Renewables

It’s hot underneath the Earth’s crust, hot enough to boil water and in some cases turn that boiling water into steam to run turbines that generate electricity. Getting to the source of the heat deep underground is filled with technical challenges which drive up the cost of any electricity produced. A research team at Tokyo Institute of Technology led by Dr. Sachiko Matsushita reports success using sensitized thermal cells to generate electricity at temperatures below 100º C. If the research leads to commercial grade products, a limitless supply of electricity could become available.

Clean Technica 18th July 2019 read more »

The City and County of Swansea Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) will swap around a quarter of its assets to a low carbon fund by the end of the month, it has announced. The £2.1bn local authority scheme will transition £500m of equities into MSCI’s world low-carbon target index fund, with BlackRock managing the assets, following trustee training on ESG issues.

Business Green 17th July 2019 read more »

Six Members of Parliament have asked a series of trenchant questions in the House of Commons about why the government is failing to maximise the use of onshore wind, as it is the cheapest way to generate new power for consumers. Onshore wind is currently excluded from competing for Government-backed contracts to generate power. In May, the Government’s advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, suggested that the UK’s onshore wind capacity could be increased from 13 gigawatts (GW) now to 35GW by 2035 as part of a low-cost energy strategy to reach net zero emissions. Research by independent analysts Vivid Economics shows that if these new onshore wind projects were allowed to go ahead, bill payers would save £50 per year, and thousands of jobs would be created. In their new report, “Quantifying the economic benefits of onshore wind to the UK”, published in full for the first time today, Vivid Economics show that building this onshore wind instead of gas plants would save an average household £50 a year in 2035 and reduce the cost of electricity by 7%. It would also support 31,000 jobs by 2035, with 14,000 directly employed in the industry (up from 5,300 direct jobs now).

Renewable UK 16th July 2019 read more »

The Solar Trade Association (STA) has issued an open letter to suppliers calling for export tariffs before the 1 January 2020 deadline. Under the government’s Smart Export Guarantee, suppliers with over 150,000 customers have until the end of the year to offer an export tariff for excess domestic solar generation. Currently, only Octopus Energy is offering an export tariff to all its customers with solar. E.On is also offering a tariff, but it only extends to the first 500 customers and lasts a year. Chris Hewett, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, has written an open letter to suppliers urging them to offer export tariffs before the deadline. Hewett is also requesting information on any export tariffs on offer the STA is unaware of or any future plans for export tariffs. Offers.

Solar Power Portal 17th July 2019 read more »

Despite the uptick in renewable energy usage, global emissions have steadily increased. Senior Fellow John Woolard argues that commitments to 100% renewables, while critical for sending market signals to increase investment, will not alone achieve the system change needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. It’s time for companies and countries to commit to 100% zero-carbon energy. The increase in the use of renewable energy—and the commitment by some U.S. corporations to use only renewables—is laudable. But despite the massive increase in renewable generation in the United States and elsewhere, the world has not significantly reduced annual emissions, with the result that cumulative emissions have increased steadily since 1992. Renewables are important, but all of the wind and solar additions over the last decades amount to just 3.6% of worldwide energy production (BP 2017). Investment of more than $1.4 trillion has not offset the growth in worldwide energy from fossil fuels. Total zero-carbon energy is a much bigger success story than renewables alone, accounting for 14.8% of the global energy mix. Indeed, nuclear and hydropower produce three times the zero-carbon power of renewables. For example, if we assume that nuclear power substituted for or “displaced” electricity with the average carbon dioxide content per megawatt hour (MWh) in the United States, it has avoided 8 gigatons (GT) of carbon dioxide since 2000. By comparison, wind and solar combined resulted in just over 1 GT of avoided emissions. Solar contributed less than 0.2 GT, less than the carbon dioxide benefits achieved by switching from coal to natural gas in the past decade.

World Resources Institute (accessed) 17th July 2019 read more »

The Queen’s property managers will this week set out terms for the world’s biggest offshore wind auction in a decade. Industry experts expect the complex bidding process to raise record sums, which could increase energy bills and hand a windfall to the crown – potentially generating more than £100m a year in royalties for the Queen. The Crown Estate, which manages the monarch’s property portfolio, holds exclusive rights to lease the seabed around the British Isles for wind and wave power. Its profits go to the Treasury, which then sends 25% back to the royal household in the form of the sovereign grant.

Guardian 17th July 2019 read more »

Solar panels are being installed at Aldershot Station as part of a project exploring the potential of solar-powered railways. The 135 panels are being installed on derelict land near the station and are expected to start generating in August. They will supply electricity directly to the railway lines without first distributing it to the grid. 2017 study by climate charity 10:10 and Imperial College London’s Energy Future Lab found that solar could provide 10% of the electricity needed to power electrified train routes when connected directly. The Riding Sunbeams demonstrator project, a collaboration between 10:10, Community Energy South and National Rail, is being funded through Innovate UK and the Department for Transport.

Solar Power Portal 16th July 2019 read more »

Adding more ethanol to the UK’s fuel mix would cut carbon by as much as taking 700,000 cars off the roads, according to a group of MPs. The All-Party Parliamentary Group for British Bioethanol says the swift introduction of E10 fuel would also help the £1bn British biofuel industry. E10 is a mixture of 10% ethanol with 90% petrol, double the current permitted maximum. The MPs say that Brexit has distracted the government from taking action.

BBC 17th July 2019 read more »

Letter: GEORGE Kerevan’s warning about the downside of battery electric cars is telling indeed. The dependence on the democratic Republic of Congo as the main source of the cobalt necessary to recharge lithium batteries is surely environmentally and morally unsustainable in the long run. There is a viable alternative, however, namely green hydrogen, which can be made from two ingredients that Scotland has in abundance: water and renewal electricity generated either from wind turbines or increasingly from tidal stream turbines. Scotland’s potential for tidal steam energy in particular is enormous and ultimately much greater than our current electricity requirement.

The National 16th July 2019 read more »

BiFab jobs boost announced amid criticism of firm’s Moray East contract management. Burntisland Fabrication (BiFab) is to reopen its yard at Methil, Fife, and create 40 new jobs at the site.

Energy Voice 16th July 2019 read more »

Radical plans for artificial islands connecting a series of mega windfarms in the North Sea have inched closer to reality after an initial assessment concluded the idea is technically feasible. The scheme’s backers say the bold project is needed because the rate offshore windfarms are being built in Europe is not enough to deliver the goals of the Paris climate agreement, and space is running short near coastlines to cheaply connect turbines.

New Scientist 15th July 2019 read more »