Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Exiled_Tyke

Martyn1981 said:

No big surprise here. More on-shore wind helps bills. Having too little wind, for the role it should play, will increase bills in gas situations like we have now.

I am still baffled by the Gov's hostility. I get that before there was a small, but loud minority that made a fuss, but with so much support for on-shore wind now, including Tory voters, and crucially for wind both nationally and locally, I'd have thought their actions may now be against more of their voters, than for them. Perhaps not supporting on-shore wind isn't enough to upset their voters who support it from voting for them, but supporting on-shore wind would lose them a small number.

Hard to rationalise the situation anymore, and a minority position by some voters, shouldn't trump G&E RE deployment in the face of the climate crisis ........ if the Gov was genuinely trying to do the best for the country, people and environment ....... big IF?

UK onshore wind slowdown 'could cost billpayers'

UK energy customers could end up paying £125 (€150) more if the roll-out of onshore wind is not expanded, according to analysis from the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

Following no new targets in the Government’s Energy Security Strategy and reported pushback from some MPs, the UK currently has 14GW of onshore wind, which will rise to 20GW with turbines that are under construction or have received planning consent.

If the sector were to stop at 20GW and not reach the mooted targets, the ECIU analysis finds that UK households could end up with higher energy bills.

Although it doesn't help society as a whole on an individual level it's an argument in favour of investing in Ripple.

Coastalwatch

It would appear the FF industry is continuing in it's time honoured tradition of denying the climate crisis by standing in the way of cleaner sources of energy as per the case below in New England.

Senator Markey blasts “minimizing our potential for renewables” or MOPR rule in New England

Senator Markey challenged ISO-NE for proposing to delay the elimination of a rule that “puts fossil fuel generation ahead of cleaner, cheaper alternatives.” The rule is called the minimum offer price rule, or MOPR, but it “actually stands for something else,” Markey said. “It stands for minimizing our potential for renewables, in Massachusetts and all across New England.”

Senator Markey joined with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders to send a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, asking the commission to use its existing regulatory authority to reject ISO-NE’s proposal to extend the MOPR rule.

Senator Markey said MOPR sets an “artificially high price” to participate in wholesale electricity auctions “that prevents lower cost providers” of renewables and storage from “out-competing the more expensive fossil fuel power generators.”

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/04/15/senator-markey-blasts-minimizing-our-potential-for-renewables-or-mopr-rule-in-new-england/?utm_source=USA+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=277a8be92e-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_80e0d17bb8-277a8be92e-159341337

Coastalwatch

Strong backing for a couple of energy storage projects, one in raising the necessary investment and the second in being granted planning permission.

‘Considerable demand’ sees Gore Street raise double its target in £150m initial issue

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund has raised gross proceeds of £150 million from an initial issue, which is to be used to pursue its 1.3GW pipeline.

This initial issue – which was made of an initial placing, initial offer for subscription and initial intermediaries offer – was significantly oversubscribed, the company said, leading to Gore Street upgrading its target size from £75 million.

Institutional and retail investor demand was “considerable”, according to the company, with over £150 million raised in the initial issue, and therefore subject to scale back.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/considerable_demand_sees_gore_street_raise_double_its_target_in_150m_initia

Aura Power secures planning permission for 190MW of battery energy storage

Developer Aura Power has secured planning permission for 190MW of battery energy storage projects across two sites.

The 100MW Blaydon project at Newburn Bridge Road has been approved by Gateshead Council. It will sit on brownfield land, on an industrial estate, and the battery asset will be connected into Northern Powergrid’s substation nearby.

The 90MW Drakelow project has been approved by South Derbyshire Council, and will be located on a business park, with limited visibility. It will be connected into Western Power Distribution's network.

Construction will start on both projects before the end of the year, with work expected to take six to 12 months. The development of both will include biodiversity enhancements, with a minimum of 10% biodiversity net gain planned.

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/aura_power_secure_planning_permission_for_190mw_of_battery_energy_storage

Coastalwatch

Energy Dome appear to tick all the right boxes when it comes energy storage. Not the first time it's been mentioned on here but thought it worth including as there is quite a void in the market place for it at present. Other options not withstanding of course.

Energy Dome wins BNEF Pioneers 2022 for CO2 battery long-duration energy storage technology

Energy Dome’s emission-free energy storage method uses carbon dioxide in a closed loop charge/discharge cycle that can store and dispatch renewable energy onto the grid over periods from four to 24 hours.

Energy Dome's emission-free energy storage method uses carbon dioxide in a closed loop charge/discharge cycle that can store and dispatch renewable energy onto the grid over periods from four to 24 hours. Energy Dome reports that it plans to build energy storage projects at half the cost of lithium-ion battery storage technology globally.

“To be selected as a BNEF Pioneers 2022 winner is not only a huge honor, but also a strong validation of our technology and product, the CO2 Battery, which we are deploying at commercial scale,” said Claudio Spadacini, Energy Dome founder and CEO . “We are already seeing strong global interest in the CO2 Battery, which uses tried and tested components, costs half of lithium-ion technology, is highly efficient (Round Trip Efficiency 75+%) and has no performance degradation during its 30+ year project lifetime. We believe the CO2 Battery will help significantly accelerate the clean energy transition by replacing baseload fossil fuels with fully dispatchable solar and wind energy.”

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/04/18/energy-dome-wins-bnef-pioneers-2022-for-co2-battery-long-duration-energy-storage-technology/

Martyn1981

Hiya CW. If I remember correctly it was you that mentioned the CO2 battery before. Great to see it developing, and at 75% efficiency looks to be a winner, depending of course on cost.

I was actually thinking about this a week or so back due to a similar storage idea in the States. The plan was to use existing (but no longer viable) gas fracking sites and using methane as the storage medium. I thought this seemed odd as CAES (compressed air energy storage would work), but the article explained that mixing air with methane is potentially highly explosive ...... very fair point. But a commentator on the article asked why they don't just use CO2?

It's a silly point, but something doesn't sound right about using methane, probably FF methane, as a storage medium in a FF methane well. Little alarm bells were going off suggesting this may be a way to justify fracking, clearly I'm a tad suspicious.

Anyway's, back to your post, and great news, higher efficiency than I'd expected.

Martyn1981

Nice little vid from 'Undecided with Matt Ferrell' looking at large scale storage types, but mainly versions of PHS (pumped hydro storage).

The World's Largest Battery Isn't What You Think

Coastalwatch

I don't usually associate Origami or Habitat with renewables but it was Gresham House Batteries that caught my eye to discover they appear to have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to complying with the regulations required when supporting the Grid through the services it can offer. 

And I naively thought it was merely a case of switching the batteries on or off!

Origami readies 50MW Gresham House Batteries for post-EFR markets

Origami is enabling 40MW Glassenbury A and 10MW Cleator to participate in frequency response and wholesale markets.

With the discontinuation of EFR, a service in place since late 2016, numerous battery assets throughout the UK require upgrades to participate in the new markets that are replacing it – such as Dynamic Containment (DC), Dynamic regulation (DR) and in the near future, Dynamic Moderation (DM).

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc is responding to this shift by using Origami’s platform at its 40MW Glassenbury A and 10MW Cleator projects, to manage the extraction and orchestration of operational data from the assets, enabling their participation in Dynamic Containment for the first time.  The move also future-proofs the assets’ ability to switch seamlessly between other current and emerging ancillary markets.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/press-releases/origami-readies-50mw-gresham-house-batteries-for-post-efr-markets/

Martyn1981

UK to build cables for HVDC interconnectors, and also a brief mention of the Morocco to UK project which makes it sound like this has progressed from just an idea.

XLCC to create UK HVDC cable hub

XLCC is to create a new export-led HVDC cable manufacturing industry for the UK, nearly doubling the world’s current production.

It aims to support renewable energy projects with the first factory planned for Hunterston, Scotland (pictured).

XLCC will deliver its first project for the Xlinks Morocco-UK Power Project, consisting of four 3,800km long subsea cables, with the first phase between 2025-2027 connecting wind and solar power generated in Morocco exclusively to the UK in Devon. 

Martyn1981

Article setting out the pipeline of projects for RE and storage in the US. Note that this doesn't mean that they will all progress, just shows the growing volume of projects being proposed. Some big numbers!

Nearly 1TW of renewables in US interconnection queues as wait times continue to grow

There was almost 1TW of renewable energy capacity and an estimated 427GW of storage active in US interconnection queues at the end of 2021 according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) analysis, which also showed that queues were growing year-on-year.

In total, over 930GW of zero-carbon generating capacity is currently seeking transmission access. Solar accounts for a record 676GW of this generation – beating the previous record of 462GW at the end of 2020 – and wind power makes up 247GW. Fossil fuels looking to connect are on the decline, however, with 75GW of natural gas and less than 1GW of coal currently proposed.  

Martyn1981

Small article on a small wind farm (30MW), but it's Italy's first off-shore wind farm, so I thought it was worth mentioning as this technology is still in its infancy globally.

Renexia inaugurates Italy's first offshore wind farm

Renexia has inaugurated its 30MW Beleolico project which will be Italy’s first offshore wind farm to come online in the country.

The wind farm (pictured) is located off Taranto in the Mediterranean Sea and once operational will be able to generate energy equal to about 58,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) and meet the needs of 60,000 people.