Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Coastalwatch

Martyn1981 said:

Forgot to post this - the state of South Australia had negative leccy demand due mostly to rooftop solar. They had to export the excess plus the gas gen that was still running, to other states.

Yes it was only a partial day, and a sunny Sunday, so low demand, but still ..... wowza.

I popped this on here (not the PV thread) as I thought it was a pleasant sign of the times ahead, including other countries, and other mixes of RE.

South Australia experiences negative electricity demand thanks to renewables

South Australia’s gigawatt-scale grid reached zero demand on Sunday 21 November when the combined output of rooftop solar PV and other non-scheduled generators exceeded local customer load demands.

This is the first time that a gigawatt-scale grid has achieved this landmark event, noted RenewEconomy. This event was brought about when minimum operational demand hit a new record low of 104MW, down 45% from the previous record of 188MW on 31 October 2021.

Between 1PM to 1:30PM on Sunday, the estimated rooftop solar PV output was 1,220MW, accounting for 92% of the region’s underlying electricity demand, according to Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

Crikes Mart that is some drop on the minimum demand side, surely not every household was barbecuing down on the beach with little or nothing being consumed back home and most domestic pv installs exporting into the bargain.

Guess it's approaching the peak of summer over there then, so not so many roast dinners on the go.

Martyn1981

No great surprise, but always good to see it in the news.

Renewable energy jobs growing four times faster than rest of UK market

The number of jobs being created in the renewable energy industry is growing four times faster than the overall UK employment market, it has emerged.

Data shows that 2.2% of all new UK jobs have been classified as “green”, although concerns are rising over London’s dominance in the sector.

The number of green jobs advertised has almost trebled in the last year, equating to 336,000 roles, according to the second edition of consultancy PwC’s annual green jobs barometer.

However, more than one-third of these roles are based in London and the south-east, particularly in professional and scientific roles.

Scotland, which dominates the UK’s onshore and offshore wind market, has the highest proportion of green jobs, at 3.3%, up from 1.7% last year.

Martyn1981

Looks like this project (German interconnector, 1.4GW) has been delayed as OFGEM have it down for commissioning in 2024.

Don't want to jinx things, but with the huge expansion of interconnectors this decade (3 to 4 fold), and what looks like an acceleration in RE deployment, especially off-shore wind ...... I'm starting to think the 2030 net low carbon target of 100% for leccy is looking like a shoo-in.

But that's the easy bit!

Early works begin on NeuConnect interconnector

Early works have begun on the £2.4bn NeuConnect project, the first direct energy link between the UK and Germany.

With NeuConnect reaching financial close in July, the project has continued to make rapid progress in recent months with enabling works now underway at the Isle of Grain in Kent, England and Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany.

The new link will allow 1.4GW of electricity to flow in either direction, helping to boost energy security and resilience while also helping to integrate renewable energy sources in both countries.

Major construction to lay subsea cables and build converter stations will start in 2023, with NeuConnect due to be operational by 2028.

Martyn1981

I think this sounds promising, 'real' progress on nuclear fusion. Obviously there's the long standing joke that fusion is just two decades away, but now it seems that it might actually be true (might), but will it be cost competitive in two decades, I've no idea.

Breakthrough in nuclear fusion could mean ‘near-limitless energy’

Researchers have reportedly made a breakthrough in the quest to unlock a “near-limitless, safe, clean” source of energy: they have got more energy out of a nuclear fusion reaction than they put in.

“Anyone working in fusion would be quick to point out that there is still a long way to go from demonstrating energy gain to getting to wall-plug efficiency where the energy coming from a fusion reactor exceeds its electrical energy input required to run the reactor,” he added.

“The experiments on NIF demonstrate the scientific process of ignition and how this leads to high fusion energy gain, but to turn this into a power station we need to develop simpler methods to reach these conditions, which will need to be more efficient and above all cheaper in order for inertial fusion to be realised as a fusion power source.”

The latest results, if true, top the last big breakthrough by the facility which came just last year when it was announced that the team had hit 70% of the laser energy put in to the experiment released as nuclear energy.

michaels

I always worry that fusion is a bit like CCS - if we assume we will be able to solve the CO2 problem more cheaply in the future then we need to do less about it right now....

EricMears

Martyn1981 said:

I think this sounds promising, 'real' progress on nuclear fusion. Obviously there's the long standing joke that fusion is just two decades away, but now it seems that it might actually be true (might), but will it be cost competitive in two decades, I've no idea.

Breakthrough in nuclear fusion could mean ‘near-limitless energy’

Those of us who remember the same headline from the 1950s are managing to contain our excitement 

Martyn1981

michaels said:

I always worry that fusion is a bit like CCS - if we assume we will be able to solve the CO2 problem more cheaply in the future then we need to do less about it right now....

Yes, I have the same concern. And even if things go well with this, it'll still be a 'real' 20yrs cough<or more>cough before we get commercial fusion, so we probably have cheaper solutions already.

ABrass

ITER is the next big thing in nuclear power. It should demonstrate generating heat at a suitable scale and dramatically better power in/out ratio. But it won't generate any electricity. Not a single Watt.

DEMO is the plan for the first Fusion power plant to generate any electricity. The first forecast DEMO model is targeting 2051.

Fusion is still 30+ years away.

NigeWick

Martyn1981 said:

I think this sounds promising, 'real' progress on nuclear fusion. Obviously there's the long standing joke that fusion is just two decades away, but now it seems that it might actually be true (might), but will it be cost competitive in two decades, I've no idea.

We have a huge fusion reactor in the sky. All we have to do is harness its energy. SWMBO uses the latest in wind & solar products to dry our washing, by using a washing line.

2nd_time_buyer

Martyn1981 said:

michaels said:

I always worry that fusion is a bit like CCS - if we assume we will be able to solve the CO2 problem more cheaply in the future then we need to do less about it right now....

Yes, I have the same concern. And even if things go well with this, it'll still be a 'real' 20yrs cough<or more>cough before we get commercial fusion, so we probably have cheaper solutions already.

They sent men to the moon in the 60s, we were promised tourist flights well before now. People often significantly underestimate the scalability of ambitions that are on the edge of physics. My fear is that if fusion is to be realized any time soon it will be for military applications.