After record lows in mid-2020, Asian spot prices for LNG rose tenfold to reach record highs in January 2021. This volatility is an obstacle to the development of the gas infrastructure that’s essential to the region where demand for gas is growing, explain Jean-Baptiste Dubreuil and Gergely Molnar at the IEA. There were multiple causes for the price spike, including the cold winter, limits to nuclear and coal generation, and outages at regional … [Read more...]
Floating Solar: can it help ASEAN reverse coal’s continued rise?
Floating solar farms may be gaining traction in Asia. Capacity is still small: by 2019 the big players Japan and China had a combined floating photovoltaic (FPV) installed capacity of 1.3GW. But the ASEAN countries that had virtually nothing before 2019 now have over 51MW and have planned in another 858MW. A report by Sara Jane Ahmed and Elrika Hamdi at IEEFA explains why FPV is looking better and cheaper at balancing out peaks and troughs than … [Read more...]
Coal exit: top Asian banks join Europe, U.S.
Around the world, cheaper renewables, improved technology, and risks over reputation, financial performance and the environment are driving finance away from coal. In the early days it sometimes looked like “greenwash”, but over time commitments have ratcheted up to make it a reality. Europe and the U.S. have already made a good start, and Asia is now catching up. As renewables get cheaper nobody wants to be left holding billions in stranded … [Read more...]
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