Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Towards the end of last year I started to wonder about something - would conventional RE generation exceed FF's in 2023 on the UK grid? I was following the info on the Nat Grid Live site, and not suggesting it's perfect, just a rough guide. Also have to consider what the mix of generation is for imports and exports.

But it may be that wind, solar and hydro exceeded FF gen last year (just) at roughly 36% v's 34%. RE has exceeded FF's, but that's including bio-mass, which can be controversial. Maybe the UK can encourage crops like hemp, to shift some bio-mass to UK based material, I don't know.

Edit - forgot to say, UK wind is closing in on gas generation at roughly 30.5% v's 33.5%.

Hopefully there will be some detailed breakdowns on the leccy mix for 2023, I think the full Gov report can take about a year. But till then rough estimates are now coming out, such as this nice piece of news:

UK fossil fuel electricity 'at lowest level since 1957'

The amount of UK electricity generated from fossil fuels fell 22% year-on-year in 2023 to the lowest level since 1957. 

Analysis from Carbon Brief has revealed the 104TWh generated from fossil fuels in 2023 is the lowest level in 66 years. 

Electricity from fossil fuels has now fallen by two-thirds (199TWh) since peaking in 2008, according to the analysis.

As a result, fossil fuels made up just 33% of UK electricity supplies in 2023 – their lowest ever share – of which gas was 31%, coal just over 1% and oil just below 1%, the analysis found.

Low-carbon sources made up 56% of the total, of which renewables were 43% and nuclear 13%.

Coastalwatch

While Germany may still be dependent on FF's for a sizeable proportiong of their energy generation they are making great strides in transitioning away from them. The PV capacity increase of 14GW compares favourably to that of UK where from June '22 to June '23 a record 0.953 GW was installed.

Renewables covered almost 60% of German electricity demand in 2023

Renewables accounted for a record share of 59.7% of public net electricity generation in Germany in 2023, according to new figures from Fraunhofer ISE.

The research institute recorded new highs for wind power and solar. Onshore and offshore wind were the most important source of public electricity generation at 139.8 TWh, or 32% of the total. Wind farm generation was 14.1% higher than in 2022.

Germany achieved a record-breaking newly installed PV capacity of approximately 14 GW last year, marking the first time the expansion rate hit double digits, surpassing the federal government's target of 9 GW.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/01/03/renewables-covered-almost-60-of-german-electricity-demand-in-2023/

https://heatable.co.uk/solar-advice/solar-statistics

Martyn1981

Chris Goodall's Carbon Commentary newsletter:

1, The SunZia project. The huge SunZia wind and transmission project in western USA finalised its $11bn financing. The electricity from 3.5 GW of turbines in New Mexico will be carried almost 900 km to the regional grid in Arizona and southern California. SunZia will create one of the longest high voltage direct current links outside China, as well as the biggest wind farm in the US. The country expects to have to triple its electricity transmission network to accommodate the growth in renewables. This project indicates just how complicated that expansion will be; SunZia has been in the planning process for 17 years.

2, Ammonia ships. Two further ships were ordered from Korea, adding to the several other orders placed in recent months. The IEA has suggested 70 large ammonia carriers will be needed before 2030 to move hydrogen by sea. (Ammonia contains large amounts of extractable hydrogen). 26 ships of the required size have been ordered in the last few months, while no ammonia carriers of this size are being used today. Is the rapid growth indicative of a shipping industry confident that ammonia will be the medium of choice for long distance energy transfer? Hydrogen Insight points out that these new ammonia carriers will also be able to ship LNG and other fuel gases. So although an ammonia ship will be more expensive to build than an LNG-only equivalent, the rapid pace of new orders does not definitively prove that the shipping industry is certain about the future of ammonia. Sensibly, ship owners just want to have the carriers in place if ammonia does take off. If not, they can be used for natural gas.

3, Chinese wind turbines. No Chinese wind turbine is yet installed on European soil, although a small number have been placed offshore. The US has also resisted turbine sales from this source. However Chinese manufacturers now supply over half the world’s market, supported by the rapid growth in installations in their home country. Some reports suggest that the price of turbines from China is little more than half the costs quoted by Western manufacturers. Two new stories this week of further progress of Chinese turbines into South America; market leader Goldwind is providing the turbines for a 342 megawatt farm in Chile while MingYang, the third largest Chinese manufacturer, said it would be supplying a 240 megawatt project in Brazil. (I saw these new stories on Renewables Now). There are now almost no categories of clean energy equipment in which Chinese suppliers do not have an increasingly dominant global position. Electrolysers may be an exception to this generalisation but I suspect that this market will also move to China soon.

4, Biochar. Biochar is the carbon-rich residue created when organic materials such as straw or wood chips are heated to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. When dug into soil, the product seems to generally remain unchanged for many years, perhaps centuries. According to a recent study produced by the trade association, biochar may be capable of sequestering the equivalent of 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, or 6% of global emissions. In addition to the carbon storage consequences, many soils treated with biochar, particularly in tropical regions, show increased fertility and better water holding characteristics. After more than a decade of scientific research but limited commercial interest, biochar is finally taking off. Startups are now beginning to be able to raise funds and obtain contracts to partner with agricultural companies. For example, US company Standard Biocarbon received investment of $5m to begin production this year. In East Africa, Spanish venture Biosorra announced a deal with Kenya Nut Company to transform the customer’s waste organic material, such as nut hulls, into biochar for adding to the soils of its farmers. Biochar is still expensive but better funding will help pull down the cost of carbon storage. And one big advantage of this form of carbon removal is that the quantity of new CO2 equivalent storage is reliably verifiable.

5, Amazon makes its own hydrogen. Warehouse fork lift trucks provide probably the best financial case for using hydrogen fuel cells for transport. (Heavy vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells at remote mines may also offer good economics). Amazon is now producing its own hydrogen at one of its fulfilment centres in Colorado for use in fork lifts. A 1 megawatt Plug Power electrolyser will provide enough H2 for up to 400 trucks. As the supplier comments, hydrogen produced in this way from variable renewable sources, such as variable solar power generated on warehouse roofs, can utilise electricity that would otherwise be unused by Amazon.

6, Spanish community solar. Iberdrola won a prize for a community solar project. PV panels totalling 355 kW were put on the roofs of public buildings in Cedillo, a small town in the west of the country. Local homes and business can join the cooperative that gets its electricity from these installations. According to Iberdrola, these customers will pay up to 50% less for their electricity. It is probably no coincidence that Iberdrola is developing several very large solar firms in the immediate area, including one of the first hybrid solar/hydro plants. More generally, it seems an excellent idea for solar and wind developers to offer nearby customers large reductions in their electricity costs to boost local support for otherwise unpopular large projects.

7, Nylon recycling. Nylon represents only about 2% of global plastics manufacture, but a disproportionate amount ends up in the oceans, partly because of discarded fishing nets. As a result, nylon is often the most abundant plastic in the stomachs of marine animals. Recycling has been highly problematic because of the difficulty of separating nylon from other plastics. Researchers at Northwestern University in the US showed how a new catalyst might enable the polymers in nylon to be broken down into the original monomers quickly and at a relatively low temperature. This is what is called ‘chemical recycling’ and we’ll see increasing emphasis on this approach to the reuse of all types of plastics in the next few years. Effective chemical recycling will mean that plastics can be indefinitely reused, a major improvement on current ‘mechanical recycling’ methods, which diminish the usefulness of the plastic.

8, Willingness to pay for low carbon goods. International consultants BCG surveyed consumers in large countries to find out what price premiums would be acceptable for expensive goods such as cars and washing machines that have been made with net zero emissions. Writing about electric cars, BCG reports that ‘75% of Chinese BEV drivers and 55% of German BEV drivers state a willingness to pay that would be enough to … cover decarbonization costs, plus margins for all the value chain participants’. Chinese consumers seem strikingly more ready to pay a healthy premium than Western buyers across the small number of goods studied. For example, 50% of those surveyed in China would pay a markup of 12% on a net zero washing machine compared to 6% in Germany and only slightly more in the US. Of course surveys like this have their weaknesses - people don’t always do what they say - but there’s a clear signal here that Chinese manufacturers may have greater scope to pursue emissions reduction in manufacturing than Western companies. Their customers will pay more for low carbon goods.

9, Morocco fertilisers and hydrogen. Morocco holds a dominant fraction of phosphate reserves. To make diammonium phosphate, which provides a large percentage of global fertilisers, producers also need hydrogen and nitrogen. Morocco’s excellent solar and wind resources, combined with the political stability that gives it access to well-priced capital, may mean that the country is uniquely well-placed to make this type of fertiliser. Its world market share of about 10% of all phosphorus fertilisers will rise. In the past, it has needed to buy in natural gas to make the hydrogen it needs but investors are now crowding cash into the production of green hydrogen locally. Abu Dhabi is intending to put $10 bn into a 6 gigawatt hydrogen project (albeit in the contested region of Western Sahara rather than in Morocco proper). Other investors, including Morocco’s own OCP, have pledged similar amounts. As with steel, my guess is that fertilisers will eventually be made in places with the cheapest solar and wind energy.

10, Reusing glass bottles. The problem with the current pattern of recycling is that collecting old bottles and then melting them back into glass saves only about a quarter of the energy used to make the bottle in the first place. It would be far better if they were collected, cleaned and then reused. Global spirits producer Diageo said it would begin to use the returnable glass bottles produced by EcoSpirits. A gin, a whisky and a vodka will be distributed in 4.5 litre containers to commercial customers, which will then return them when empty. EcoSpirits, a company based in Singapore and founded in 2018, already operates in 27 countries. Separately, Familia Torres, the Spanish wine producer that is driving worldwide decarbonisation efforts in the wine trade, has been operating a bottle return system for one its organic wines for several months as well as trying to persuade the industry to standardise bottle sizes and shapes to make reuse easier. In my view, the world needs to carefully examine a refundable deposit scheme on all glass containers.

Martyn1981

Things are stirring in the long duration energy storage (LDES) area.

UK unveils LDES support plan: cap-and-floor, 6-hour-plus duration, and lithium-ion excluded

The UK government has launched its consultation on its proposals for kickstarting investment into long-duration energy storage (LDES), which includes a cap-and-floor mechanism and excluding lithium-ion from being eligible.

LDES will be pivotal in delivering a smart and flexible energy system integrating low-carbon power, heat and transport, and 20GW of LDES deployments between 2030 and 2050 could result in system savings of £24 billion (US$30.5 billion), the consultation outline said.

michaels

Why exclude Lithium ion rather than just asking the market to decide what is cost effective?

QrizB

michaels said:

Why exclude Lithium ion rather than just asking the market to decide what is cost effective?

Because this is technology development funding .Li-ion is already developed and deployable at scale.

Exiled_Tyke

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/11/installation-of-rooftop-solar-panels-uk-12-year-high-2023-record-number-of-heat-pumps

more good news

Martyn1981

Great to see a large increase in the deployment of RE capacity last year v's 2022 and previous. [Note, I don't think the wording is very clear, it can be read as total cumulative capacity rose 50% last year, rather than a 50% increase in YoY deployments.]

On the negative side, whilst the annual deployments predicted for 2024+ do keep increasing YoY, it's not by huge amounts. Hopefully this is an understatement, for which the IEA is infamous.

If technology costs keep falling (outside of FF inflationary impacts), especially the learning curve for PV, then RE deployment rates could keep accelerating, but at lower costs, proportionately.

World’s renewable energy capacity grew at record pace in 2023

Global renewable energy capacity grew by the fastest pace recorded in the last 20 years in 2023, which could put the world within reach of meeting a key climate target by the end of the decade, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The world’s renewable energy grew by 50% last year to 510 gigawatts (GW) in 2023, the 22nd year in a row that renewable capacity additions set a new record, according to figures from the IEA.

The “spectacular” growth offers a “real chance” of global governments meeting a pledge agreed at the Cop28 climate talks in November to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 to significantly reduce consumption of fossil fuels, the IEA added.

Record rates of growth across Europe, the US and Brazil have put renewables on track to overtake coal as the largest source of global electricity generation by early 2025, the IEA said. By 2028, it forecasts renewable energy sources will account for more than 42% of global electricity generation.

Martyn1981

Vid from the Everything Electric Show, very quickly (just 10mins) running through a whole host of news on clean tech ideas that are developing/deploying this year. Good way to refresh the brain ready for another year of progress.

The Smallest, Cheapest and Best Yet?! Home Energy in 2024!

In this episode we're sharing all the trends we're watching, home energy products we cannot wait to get our hands on, and the technology innovations that will be sure to catapult us along this unstoppable trajectory towards net zero. Brace yourselves for a suite of super exciting, cheaper, smaller, more efficient and more accessible tech! So the question is, will this year will be remembered as the one where clean energy and electric vehicles officially shed their early adopter reputation and firmly enter the mainstream?!

Martyn1981

This battery deployment caught my eye. Not because its big, which it is at 185MW/565MWh, not because it has helped to displace Hawaii's last coal power station, which is great, but because it will be providing 'synthetic inertia'.

Started hearing about batts having the potential to provide grid inertia (typically provided by the rotating mass of steam turbines) last year, and Tesla's 'virtual machine mode' but hadn't appreciated things were this far advanced already.

[Note - I thought the bill saving of $0.28 per month seems low/strange, but all articles have that figure. Still, if adding a battery (which will carry costs) reduces home bills by ~$3pa, I suppose that's still a win. I hope multiple batts, mean multiple bill savings.]

Plus Power’s 565MWh ‘shock absorber’ BESS in Hawaii comes online

BESS developer and operator Plus Power has brought a 185MW/565MWh project online in Hawaii, the US, which it claimed is the “most advanced grid-scale BESS in the world”.

The Kapolei Energy Storage (KES) project on the island of Oahu was built to replace a coal plant owned by large utility AES which closed in November 2022 and previously powered a fifth of the island’s needs.

It comprises 158 Tesla Megapacks configured into 135MW/540MWh for capacity and energy use cases and another 50MW/25MWh of additional capacity for ‘fast frequency response’ to help keep the grid stable.

Brandon Keefe, Plus Power’s executive chairman claimed: “It is the first time a battery has been used by a major utility to balance the grid: providing fast frequency response, synthetic inertia, and black start. This project is a postcard from the future – batteries will soon be providing these services, at scale, on the mainland.” 

The announcement said it will be acting “…as an electrical “shock absorber” (a function) often served by combustion-powered peaker plants”.

The utility’s modelling has forecast that thanks to the KES project it will be able to reduce curtailment of renewables by 69% over the first five years of operation, integrate 10% more new utility-scale renewables than previously modelled, and allow for continued growth in customer-sited solar. It is also expected to reduce consumer electric bills by an average of US$0.28 per month over its 20-year contract life.