Asia Pacific Energy Review, Oct 7-13

This column focuses on the previous week's most important energy events in Asia and the Pacific.

AI / Renewable energy

The IEA predicted that artificial intelligence and data centers will sharply increase demand for renewable power, possibly tripling to 262 TWh by 2026 compared to 2023. AI’s share of demand in renewable power generation could double to 18%.

Australia / Waste power

The country’s first commercial-scale waste plant, the Kwinana Energy Recovery facility south of Perth, has launched. It can burn 460,000 tons of non-recyclable waste a year, equivalent to about 25% of Perth’s annual landfill waste, 

Australia/ Solar power

Pilot Energy, an oil and gas explorer, said it received an offer from EDP Renewables APAC to take full ownership of the 376 MW Three Springs solar farm in Western Australia. The deal is estimated to be about USD 8 million.

China / Petrochemicals

China Energy Investment, one of the country’s largest miners, will begin building a $24 billion facility to turn coal into oil products and provide feedstocks to the nation’s petrochemicals industry. Located in Xinjiang, the facility will come online in 2027, and will be powered by renewable energy.

China / Renewable energy

The IEA said that China will account for almost 60% of all renewable energy capacity installed worldwide through 2030. Globally, over the next six years renewable energy projects will roll out at three times the pace of the previous six years, led by China and India.

Floating offshore wind

The global pipeline of floating offshore wind farms rose 9% YoY to a capacity of 266 GW, said RenewableUK; and the number of projects rose from 285 to 316. Currently, only 245 MW of floating wind is fully operational across 15 projects in seven countries. Globally, 102 MW is under construction, with 203 GW in various planning stages. South Korea and the Philippines have the most projects in the pipeline.

India / Oil & Gas

India will reform regulations and invite foreign oil majors to explore both onshore and offshore as it races to extract as much oil as possible while there remains a market for crude, the country’s oil and gas minister has said.

Indonesia / Biofuel

New higher biodiesel mandates in the world's biggest palm oil producer are likely to tighten supplies of the vegetable oil. Indonesia has a mandatory 35% blend of palm oil-based fuel in biodiesel and seeks to ramp that up to 40% to cut energy imports. The plan, if implemented, could see biodiesel consumption rise to 16 million kilolitres next year.

Malaysia / BESS

Leader Solar Energy II and Plus Xnergy Services will deploy Malaysia’s first sodium-sulfur battery energy storage system (BESS). PXS will install the 1.45 MWh capacity BESS in LSE’s large-scale solar farm at Bukit Selambau, Kedah.

South Korea / Renewable energy

The IEA said that in 2023 less than 10% of the country's electricity generation was from renewable sources, falling far short of global (30.25%) and Asian (26.73%) averages. Renewable energy accounted for less than 6% of South Korea's total energy supply in 2022.