INGENIEUR
INGENIEUR
civilian nuclear power plant by 2030 and perhaps two more by 2035 .
Currently , there ’ s yet to be any concrete plans to build nuclear power plants in the region . However , these new developments show that there ’ s always a possibility in the future , as Southeast Asia ’ s energy demands keep growing .
Gaining public support for such projects could be difficult though . Nuclear energy might not produce any greenhouse gasses , but nuclear accidents can cause irreversible long-term environmental damage as seen in the cases of Fukushima and Chernobyl . The former president of Vietnam , Truong Tan San admitted that the Fukushima disaster played a significant role in the Government ’ s decision to abandon its nuclear energy program .
As energy demand in the region grows , ASEAN member states must find ways to address it . While countries such as India , China and Russia might be willing to assist the region with its nuclear energy development programs , ASEAN nations shouldn ’ t allow themselves to be pressured into complying with the geopolitical ambitions of these nuclear powers .
If Southeast Asia decides to go nuclear one day , it should chart its own nuclear plans . Perhaps before ASEAN countries explore the nuclear option , they should exhaust their renewable energy options first .
ERIN AIL WORTH The Race to Build A Wind Behemoth
Some of the world ’ s top manufacturing companies are embroiled in a fierce competition . The contest : Who can build the most powerful offshore wind turbine ?
From General Electric Co . ( GE ) to Siemens AG to MHI Vestas Offshore Wind , industrial giants are racing to build skyscraper-sized turbines that can generate 10 megawatts apiece or more , a symbolic threshold for the wind industry . The more powerful the turbine , the cheaper it can generate electricity from a single location , generally speaking . The prize in this engineering derby could be dominance over a multibillion-dollar offshore wind market that is set to boom in coming decades — notably in the
U . S ., where the Atlantic coast beckons as an ideal location for large-scale wind generation .
“ There ’ s a kind of arms race under way ,” says Aaron Barr , a principal consultant with research firm Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables .
Bigger and Bolder
Offshore wind turbines have been growing larger for years as companies develop bigger and bolder designs . That ’ s helped steadily lower the price of generating power from wind .
When the first offshore wind farm , Vindeby , was commissioned in shallow waters off Denmark in 1991 , its 450-kilowatt turbines stood 52.5 meters tall and had blades 16 meters long ( or about 170 feet tall and 52 feet long ). The turbines were designed by a company that ’ s now part of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy , in which Siemens has a majority stake .
Vindeby ’ s 11 turbines , decommissioned last year , would be Lilliputians compared with the mammoth machines now being built . According to the Global Wind Energy Council , the average offshore turbine installed in 2017 was a 5.9 megawatt ( or 5,900 kilowatt ) machine . GE ’ s model of around that size , six megawatts , is 170 meters tall .
The most powerful turbine currently in existence , MHI Vestas ’ s V164 prototype , is capable of generating 9.5-megawatts of electricity , and is 187 meters tall , or roughly twice the height of the Statue of Liberty . Its 80-meter-long blades stretch nearly 12 meters farther than the wingspan of a Boeing 747 . “ We are simply trying to push it to the limit all the time to see how far we can go ,” says Torben Larsen , chief technology officer at MHI Vestas , a partnership of Vestas Wind Systems A / S and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd .
The Race to 10
The next phase in the competition is surpassing the 10-megawatt barrier .
An executive at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy hinted at the idea of such a large machine in 2016 , but the company has remained largely mum on its efforts since .
German turbine maker Senvion SA caused a stir in the industry last year when it revealed it
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