Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Coastalwatch said:

Martyn1981 said:

US renewables groups make delivery pledge

US renewable energy trade bodies have pledged to work together to ensure clean power supported by energy storage delivers over half of the country's electricity in the next decade.

The pledge was made this week by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), National Hydropower Association (NHA), and Energy Storage Association (ESA) at the Cleanpower conference.

AWEA chief executive Tom Kiernan said the collaborative promise sets the stage to deliver on the American electric grid of the future powered by wind, solar, hydropower and storage.

He said: “Market opportunities for projects that include a mix of technologies have opened up that didn’t exist even a few years ago. And demand is growing for integrated renewable energy options.”

Thanks for posting the above Mart. Reading through the article I came upon the final paragraph and was surprised that Dams already exist with no means of generation harnessed to them.

But even more so when the figure mentioned as a result of hooking them up might be 15GW!

Retro fitting would obviously present its problems and perhaps not feasible in some cases but surely better than starting from scratch!

Unless of course I'm reading it wrong(quite likely) and they merely plan to add pumped storage to replenish the water already harnessed on the most appropriate sites!

NHA CEO  Malcolm Woolf said: “By adding new generation onto existing non-powered dams and developing 15GW of new pumped storage hydropower capacity, we can help accelerate the development of a clean energy electricity grid.”

Not an easy paragraph to decipher, my guess is that it's a mix of hydropower where it doesn't exist currently (on existing dams) plus PHS of an additional 15GW, which might be at existing hydro dams and these newly powered ones. So it may be a total of 15GW but I'm reading it as new 'simple' hydro plus another 15GW available thanks to adding PHS too.

Not suggesting it's easy, but in some cases a smallish catchment lagoon can be built below the hydro dam to catch the excess release* allowing the hydro dams to ramp up and down a bit more to help balance supply.
*If the US is like the UK, then minimum and maximum flow rates in the river below will need to be maintained, so the catchment lagoon can prevent oversupply, or top up in the case of reduced output.

Don't take too much of this as fact, just the odd thing I've noted here and there.

michaels

zeupater said:

One to keep an eye on .....

Rumours outside MSM ... Has Elon been in the UK for a few days looking at potential Tesla R&D & manufacturing site somewhere in the SW (who'd have thought!!) ?? ..... Battery Gigafactory/Terafactory for batteries and/or solar PV production?; possibly commercial vehicles? ... whichever it could be a good strategic move for balancing the effect of currency exchange rate fluctuations on BEVs!

HTH - Z (If it's true, possibly the owner of a really powerful crystal ball, or just a strategic thinker! .. )

In theory the closing Honda Swindon plant plus staff and the Dyson EV test facility and staff would form an ideal foothold for a new EV manufacturer in the UK.  Could build commercials and a new B segment mini-tesla and or concentrate on RHD markets with shipping from Portbury.

Edit: Honda Swindon- 370 acres.  Freemont - 370 acres.  Just sayin

Coastalwatch

michaels said:

zeupater said:

One to keep an eye on .....

Rumours outside MSM ... Has Elon been in the UK for a few days looking at potential Tesla R&D & manufacturing site somewhere in the SW (who'd have thought!!) ?? ..... Battery Gigafactory/Terafactory for batteries and/or solar PV production?; possibly commercial vehicles? ... whichever it could be a good strategic move for balancing the effect of currency exchange rate fluctuations on BEVs!

HTH - Z (If it's true, possibly the owner of a really powerful crystal ball, or just a strategic thinker! .. )

In theory the closing Honda Swindon plant plus staff and the Dyson EV test facility and staff would form an ideal foothold for a new EV manufacturer in the UK.  Could build commercials and a new B segment mini-tesla and or concentrate on RHD markets with shipping from Portbury.

Edit: Honda Swindon- 370 acres.  Freemont - 370 acres.  Just sayin

Or even Rolls Royce or a host of other opportunities on the brink of arising. Now, apart from his space exploits I haven't yet heard him linked with clean powered aviation. Perhaps its a bridge too far!

zeupater

michaels said:

zeupater said:

One to keep an eye on .....

Rumours outside MSM ... Has Elon been in the UK for a few days looking at potential Tesla R&D & manufacturing site somewhere in the SW (who'd have thought!!) ?? ..... Battery Gigafactory/Terafactory for batteries and/or solar PV production?; possibly commercial vehicles? ... whichever it could be a good strategic move for balancing the effect of currency exchange rate fluctuations on BEVs!

HTH - Z (If it's true, possibly the owner of a really powerful crystal ball, or just a strategic thinker! .. )

In theory the closing Honda Swindon plant plus staff and the Dyson EV test facility and staff would form an ideal foothold for a new EV manufacturer in the UK.  Could build commercials and a new B segment mini-tesla and or concentrate on RHD markets with shipping from Portbury.

Edit: Honda Swindon- 370 acres.  Freemont - 370 acres.  Just sayin

Hi

If it's a location for manufacturing BEVs I'm pretty sure that the experience with the Freemont plant not offering an optimised layout will be key, especially so as they now seem to have developed a copy & paste approach to production facilities.

I'd expect a version of light commercials to utilise the existing skateboard platform as the 3&Y and essentially be built either alongside passenger vehicles or in a similar layout plant, so that really just leaves the possibility of a specialised vehicle setup which could shoehorn into the Swindon plant ... timescale wise this could make sense as it would align Honda's plant closure plus an allowance for facility renovation & tooling installation with the Semi timeline, but then again, would the plant be too large for that without adding other product lines ...

Returning to posts made a few years ago, the area being raised in the current round of rumours actually does fall within the Bristol, Southampton, Plymouth triangle which would fall in line with a need for such a vertically integrated company to have ready access to raw materials, materials, component supply, workforce, ports & major road transport network ... combine this with reports just a couple of months ago that the government was expecting to soon announce the first UK battery gigafactory, Tesla recently applying for a UK power supply licence. the UK's strategy on renewables & now the rumours of a potential plant location & Elon being in the UK , but not (as yet!) visiting the (really important!) development in Berlin, the logical conclusion is that everything points towards something major, something to be briefed on soon (as government need to show they're pump-priming the economy!), and something more likely to be connected to supply & storage than volume vehicle production. 

HTH - Z

michaels

zeupater said:

michaels said:

zeupater said:

One to keep an eye on .....

Rumours outside MSM ... Has Elon been in the UK for a few days looking at potential Tesla R&D & manufacturing site somewhere in the SW (who'd have thought!!) ?? ..... Battery Gigafactory/Terafactory for batteries and/or solar PV production?; possibly commercial vehicles? ... whichever it could be a good strategic move for balancing the effect of currency exchange rate fluctuations on BEVs!

HTH - Z (If it's true, possibly the owner of a really powerful crystal ball, or just a strategic thinker! .. )

In theory the closing Honda Swindon plant plus staff and the Dyson EV test facility and staff would form an ideal foothold for a new EV manufacturer in the UK.  Could build commercials and a new B segment mini-tesla and or concentrate on RHD markets with shipping from Portbury.

Edit: Honda Swindon- 370 acres.  Freemont - 370 acres.  Just sayin

Hi

If it's a location for manufacturing BEVs I'm pretty sure that the experience with the Freemont plant not offering an optimised layout will be key, especially so as they now seem to have developed a copy & paste approach to production facilities.

I'd expect a version of light commercials to utilise the existing skateboard platform as the 3&Y and essentially be built either alongside passenger vehicles or in a similar layout plant, so that really just leaves the possibility of a specialised vehicle setup which could shoehorn into the Swindon plant ... timescale wise this could make sense as it would align Honda's plant closure plus an allowance for facility renovation & tooling installation with the Semi timeline, but then again, would the plant be too large for that without adding other product lines ...

Returning to posts made a few years ago, the area being raised in the current round of rumours actually does fall within the Bristol, Southampton, Plymouth triangle which would fall in line with a need for such a vertically integrated company to have ready access to raw materials, materials, component supply, workforce, ports & major road transport network ... combine this with reports just a couple of months ago that the government was expecting to soon announce the first UK battery gigafactory, Tesla recently applying for a UK power supply licence. the UK's strategy on renewables & now the rumours of a potential plant location & Elon being in the UK , but not (as yet!) visiting the (really important!) development in Berlin, the logical conclusion is that everything points towards something major, something to be briefed on soon (as government need to show they're pump-priming the economy!), and something more likely to be connected to supply & storage than volume vehicle production. 

HTH - Z

I guess you would keep any such announcement for a special moment.  However Tesla have a battery day coming up....I can imagine for political reasons there would be a desire to at least suggest car manufacturing was also involved even if it turned out to just be a RHD finishing line.

Martyn1981

Video that I has been watching ..... news:

Transport Evolved gave the tiniest, briefest of mentions that there may be discussions for a Tesla Gigafactory facility possibly in the Somerset levels, but other than that, nothing really to add to earlier posts.

If you want a really simple and brief explanation of the economics of building a new nuclear powerstation v's a new gas powerstation, and why both are becoming un-economical against RE and storage, then this is for you:

The Economics of Nuclear Energy

Martyn1981

Here's another article on the benefits of directing stimulus monies towards RE, storage and efficiency. I hope these are still interesting, this one sets out a lot of comparative benefits for Australia. But of course, the politicians are still pro-FF's.

Renewable energy stimulus can create three times as many Australian jobs as fossil fuels

Stimulus programs backing clean energy as a path out of recession would create nearly three times as many jobs for every dollar spent on fossil fuel developments, according to a financial consultancy analysis.

The assessment by professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY) says a government focus on renewable energy and climate-friendly projects to drive the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic could create more than 100,000 direct jobs across the country while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Commissioned by environment group the World Wide Fund for Nature, the EY report suggests fast-tracking wind and solar farms that have already been approved, increasing electricity transmission capacity and backing new industries in battery manufacturing, electric buses, renewable hydrogen and manufacturing powered by renewable energy.

It estimates every $1m spent on renewable energy and exports creates 4.8 full-time jobs in renewable infrastructure or 4.95 jobs in energy efficiency. By comparison, $1m on fossil fuel projects has been found to create 1.7 full-time jobs.
That suggests that if 10% of what the federal and state governments had indicated they would spend in response to Covid-19 was directed towards clean projects it could create 160,000 jobs.

“It represents a fraction of the immediate government stimulus package while generating significant job numbers and reorienting the economy towards a more strategic, low-carbon trajectory,” it says.

A leaked report by a taskforce advising Australia’s National Covid Coordinating Commission focused on finding ways to lower the cost of gas to help manufacturing recover and did not considers alternatives. Government agencies have found renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels. The commission’s chair, Nev Power, later distanced himself from the recommendations in the leaked report but backed gas as central to the recovery.

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

Here's another article on the benefits of directing stimulus monies towards RE, storage and efficiency. I hope these are still interesting, this one sets out a lot of comparative benefits for Australia. But of course, the politicians are still pro-FF's.

Renewable energy stimulus can create three times as many Australian jobs as fossil fuels

Stimulus programs backing clean energy as a path out of recession would create nearly three times as many jobs for every dollar spent on fossil fuel developments, according to a financial consultancy analysis.

The assessment by professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY) says a government focus on renewable energy and climate-friendly projects to drive the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic could create more than 100,000 direct jobs across the country while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Commissioned by environment group the World Wide Fund for Nature, the EY report suggests fast-tracking wind and solar farms that have already been approved, increasing electricity transmission capacity and backing new industries in battery manufacturing, electric buses, renewable hydrogen and manufacturing powered by renewable energy.

It estimates every $1m spent on renewable energy and exports creates 4.8 full-time jobs in renewable infrastructure or 4.95 jobs in energy efficiency. By comparison, $1m on fossil fuel projects has been found to create 1.7 full-time jobs.
That suggests that if 10% of what the federal and state governments had indicated they would spend in response to Covid-19 was directed towards clean projects it could create 160,000 jobs.

“It represents a fraction of the immediate government stimulus package while generating significant job numbers and reorienting the economy towards a more strategic, low-carbon trajectory,” it says.

A leaked report by a taskforce advising Australia’s National Covid Coordinating Commission focused on finding ways to lower the cost of gas to help manufacturing recover and did not considers alternatives. Government agencies have found renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels. The commission’s chair, Nev Power, later distanced himself from the recommendations in the leaked report but backed gas as central to the recovery.

This is where Keynesian economics comes to the fore.  Labour's green new deal envisaged 100k green jobs when there were not 100k suitable unemployed and would have just drawn workers from other sectors or abroad (and a rising population is not good for the environment).  Now it is likely the situation has changed and there is plenty of room for stimulus spending and directing it towards sustainability makes sense if you actual properly cost the externalities of fossil fuel use in terms of climate change and poorer health outcomes.

Martyn1981

AGW doesn't recognise borders, so rolling out RE, storage and efficiency jobs, regardless of where the workers come, from won't result in a net increase in the population, just a net increase in the number of workers in those industries, and a net reduction in those employed in the FF (and associated) industries.

silverwhistle

zeupater HTH - Z (If it's true, possibly the owner of a really powerful crystal ball, or just a strategic thinker! .. )

Hmm, hope you don't come back later and change your posts, like some visionary government adviser I could mention. :-)
I see you've subsequently mentioned his application for an energy licence which is the first thought I had, but perhaps there are some synergies or even quid-pro-quos going on?