Latest news with #RaksitPattanapitoon
The Star
18-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Malaysia boosts coal power output, imports to meet rising demand
SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is boosting coal-fired power output and importing the fuel at record levels, a Reuters analysis of data showed, taking advantage of low prices even as it pledges to increase use of gas-fuelled electricity generation in the longer term. The Southeast Asian nation is the fifth-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas but has said it could start importing the superchilled fuel due to rising demand and dwindling gas reserves. It has progressively ramped up coal-fired power output to address surging demand driven by data centres. Coal-fired power output in Peninsular Malaysia, which accounts for about 80% of power demand, rose nearly 9% in May and June. That was three times faster than power demand growth of 3%, data from Malaysia's Grid System Operator (GSO) showed. Output from coal-fired power plants rose 16.8% in the first half of July, the data showed, while power demand increased 5.2%. Rising demand has pushed Malaysia to import a record 20.9 million metric tons of coal in the first half of this year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed. "Low coal prices, coupled with regulated and capped power prices in Malaysia, have discouraged gas-fired generation this year," said Kesher Sumeet, LNG analyst at Energy Aspects. Coal's share of power generation rose to nearly 60% in the first half of 2025, the GSO data showed, putting it on track for the highest annual levels since the COVID-19 pandemic, while natural gas-fired power's share could slip to the lowest level since the pandemic's economic shutdown curbed demand. Gas-fired power output has fallen for ten straight months through June at an average of 11.3% every month, and fell 15.3% in the first half of July. Raksit Pattanapitoon, analyst at Rystad Energy, said Malaysia will continue to depend on coal in the short and medium-term as fuel costs are nearly 40% lower. "The tipping point will be when solar penetration into Malaysia's grid is sufficient to force inflexible, baseload coal to shut down during daytime, but Rystad Energy does not expect this to happen on a regular basis until the 2030s," he said. Malaysia plans to boost gas-fired capacity by 50% and more than double renewable capacity by 2030 to cut coal use and meet growing power demand from data centres - which are expected to rise to 52% of peninsular demand, from 2% now. Power demand fell during the first quarter due to tepid residential demand, but is expected to increase as much as 4.5% this year, according to state-run utility Tenaga Nasional Bhd . - Reuters
Business Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Asean power grid could unlock 25 GW of renewable capacity, lowering Singapore's electricity costs: Rystad Energy
[SINGAPORE] A regional power grid that allows for electricity trade between Asean nations, if fully realised, could unlock up to 25 gigawatts (GW) of renewable and energy storage projects, based on research by Rystad Energy. The projects, spanning hydropower, solar and offshore wind, would be worth more than US$40 billion in investment across the region, and benefit Singapore the most, said the energy research firm on Tuesday (Jun 3). However, realising the regional power grid blueprint, which was first brought up in the late 1990s, will not be smooth sailing. 'Singapore stands to benefit the most from South-east Asia's emerging regional grid, but realising these gains will require coordinated, win-win cooperation with supplier countries, many of which may see limited direct advantage in linking up with another market,' said Raksit Pattanapitoon, lead renewables and power analyst of Asia Pacific at Rystad Energy. For neighbouring countries, where land is more abundant but power demand is less concentrated, Raksit noted that Singapore can leverage its financial strength and partnerships to unlock the infrastructure capital needed. He added that grid resilience, with strong interconnections and sufficient grid-connected storage, must be a key priority, as highlighted by recent blackouts in the Iberian Peninsula. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 8.30 am Asean Business Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies. Sign Up Sign Up 'Cost-effective alternative' Singapore relies heavily on natural gas for power generation, with gas currently accounting for 96 per cent of its power mix, according to Rystad Energy's report. The Republic has been using combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants that burn natural gas to generate electricity, and use the resulting hot exhaust to produce steam that drives a secondary turbine. Rystad Energy's analysis shows that electricity imports via the power grid would offer a 'more cost-effective alternative to building new domestic CCGT capacity'. While these projects are already more affordable than building a new gas CCGT, they are even lowering the cost of electricity with higher efficiency of energy usage, as proxied by load factor, said Raksit. The Energy Market Authority (EMA) requires projects to achieve an annual load factor of at least 60 per cent within five years of commercial operation, ensuring a steady and dependable power supply for the nation, noted Rystad Energy, highlighting the projects developers' 'strong economic incentive' to exceed the 60 per cent benchmark for the load factor. 'Developers of these import projects are sizing the installed capacity to exceed EMA's minimum 60 per cent load factor and seem to be aiming for near 100 per cent load factor,' Raksit shared with The Business Times. The analysis shows that raising the load factor target from 60 per cent to 100 per cent can substantially lower the average cost of electricity generation over the lifetime of a power plant, or the overall levelised cost of electricity (LCOE), by spreading transmission costs more effectively and unlocking capital expenditure efficiencies through economies of scale. 'This impact is particularly significant (for renewable energy imports) in countries such as Malaysia (Sarawak), Cambodia and Vietnam, where long transmission distances amplify cost-optimisation benefits. Hydropower projects, in particular, benefit from these scaling effects, resulting in even-greater cost reductions,' stated the report. Solar-plus-storage hybrid systems can already achieve load factors above 90 per cent, both technically and economically. Rystad Energy noted that such systems, with both a battery-energy storage system (Bess) and necessary backups, can reach the level of reliability required by Singapore's EMA and could be comparable to other dispatchable energy sources. Nevi Cahya Winofa, analyst of renewables and power research at Rystad Energy, said: 'Current cost analyses indicate these hybrid systems could deliver lower LCOEs than many in the industry currently anticipate.' She added that Singapore must proactively identify and secure unique advantages to maximise shared value in the emerging regional power grid. EMA, on Friday, granted the sixth conditional licence to a low-carbon electricity import project, after raising the import target to around 6 GW by 2035, up from the initial target of 4 GW announced in 2021. The Singapore government would be open to more electricity imports beyond the current 6 GW target as the country's energy needs grow, EMA's director of energy connections office Faith Gan told BT.
