Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Coastalwatch said:

Just another incremental step but what struck me was that 40 GW figure which often seems to  feature as either average or maximum demand here in the UK. I can't find a recent highest generation for the UK, but the latest being 2018 when the figure was 13.1 GW.

German solar generates 40 GW for the first time

Germany is currently seeing cool, sunny weather, which is ideal for PV power generation. According to Energy Charts, the photovoltaic systems installed in the country have cracked the 40 GW mark for the first time.

The record result, of 40.7 GW, was achieved on April 27, at 1 p.m.

The favorable weather situation, with a sunny sky and low temperatures, had previously set new photovoltaic generation records on Friday and also at the weekend. According to German power provider Eon, a total of around 515 million kilowatt-hours of solar power were fed into the grid on Saturday and Sunday, which is more than ever for an April weekend.

Previously, according to Energy Charts, the highest photovoltaic output, of 37.7 GW, was reached at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. This exceeded the old record of June 1, 2020, when 37.2 GW was reached.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/04/28/german-solar-generates-40-gw-for-the-first-time/

Yeah I love little milestones like that, and you are right the UK demand is ~40GW which translates to roughly 350TWh pa, or ~1TWh per day. Peak demand is a bit higher in the evening, and night demand is lower, but we could say that for that time period (I assume a 30 min period) German PV could have met UK day time demand ...... which is mind blowing, as we shouldn't normalize how fast this has happened, with the UK getting on board the PV train in 2010, a few years behind Germany (and Italy) who helped drive down costs via the FiT schemes.

This is going to be an incredible decade for RE, but we mustn't forget how important the last one was in laying down the foundations ...... and I'm still not bored of it all ...... yet.

silverwhistle

Coastalwatch said:

 According to German power provider Eon, a total of around 515 million kilowatt-hours of solar power were fed into the grid on ...

Do their figures only include export or do they take account of all the PV generators desperately trying to up the use of their own production, like those of us on this board?

Coastalwatch

silverwhistle said:

Coastalwatch said:

 According to German power provider Eon, a total of around 515 million kilowatt-hours of solar power were fed into the grid on ...

Do their figures only include export or do they take account of all the PV generators desperately trying to up the use of their own production, like those of us on this board?

I've no idea what the ratio of domestic to commercial generation is over there but suspect it to be little more than here given the scale of roll out. A friend noted vast fields of solar panels during his last visit there, not that that is conclusive in any way. Either way providing the energy is used appropriately and not wasted then it is all making a worthwhile contribution. Albeit a little unethically perhaps, where deemed export might be concerned!

Martyn1981

This is promising, as it encourages Governments to do more, and reduces their fear of upsetting the public, which I suspect holds them back ....... "costs up, vote em out!!!!"

Reminds me of the articles I posted probably 3+ yrs ago, where the majority (possibly 70%+, can't remember) of the UK public supported RE expansion and subsidies, despite their belief that the impact on their bills was far higher. I think the average 'guess' for RE subsidies was 14x higher than the actual cost on the bills.

Over Two-Thirds Of Citizens Want Their Country’s Climate Target Raised

Public opinion in the EU strongly supports more ambitious national climate targets, according to a new YouGov poll conducted in 12 European countries. The poll for Transport & Environment (T&E) reveals that 68% of respondents who expressed an opinion want their country’s climate targets to be increased, while 84% support increased climate efforts in the transport and buildings sectors to be delivered through new standards and regulations [i].

If only the new Tory majority had known this in 2015 when they butchered most of the RE and energy efficiency measures ..... oh wait they did, with the results of the quarterly Public Attitudes Tracker making it clear over and over and over.

But I'm not bitter. ;-)

Martyn1981

I thought this was interesting and fun, in light of the second article which covers a story that made international BEV news a couple of weeks back:

Victorian government pledges to slash state’s carbon emissions by 50% by 2030

The Victorian government has promised to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, in an announcement of long-awaited climate targets that outstrip commitments made by the Morrison government.

The plan, announced on Sunday, will see Victoria power all government-owned enterprises, including schools and hospitals, by renewables by 2025.

“US Climate Envoy John Kerry himself last week conceded that the US target of 50-52% cuts is not enough, and neither is Victoria’s target.

“The federal Coalition’s decade of sabotage and delay on climate has limited what can be achieved in the next decade here in Victoria, and for that they must be held accountable.

“This has to be the start of a decade in which climate action is an absolute top priority for the Victorian government. Every decision matters.”

Every decision matters (my bold) and as we all know, a major source of emissions come from vehicles .....

....... I suspect many of you are ahead of me already ......

‘The worst electric vehicle policy in the world’: automotive coalition pans Victoria’s EV tax

A coalition of car manufacturers, industry groups, infrastructure companies and environmentalists have branded the Victorian government’s proposed electric vehicle tax the “worst electric vehicle policy in the world”.

When introducing its plan to make electric vehicle drivers pay by the kilometre, the Victorian state government said it was about ensuring a fair contribution towards paying for road use, because they weren’t paying the fuel excise.

The user-pays system will require drivers to keep a logbook of their travels from July that will then be used to calculate a charge of 2.5 cents/km to be paid when they renew their registration. Records will need to be kept for five years and people who fail to produce records may face charges.

Critics say introducing the policy when the take-up of electric vehicles in Victoria is currently just 0.7% will kill the market before it has the chance to become established.

Well, there's nothing like a good, well rounded, environmental policy, (all together now), and this is nothing like a good, well rounded, environmental policy.

Martyn1981

Pretty impressive numbers/growth:

Offshore wind capacity to 'hit 251GW by 2030'

Global installed offshore wind capacity will be about 251GW by 2030 up from 33GW at the end of last year, according to research by Rystad Energy.

The report said that combined capital and operational expenditure for the decade will be $810bn (€670bn), signaling an increasing shift of investments from oil and gas to renewable energy technologies.

Rystad said it expects installed capacity to hit an estimated 109GW by 2025, before rising to 251GW by 2030, growing by 22% a year on average.

Martyn1981

I wasn't going to post this, as it could appear pretchy, and of course depressing news. But I find it useful to be reminded that whilst some will try to spin negatives for FF employees, and even suggest negative impacts on the poor as we transition quickly to RE, the reality is that more and more people, will suffer terribly from the climate crisis, and the faster we address the issues, the less the impact will be ..... still ann horrific impact, but at least reduced a bit. [Sorry if this is a bit depressing for a Bank Holiday.]

Climate Change Could Cause Almost 132 Million People To Be In Extreme Poverty By 2030

The World Bank estimates that climate change will be responsible for as many as 132 million people being in extreme poverty by 2030. For those who can’t fathom or visualize what this means, let’s look at how the organization defined extreme poverty, as:

“Living on $1.90 per day.”

The report pointed out that it is already well known that climate change will disproportionately affect poorer countries and poorer individuals living in those countries. The organization provided a new assessment of the future impacts of climate change on extreme poverty by 2030, and it’s pretty bleak. The assessment was completed at the household level using a bottom-up approach exploring the compounding effects of future socioeconomic development as well as changing climatic and environmental conditions.

QrizB

This article is a week or so old, but I don't think it's been posted here yet:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/apr/25/insanely-cheap-energy-how-solar-power-continues-to-shock-the-world

‘Insanely cheap energy’: how solar power continues to shock the world

"In the year 2000, the International Energy Agency made a prediction that would come back to haunt it: by 2020, the world would have installed a grand total of 18 gigawatts of photovoltaic solar capacity. Seven years later, the forecast would be proven spectacularly wrong when roughly 18 gigawatts of solar capacity were installed in a single year alone.

Over the last two decades ... the IEA has consistently failed to see the massive growth in renewable energy coming. Not only has the organisation underestimated the take-up of solar and wind, but it has massively overstated the demand for coal and oil."

Martyn1981

The IEA PV forecasts have been mocked to death now for years, and I think fully deserve it too. At first they looked at how much PV had been installed that year, and boldy predicted roughly the same (or sometimes less!) would be installed each year after. This resulted in utter nonsense, but I won't judge them too harshly as they couldn't, back then, have realised how quickly supply and demand would rise, in response to rapidly falling costs ..... but I don't think almost flat growth is reasonable

...... but they did it again the next year, and the next, and the next ..... and so on, leading to one of the most ridiculous graphs you will ever see when their annual predictions of deployment, v's actual are plotted together:



What I, and anyone on any forum, or news article commenting, can't get our heads around, is why they aren't learning? And that's before we even start to look at the 2018 prediction, suggesting that PV deployments would decline each year for nearly two decades ...... you what?

Cardew

Time to waste solar energy?

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/it-s-time-to-start-wasting-solar-energy?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB