Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

QrizB

michaels said:

gefnew said:

UK households to get £15bn for solar and green tech to lower energy bills - BBC News
Seems like it will be a costly effort so the sham companies win again.

Any links where the details have been shared?  WE might like to add additional solar and batteries and might qualify as low income but previously had an EPC that wasn't bad enough to get a grant.

There's a thread on the main "Energy" forum:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6651525/free-or-cheap-loans-for-solar-panels-among-key-measures-in-governments-warm-homes-plan-martin-l

Be aware that what's planned to be on offer to most people is low-cost loans for solar PV and batteries, not grants. The grant schemes are separate.

See also: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-01-21/hlws1263

Martyn1981

I'm not sure if this news is mostly a re-hash of older ideas regarding 'energy islands' in the North Sea, or additional. But regardless, nice to see that cross border schemes are still developing/progressing.

UK among 10 countries to build 100GW wind power grid in North Sea

The UK and nine other European countries have agreed to build an offshore wind power grid in the North Sea in a landmark pact to turn the ageing oil basin into a “clean energy reservoir”.

The commitment, which will be set out in the “Hamburg declaration”, is expected to be signed on Monday by energy ministers from the UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway.

The latest agreement reaffirms Europe’s commitment to wind power, after North Sea countries promised three years ago to build 300GW of offshore wind in the area by 2050. The new offshore wind power grid will contribute to this target.

Miliband is also expected to sign a statement of intent with Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands to open up cross-border, offshore electricity projects, with a focus on joint planning and cost sharing.

Martyn1981

News articles like buses today.

I found this article fascinating. In brief, it looks at where India is today, and suggests that that is comparable to China in 2012. Crucially, where China needed to roll out a lot of Coal generation to meet rising leccy demand (just as we once did), or to provide the backbone for current demand following grid leccy (as we do with gas), India should be able to leapfrog most of that.

Running with that comparison to 2012, India today faces 2026 costs for RE, storage and electric vehicles, vastly less than China (and we) faced in 2012.

And naturally, that fact works for all the other countries (like India) who are also further behind China in terms of electrification.

So whilst China's efforts to move away from a high consumption of FF's to RE is impressive, India will likely make the move, but without the high(er) consumption of FF's in the first place.

India Poised To Become World’s First Electrostate?

Using data from the World Bank for GDP, Ember for electricity, and the IEA for energy balances, the Ember report says: “India is forging a better path to the electrotech future of energy. Cheap solar and batteries are enabling India to develop without the long fossil detour taken by the West and China. In 2012, China had negligible solar generation. In 2025, solar accounted for 9 percent of India’s electricity generation, up from half a percent a decade earlier. India has a powerful new tool to scale cheap power, and it is using it to spectacular effect.

“India’s per capita coal generation, at 1 MWh, is roughly 40 percent of what it was in China in 2012. Coal demand is approaching its peak and is very unlikely to follow China’s subsequent ramp-up to around 4 MWh per person. By mid-2025, EVs accounted for around 5 percent of car sales in India and the country is the global leader in electric three-wheeler sales. India’s per capita road oil demand, at 96 liters, is about half of China’s level in 2012 and is close to peaking. India is not going to rescue the oil industry. [Emphasis added.]

“India’s electrification rate is nearly 20 percent — comparable to China’s level in 2012 — and is growing relentlessly by around five percentage points per decade. The benefits to India are substantial. This energy path avoids deep fossil fuel dependency while positioning the country to supply electrotech to the world. India is showing other countries how to take a cheaper, faster, cleaner pathway to the electrotech future.”

“It is more reasonable to compare the two countries at equivalent levels of development. When we do so, a different story emerges. India is generating more solar electricity, burning far fewer fossil fuels, and electrifying transport faster than China did at an equivalent GDP per capita. [It] is harnessing some of the cheapest solar in the world [thanks to low cost Chinese made solar panels] to power its industrial rise and bypassing an expensive, insecure, fossil burning interlude. Where China and the West took the long road to the energy future, India is taking a shortcut.

Netexporter

In a similar manner to how large parts of Africa skipped the whole copper wire telecoms stage and went straight to mobile and e-commerce, I imagine similar will happen with electricity. No expensive grids connecting over vast areas, but more localised schemes, based on wind, solar and batteries.

silverwhistle

Pakistan last year cancelled the delivery of a number of LNG supertanker loads from the gulf last year due to their rapid adoption of solar.

The difference there is that it was privately and domestically led, again reliant on cheap Chinese panels, and not at grid level. This has resulted in difficult peak loads to deal with, and costs falling on the less well off who can't install solar and rely on the grid. I'm sure these specific issues will be addressed at some stage, but it does show the direction of travel.

Both China and India are reducing their usage of !!!!!!, including imports of coal and LNG, so it's easy enough to argue with the anti-renewables people with their "whataboutChina..". 

Exiled_Tyke

This is a little out of date now, but still a must watch and very scary. The world needs to take note!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sa7uh192r0&t=479s

Martyn1981

Saw this article about Aussie leccy demand and the rise in RE. It points out how quickly this transition has taken place, and is still happening.

Not massive news, nor surprising, but mentions how demand for coal (which is depressed during the day, rises to meet early evening demand. Made me think about California, where battery storage is now significantly large to meet much of the demand (from daytime stored excess) now from battery storage.

This fits well with another article I saw today reporting that the majority of planned investment for energy in Aus now is for storage (46% battery and 20% solar and battery).

Australia’s grid now relies on renewable energy as much as coal. Those who doubted it look foolish

Australia’s power grid is changing rapidly – so rapidly that it can feel difficult to keep up.

This week, as an oppressive heatwave in the country’s south-east rewrote temperature records, there was also plenty of evidence demonstrating just how fast long-held assumptions about the electricity system are being overturned.

Over the past seven days, solar provided 30% of all electricity in the country’s main grid, which supplies the five eastern states and the ACT. That’s across day and night.

If you narrow the calculation to consider just when the sun is out, the numbers are even more striking. Solar met 59% of electricity demand between 9am and 6pm. More than half of this – 37.6% of the total – was from small-scale systems spread across about 4m roofs. The rest was from large-scale solar farms.

Battery storage claims 46% share of Australia’s record 64GW energy investment pipeline

Battery energy storage projects have emerged as the dominant force in Australia’s energy investment landscape, accounting for 46% of the nation’s 64GW development pipeline, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) latest quarterly report.

AEMO’s analysis shows hybrid solar-battery projects comprise an additional 19.7% of the pipeline, bringing the total battery storage component to approximately 42GW when combined with standalone battery developments.

The 64GW pipeline represents a substantial increase from previous reporting periods, with wind projects accounting for 16% of planned capacity, followed by solar at 11.9%, hydro at 4.7% and gas at 1.4%.

QrizB

Not exactly news, more like commentary, but Technology Connections has published (released? dropped?) a 90-minute video all about renewable energy.

He includes discussion of bioethanol vs. EVs for road transport, among other things.

Settle down with a cup of tea and some biscuits and enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

Note that the last 30 minutes does get into US politics, so if you're not interested in that part you can stop at the "false ending" after an hour or so.

silverwhistle

Saw this article about Aussie leccy demand and the rise in RE.

I think I saw that, and seem to recall that there is active political sabotage in certain states - Northern Territories I believe.

So although US politics may not be of interest in the video above, politics generally does play a very important part in all these matters.

Exiled_Tyke

Interesting article on the chaos Trump is causing to the wind power industry. But he's not exactly winning. It does however (yet again) demonstrate the immense and dangerous lobbying power of the fossil fuel industry.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/02/trump-offshore-wind