Browsing by Author "Lau, Hon Chung"
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Item A Decarbonization Roadmap for Taiwan and Its Energy Policy Implications(MDPI, 2022) Lau, Hon Chung; Tsai, Steve C.The objective of this paper is to propose a decarbonization roadmap for Taiwan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 by analyzing the status of fossil and non-fossil energies, screening applicable decarbonization technologies for their effectiveness, and then proposing an energy mix for the future. The novelty of this work lies in the screening process, which considers six, instead of one or two, categories: sustainability, security, affordability, reliability, technology readiness, and technology impact. Based on this screening, a decarbonization roadmap is proposed and compared with the announced net-zero emissions (NZE) plan. The proposed roadmap requires renewable electricity to grow at an average annual growth rate of 7% between now and 2050, instead of the 10.1% required by the NZE plan, which is more achievable based on issues identified with renewable energies during our screening exercise. The proposed roadmap improves on the NZE plan in the following aspects: (1) using clean coal technologies to decarbonize existing coal-fired power plants, (2) relying more on gas than wind and solar energies to replace coal and nuclear energy for power generation, (3) accelerating carbon capture and storage (CCS) implementation, (4) delaying the phaseout of nuclear energy until 2050, and (5) using blue instead of green hydrogen to decarbonize the transport and industry sectors. Implications of this roadmap for future research and development and energy policies are also discussed.Item Decarbonization of ASEAN’s power sector: A holistic approach(Elsevier, 2023) Lau, Hon ChungCoal and natural gas have dominated ASEAN’s power sector in the past and contributed to 77% of power generation in 2019. To achieve net-zero by 2050, ASEAN countries need to decarbonize their power sector in the next three decades. This paper performs a technology screening exercise for ten decarbonization technologies for the power sector based on a holistic approach of sustainability, security, affordability, reliability, technology readiness and technology impact. This exercise has resulted in country-specific ranking of technologies which can inform policymakers of ASEAN countries. Overall speaking, simultaneous utilization of both fossil and non-fossil technologies is needed rather than waiting for certain technologies to mature. On the fossil side, switching from coal to gas for power generation and implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) in coal- and gas-fired power plants have the highest decarbonization potential. Therefore, eleven first-mover CCS projects are proposed with the potential to mitigate up to 22% of energy-related CO2 emission in ASEAN in 2019. On the renewable side, hydropower has the highest potential but sustainability issues due to overdamming of the Mekong River needs to be addressed. Further addition of capacity will likely come from run-of-the-river hydropower plants. Within ASEAN, there is medium to high potential for further usage of agricultural resides as biomass for power generation, especially in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. Solar photovoltaic (PV) has medium potential in ASEAN countries with high land mass but more research and development (R&D) is needed in grid improvement and energy storage technologies. Within ASEAN, wind energy suffers from a low average wind speed but there are exceptions. More R&D is needed in the deign of low wind speed wind turbines. Geothermal resources are found only in Indonesia and the Philippines and are under-utilized. Further implementation will require favorable government polices to incentivize private investment and streamlining permitting, among others. Energy policies that promote rapid decarbonization of ASEAN’s power sector based on our findings are also discussed.Item Decarbonization roadmaps for ASEAN and their implications(Elsevier, 2022) Lau, Hon ChungThe objective of this paper is to derive, for the first time, decarbonization roadmaps for the ten nations of ASEAN. This study first presents a regional view of ASEAN’s fossil and renewable energy usage and energy-related CO2 emission. Results show that renewable energies have been losing ground to fossil energies in the last two decades and fossil fuels will likely continue to be an important part of ASEAN’s energy mix for the next few decades. Therefore, decarbonizing efforts should focus not only on increasing the share of renewable energies in electricity generation, but also on technologies to reduce CO2 emission from fossil power and industrial plants. This study next performs a technology mapping exercise for all ten ASEAN countries to determine decarbonization technologies that have high impact and high readiness for individual countries. Besides installing more sustainable renewable energies, common themes coming from these roadmaps include switching from coal to gas for power generation, using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to decarbonize fossil and industrial plants, replacing internal combustion vehicles by electric vehicles, and for countries that have coal and natural gas resources, upgrading them to blue hydrogen by chemical processes and using CCS to mitigate the emitted CO2. Blue hydrogen can be used to decarbonize hard-to-decarbonize industries. Policy implications of these roadmaps include imposing a credible carbon tax, establishing a national hydrogen strategy, intergovernmental coordination to establish regional CCS corridors, funding research and development to improve carbon capture efficiency on a plant level and resolving sustainability issues of hydropower and bioenergy in ASEAN.Item Decarbonizing Thailand’s Economy: A Proposal(MDPI, 2022) Lau, Hon ChungThis paper proposes decarbonization pathways for Thailand based on a review of the status of renewable and fossil energies, technology evaluation and scenario studies. Results show that renewable electricity generation needs to grow at a 7.1% average annual growth rate (AAGR) between now and 2050 for the power sector to achieve net-zero by 2050. This would require it to reach 400 TWh, exceeding its technical potential. We propose a more achievable scenario of between 5% and 6% AAGR wherein renewable electricity will grow from 51 TWh to 217–291 TWh between 2020 and 2050. Gas-powered electricity will grow from 127 TWh to 185–111 TWh, requiring carbon capture and storage (CCS) to mitigate 75–45 Mtpa CO2 by 2050. For the transport sector, electric vehicles have the highest decarbonization potential, but they would add 45 TWh of electricity demand by 2050. For the industry sector, installing CCS in existing plants has the highest decarbonization potential. Overall, CCS is a key decarbonization technology and its large-scale implementation will be needed for Thailand to achieve net-zero by 2050.Item Evaluation of Decarbonization Technologies for ASEAN Countries via an Integrated Assessment Tool(MDPI, 2022) Lau, Hon ChungA new assessment tool for evaluating decarbonization technologies that considers each technology’s sustainability, security, affordability, readiness, and impact for a specific country is proposed. This tool is applied to a set of decarbonization technologies for the power, transport, and industry sectors for the ten Southeast Asian countries that constitute ASEAN. This results in a list of the most promising decarbonization technologies, as well as the remaining issues that need more research and development. This study reveals several common themes for ASEAN’s decarbonization. First, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a key technology for large-scale CO2 emission. Second, for countries that rely heavily on coal for power generation, switching to gas can halve their CO2 emission in the power sector and should be given high priority. Third, hydropower and bioenergy both have high potential for the majority of ASEAN countries if their sustainability issues can be resolved satisfactorily. Fourth, replacing conventional vehicles by electric vehicles is the overarching theme in the road transport sector, but will result in increased demand for electricity. In the medium to long term, the use of hydrogen for marine fuel and biofuels for aviation fuel are preferred solutions for the marine and aviation transport sectors. Fifth, for the industry sector, installing CCS in industrial plants should be given priority, but replacing fossil fuels by blue hydrogen for high-temperature heating is the preferred long-term solution.