Gas power generation to remain a prominent energy source in next decade

Gas power generation will remain a prominent source in the next decade, despite a marked turn towards renewables

This was announced by GE Gas Power president and CEO for Asia-Pacific Ramesh Singaram at the webinar conference titled “Resilience: Powering through Challenging Times” organised by GE Gas Power.

According to Ramesh Singaram, from North Asia down to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, the resumption of nuclear power generation is still a question. Besides, the oil and all fire units are either being replaced or shut down which is going to enhance renewable energy generation.

“Taiwan and Korea will approve a government policy change in terms of retiring coal and retaining the power nucleus also adding a lot more renewable and gas, so that is a pretty active market,” Ramesh said.

He added that ASEAN has a total population of 630 million and the electrification ratio is about 92 per cent, which means 50 million people still do not have electricity. Thus, about 270GW of power will ned to be added, promising significant opportunities in the next decade, he added.

“In general, about 400GW of added capacity will be coming into the system over the next decade. Two-third of this added capacity will be derived from renewable energy and the other remainder is gas. However, some countries will only be able to afford coal and I don’t think it can diminish. But there is always going to be a role for gas,” he said.

GE Gas Power is capable of converting the full spectrum of liquid and gas fuels to energy, with natural gas-fuelled combined cycle power plants, offering one of the cleanest and most efficient methods of producing electricity from fossil fuels.

Its portfolio of gas power systems and services include industry-leading gas and steam turbines, generators, heat recovery steam generators, condensers, and other plant equipment.

GE Gas Power president and CEO for Asia-Pacific Ramesh Singaram said the company had installed a 900GW capacity from gas-powered generation in the region, representing about 12 per cent of the global total capacity.