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Japan's 2025-26 FiP, FiT small biomass price unchanged
Japan's 2025-26 FiP, FiT small biomass price unchanged
Tokyo, 19 March (Argus) — Japan's trade and industry ministry (Meti) has decided to maintain the feed-in-premium (FiP) and feed-in-tariff (FiT) price for small biomass power projects at ¥24/kWh ($160/MWh) for the April 2025-March 2026 fiscal year. The purchasing cost of electricity applies to projects that use general woody and agricultural biomass with less than 10MW capacity under the FiP scheme. Plants with capacity between 50kW-1MW can choose the FiT scheme if the projects can contribute to regional development. The general biomass fuels include imported and domestically produced woody material such as chips and pellets, palm kernel shells and palm trunk. The new price will be the same as 2024-25 . The FiP price for a general biomass power plant with more than 10MW and a palm oil-fired plant with no capacity limit is decided through a tender system, which was launched in 2018-19 to enhance market competitiveness of biomass power projects. The 2024-25 tender is scheduled to be completed in November with it seeking 120MW of capacity. But the committee under Meti is considering reducing the tender biomass capacity to 30MW as there has been no bidders since 2021-22, while giving a flexibility to raise the upper limit to 140MW, in case larger projects join the tender. By Nanami Oki Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Q&A: Hydrogen fuel cells can aid marine fuel transition
Q&A: Hydrogen fuel cells can aid marine fuel transition
Singapore, 19 March (Argus) — Argus spoke with Chil-han Lee, chief executive of hydrogen fuel cell producer Vinssen, on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Maritime 2024 conference and exhibition in Singapore about the prospects for hydrogen fuel cell systems in marine applications and Singapore's position in the marine fuel transition. Edited highlights follow. Vinssen in December 2023 delivered a hydrogen fuel cell electric propulsion system for a trial project to test its use in maritime applications in Singapore on landing craft the Penguin Tenacity . What are the key aims for the trial? In this project with our partners Shell, Air Liquide, Seatrium and Penguin we're trialling and collecting data on safety and performance for about a year and a half… how the power consumption and hydrogen consumption is. The use of hydrogen fuel cells onboard a ship is a new technology, this is a very big challenge for everyone — classification societies, governments and of course the stakeholders involved in terms of safety issues. Which fuels do you envision using your fuel cell propulsion technology? We are fuel agnostic actually. As a fuel cell developer we need a supply of hydrogen only. But whether that hydrogen comes from ammonia, methanol or liquid hydrogen on-board, we don't mind. We're collaborating with an ammonia cracking company, Panasia, on a project. We're also working with a methanol reforming company, e1 Marine. Most of the big companies are investing in green ammonia. Methanol is mainly being driven by Maersk, they are leading the trend. If you imagine ammonia — NH3 — is produced just from nitrogen which is already 70pc in the air, and hydrogen. Methanol — CH3OH — requires capturing carbon dioxide which is more costly; there are more processes in the manufacturing which adds to cost and isn't scalable. There are a lot of benefits [to ammonia], apart from the toxicity issue. But I believe humans can solve that. So I believe ammonia is the future. Methanol is like a bridge, like LNG. But this is my opinion only. What do you see as the advantages of hydrogen fuel cells over combustion engines for vessels? If we change the energy source for marine to either ammonia, methanol or hydrogen, we have to ask the question of how we will use it? Combustion solution or fuel cell solution? At Vinssen we're trying to be a bridge for proven fuel cell technology already used in cars, aeroplanes and urban air mobility (UAM). We're one of only a handful of companies working to apply fuel cell technology to the maritime sector. We want to try to apply it here because of its efficiency, lightweight [nature] and cheaper cost. The basic material volume of fuel cells is very low as they're made from just 0.1mm titanium plates and membranes. I believe fuel cells will be cheaper, although they're currently more expensive than internal combustion engines. Soon the fuel cell price will come down a lot with scale of production. They have the same performance and same generating power. So shipowners will decide to buy the cheaper [option]. When do you expect fuel cells to become cost competitive with combustion engines in shipping? A large container liner asked the same question to me during this event. I told them, it depends on you! If you order 10 240,000 TU ships now, each with 70MW engine, the price is going to be cheaper than engines because we can buy the raw materials in bulk. Why are they so expensive now? Because people still want to buy small fuel cells, and every time we have to order small quantity sample volumes [of materials]. And that means 10 times the price. But once orders are confirmed to produce bigger sizes of fuel cells, the price will come down considerably. How is your work contributing to building supply and demand chains for green fuel development? At the moment I can see a lot of investment in the production of green hydrogen, ammonia or methanol. But there's only been small investment in technology on the demand side. So that's unbalanced at the moment. I focus on my part, how I can increase efficiency of the fuels we choose to use. Other people focus on producing the green energy. It's all part of the puzzle that needs to come together. What are your thoughts on Singapore's strategy to position itself as an alternative marine bunkering hub? Fifteen percent of Singapore's GDP is from the bunkering business. So they have to prepare to bunker every source of new energy — ammonia, methanol, hydrogen, liquid hydrogen, diesel. They have to be able to handle it. Otherwise some ships will pass, and they'll be losing some of their GDP. In Korea, we're not really in the bunkering business in a big way; we focus on the manufacture of ships or cars. But Korean regulations are also a problem for us when trying to use hydrogen gas for the maritime or other sectors apart from cars. Actually [there's a] fundamental difference in the way things are regulated — Korea enforces positive regulation, meaning when it's written down it becomes legal. If something isn't regulated then it's illegal. But in Singapore, if there's no regulation, they can do it — it's their own responsibility to get approval by a third party or government regarding safety issues. Singapore gives us a chance to do something here, so we bring our technology to Singapore to start to show the world. It gives the opportunity for innovation in alternative marine fuels. By Lauren Moffitt Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Scalability, financing slow methane cuts
Scalability, financing slow methane cuts
Houston, 18 March (Argus) — An increasing number of countries and producers are pledging to cut methane emissions, but the scalability of available projects and access to financing remain barriers to significant reductions, delegates heard at the CERAweek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, today. Around 70pc of methane emissions from fossil fuel operations could be reduced with existing technology, according to the Paris-based IEA, adding that an investment of around $11bn/yr would be required to mobilize all methane abatement measures in the oil and gas sectors. "Solutions to reduce methane emissions already exist but they have not been scaled up to a level at which could be profitable," said president of the UN's Cop 24, Michał Kurtyka, who called for the creation of a funding mechanism for methane at the next Cop 29 climate conference in Baku later this year. Methane is responsible for around 30pc of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution and the energy sector — including oil, natural gas, coal and bioenergy — accounts for over a third of methane emissions from human activity. "Picking the right technology [for methane reduction] is not easy," added Kahina Abdeli-Galinier, founder and business director at SLB, a start up that supports energy customers to report, monitor and reduce their methane and flare emissions. "We are seeing new investments in technologies to reduce methane, new start ups are also coming. But we also need to scale up the technologies to be able to monetize them," she added. Getting access to funds has also not been easy, speakers at the conference said. While reinjecting the gas into an oil and gas reservoir for enhanced recovery seems to be an option that is increasingly attracting interest from producers, securing financing for it has proved to be difficult. "It takes around two or three years to access the funds. Once you have access to the funds, the project can become obsolete," Abdeli-Galinier said. Reporting of methane emissions is also difficult, given a lack of reliable, real-world data. US non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) recently launched MethaneSAT, a satellite that will allow for real-time monitoring of the world's largest methane emitters, bringing transparency to global emissions data. "We expect that in 3-6 months it will produce data from oil and gas operations from every basin in the world," EDF senior vice president of energy transition Mark Brownstein said. Momentum building Despite the obstacles on scalability and financing of projects to reduce methane emissions, initiatives taken by countries and companies prove that momentum is building toward cutting emissions of the gas. "We have seen major progress since Glasgow," said Brownstein. The Global Methane Pledge was launched at Cop 26 in Glasgow under which currently over 150 countries have committed to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30pc by 2030, compared with 2020 levels. Around 50 oil and gas companies, including Saudi Aramco or Ecopetrol committed to reach near net-zero methane emissions by 2030. And countries such as the US, Colombia, Nigeria and the EU have regulations in place for methane. "We see genuine leadership from countries and companies," Abdeli-Galinier said. By Jacqueline Echevarria Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Olfar exporta primeira carga de biodiesel
Olfar exporta primeira carga de biodiesel
Sao Paulo, 18 March (Argus) — O Grupo Olfar exportou sua primeira carga de biodiesel em 11 de março, de acordo com um comunicado oficial. A companhia embarcou o biocombustível para o porto de Kaohsiung, em Taiwan, a partir do porto de Itapoá, em Santa Catarina. O volume do envio não foi divulgado. A carga, 100pc à base de óleo de soja, foi produzida na planta da empresa em Erechim, no Rio Grande do Sul. A Ásia "vem apresentando um aumento na demanda de biodiesel, abrindo oportunidades para negociações com a América do Sul", afirmou a Olfar. As exportações de biodiesel do Brasil mais que dobraram em 2023, para 107.943m³, ante 41.952m³ em 2022, segundo dados do Ministério Indústria, Comércio e Serviços (MDIC). Os destinos mais comuns foram Europa e Estados Unidos. A produtora Be8 enviou 85.000m³ deste total. "Com a abertura de mercado para exportação e a decisão de aumentar o mandato de mistura para 14pc, a expectativa é que o grupo expanda cada vez mais sua atuação", disse a companhia. O Conselho Nacional de Política Energética (CNPE) elevou o mix obrigatório do biodiesel de 12pc para 14pc em 1 de março. Por Laura Guedes Envie comentários e solicite mais informações em feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . Todos os direitos reservados.
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