, offering plants that can store 90 day’s worth of fuel onsite some extra compensation. Critics dismissed this plan as “nuts” as it would interfere in America’s unregulated wholesale power market, effectively reducing the price of electricity generated from burning coal. Coal stockpile next to a esiliency is the buzzword with which Perry had been try- power station ing to advocate his proposed policy shift. Stockpiling coal, or uranium, allegedly help these power plants to keep up genera- Not launched by the DoE itself, but by the regulator. The proposal, Rtion in a reliable manner, the head of the Department of Energy if put into practise, would risk a re-regulation of American wholesale argues. Having the fuel stockpiled on site, he says, can help prevent un- power markets. expected downtime and balance the power grid. Subsidies for stockpiling fuel, would encourage coal plant operators to hoard more and more to try and insulated themselves against possible Undisguised blow for gas power fuel shortages. Distorted demand pattern on global coal markets would Flexible gas-fired power plants would not benefit from Perry’s proposed be the consequence, along with artificially inflated spark spreads (the subsidy, given that they rely on pipelines to receive their fuel from afar. profit margin for generation electricity by burning coal). Renewable energy sources are dependent on the weather or the flow of The American coal lobby is delighted, unsurprisingly, and nurtures water – hence they wouldn’t stand to benefit either. hope that coal power might get back into the black, eventually. Over the What Perry has been effectively doing is trying to introduce a past years, coal has been losing out in completion with cheaper natural subsidy for coal and nuclear power plants through the backdoor. gas which is why an array of coal power plant were mothballed or shut continued on page 2 South Korea’s sudden hunger for LNG AGENDA surprises analysts FINANCE Strikingly, South Korea’s year-to-date LNG demand has risen by over 4 million tons ESB seeks to refinance – contrary to expectations it would fall. Yet very little of this demand strength debt for Carrington comes from the power sector; according to Energy Aspects, Korea’s LNG appetite power station 2 this year has been more down to expansion of LNG import facilities with players having bought cheap spot cargoes on CHINA spec and put the gas into storage. CMEC to build 1.2 Gigawatt RLNG power plant as-burn in the power sector remained in Punjab 3 subdued, despite nuclear outages being almost 3 GW higher in January- MARKETS Fracking ban increases GSeptember compared with the same pe- Scotland’s gas import riod last year, leaving nuclear generation 10% lower dependence 4 y/y. Unsurprisingly, given that the 4.6 GW of new- build gas power capacity is outnumbered by over COMPANIES 8 GW of new coal-fired capacity . Beach's production to rise 160% post Lattice Rather than gas, Korea turned to new coal plants acquisition 6 to offset the loss from nuclear. Making great use of the new-build coal power plants, Over 2017, the out- PROJECTS put of coal generation was up by 15 TWh (12%) with METKA wins first EPC deal gas only coming in 0.63 TWh (1%) higher. Source: KEPCO, Energy Aspects for Libyan power plant 9 continued on page 2 2 l FINANCE GTP Journal 6 October 2017 Continued from page 1, top story down. According to a DoE blogpost, a total of connetion which already proposed market subjective concept of resiliency. Stockpiles of 43.1 GW of coal-fired capacity was retired be- changes that could alter the economics in coal and uranium are ultimately less of a guar- tween 2006 and 2015, versus 19.5 GW of new favour of coal-fired power. Evercore ISI antor for flexible electricity supply for Ameri- capacity that was switched on. analyst Greg Gordon anticipates these could can citizens than fast-ramp natural gas-fired add $2-to-$4 per megawatt-hour to wholesale power plants that are securely supplied by Reliability vs. resiliency prices there if implemented. Gas-fired power cheap domestic shale gas. FERC is not expected to wholeheartedly em- plants risk to lose market share in this Battery storage, renewables and flexible gas brace Perry’s power plant payment proposals. scenario. power are expected to dominate America’s fu- Commentators suggest the regulator may The gas industry hopes that a future FERC ture energy mix, not stockpiles of coal and ura- rather choose to follow the lead of PJM Inter- board might value reliability over Perry’s more nium to feed subsidized plants. n ESB seeks to refinance debt for Carrington power station Ireland’s state-owned utility Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is seeking to refinance up to £400m (€453m) of debt related to its 880 MW Carrington power station in the UK before Christmas, or in early 2018, according to group finance director Pat Fenlon. ESB’s already issued €500 million worth of bonds in January and has around €1 billion of debt that matures over the next two years. r Fenlon underlined there was no if market conditions are good, could time pressure to any immediate we refinance that earlier.” refinancing but the company was Commenting on ESB’s entry into Mready to act if any opportunity the UK retail power market, Mr Fen- presented itself. Cheaper debt is what they are lon said “a full launch there won’t looking for. take place until early next year [but] At the beginning of this year, ESB report- a ‘soft-launch’ will happen in coming edly received over €1 billion in orders for 12- weeks.” year bonds. These bonds secured an favourable The gas-fired Carrington power Carrington Power Station (880MW) started interest rate of 1.75% and were used to retire station (880 MW) was opened in operating in September 2016 €300 million of debt at an 6.25% rate. Greater Manchester in September last year. formerly located on the site. “The market conditions are still favourable. The operator Carrington Power, a subsidiary The flexible gas power station is designed We have things like Carrington with project fi- of ESB, claims it is one of the most efficient to provide quick back-up power when needed, nance debt,” Mr Fenlon told the Irish Indepen- thermal plants in the UK, expected to generate but the operator hopes that it also generates dent. “We are examining opportunities to see, four times more electricity than the coal plant baseload electricity. n Continued from page 1 New policies favour renewables, But analyst are not impressed: “While new 7 $/mmbtu since mid-February, and KOGAS rather than gas government policies will take some time to city gate prices, averaging 12.2 $/mmbtu. President Moon Jae-in, who won office in early have an impact, in the period to 2025, the poli- Moreover, KOGAS just built three new 270 May this year, touted a shift to clean energy cies are more likely to stimulate an increase in kcm storage tanks at the Samcheok regas facil- sources and pledged a shift away from coal and renewables and only gradually improve utilisa- ity. This additional storage tank capacity has nuclear. During his election campaign he also tion of gas plants. been used, with Korean LNG gas inventories at pledged to review plans to build nine coal “For gas to play a bigger role, the commod- end-August up by 1.8 million tons y/y at 3.0 power stations and eight nuclear reactors, in- ity needs to be cheaper,” Energy Aspects said, Mt. With utilization both independent terminals cluding the part-completed Shin Kori No.5 and cautioning that for this to happen, a policy shift estimated to come in around 80%, this leave No.6, citing safety concerns. would need to initiate a substantial liberaliza- little upside for further growth in LNG imports tion of South Korea’s power and gas market. going forward. Another 1.2 Mt of y/y growth at Gas to Power Journal best, Energy Aspects estimates, saying Publisher Cheap spot LNG cargoes bought “KOGAS may want to may want to carry high Stuart Fryer for storage stock levels into the peak demand periods to Editor & Advertising Rather than demand from the power sector, the ensure supply security, [but] how much higher Anja Karl driver behind South Korea’s sudden surge in is questionable.” Tel: +44 (0)7778 024 139 [email protected] LNG imports has been pricing, with KOGAS “We could now be at the end of the road for Senior Technology Reporter another seeking to take the arbitrage between this unexpected uptick in Korean LNG takes. Malcolm Ramsay cheap global LNG spot prices and higher do- LNG imports in Q4 17 look to have far less Tel: +44 (0) 207 017 3413 [email protected] mestic prices in South Korea. support, as nuclear outages could be 5 GW Subscriptions Year-to-date imports into non-KOGAS termi- lower y/y and gas could be crowded out by Elena Fuertes nals were up by a combined 1.8 Mt y/y, account- coal,” analysts suggest. Tel: +44 (0)207 253 3402 [email protected] ing for around half of Korea’s LNG takes this “Factor in higher gas stocks and forecasts Layout & Production year.