Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

QrizB

The big green story of the morning (so far):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-58647481

China pledges to stop building new coal energy plants abroad

China will not build new coal-fire projects abroad, a move that could be pivotal in tackling global emissions.
President Xi Jinping made the announcement in his address at the United Nations General Assembly.
China has been funding coal projects in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam under a massive infrastructure project known as the Belt and Road initiative.
But it has been under pressure to end the financing, as the world tries to meet Paris climate agreement targets.
"China will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad," Mr Xi said in a video recording at the annual summit.
No further details were provided, but the move could limit the expansion of coal plants in many developing countries under China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Martyn1981

RE and storage going head to head with coal generation in New Mexico.

Tesla Megapack & Solar To Replace 562 MW New Mexico Coal Plant

Tesla’s Megapack energy storage tech will be used to help New Mexico’s Public Service Company (PNM) to replace a retiring 562 MW coal plant, the San Juan Generating Station. The coal plant is located near the San Juan Mine and produced power at $45/MWh in 2018 and 2019.

Energy Storage News reported that PNM plans to procure energy from 950 MW of solar and storage facilities by next year while retiring the coal plant. PNM will lean on the Arroyo Solar and Storage Project, which is a 300 MWac solar PV plant with 150 MWac/600 MW of co-located battery storage. It has signed two separate offtake contracts for its solar and storage output and is planning to reach 100% emissions-free electricity by 2040.

Martyn1981

Yet more evidence, if it was needed, for us to reduce the consumption of FF's asap. At least we have the technology now with cheap RE, falling battery costs, and an ever expanding number of longer term / larger scale storage solutions.

Fingers crossed for the RE and BEV rollout to continue, and keep gathering speed.

WHO slashes guideline limits on air pollution from fossil fuels

The World Health Organization has cut its recommended limits for air pollution and urged nations to tackle dirty air and save millions of lives.

In the first update for 16 years, the guideline limit for the most damaging pollution – tiny particles from burning fossil fuels – has been halved. The new limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), mainly produced by diesel engines, is now 75% lower.

The stringent new limits reflect the large body of evidence produced in recent years of the deadly harm caused to people by much lower levels of pollution than previously thought. Air pollution kills at least 7 million people a year, the WHO said, while a recent study estimated 8.7 million early deaths a year from coal, oil and gas burning – 20% of all deaths.

Pollution cuts an average of two years from the lives of the global population, and up to six years in highly polluted nations such as India, making it a bigger killer than smoking, car crashes or HIV/Aids.

In the UK, the environmental lawyers ClientEarth said legal pollution limits for PM2.5 and NO2 were now four times the WHO guidelines, meaning people are exposed to levels far above that known to be acceptable. NO2 levels are already above UK limits in 75% of urban areas.

“These new guidelines reflect the best available science and the conclusion is irrefutable: air pollution, even at lower levels, seriously endangers people’s health,” said Andrea Lee, of ClientEarth. “This must serve as a wake-up call for the UK government – ministers should be scrambling to act.”

A spokesperson for the UK’s environment ministry said: “We will set ambitious targets on air quality through our environment bill. We will consider the updated WHO guidelines on PM2.5 to inform the development of air quality targets, but we must not underestimate the challenges these would bring, particularly in large cities and for people’s daily lives.” A consultation on the proposed targets is expected in early 2022.

Martyn1981

That's not storage, this is ......... (yeah, that joke's getting a bit tired).

Tesla Breaks Ground On Its 1st Megafactory For Megapacks

Instagram user “209Times” has shared a photo of Tesla employees breaking ground on the new Tesla Megafactory. You can see the group lined up with shovels in front of a giant sign, “Tesla Megafactory,” in the background. This was shared on Twitter by the Tesla Club of San Joaquin Valley, which said that this took place in Lathrop and will be the new Megapack factory. “Thank you Elon Musk for your continued support of the San Joaquin Valley,” he added in a tweet.

Martyn1981

This could be great news (could?)

Hopefully folk can be better informed on green solutions/alternatives, with a net benefit (hopefully?)

Watchdog to launch crackdown on ads falsely claiming green credentials

Airline ads that encourage taking too many flights and carmakers that show SUVs tearing up the countryside are set to fall foul of a crackdown on marketing that encourages environmentally irresponsible behaviour.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to launch a series of inquiries into the environmental advertising claims and practices across a range of sectors – starting with energy, heating and transport – in a drive to support global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and battle the climate crisis.

Next spring the the watchdog will expand its investigation to look at the accuracy of green claims made by companies around waste, such as products being biodegradable, recyclable or a “plastic alternative”. Later next year the spotlight will turn to meat and food sustainability advertising, for example checking the accuracy of claims around environmental good practice by sellers of beef products, a hugely carbon intensive industry.

shinytop

From the Times today. A bit late but still...

Multibillion-pound plan to build UK nuclear power plant

Ministers are backing a multibillion-pound plan to build another large-scale nuclear power plant in Britain to ease pressure on electricity supplies as the country moves towards net zero.

The government is in discussions with the American nuclear reactor manufacturer Westinghouse about a proposal to develop a new plant on Anglesey in Wales.

The project would be in addition to a second nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, Somerset, which is under construction, and a proposal for a new reactor at Sizewell, Suffolk, that is at an advanced stage of planning.

If it gets the go-ahead the new plant at Wylfa would be able to generate enough electricity to power more than six million homes and could be operational in the mid-2030s.

QrizB

Looks like the wind has decided to blow again!

Wind and CCGT have been battling for first place all day over at Gridwatch, with wind currently being in the lead with 10.63GW vs CCGT's 9.23GW; according to Electric Insights the past 24h have seen 230GWh of CCGT generation and 220GWh of wind.

EVandPV

QrizB said:

Looks like the wind has decided to blow again!

Wind and CCGT have been battling for first place all day over at Gridwatch, with wind currently being in the lead with 10.63GW vs CCGT's 9.23GW; according to Electric Insights the past 24h have seen 230GWh of CCGT generation and 220GWh of wind.

And solar chipping in too with a wee boost of 5.1GW.
Grid looking pretty clean up here today, even in the north of England and north Wales.

EVandPV

Renewables and "clean" energy well ahead of FF now.

michaels

EVandPV said:

Renewables and "clean" energy well ahead of FF now.

But we are gong to see price spikes if we can't supply demand when renewables are low.  Even with the interconnector issue I think we are still ok for total output but it requires burring lots of (currently) very expensive gas hence the spikes.

Does anyone know how much green hydrogen would cost compared to eh current gas price if it was generated from 'spill' renewables following additonal build out.  I guess we could price the 'input energy' at the CFD price as a worse case (say £50 per mwh) and then assume 0% (no idea guessing) round trip efficiency which would give a price of electricity from green hydrogen of £100 per mwh (plus some percentage for the capital costs, no idea what these would be), similar to nuclear but obviously able to demand follow unlike nuclear and probably available much sooner.  How much is an mwh from gas at current gas prices?

Martyn do you have any real numbers?

Edit:  My back of the envelope numbers with gas at £1.80 per therm and 60% power station efficiency is that current gas cost to generate 1mwh is £10.34