Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

michaels

Thinking out loud, the Labour target seems to be for 30gw of onshore and 60gw of offshore wind by 2030.

Which sounds great, double this, quadruple that - but what proportion of potential output would need to be curtailed under that scenario?  If 50% is not needed then under CFD the effective price per unit will be double the strike price.

Magnitio

michaels said:

Thinking out loud, the Labour target seems to be for 30gw of onshore and 60gw of offshore wind by 2030.

Which sounds great, double this, quadruple that - but what proportion of potential output would need to be curtailed under that scenario?  If 50% is not needed then under CFD the effective price per unit will be double the strike price.

Hopefully there will be improvements in energy storage, together with additional incentives to use the excess energy and wider uptake of those incentives. In the last couple of weeks we have seen days where substantial wind and solar has resulted in negative pricing. I read that Spain, California and parts of Australia also have times where generation exceeds demand and they are looking at the best ways to tackle this issue. This should be seen as a good thing, but is often reported negatively in the media.

michaels

Magnitio said:

michaels said:

Thinking out loud, the Labour target seems to be for 30gw of onshore and 60gw of offshore wind by 2030.

Which sounds great, double this, quadruple that - but what proportion of potential output would need to be curtailed under that scenario?  If 50% is not needed then under CFD the effective price per unit will be double the strike price.

Hopefully there will be improvements in energy storage, together with additional incentives to use the excess energy and wider uptake of those incentives. In the last couple of weeks we have seen days where substantial wind and solar has resulted in negative pricing. I read that Spain, California and parts of Australia also have times where generation exceeds demand and they are looking at the best ways to tackle this issue. This should be seen as a good thing, but is often reported negatively in the media.

I think we also need to understand that curtailment is not necessarily a bad thing, it may still be the best option for minimising cost of generation and energy security, and if there is free / minus price electricity no doubt industry and consumer behaviour will change to take advantage.

Coastalwatch

New coalmine in doubt after 'error’ in planning decision

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99w1qjp8qko

Netexporter

I was dead chuffed when I read that elsewhere.

Now that Port Talbot is going electric arc, there'd be no market for the coal, anyway.

Coastalwatch

My, barely six months away, that's some ambition and good on 'em. After all, the existing polluting vehicles are likely to be around for another two decades or so, making the likely end date circa 2045!

I wonder if it may start a trend!

Singapore will ban the sale of diesel cars and taxis in the country from 1 January 2025. The country says eco-friendly alternatives are now widely available.

https://www.electrive.com/2024/07/11/singapore-announces-stop-sale-date-for-diesel-cars-and-taxis/

Exiled_Tyke

Is this the most optimistic article on balancing the grid ever.  The elephant in the room which is not explicitly articulated is along the lines of: 

1. Replacing FF with RE means intermittency issues (which we call know) 
2. To overcome this we need massive over capacity with RE sources to cope with peak times 
3. But this isn't as big a problem as we might think because the increase in smart charging can both avoid using peak electricity and more importantly absorb excess at non-peak times. 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/15/electric-vehicles-bidirectional-charging-national-grid

Is the future a combination of  improved grid infrastructure, grid storage, domestic storage and usage displacement. And will this be enough?  

(Oh and spot the factual error in the article!) 

michaels

Apparently bi direction charging is hard and still in the future - not sure how I have been achieving it for the last 5 years then....

michaels

So the UK is off target for its 2030 climate commitment 'shock'
Climate body CCC says cut electricity bills to boost heat pumps - BBC News

TBH I had expected the new government to have already made some announcements with regards to increasing support for EVs and heat pumps

Martyn1981

Is it just me, or are the battery contract/deployment scales growing at an astonishing rate? And whilst Tesla gets a lot of news coverage, I don't think they are the biggest player in this market.

Tesla Provides Intersect Power With 15.3 GWh of Megapacks for Solar + Storage Projects

LATHROP, Calif., July 18, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tesla and Intersect Power today announced a contract for 15.3 GWh of Megapacks, Tesla’s battery energy storage system, for Intersect Power’s solar + storage project portfolio through 2030. This agreement, when combined with previous commitments, make Intersect Power one of the largest buyers and operators of Megapacks globally with nearly 10 GWh of large-scale energy storage expected to be deployed by the end of 2027.