Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

EVandPV

I see there's a new player in the battery market, Moixa.

Similar smart functionality to the Powerwall and reasonably priced.

https://youtu.be/kdGFyLi3a4w

Martyn1981

Always nice to see RE records broken as the total capacity and generation steadily rises.

Windfarms in Great Britain break record for clean power generation

Blustery winter weather helped Great Britain’s windfarms set a record for clean power generation, which made up more than 40% of its electricity on Friday.

Wind turbines generated 17.3GW on Friday afternoon, according to figures from the electricity system operator, narrowly beating the previous record set in early January this year.

EVandPV

Another reasonably priced battery system with Agile integration built in .....

https://youtu.be/8VdF_mbpGK8

Coastalwatch

It would appear that Oz's government are being undermined in their support of coal and gas fired energy generation as the arriving tide of renewables continues to reduce energy bills down there.

Renewables driving down Australian energy bills

More than 4.2 GW of new renewables capacity over the next three years and an anticipated decline in gas prices will drive down electricity costs for residents of Australia's east coast by an average of about 9% up to 2023. However, a slight increase in costs is predicted when the Liddell coal-fired plant closes in early 2023, according to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) newly published Residential Electricity Price Trends 2020 report.

Figures vary among jurisdictions, with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) calculated to experience a slight rise of 2% over the period. Southeast Queensland, meanwhile, is set enjoy the biggest drop of around 14%. But what’s wrong with that picture? Of course, individual household bills will still be influenced by energy use and the energy offer they’ve signed up to.

The AEMC has added up a committed project capacity over the coming three years of 1,667 MW of solar and 2,580 MW of wind generation. But its calculations do not include the potential positive effects of the New South Wales government’s recently announced Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, which aims to underwrite 12 GW of renewable energy in the state by 2030, or the Victorian government’s November budget commitment to develop six renewable energy zones.

“We conducted our analysis before those announcements were made and so our numbers do not reflect the impact those developments could have on prices,” said AEMC Chief Executive Benn Barr.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/12/21/renewables-driving-down-australian-energy-bills/

EVandPV

The cost of Lithium-ion battery pack prices has fallen close to 90%, and rates lower than US$100/kWh have been reported for the first time.

https://www.energy-storage.news/news/battery-pack-prices-reported-below-us100kwh-for-first-time

Coastalwatch

Solar as carports in hot climates make admirable companions and coupled with storage adds flexibility to the mix for a greater impact on reducing CO2 emissions. Did wonder though if they haven't missed out by not adding EV charge points as well!

Solar plus storage cleared to land at JFK airport

The 12.3 MW solar installation will create a carport canopy for around 3,000 parking spaces located on the southern section of one of the airport’s long-term parking lots.

The system includes 5 to 7.5 MW of battery storage, which will support AirTrain JFK. The entire project is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 5,300 metric tons annually.

“Utilizing solar energy is a proven, industry-leading approach to reducing both costs and emissions while driving economic activity in the region,” said Kevin O’Toole, chairman of the Port Authority Board of Commissioners, which operates New York City’s three airports, among other transportation assets.

Solar projects are currently in development across Port Authority facilities, including a 5 MW solar parking canopy at Newark Airport, a 1.5 MW rooftop solar array on LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B Garage, and a 600 kW solar installation on a rail service warehouse rooftop.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/12/21/solar-plus-storage-cleared-to-land-at-jfk-airport/?utm_source=pv+magazine+USA&utm_campaign=bc87bb7875-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_80e0d17bb8-bc87bb7875-159341337

joefizz

ABrass said:

Sizewell C is in trouble again.

The government has begun talks with EDF about the construction of a new £20bn nuclear power plant in Suffolk.
...
China General Nuclear Power has a 20% stake in Sizewell C but is thought to be planning to pull out after security concerns were raised about a Chinese state-owned company designing and running its own design nuclear reactor on UK soil.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-55299511

I mentioned this in an earlier post somewhere.
Its all about costs. The UK govt is printing money at near zero or possibly soon to be negative rates. Why should private companies borrow at larger costs when they can just pull out (hitachi already in anglesey) and let the UK govt fund more of it for them.
More can kicking...

joefizz

Just a heads up for those of us with batteries.
One of the long range weather models for this weekend/next week features a polar vortex over the UK bringing below zero temperatures for a sustained period.This weather system may hold which means little or no wind.
Its also possibly over the Brexit date so if theres any unplanned maintenance of the French interconnector, well...
Im about to see if I can set my battery to min 80% charge and start charging from the mains. National Grid were saying earlier this week could we have the first coal free Christmas... doubt it.
I serviced the generators as well, but then I am on a different island to most of you (not the plague one ;-))

Despite all the doom and gloom Happy Christmas everyone!

KayBur

Now the trend of nature conservation is popular and relevant, but no less important is the fight against the destruction that has already occurred. It is very important to cleanse the planet of pollution. This also applies to the near-earth orbit, which we managed to clog with the remnants of spacecraft, carriers, etc. I just read an article a few hours ago https://www.skyrora.com/post/government-backs-uk-companies-tackling-dangerous-space-junk and this causes indignation in me, because our planet, including the upper atmosphere, suffers from pollution so much, and it seems that it is not profitable for the governments of many countries to support such programs.

michaels

KayBur said:

Now the trend of nature conservation is popular and relevant, but no less important is the fight against the destruction that has already occurred. It is very important to cleanse the planet of pollution. This also applies to the near-earth orbit, which we managed to clog with the remnants of spacecraft, carriers, etc. I just read an article a few hours ago https://www.skyrora.com/post/government-backs-uk-companies-tackling-dangerous-space-junk and this causes indignation in me, because our planet, including the upper atmosphere, suffers from pollution so much, and it seems that it is not profitable for the governments of many countries to support such programs.

What comes around goes around, this is the same problem economically as the commons of years ago, in this case if one country clears up the mess everyone benefits but the country doing the cleaning can't charge for it so for them the cost benefit analysis is they pay all the costs but only get a fraction of the benefit.