20/04/26
Industry mulls Asian readiness on regional, hourly RECs
Singapore, 20 April (Argus) — Asia's power industry can adopt nascent granular
renewable energy certificates (RECs) with infrastructure upgrades, although the
extent of time-matching would depend on each country's generation mix,
participants said at the Argus Asia Carbon conference. Cross-border transfers
could help expand options and there are early trials to learn from, but the
industry will also need to tackle regulatory uncertainties, they added. Granular
RECs — able to track renewables generation on an hourly basis or in even finer
detail — would involve higher costs, given the need for more sophisticated data
tracking. "For project developers and grid operators lacking the infrastructure
for granular tracking, the upfront costs are significant. These include
replacing or upgrading inverters, cloud-based monitoring platforms, and legacy
grids to enable hourly tracking," said Nesa Albeper, head of sustainability and
corporate strategy at Malaysian clean energy firm Cenergi. Customers will also
need to pay a premium, she added. Momentum for granular RECs has been growing
globally. The European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism requires
importers to submit hourly-matched power contracts if they are to be used as
proof for lower embedded emissions. Industry standard-setter Greenhouse Gas
Protocol has also been consulting on requiring granular matching of RECs with
power consumption. "Malaysia, Singapore, China, and to some extent Taiwan, are
well-positioned to transition toward time-matched, granular certificates,"
Albeper said. Granular RECs have been trialled in China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Malaysia's power regulator already tracks generation and consumption in
30-minute intervals, though energy certificates are still generally tracked by
vintage years. While some industry participants have communicated 100pc hourly
matching aspirations, actual feasible levels could differ by geography. It would
to be challenging to conduct time-based RECs matching in Singapore because the
only renewable energy source is solar power, said managing director of
Singapore-based Asia Green Capital Edgare Kerkwijk. "Between 12-2pm the RECs
price could be lower, but in periods when there is less solar energy generation,
such as 8-10am or 3-5pm, supply will drop and RECs prices will go up," Kerkwijk
said. There is some battery storage but regulators are hesitant to install more
in the system, he added. It is easier to match at a higher percentage in
countries with biogas, hydro, wind, solar and more batteries, Kerkwijk said.
Singapore's ambition to import renewable energy from southeast Asian countries
could expand the types of technology available. Some of these projects include
wind energy form Vietnam, hydropower from Malaysia and solar from Indonesia. In
addition to that, Singapore's work on a cross-border RECs framework also
mentions the possibility of hourly tracking. A 50MW renewable energy trade from
Malaysia to Singapore, via Malaysia's Enegem programme, was conducted on the
I-Track registry and involves power dispatch on a half-hourly basis, Albeper
noted. "This transaction offers many valuable lessons for future
implementations," she said. Still, there are open questions on the ownership of
RECs from cross-border transactions in Southeast Asia. "If we import solar from
say Batam, Indonesia, would those certificates come to Singapore? Or would the
Indonesian government say, 'these certificates are ours, we will sell you
electrons but not renewables?'" said Kerkwijk. By Liang Lei Send comments and
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