news & information about the UK nuclear industry
YouTube has taken down the controversial Michael Moore-produced documentary Planet of the Humans in response to a copyright infringement claim by a British environmental photographer. The movie, which has been condemned as inaccurate and misleading by climate scientists and activists, allegedly includes a clip used without the permission of the owner Toby Smith, who does not approve of the context in which his material is being used.
Guardian 26th May 2020 read more »
Scotland is about to hit its 100% renewable electricity target. It must go further – Richard Dixon. The target to generate 100 per cent of electricity used in Scotland from renewable sources by the end of this year will be missed, but should be achieved soon after with several big schemes in development. The UK has just experienced over a month when no coal was burned to make electricity, the first time since coal-fired power stations were built. When Longannet power station’s turbines stopped spinning in 2016 that was the end of 115 years of coal burning for power in Scotland. The only major fossil-fuel power station left in Scotland, the gas-fired station at Peterhead, is running at much-reduced capacity and likely to close in the next few years. We have two nuclear stations, but the two reactors at Hunterston have hardly run in the last two years because of cracking in their cores and are currently shut down, quite possibly never to start again. So when we reach the 100 per cent target we will have the capacity to make all the electricity we need but some days we will be making a thumping great excess and exporting it to England and Northern Ireland, and some days we will be importing power through those same connections. There are plans for a connection to Norway, to create an even more balanced system by linking to their huge hydro-power resources. We shouldn’t stop when we reach the 100 per cent target, we should power straight through, and invest in both more renewables and more energy storage in a big way, so that on every day we are making all of our electricity from wind, wave, solar, tidal and hydro-power, and on most days we are making money by selling the surplus to the rest of the UK and beyond. We’ll be talking to the manifesto writers for the 2021 Scottish election to see who has a strong vision for the next step in Scotland’s energy transition.
Scotsman 25th May 2020 read more »
The South West is a hub for green industries. Exeter in Devon has the highest number of climate scientists of anywhere in the UK, while Cornwall was home to the UK’s first ever wind farm and is emerging as a trailblazer in wave energy. Dr Alice Mills and Dr Natalie Whitehead – who both live in Devon – are keen to change people’s perceptions of their region. The two physicists have unveiled a grand plan to establish the region’s first science centre, which they hope will plug residents and tourists alike into the scientific community that surrounds them.
iNews 24th May 2020 read more »
Six of Denmark’s biggest companies are teaming up to launch one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects as they look to create emission-free fuels suitable for ships, trucks, aircraft and heavy industry. Container shipping group AP Moller-Maersk, airline SAS, logistics group DSV Panalpina, ferry line DFDS, Copenhagen Airports and renewable energy company Orsted are aiming to open their first hydrogen facility powered by offshore wind by 2023 and reach full capacity by 2030 as they try to help Denmark achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. No details were given for the value of the financial investments in the project. Henrik Poulsen, chief executive of Orsted, the world’s largest wind farm developer, said that while direct electrification through batteries made sense for cars it did not work for heavier forms of transport and industries such as steel and cement. Royal Dutch Shell is spearheading a similar project in the Netherlands that could increase to 10GW of offshore wind power by 2040 to help provide green hydrogen for heavy industry. Mr Poulsen conceded that green hydrogen was highly expensive currently but pointed to offshore wind where prices had dropped by about three-quarters in the past decade. He added that Orsted was in pilot projects in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands as it saw significant possibilities for green hydrogen.
FT 25th May 2020 read more »
I recently provided Energy Voice with a couple of articles comparing Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV). The superior energy efficiency of the BEV was demonstrated supporting the reason why Volkswagen has stopped development of their passenger FCEV. There is much speculation in the automotive press that Mercedes are about to do the same.
Energy Voice 26th May 2020 read more »
The UK’s largest solar power farm, with the capacity to generate clean power for 91,000 homes, could be nodded through by ministers this week. The 900-acre Cleve Hill Solar Park, situated one mile northeast of Faversham and 3 miles west of Whitstable, will deliver 880,000 solar panels and will be built to reach a capacity of 350MW. The plans also show the park could include one of the world’s largest energy storage facilities to date – three times larger than the lithium-ion battery built by Elon Musk, the Tesla founder, in South Australia.
iNews 25th May 2020 read more »
The UK Government has unveiled a £40m Clean Growth Fund to support start-up companies in the fields of low-carbon power, waste, transport and buildings, with hopes that funding could rise to £100m by 2021. The Clean Growth Fund has been launched with £20m of government investment matched by the same amount from charity fund manager CCLA. It is open to UK start-ups with low-carbon and sustainable solutions across key sectors, including power, waste management heating of buildings and transport. Business Secretary, Alok Sharma, said: “The need for innovative and ambitious ideas across green industries has never been greater. I am pleased that with the help of this fund, promising clean growth start-ups will be able to step up to accelerate the UK’s recovery, while supporting our path to Net Zero by 2050.
Edie 22nd May 2020 read more »
A US study examining the potential for used electric vehicle batteries to have a valuable and value-giving second life as grid-scale solar energy storage systems has returned promising results, including extending the ex-car batteries’ lives by a further decade. The MIT study, published in the Applied Energy journal, compares the economics of building a 2.5MW solar farm in California without batteries; building the same solar farm with new lithium-ion battery storage; and building it with a battery system made of repurposed EV batteries. The researchers found that the example using new batteries would not deliver a reasonable net return on investment, but that a properly managed system of used EV batteries – working at roughly 80% of their original capacity – would offer a good, profitable investment.
Renew Economy 26th May 2020 read more »
The oil and natural gas capital of the world is going all-in on solar power. Houston will begin a new five-year contact in July with NRG Energy Inc. to power all of its city-owned properties, from fire stations to airports, with renewable energy. The move means the nation’s fourth-largest city will reach its goal of 100% renewable power five years sooner than anticipated. It’s just the latest milestone for a community that’s quietly been going green for more than a decade. Mayor Sylvester Turner, who is actively courting Elon Musk to relocate Tesla Inc. and SpaceX to Houston, hopes the deal maxing out municipal use of renewable power will help change the image of a city best known for the oil and gas companies that do business there.
Energy Voice 25th May 2020 read more »
Britain’s largest solar farm, capable of generating enough clean electricity to power 91,000 homes, is poised to receive the greenlight from ministers this week. The subsidy-free renewables park is expected to reach a capacity of 350MW by installing 880,000 solar panels – some as tall as buses – across 364 hectares (900 acres) of farmland in the Kent countryside. The project is expected to be constructed one mile north-east of Faversham close to the village of Graveney and may also include one of the largest energy storage installations in the world. The developers expect to receive a development consent order for the £450m project from the business secretary, Alok Sharma, on Thursday almost three years after talks began with local stakeholders over plans for the park.
Guardian 24th May 2020 read more »
German start-up Sinn Power has developed a modular maritime platform able to generate renewable energy from waves, wind and solar sources. Starting later this summer, it hopes to offer solar panel manufacturers the chance to test and demonstrate photovoltaic arrays on a floating platform off the Greek coast as part of an off-grid energy solution. Offshore wave energy conversion (WEC) is nothing new; pioneering new developments are taking place in this field all the time. However, what makes this particular platform unique is that it’s been designed to be modular and extremely easy to connect and expand, so a variety of different combinations are possible.
Forbes 22nd May 2020 read more »
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