Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

silverwhistle

Interesting comments from the Conservative peer Lord Deben (formerly MP Selwyn Gummer):

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/10/deterring-onshore-windfarms-means-higher-energy-bills-lord-deben

Martyn1981

silverwhistle wrote: »

Interesting comments from the Conservative peer Lord Deben (formerly MP Selwyn Gummer):

Silly Selwyn trying to get the government to allow near subsidy free on-shore wind (£50/MWh), when for just £5bn they can help us to get £77/MWh leccy from Wylfa.

Next thing he'll be saying is that the Wylfa generation CfD will cost us £710m pa more (for 35yrs) than it would from on-shore wind (or PV), and we can pocket the £5bn (£200 per household).

Martyn1981

Anyone remember the insane RE target that India set for 2022, well they've decided to up it. Falling RE costs, combined with falling investment costs (for RE) are leading to non-linear growth .... ohhh goose bumps!

India Increases Its Massive 2022 Renewable Energy Target By 28%

For the last several years, CleanTechnica has covered renewable energy development in India quite closely. Several years ago, India set what seemed like a lofty target of 175 gigawatts of wind and solar energy by March 2022. Few believed that was a practical target, but then India plowed forward and happily impressed the world. This week that goal was increased to 227 gigawatts!

silverwhistle

The news I mentioned has even made The Times, but I'm too cheapskate and lazy to register..

Martyn1981

silverwhistle wrote: »

The news I mentioned has even made The Times, but I'm too cheapskate and lazy to register..

A cheapskate? Well, you might be interested in some half price ice-cream then.

silverwhistle

I know what that's about without looking! But as I weighed myself yesterday (aargh) and my ladies footie team starts pre-season training in a few weeks I'll see if I can stay indoors on Wednesdays for a bit..:-)

Martyn1981

Big increase in EU renewable energy targets. Note these are for energy, not just leccy.

I hope it doesn't appear like I'm cheating here, but an increase in the target from 27% to 32% is actually an 18.5% increase in aims, and that's pretty impressive, almost hopeful.

EU raises renewable energy targets to 32% by 2030

The EU is raising its target for the amount of energy it consumes from renewable sources, in a deal lauded by the bloc’s climate chief as a hard-won victory for the switch to clean energy.

Energy ministers agreed a binding renewable energy target of 32% by 2030, up from the previous goal of 27%, but fell short of the hopes of some countries and green groups for a more ambitious share.

The EU council deal caps 18 months of negotiations, and was welcomed by the renewables industry.

The talks saw the UK call for a target of 30%, below the 32% a newly pro-renewables France wanted and the 35% that new governments in Spain and Italy argued for.

And an additional bonus:-

The agreement also includes plans for a 2023 review on whether the target should be bumped even higher.

Martyn1981

Combination of good sun and strong winds means that today (now(ish)) has broken the record for lowest carbon intensity on the grid. :j:T:rotfl::T:j

zeupater

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Big increase in EU renewable energy targets. Note these are for energy, not just leccy.

I hope it doesn't appear like I'm cheating here, but an increase in the target from 27% to 32% is actually an 18.5% increase in aims, and that's pretty impressive, almost hopeful.

EU raises renewable energy targets to 32% by 2030

Hi

I'm really starting to get a little concerned with the number of aspirations flowing from Brussels recently even though their published aim is to do "more for less" .... it's as if everyone concerned have ignored this aim and there's little acceptance that the EU annual budget is going to be placed under pretty substantial stress.

To cope with the UK leaving, the annual budget for rEU(27) is proposed to be increased on a national level by an average of 14% with the maximum contribution cap being raised from +20% to +29% of the agreed levels ... to just remain in the same position that's a very large ouch for taxpayers in the remaining countries and certainly highlights the net positive contribution the UK has been making!

So, effectively ignoring this necessary finance restructuring just to stay still, the EU has over just the past few weeks announced substantial expenditure increases in the following areas ...Security (+30%) / Climate (+25%) / Research (+50%) / Borders (+300%) / Space(+25%) ...

Something seriously doesn't add up, it's as if the 14% average increase in revenue income from individual nations has been allocated directly to the expenditure budget as is it was additional funding as opposed to filling a budgetary deficit 'black hole', which would suggest that there's a strong planning process belief that the UK are not really leaving the club ....

Perhaps it's a case that Brussels' zoo only contains a small proportion of the city's Ostriches .... probably find that when compared with EU institutions, they also have a higher proportion of animals with opposable thumbs that can at least use a basic abacus ...

HTH
Z

Martyn1981

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

I'm really starting to get a little concerned with the number of aspirations flowing from Brussels recently even though their published aim is to do "more for less" .... it's as if everyone concerned have ignored this aim and there's little acceptance that the EU annual budget is going to be placed under pretty substantial stress.

HTH
Z

I'm only guessing here, but perhaps the carbon targets are getting revised not due to the intention of investing more money, but simply because of what's already happened/happening. More bang for your buck.

RE rollout costs have fallen faster than expected, storage costs have fallen faster, public support (and demand side investment) has been good, and EV popularity/take up is growing faster than expected. Plus of course all the doom-saying about integrating RE onto the grid has proven false with ever higher targets looking acceptable before we need to worry about storage etc.

I think back to all the discussions we had with the nay-sayers on here 5 or 6 yrs ago, and I'd have loved to have suggested £64/MWh off-shore wind contracts, and EV waiting lists into six figures, but I didn't think we'd be there yet. But I'm not complaining.