Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Coastalwatch · 23 August 2018 at 11:48PM

Read this artical with interest from the 2017 Wind Technologies Market Report from the US part of which suggests that the cheapest onshore wind turbine generation has dropped to an amazing, to me at least, of 2¢/kWh!

Makes it difficult to understand why some people should be so opposed to onshore wind generation!

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/downloads/2017-wind-technologies-market-report

After topping out at 7¢/kWh in 2009, the average levelized long-term price from wind power sales agreements has dropped to around 2¢/kWh—though this nationwide average is dominated by projects that hail from the lowest-priced region, in the central United States.
Wind sector employment reached a new high of 105,500 full-time workers.
With federal tax incentives still available, various forecasts for the domestic market show expected wind power capacity additions of 8,000 to 11,000 MW/year from 2018 to 2020, with market contraction anticipated beginning in 2021 as those tax incentives are phased out.

Martyn1981 · 25 August 2018 at 8:12AM

Nice article on nice reports suggesting RE is the route to a 100% low carbon future.

Research Shows That A Low-Carbon Future Will Be A Renewable Future

Some extracts:

There are multiple academic approaches to the inevitable transformation to a 100% renewable future. They overlap and provide strong support for thesis that electrical generation, and by extension all primary energy needs, will be met by a combination of renewables. The four this article will cover briefly are the work of Dr. Jacobson of Stanford, the IPCC perspective, Dr. Mark Diesendorf’s work from Australia, and finally a gloss on the current state of large-scale grid integration and transmission.

I’ve written extensively on both nuclear and CCS. My perspective is that nuclear is unnecessary to the energy mix by 2050, that Jacobson’s exclusion of it was reasonable as the intent was to show a completely renewable future as an aspirational target, that nuclear is much more expensive than renewables, and that there will still be some nuclear around by 2050, but just less of it. My perspective on CCS is that it has proven itself to be an uneconomic fig leaf incapable of doing more than drawing down the tiniest fraction of the CO2 created by fossil fuels and that any CCS in existence by 2050 will be a rounding error.

I noticed one very important point about the tempest in a teapot. All the serious critics agreed that 80% was achievable with renewables. The disagreement was mostly about the cost of the last 20%, with Jacobson and team asserting viability and their critics insisting that other technologies would be required and that it would be more expensive. My perspective is that when people are arguing about the last mile near the beginning of the journey, the last mile will be a lot easier than anyone thinks.

For context, the UK government is currently planning on a rollout of nuclear equal to about 40% of demand, though recent guidance has suggested they stop at HPC + 1 other (so equal to about 13%) and have another think about the costs.

Martyn1981 · 26 August 2018 at 5:08PM

This article helps to explain the vast difference between what we are told we think about renewables (loads of negative press and concern over 'our feelings' from the government), and what we actually think about renewables as shown in 26 public attitude surveys (massive support and little opposition).

Connecting The Dots: A Firsthand Account Of How The UKIP Surge Drove The Tories To Sabotage The Renewables Industry

Martyn1981 · 29 August 2018 at 7:11AM

This may be more important than it appears.

South Africa is one of only a few countries that was still pushing forward with plans to install a significant amount of new nuclear.

The UK is now in a smaller, and ever shrinking club of countries still holding on to the nuclear dream.

There is a perfectly reasonable counter argument that SA has significant (vast) PV potential at almost insanely low prices now, but it's important to note that UK wind (on and off-shore) are already far cheaper than new nuclear that won't arrive for 10(ish) years.

South Africa Drops Nuclear in Favour of Renewables

Martyn1981 · 30 August 2018 at 7:06AM

California to go 100% RE by 2045 ...... and California is big, one of the largest economies in the world.

California Moves One Step Closer To Being 100% Renewable Powered By 2045

The California State Assembly passed a potentially historic piece of legislation on Tuesday that, if it makes it through the final legislative hurdles, will see California commit to being powered entirely by renewable energy by 2045.

Senate Bill 100 (SB-100) was introduced by outgoing State Senator Kevin de Le!n — who is challenging Dianne Feinstein for her US Senate seat — and was passed by the Californian Senate earlier this year by a margin of 25 to 13. SB-100 calls for a renewable energy target of 60% by 2030, with an interim target of 50% by the end of 2026 and a final 100% target by 2045.

“California just became the largest economy in the world to commit to a 100% clean energy grid,” said Paul Cort, an Earthjustice attorney who leads the California Right to Zero campaign. “While Trump is taking the nation backwards by deregulating and subsidizing the coal, oil, and natural gas industries in D.C., California is rolling up its sleeves to build bold climate protections. Already home to 500,000 clean energy jobs and the largest manufacturing powerhouse in the United States, California is proving that it can be done.”

Coastalwatch · 30 August 2018 at 5:54PM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

California to go 100% RE by 2045 ...... and California is big, one of the largest economies in the world.

California Moves One Step Closer To Being 100% Renewable Powered By 2045

Thanks Mart, that's lifted my spirits no end.:beer:
We just need some enterprising "council" to step up to the plate over here. Any thoughts as to whether there might be any suitable candidates?

On the other hand, perhaps a suitable proposition could be put forward to Dragons Den. If nothing else the publicity alone may help raise it's profile.

Martyn1981 · 31 August 2018 at 7:33AM

Coastalwatch wrote: »

Thanks Mart, that's lifted my spirits no end.:beer:
We just need some enterprising "council" to step up to the plate over here. Any thoughts as to whether there might be any suitable candidates?

On the other hand, perhaps a suitable proposition could be put forward to Dragons Den. If nothing else the publicity alone may help raise it's profile.

Been pondering the same. Perhaps it might take a region like Scotland as they have excellent RE figures, but a lot of that is based on net figures as they export loads of wind energy to England.

You will see a lot of negative comments about cities, states or even companies sourcing RE leccy - the negative being that they just buy up the RE that already exists.

I've always assumed that that argument is total BS since any increase in demand for RE will result in an increase in supply of RE simply through supply and demand economics.

Another, perhaps simpler solution is businesses going green. I don't really care if this is a true green agenda or just green washing, since the result is the same and will drive the economics (as above). As storage develops, this will hopefully make going green for big businesses easier as they can often make money by simply avoiding peak prices by having some on-site storage, so the ability to 'stock up' on RE when it's cheap (high production and/or low demand) will further green goals.

Facebook Commits To 100% Renewable Energy & 75% GHG Emissions Reduction By 2020

Coastalwatch · 31 August 2018 at 1:34PM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Another, perhaps simpler solution is businesses going green. I don't really care if this is a true green agenda or just green washing, since the result is the same and will drive the economics (as above). As storage develops, this will hopefully make going green for big businesses easier as they can often make money by simply avoiding peak prices by having some on-site storage, so the ability to 'stock up' on RE when it's cheap (high production and/or low demand) will further green goals.

Facebook Commits To 100% Renewable Energy & 75% GHG Emissions Reduction By 2020

Afraid I'm no fan of Facebook(mainly due to a certain percentage of those who use it for their own negative reasons) but they do have a huge following and a great step in the right direction on their part. Thanks for posting that.

Something else I spotted in that issue was a headlined topic Tesla “Big Battery” Responds To “Power System Emergency” In Australia.

South Australia was largely unaffected, thanks to the Hornsdale Power Reserve, known affectionately in SA as the “Tesla Big Battery.” It kicked in immediately to add 84 MW of power to the state’s electrical grid and stabilize the frequency of the local grid, which was disturbed when the link to neighboring Victoria was disrupted.
The success of the “Big Battery” was a silent rebuke to new Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a Donald Trump wannabe who channeled US senator James Inhofe when he brought a lump of coal onto the floor of parliament earlier this year to demonstrate his love of coal.

Sadly, I hadn't previously realised the impact of the recent change of Premiership down under upon the renewable scene which, until now, had been playing such a large and positive role in it. Unfortunately the FF lobby, a powerful force indeed, looks like its going to fight it tooth and nail rather than embracing it by gradually transferring their investments in that direction.:(

An interesting read all the same showing what a positive impact renewables are having there. inspite of the current prejudice against it by those who've just seized political control.
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/29/tesla-big-battery-responds-to-power-system-emergency-in-australia/

Martyn1981 · 2 September 2018 at 8:27AM

Amazon are to go big with a huge PV and battery system.

Amazon Adding 4 MW Solar System & 28 Tesla Powerpacks To UK Fulfillment Center

3 MW of power were going to be added to the company’s existing facilities in Rugeley and Daventry as well as its newest location at Doncaster. Now comes word that Amazon’s fulfillment center in Tilbury will add 4.074 MW of rooftop PV to the small solar system already there. The new installation will be composed of 15,000 solar panels (270 watt each) manufactured by Jinko Solar. But unlike the new systems at Rugeley, Daventry, and Doncaster, the installation at Tilbury will include a 3.77 MW Tesla battery made up of 28 Tesla Powerpack storage units. The system is being planned and installed by Push Energy.

JKenH · 2 September 2018 at 9:49AM

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Amazon are to go big with a huge PV and battery system.

Amazon Adding 4 MW Solar System & 28 Tesla Powerpacks To UK Fulfillment Center

This is great news and Amazon’s profile is such that it will attract a lot of attention.

I am a late convert to solar. Because of my background I have never been convinced that CO2 is the source of all our global warming. I saw it as a great opportunity for governments to levy extra taxes on motorists while buses chugged round spewing out black clouds and causing congestion. (I am not going to get into an argument about that as I believe everyone is entitled to a view so I won’t be offended or reply if someone calls me a climate change denier).

I didn’t support the huge early subsidies being paid out to RE projects or indeed to domestic solar projects as it had to be paid for somewhere and I thought it was all a bit of virtue signalling while taxing motorists and killing off some of our staple industries. However in the grand scheme of things the amounts involved were small and it has kickstarted the whole RE industry which is now becoming able to stand on its own feet. Without the early adopters who often were doing it for altruistic reasons as well as financial ones the cost of solar wouldn’t have fallen to the level where many individuals and businesses are adopting it irrespective of subsidies.

I do however believe that where the technology exists to harness solar, wind and tidal power we should exploit it but only where appropriate. About 10 years ago I was involved in fighting a local wind farm application and was staggered to find that the company promoting it weren’t really doing so because it was a good site for wind, they were simply speculators. They and the local farmer were just pursuing it out of greed with the hope that they could sell on that permission. It was all the villagers around who would pay the true cost.

I just see solar in a totally different light. If you want to make your house look ugly then fine, it is you who has to live with it very time you pull up on your drive or are lounging in the garden. Your neighbours might not be impressed but it doesn’t really affect them. (I am, I should add, not a great fan of solar farms out in the countryside).

Industrial roofs are, though, in my view a no brainer and I don’t see why it shouldn’t be part of planning policy that new industrial and warehousing developments should have an obligation to install solar and PV storage. Solar production is such a good fit with the working day. It would reduce the demand for infrastructure and who cares what a shed roof looks like.

Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

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