Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Meaningful, or meaningless, or just a freak event, but regardless it's still fun to see:

Another Win For Clean Energy: NextEra Surpasses ExxonMobil In Market Cap

The Financial Times has reported another win for clean energy. NextEra, the world’s largest solar and wind power generator, has surpassed ExxonMobil in market value. NextEra is now more valuable on the stock market than ExxonMobil. This reflects that investors believe that the energy system is changing in favor of renewables and fossil fuels are starting to become a thing of a past.

NextEra is an energy company from the US (Florida). On Friday, its market cap was $138.6 billion in intraday trading. S&P Global Market Intelligence noted that this is a gain of more than two-thirds within the past two years.

michaels

So the UK govt makes its big green recovery announcement today.  Being trailed is a commitment to 100% wind energy (presumably by capacity) by 2030 (40GW) and possibly the cut to 2030 for the phase out of new ice cars.

At one point there was also an expectation that a new Tesla battery factory in Bristol would be part of the announcement.  Do we know if this has died or is just on hold until the Brexit deal is done?

NigeWick

michaels said:

So the UK govt makes its big green recovery announcement today.  Being trailed is a commitment to 100% wind energy (presumably by capacity) by 2030 (40GW) and possibly the cut to 2030 for the phase out of new ice cars.

At one point there was also an expectation that a new Tesla battery factory in Bristol would be part of the announcement.  Do we know if this has died or is just on hold until the Brexit deal is done?

We need batteries to make sure we have constant supply when wind & solar aren't producing enough. But, there's no doubt offshore wind could be built to supply the whole country by 2030. HPC probably still won't be completed by then!
I wonder if Tesla are waiting for the Cornish Lithium mines to open up...

Coastalwatch

Good to learn progress of this project. One would like to think that any fresh money invested in RR would be used in this direction rather than propping up their ailing FF manufacturing section!

Rolls-Royce complete ground-testing for record electric aircraft

Flying from London to Paris really fast and with zero-emissions, that would be a catchy description of project ACCEL, that now took the next step towards launching “the world’s fastest electric aircraft”. Rolls-Royce has completed ground-testing of the technology.

Rob Watson, Director Rolls-Royce Electrical, called the completion of ground-testing for the ACCEL project “a great achievement” and “another important step towards a world record attempt.” The latter is now set to launch early next year.

The drive system comprises three axially arranged electric motors, which together are to produce 367 kW for the duration of the record flight. Compared to a conventional aircraft, the propeller blades rotate at a much slower speed to achieve a more stable and quiet position in the air, according to the engineers.

Ground-testing now completed saw the team test every component of the system including said propeller. It ran up to full speed (approximately 2,400 rpm). RR reckons that when at full power during the flight-testing phase, it will propel the aircraft to more than 300 mph setting a new world speed record for electric flight. Over 6,000 cells are packaged in the battery.

https://www.electrive.com/2020/10/04/rolls-royce-complete-ground-testing-for-record-electric-aircraft/

Martyn1981

michaels said:

So the UK govt makes its big green recovery announcement today.  Being trailed is a commitment to 100% wind energy (presumably by capacity) by 2030 (40GW) and possibly the cut to 2030 for the phase out of new ice cars.

At one point there was also an expectation that a new Tesla battery factory in Bristol would be part of the announcement.  Do we know if this has died or is just on hold until the Brexit deal is done?

Just to be pedantic, I think it's the equivalent of 100% wind energy for the domestic market, so about 35% of all leccy demand.
But still brilliant news, and quick head maths, 40GW of off-shore wind (at 50%cf) would provide for more leccy than today's domestic demand, so the Gov may have been 'fair and honest' and talking about domestic demand in 2030 with far more BEV's and leccy heating???

Boris Johnson to unveil plan to power all UK homes with wind by 2030

Boris Johnson will promise to power every home in the UK with offshore wind energy within a decade, pledging to make the coronavirus pandemic a catalyst for green growth.

In a speech to the virtual Conservative party conference on Tuesday, he will say that the government will invest in a clean energy future to create “hundreds of thousands, if not millions of jobs” in the next decade.

The prime minister said the UK would “become the world leader in low-cost clean power generation – cheaper than coal and gas”, comparing the UK’s resources in offshore wind to Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth.

“We believe that in 10 years’ time offshore wind will be powering every home in the country, with our target rising from 30 gigawatts to 40 gigawatts,” he will say. “Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle – the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands.”

michaels

So in 2019 we added 600 mwh where as the new plan suggests adding 3gwh or 5x as much per annum.  Is this realistic?  Are there suitable sites?

Martyn1981

michaels said:

So in 2019 we added 600 mwh where as the new plan suggests adding 3gwh or 5x as much per annum.  Is this realistic?  Are there suitable sites?

Yes, and yes. As Andrew (a poster on Navitron) stated in 2011, the potential wind resource of UK waters is around 10 to 100 times our future energy needs.
Also worth remembering that WT's have gotten much bigger, much more efficient (higher capacity factors) and the cost of generation has fallen to roughly the UK average wholesale leccy price.

The UK is the Saudi Arabia of wind energy

So, as the chart above shows, the UK’s annual average offshore wind resource is somewhere between 1.5 times larger, and 11 times larger, than 2011 Saudi Arabian energy production. And the great thing is that the wind won’t run out. It will vary, at all scales from seconds to decades, but it won’t run out as long as the sun keeps shining.

My own earlier estimate (shown above as Smith 2011) of over two terawatts as the UK offshore wind resource is documented on the Claverton Energy website. Using the same method as described there, and considering all UK waters, the resource is given above as Smith (2012).

ASavvyBuyer

Not sure if this has been posted before, but thought it was worth adding in the light of todays news item:

Seabed landlord the Crown Estate awards developers leases for six project extensions, taking the UK offshore pipeline to 40GW.

"Seabed landlord the Crown Estate granted developers the rights to extend six UK offshore wind farms in the last six months, boosting the UK’s pipeline by 2.8GW.

It had previously awarded leases for extensions of the Dudgeon wind farm in April, Gwynt y Môr project in June, and Galloper and Sheringham Shoal sites in August. 

The seabed landlord has now approved rights for extensions of the Rampion and Greater Gabbard offshore wind farms.

If delivered as expected, the project extensions could double the capacity of the six existing wind farms, adding a further 2.8GW of capacity to the UK’s offshore wind fleet."

Martyn1981

I'd heard of insects being farmed for human food, at least a protein paste or similar, but hadn't crossed my mind about animal feed. So sounds like a good idea, especially as the insects are feed on waste food. I need to learn more.

Insect farm to supply sustainable animal feed wins £10m funding

At its existing operation, under railway arches at London Bridge, the company feeds local food waste – typically surplus fruit and vegetables, discarded brewer’s grains and coffee grounds – to the insects. It says this has a smaller environmental footprint than traditional ingredients for animal feed such as meat, soy and fishmeal.

The new factory, earmarked for a site outside London and with funding from the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), will be able to process 33,000 tonnes of food waste per year.

The damaging environmental impact of global meat production has spurred interest in insects as an alternative, sustainable food source. Unlike cows or pigs, they can be bred in significant numbers without taking up large amounts of land, water or feed. Most existing insect farms are on the continent, with many in the Netherlands.

Martyn1981

This report and article (focusing on the US) might go some way to demonstrate why the UK government and their economic advisers have (or have started) to turn their backs on nuclear, and increase support for off-shore wind, and reduce their anti-PV/on-shore wind policies. In short, it looks like RE all the way now, and that's important - having an alternative dangled in front of you can distract and delay investment and action, in much the same way as I saw 'clean' coal, nuclear and HFC cars as ways of maintaining the status quo for longer and delaying real action.

Nuclear Energy — The High Cost Of A Dying Industry

Global State Of Nuclear Energy

At the end of last month, the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR2020) was published and assessed major challenges that nuclear power is facing today. The news isn’t pretty. Mycle Schneider, who coordinated the report, explained that nuclear energy is irrelevant in today’s market. “Nuclear energy has become irrelevant in the electricity generating technology market.”

Antony Froggat, who co-authored the report and is a Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House in London, said, “At the same time, COVID-19 puts additional stress on the sector. In economic terms, renewables continue to pull away from nuclear power, over the past decade the cost estimates for utility-scale solar dropped by 89 percent, wind by 70 percent, while nuclear increased by 26 percent.”

Technology Costs
The report compared the costs of solar, onshore wind, and nuclear. The report looked at analyses for the US conducted by Lazard at the end of 2019, which advises on financial matters while managing investment portfolios. This is what they found out in a nutshell:

• Solar PV (crystalline, utility-scale) averaged $40/MWh, compared to $65/MWh in 2015.

• Onshore wind was $41/MWh, compared to $55/MWh in 2015.

• Nuclear is $155/MWh, compared to $117/MWh in 2015.