Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

ed110220

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82008899#Comment_82008899

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82063734#Comment_82063734

It's strange to see someone who was once a serious (if often wrong) government advisor degenerate into a Gish gallop of tabloid talking points.

The biggest dishonesty in my opinion is making it sound as though the decline in North Sea oil and gas output is a choice that can be legislated away. The oil and gas is (almost) all gone, we burnt it. Pretending we'll have abundant, affordable oil and gas again if we just take up the "drill baby drill" slogan is irresponsibly selling people a fantasy.

I find it strange and depressing that the latest FF crisis has sped up most countries efforts to reduce and replace FF, especially in importer countries, but it seems to be having the opposite effect here. Or maybe it's a positive and a sign of the desperation of FF interests.

QrizB

It's strange to see someone who was once a serious (if often wrong) government advisor degenerate into a Gish gallop of tabloid talking points.

That was my take on the essay too. There are places where I found myself thinking "that's simply not true".

One one hand I'd have expected better from an Oxbridge professor. On the other hand, I'm regularly disappointed by the utterances of Oxbridge professors and I shouldn't be surprised that this one's also sub-par.

Or maybe it's a positive and a sign of the desperation of FF interests.

I saw this article earlier:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx78n4nkvyo

"Many whose job depends on something is quite keen on that thing happening" is hardly worth a spot on a news site.

QrizB

Grid-scale battery news:

https://electrek.co/2026/07/10/byd-masdar-11-gwh-rtc-storage-abu-dhabi/

In summary:

• There's a project in Abu Dhabi to pair 5.2GW ofPV with 19GWh of battery storage to give 24/7/365 dispatchable zero-carbon electricity.
• The battery will consist of 7.5GWh of lithium ion batteries plus 11.3GWh of sodium ion batteries.
• BYDs sodium ion BESS will be rated at 1.6GW / 11.3GWh (roughly seven hours duration)
• Battery density is such that they can fit 10MWh plus power electronics into a single 20' container
• BWD is expecting sodium ion batteries to fall to US$40 per kWh (the article doesn't say how much the Abu Dhabi battery will cost)

At US$40 per kWh, the 11.3GWh battery would come in at about $450M. Less than half a billion, which is staggeringly cheap.

I'll add this directly contradicts one of the foundations of Dieter Helm's blog, that renewables are intermittent and "Perhaps one day in a couple of decades’ time there will be batteries that fix this." We don't need to wait a couple of decades, they're available to buy today.

michaels

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066962#Comment_82066962

If we assume that 40USD per kwh means 100USD at the deployment level, assuming 10k cycles that is still only 1-2c per kwh, similar for the PV. Even in the gulf can they have gas capacity for less than 3c per kwh?

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067042#Comment_82067042

Given that the article is talking about ultra large BESS deployments, I'm guessing that the predicted $40/kWh is at the deployment 'all-in' level. After all, we've already seen turn key contracts issued in China for 16GWh of storage at $66/kWh, with some bids as low as $60. I think I mentioned this around the time, but suggested it may be a way for the companies concerned to max out production whilst selling the excess at cost (not profitably). But just a guess from me.

‘Mind-blowing’ bids in Power China’s 16GWh BESS tender as state-owned firms squeeze market share

The tender for the design, manufacture, installation and 20-year operations & maintenance (O&M) of battery energy storage systems (BESS) for Power China’s 2025-2026 projects was announced on 13 November, and the results were released last week.

According to local news reports, the tender attracted 76 bidders with quoted prices ranging from US$60-82 per kWh, averaging US$66.3 per kWh. Based on the 16GWh quantity, that implies a total contract value of roughly US$1 billion.

The tender document from November says that bidders need to have ‘battery cells, PCS (power conversion systems) and EMS (energy management systems)’, implying a turnkey BESS solution. It also requires the batteries to be built within three months of the contract being signed, and a clean three-year fire safety record for the company.

QrizB

... but I'm sure EDF, Atkins, Balfour Beatty etc. can turn a $40/kWh turnkey price for delivery in 2027 into a £200/kWh project that doesn't complete until 2040.

Netexporter

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067107#Comment_82067107

Depressing, isn't it.

To cheer us up, here's a very clear and thorough exposition of CATL's sodium-ion BESS offering:

This Battery Last for 30 Years And China Just Put It on the Grid

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82067107#Comment_82067107

That made me laugh, though I think your price and time scales are optimistic ;-)

Just playing from there, it made me wonder again what HPC or SZC would buy us. So based on £70/kWh (roughly doublung the $40 to allow for any problems) and £50bn for a new nuclear site, I think it works out at ~700GWh of storage, or around 200hrs equivalent of storage v's the 3.2GW output.

Not sure if this figure still stands, but 500GWh was the typically suggested storage figure for the UK, for intra-day balancing of variable/intermittent RE. That's enough generation on average over a day, but storage for any necessary time shifting of supply to demand, just like home batts turning PV into 24hr supply.

I think this all bodes well, especially as batt prices continue to fall fast, production rises, and doubly so as the demand for minerals is spread over more sources, such as sodium.

Martyn1981

Quite a busy little windfarm.

Scottish windfarm to be repowered over the next decade (in three phases) with a halving of turbines, but a doubling of capacity. And in its life so far, it's already been expanded twice, so keeps r..evolving.

UK's largest wind farm to be rebuilt with fewer, larger turbines

Whitelee Windfarm has been producing electricity for about 20 years on a stretch of moorland near Eaglesham, south of Glasgow, but is reaching the end of its life.

Scottish Power Renewables says the existing 215 turbines will be replaced in three phases with around 124, each of which will be about 110m (361ft) taller.

The £1.5 billion "repowering" project will take 10 years to complete and will double the electricity output from 539 megawatts to 1 gigawatt, which is enough to power about 650,000 homes.

QrizB

Great Britain has seen the largest number of new solar PV systems registered in a six month period since the boom days of 2011, per reporting in The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/31/new-solar-panels-great-britain-15-year-high

An analysis of the government’s official figures shows that Great Britain added 142,536 solar installations in the first six months of the year, putting it on track to top last year’s record solar additions.

The government data, which includes large ground-mounted solar farms and rooftop panels, showed that the half-year solar boom is second only to the record 167,316 installations recorded in the second half of 2011.

More at the link.