RENEWABLE RESOURCES IN SEA

N.C. Domingo, F. V. Ferraris

University of the Philippines Solar Laboratory
German Yia Hall, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
Tel. +63 2 924-4150, fax +63 2 434-3660, e-mail

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1. INTRODUCTION

This paper summarizes the wind, small hydro, biomass resource potentials of SEA.

2. WIND RESOURCES

Selected areas in the region have good wind energy potential. Based on a World Bank-AAEP study, there are good to excellent wind resource areas for large-scale wind generation that can be found in the mountains of central and southern Vietnam, central Laos, and central and western Thailand, as well as a few other locations. Furthermore, coastal areas of southern and south-central Vietnam show exceptional promise for wind energy both because of strong winds and their proximity to population centers. On a land area basis, around 28,000 sq km of Vietnam (8.6% of the total land area) experience good to excellent winds, while the corresponding figures for Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand are 345 sq km (0.2%), 6776 sq. km (2.9%), and 761 sq km (0.2%), respectively (Table 1).

Table 1: Wind Resources in Southeast Asia

Opportunities for village wind power are considerably more widespread because small wind turbines are able to operate satisfactorily at lower wind speeds. Areas of good to excellent wind resource for village power are predicted in east-central Thailand, western and southern Cambodia, the northern and coastal southern Malay Peninsula, south-central Laos, and a large proportion of central and southern Vietnam as well as coastal areas of northern Vietnam. The study estimates that about a quarter of the rural population of the four Southeast Asian countries live in areas showing good to excellent promise for small-scale wind energy.

Figure 1: Wind Resources in Southeast Asia at 30 m.

Figure 2: Wind Resources in Southeast Asia at 60 m.

A similar study has been in the Philippines by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the US Department of Energy. Based on the wind resource analysis and mapping study, the wind resource in the Philippines is best in the north and northeast and lower in the south and southwest of the archipelago. The wind mapping results show many areas of good-to-excellent wind resource for utility-scale applications or excellent wind resource for village power applications, particularly in the northern and central regions of the Philippines. Over 10,000 sq km of windy land areas have been estimated to exist with good-to-excellent wind resource potential. Using conservative assumptions of about 7 MW per sq km, this windy land could support over 70,000 MW of potential installed capacity. Considering only these areas of good-to-excellent wind resource, there are 47 provinces in the Philippines with at least 500 MW of wind potential and 25 provinces with at least 1,000 MW of wind potential. However, additional studies are required to more accurately assess the wind electric potential, considering factors such as the existing transmission grid and accessibility.

3. HYDRO RESOURCES

Countries of mainland SEA have high potentials for hydropower; for they are drained by five major river systems: Irrawady, Salween, Chao Phraya, Mekong, Red River.  Except for Vietnam, countries of mainland SEA only have aggregate estimates of hydropower potential -- potential undivided among the different scales of hydro technology.  Thailand has an estimated theoretical potential of 1,770 TWh/year of hydropower.  Cambodia's hydropower potential, though under evaluation, was estimated in the past to be 83,000 GWh/year.  With the Mekong River and its tributaries draining 90 % of the total area plus an average annual rainfall of 1,600 mm, Laos has an estimated total renewable water resource of 334 km^3/year.  Myanmar has a technically feasible hydropower potential of 37,000 MW -- the largest in SEA.  Having more than 2,200 rivers with lengths of more than 10 km, Vietnam has an estimated SHP potential between 1,500 and 2,000 MW -- 7 - 10% of the total economic hydropower potential.

Though separated by seas and not having common major river systems, the countries of insular SEA -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines -- also have high potentials for hydropower.  Referring to 1,315 possible locations of different sizes and utilization schemes, Indonesia has a total hydro power potential of approximately 75 GW.  Of this potential, approximately 50 % could be exploited by large-scale hydro; 493 MW, by micro-hydro. The 21 MW total installed capacity of micro-hydro in Indonesia exploits only 4 % of the total micro-hydro power potential.   The Philippines has 421 principal rivers with watershed areas ranging from 40 to 25,000 km^2.  The Philippine Department of Energy estimates a mini-hydro potential of 1,286.776 MW; and so far, only 89.07 MW has been exploited.  Malaysia has a technically feasible potential of hydropower of 123,000 GWh/year; however, small hydro potential is very low.

4. BIOMASS RESOURCES

SEA has large potentials of energy from agro-industrial residues from sugar mills, wood industries, rice mills, palm oil mills.  Currently, these mills are already using these residues for answering in-house needs.  However, current technologies being used are usually inefficient and do not present opportunities for exporting energy.

4.1 SUGAR MILLS

Processing a ton of raw sugarcane, a sugar milling plant produces around 290 kg of bagasse, which can be used to generate 100 kWh of electricity.  In turn, the sugar mill uses 0.4 tons of steam and 25 to 30 kWh of electricity to process one ton of raw sugar cane.  Comparing the potential energy from bagasse to the energy needed to process sugar cane, the potential for sugar mills to be energy self-sufficient and to produce energy for export exists.

The ASEAN has over 150 sugar mills, producing over 26 million tons of bagasse annually, equivalent to about 4.6 Mtoe.  Following the same reasoning as above, ASEAN has a technical potential of 11,407 GWh/year; 5,900 GWh/year is the potential for export to the grid.  A study by the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, showing that 100 MW of electricity can be exported to the grid by using more efficient technologies than what are currently available in the local mills, supports this large technical potential.

Table 2: Fuel availability and cogeneration potential in sugar mills in ASEAN

4.2 WOOD INDUSTRIES

The wood industry -- sawmills, plywood factories, furniture industries -- produces residues equivalent to half of the raw wood it processes.  While processing 1 m^3 of debarked wood, sawmills and plymills produces waste capable of generating as much as 120 kWh of electricity.  Sawmills require around 35 to 45 kWh of electricity to process 1 m^3 of debarked wood; plymills, around 110 kWh of electricity and 1.2 tons of steam to process 1 m^3 of wood log.  Comparing the energy consumption and the potential
 energy production of sawmills and plymills, wood wastes fully utilized to cogenerate heat and power can satisfy all the mill's energy demands.

In 1993, ASEAN sawmills produced 16 million m^3 of wood; ASEAN plymills, 15 million m^3. Assuming 50% residue production and an equivalence relationship of 1 m^3 of wood equivalent to 300 kWh of energy results to 4,500 GWh of energy from wood waste.

4.3 RICE MILLS

Rice husks produced as residues from the rice milling industry can be used as fuel.  As a result of milling ton of paddy, a rice mill produces 220 kg of husk, which is capable of producing 100 kWh of electricity on the average.  On the other hand, a rice mill requires 30 kWh for producing white rice and 60 kWh for parboiling and mechanically dried white rice.

In Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand, over 100,000 rice mills produces around 19 million tons of rice husk annually.  Estimating the energy equivalent of these 19 million tons of rice husk, there exists a potential of over 8 GWh per year.

Table 3: Fuel availability and cogeneration potential in rice mills in ASEAN

4.4 PALM OIL MILLS

In palm oil mills, as high as 70% of the fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are turned into wastes -- empty bunches, fibers, shells -- and between 600-700 kg of liquid effluent is produced per ton of FFB.  Fibers and shells generated by a ton of FFB can contribute approximately 45 kWh; empty bunches, another 35 kWh.  Since processing a ton of FFB requires only an average of 20 to 25 kWh and 0.73 tons of steam, a palm oil mill could export 2 to 3 times as much as  the energy it consumes.  ASEAN processes close to 70 million tons of fresh fruit bunches annually (almost 75% are in Malaysia alone) in over 350 palm oil mills.

Table 4: Fuel availability and cogeneration potential in palm oil mills in ASEAN

References

Cabrera, M. I., and T. Lefevre, 2002, Wind Power in Southeast Asia, GrIPP Net Newsletter, Issue No. 2.

Carlos, M. and L. Lacrosse and T. Hernoe, 2002, Market Conditions,Barriers and Outlook for Biomass Energy in ASEAN, Renewable Energy Sources in SEA � Current Stage, Market Conditions, and Outlook.

Cunanan, T., 2002, Wind Energy in Southeast Asia, Renewable Energy Sources in SEA � Current Stage, Market Conditions, and Outlook.

Philippine Energy Plan 2003-2012, 2002, Philippine Department of Energy, Manila.
 
Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources in Southeast Asia (PRESSEA), 1998, http://www.aseanenergy.org/pressea/, Dec. 21, 2002.