The Alternative Green Energy Thread

JKenH

Unexpected uplift to capacity market T-1 target for next winter

This move means that this year’s T-1 auction will be very expensive, and part of a sharply rising trend: in 2020, 1 GW was procured in the T-1 auction at £1 /kW/y, in 2021, just under 2.3 GW was procured at £45 /kW/y, and this year we are likely to see 5.361 GW being procured at or close to £75 /kW/y. This will raise the cost of the auction to £402 million, roughly four times the cost of last year’s auction and four hundred times 2020’s T-1 auction, and is more bad news for consumers, who pay the capacity auction costs through their bills.

https://watt-logic.com/2022/02/01/t-1-capacity-market-volume/

JKenH

Industry responds to National Grid ESO’s Network Options Assessment report

National Grid ESO has recommended “large reinforcements” in the electricity transmission network to be able to manage the growing cost of balancing actions associated with the scale of renewables.

In its annual Network Options Assessment (NOA) report, the ESO suggests interconnector projects of 18.2 GW to 29.5 GW between Britain and Europe by 2041 would provide “maximum benefit” to consumers and industry.

https://www.energylivenews.com/2022/02/02/industry-responds-to-national-grid-esos-network-options-assessment-report/

ABrass

Peaker plants only have a relatively short lifetime available to them. Once a meaningful amount of storage comes online there will never be a need for a plant to spin up or down quickly.

At that point the only challenge will be a general shortage of Power over a period of days or more, in which case the bigger, cleaner, plants will be able to spin up and run for a few days to cover the gap and recharge the short term batteries.

JKenH

Energy bills to skyrocket by almost £700 as Ofgem announces price cap rises

The energy regulator Ofgem disclosed on Thursday morning that the energy price cap will rise from £1,277 to £1,977 in April, a record increase of 55pc.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/energy-bills-price-cap-announcement-rise-ofgem-latest-news/

Verdigris

Inside Science, on Radio 4 at 16:30 today, is looking at the legacy costs of nuclear waste, which seem to be conveniently hidden from the true costs of nuclear generation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013zm3

JKenH

Electric vehicles drive up nickel, cobalt and lithium prices

Accelerating sales of electric vehicles have fuelled a scramble for nickel, cobalt and lithium, propelling prices of the battery materials to multi-year highs

https://www.fxempire.com/news/article/electric-vehicles-drive-up-nickel-cobalt-and-lithium-prices-887405

JKenH

Germany to end renewables levy in July - report

Germany is taking a different line to the UK to ease the pressure on electricity bills.

The German government has reached an agreement to abolish the renewables levy, the so-called EEG-surcharge, in July instead of next year in an effort to relieve the burden of rising electricity bills on consumers, news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Thursday.

The end of the tax will reduce the financial burden on consumers by more than EUR 6 billion (USD 6.77bn) in 2022 or about EUR 1.1 billion per month. The annual electricity bill of a three-person household is expected to fall by some EUR 130.

https://renewablesnow.com/news/germany-to-end-renewables-levy-in-july-report-771915/

JKenH

Germany’s Risky Decision To Phase Out Nuclear Power

Just last week, Julianne Geiger from OilPrice.com wrote that Germany’s latest push to "greenify" its grid at the expense of nuclear power couldn't be happening at a worse time. And instead of changing its energy policy to adapt to the times, Germany is stubbornly refusing to yield, and making decisions it can't easily undo.

Now, the country is losing a reliable power source just as the German baseload power for 2022 delivery - a European benchmark - hit a brand new contract high of €278.50.

As WaPo noted, France is going in the opposite direction, choosing to build more nuclear power plants. And there's a reason for that: trying to wean an economy off coal and fossil fuels wouldn't just be impossible, it could be "perilous" without a contribution from the ever-reliable nuclear sector.

Absent nuclear, Germany also depends more on Russian natural gas, a deep geopolitical vulnerability that gives leverage to Russia’s authoritarian government.

True, the German government has committed to phasing out coal — but not until 2038. 

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Germanys-Risky-Decision-To-Phase-Out-Nuclear-Power.html

JKenH

In Southeast Asia, decades-long deals stymie shift away from coal

Power purchase agreements that ensure “coal lock-in” for decades are complicating the region’s transition away from fossil fuels.

Under power purchase agreements (PPAs), which are in widespread use across the region, utility companies pay coal plants to generate power for a 20 to 30 year period irrespective of external factors – a scenario known as a “coal lock-in”.

Terminating a PPA early can be a costly process, leaving the utility to pick up outstanding taxes, bank debts, equity capital investment and compensation to the coal plant developer for lost profits. In the case of a $1bn coal plant with a 20-year PPA, early termination could cost a utility between $555m and $845m, according to an IEEFA analysis.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/2/7/southeast-asias-no-1-hurdle-to-dumping-coal-decades-long-deals

JKenH

Norway must stop violating Indigenous rights

Climate change action must not be used to encroach on Indigenous lands and destroy Indigenous livelihoods.

In October 2021, the Supreme Court of Norway issued a landmark ruling which upheld the rights of Indigenous people and dealt a significant blow to the country’s renewable energy strategy. The 11-judge panel declared that the Roan and Storheia Wind Farms built on the Fosen Peninsula in central Norway violated the rights of Sámi reindeer herders, guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and that their licenses are void.

While the Sámi community welcomed the ruling and now expect the removal of the wind farms, the Norwegian government, which is a majority stakeholder in Fosen Vind, the company that owns and operates the projects, appears unwilling to accept it.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/2/5/norways-must-stop-violating-indigenous-rights