Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

zeupater

Martyn1981 said:

Not a massive revelation to say more RE needs more storage, but a potential cost saving of €9bn pa in the EU by 2030, is certainly thought provoking. And of course that's just the economic side, the reduced FF gas is a major win too.

With regard to the UK, presumably more storage near the demand points would help too, shifting excess ready for later use, with storage near(er) generation to help reduce clipping when the grid can't handle it all. Quite a complex job ahead, so nice to see the positivity from Mr Slye in the previous article.

BESS could save EU €9 billion a year in gas costs by 2030, says Ember

The EU could save €9 billion (US$10 billion) a year in gas costs by deploying BESS to capture excess wind and solar, according to think tank Ember.

The findings are based on its power price and hourly generation mix datasets and were revealed in a recent report tiled ‘EU battery storage is ready for its moment in the sun’.

If Germany had an additional 2GW of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in June 2024 it would have saved €2.5 million in fuel costs that month alone, the report added.

Hi

Good, but placing the 2GW battery investment in context, it represents a saving of ~€0.06/household (assuming ~40million in Germany) for June ....

In depreciation costs alone & assuming an example of (say) £200k/MWh over 20years service life that's ~£1.7million/month ((200kx2k)/(20x12)), so over 40million households representing £0.0425 for June .... the saving then becomes ~€0.018/household ... add in financing, fixed & variable  overheads, labour etc the so called 'saving' soon becomes negative, suggesting the logic employed within the report to conclude a saving vs gas may be (let's say) more than 'a little questionable' ..... the flaw being the '€2.5 million in fuel costs that month alone' in not recognising the costs associated with the investment & operation of the storage itself is utterly illogical and therefore effectively meaningless as a 'saving' which, to me, sets off alarms for the whole report, which is not what I would like to see at this stage in the renewables cycle ....

HTH - Z

Martyn1981

Hi Z, I think your estimates and calcs are totally reasonable. The report refers to the extra storage capacity as being +20% of current battery storage.

Not challenging the numbers, as the report/article are focusing on financial savings, thus opening themselves up to criticism, but I read it as just the gas savings. There would of course be the additional benefits of shifting more gen to RE, and perhaps(?) an impact on overall leccy pricing*.

Of course, the other side of the coin, perhaps, is that as gas demand falls, so will the cost of the gas, and thus the touted savings will also fall. Bit of a Catch 22 situation I suppose when looking at the money side.

But it does show how much further we need to move along the cost curve for storage, now that we've picked much of the low hanging FF fruit. I like the way that some UK storage seems to be covering its costs via other services, such as frequency response, peaker services etc.. But also goes to show (tying in to the comments from Mr Slye (article posted 1st Oct)) how much harder it is to get more/all of the FF gen.

*I don't know if German prices are linked to FF supply, in the same way as the UK.

Martyn1981

"Boom" goes the storage project. This time in North Wales.

Have to remind myself, these days, that 300MW is still a big, big battery.

UK developer BOOM Power wins planning approval for 300MW/660MWh BESS project

Renewable energy and energy storage developer Boom Power has successfully landed planning permission for a major battery energy storage system (BESS) project on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, UK.

The Carrog BESS is a 300MW/660MWh, 2-hour duration project located at Carrog Ganol, near Cemaes. The developers emphasise that the 38.7-acre project site does not include any land designated as the best and most versatile agricultural land. The development will involve the installation of 158 BESS units plus two spares, as well as associated infrastructure. Boom Power has not yet provided any indication of when construction will begin.

michaels

Is it just me or does that sound like a huge site for that many megapacks?

Martyn1981

michaels said:

Is it just me or does that sound like a huge site for that many megapacks?

Not just you. That was my first thought too. Perhaps room for expansion as it's only a couple of miles from the old Wylfa nuclear powerstation and presumably grid connection?

silverwhistle

Martyn1981 said:

Of course, the other side of the coin, perhaps, is that as gas demand falls, so will the cost of the gas, and thus the touted savings will also fall. Bit of a Catch 22 situation I suppose when looking at the money side.

I'm a low gas user, on Tracker, and hope to move to an A2A HP in the next few years. I resent paying a standing charge that is within a few pounds of what I pay for the actual gas, and with fewer gas customers I can't see the SC going down?! 

Martyn1981

Nice to see some recognition of the speed that China (and India) is rolling out RE.

As RE production and rollout increases, we see the cost of RE falling, which leads to increased production and rollout. Also mention that the inflationary spike hitting wind energy may be easing.

The article goes on to explain that red-tape needs to be reduced, to allow an even faster rollout of RE and grid upgrades.

China to head green energy boom with 60% of new projects in next six years

China is expected to account for almost 60% of all renewable energy capacity installed worldwide between now and 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

The IEA’s highly influential renewable energy report found that over the next six years renewable energy projects will roll out at three times the pace of the previous six years, led by the clean energy programmes of China and India.

It found that the world’s renewable energy capacity is on course to outpace the 2030 goals set by governments to roughly equal the power systems in China, the EU, India and the US combined.

Wind power is also showing signs of recovering from the steep hike in interest rates and supply chain costs which has hampered the industry, particularly for capital-intensive offshore windfarms.

The green energy boom means renewables are on track to grow by 2.7 times by 2030, exceeding the goals set out by governments by nearly 25%, the report found. But this growth still falls narrowly short of the commitment made by world leaders to triple renewables by the end of the decade to cut the world’s reliance on fossil fuels.

About 120 world leaders pledged to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity before 2030 in a bold attempt to slash the global consumption of fossil fuels at the UN’s Cop28 climate talks in Dubai last year.

michaels

Remember when Tesla announcement days used to be exciting:

Tesla unveils Cybercab: a $30,000 electric robotaxi coming in the next 2 years | Electrek
Tesla unveils Robovan, a 20-seat autonomous passenger/cargo van | Electrek

Martyn1981

If this report is correct, then very good news, in a rather depressing way.

Looks like emissions may stop growing, So from next year, the problem will still be getting worse at a rapid rate, just one that might not be greater than the year before ...... at last.

A very important milestone, but a still a very long way to go.

Global Emissions Will Peak In 2024, Claims DNV In Latest Report

This week, DNV has issued a new energy transition report that claims emissions of greenhouse gases will peak in 2024 and that global heating will reach 2.2º C by the end of this century. That last part is a bit curious, since some parts for the world are above 2º C already. If that is so, how hot will they be 75 years from now?

DNV On Peak Emissions

In a press release shared with CleanTechnica, DNV said 2024 will go down as the year of peak energy emissions according to its Energy Transition Outlook. Energy-related emissions are at the cusp of a prolonged period of decline for the first time since the industrial revolution. Emissions are set to almost halve by 2050, but this is a long way short of requirements of the Paris Agreement. The Outlook forecasts the planet will warm by 2.2 °C by end of the century.

The DNV report is a little good news mixed with a healthy dollop of not so good news. We aren’t doing enough fast enough to address the reasons why our planet is overheating. The general attitude is it is someone else’s problem to solve. That sort of think will lead straight to a climate Apocalypse. Oddly, China, which is considered a rogue state by many Western countries, is moving aggressively to renewable energy. While the rest of the world is hitting China with brickbats for powering much of its economy with coal, the signs are that it will soon be first among all nations at taming its emissions. Everyone else is only giving lip service to the idea. It’s likely things are not going to end well, despite the best efforts of organizations like DNV.

70sbudgie

Martyn1981 said:

This article was far more interesting than I expected. We get a realistic opinion on achieving the 2030 targets, the problems faced, the changes still needed, and what meeting the target really means.

The suggestion is that low carbon leccy, will still include ~5% gas. I assume that will continue to fall, but may (I'm really not sure) also come under the 'net' 100% low carbon figure. Assuming we export more RE generation than we consume in FF gas generation, and FF imported gen.

Don't want to get too hung up on the 2030 target and definition, since they are tough, and things will continue to improve afterwards, despite increased leccy demand as we slowly 'electrify everything'.

I'll post some quick extracts, but really needs to be read for full context (if you have the time).

The man in charge of Labour’s green energy dream: ‘It’s at the limit of what’s achievable’

If the man tasked with turning energy secretary Ed Miliband’s dream of a clean power system by 2030 into a reality has any qualms about the scale of the challenge, he is not showing it. Standing in the Wokingham control room, Fintan Slye scans the screens: power plants are firing, turbines are spinning, and electricity is flowing through Britain’s subsea cables.

This is “absolutely” the biggest challenge facing the new organisation, Slye says. “We have a new government coming in with a really clear mission around what it wants to achieve in energy. It was one of the main planks of their election manifesto, and it’s one of their key missions now that they are in power. But it is undoubtedly hugely ambitious to get to clean power by 2030. It requires not only for us to do everything that we can do quicker, but also very, very differently as well.”

Many within the industry would more readily describe the task as unachievable. If Slye is to meet this challenge, in the timescale set by the government, it will require an unprecedented effort, they say. Slye admits that there is a “huge degree of scepticism”, which has already led many to believe that the plans are “fantastical, undoable”. But he is adamant that they can be delivered.

“Is it at the outer limit of what’s achievable? Yes. But if you’re prepared to do things differently and to take difficult decisions early on, then yes, absolutely it is doable,” he says.

“That would include, in all likelihood, things like a complete reform of the planning and consenting regime, a streamlining of the regulatory approval process, changes to the grid connections process …” The list goes on.

“So we’re not saying that the target is achievable with the current energy industry processes and systems and ways of working. In fact, it’s not achievable in those circumstances. But if you can make the required changes, then it can be delivered,” Slye says.

One thing these routes will not deliver is the “zero carbon electricity system” promised by the Labour party before the election – at least, not all of the time. Since coming to power, ministers have made subtle tweaks to the rhetoric, choosing to talk about “clean power” by the end of the decade. This is arguably a more flexible target.

“There’s no established definition of clean power,” says Slye. “So what does it realistically mean? One of the key pieces of work from the Committee on Climate Change found that the cost [of decarbonisation] really begins to escalate when you reach those last percentage points towards 100% clean power.

“So at the moment, the working definition that we’re using for this analysis is to reach 95% clean power. That means that, by 2030, 95% of the generation in Great Britain over the period of a year will be from clean power sources. And that means that the remaining 5% will come from unabated gas. That’s our definition.”

There will continue to be “a significant amount” of gas power plants in reserve for the cold, dull, windless weeks of winter, but they will run for only limited periods, Slye says. Conversely, there will be days when Great Britain generates far more electricity from renewable energy sources than it can use or store, so there are likely to be greater exports to neighbouring countries.

Today, renewables make up just over half of Britain’s electricity, but that is due to climb to around two-thirds by 2030 as more windfarms and solar panels plug into the grid.

“There are issues,” agrees Slye. “But it’s not a bias issue, or a culture issue. The reality is that the scale of change that has happened in Great Britain’s generation portfolio means the IT systems have not kept up with it. The systems that we have today were designed to dispatch a small number of really large gas or coal plants to a far, far larger number of smaller-scale energy sources. We’ve shifted from needing to send five instructions an hour to 500 instructions an hour. It’s creaking.”

Further to this, the project referred to is being called Clean Power 2030 and it is moving quickly.

Here is a link to the latest post, but reading of the previous ones is probably also needed for better understanding. 

https://www.neso.energy/document/346006/download

https://www.neso.energy/publications/clean-power-2030
You need to look under "Supporting documents" for the above and previous documents.

In short, the actual actions to achieving clean power (including defining what this actually is) by 2030 have been proposed and are being refined. 
A strong focus is on how much of each technology will be required compared to what we have now and the pathways have been amended since the above interview.

If this is your bag, the new NESO website has a large amount of information. For the next stage of the energy industry's contribution to net zero, it is called "Beyond 2030". These two projects are under 'Publications' along with the most recent Winter Outlook.