The largest solar power plant ever proposed in the UK will be reviewed by the secretary of state within the next six months. The plan is for Cleve Hill to generate the lowest cost electricity on the UK network without needing subsidies to stay afloat. If it succeeds, it would usher in a new dawn for renewable energy in the UK, writes Alastair Buckley of the University of Sheffield. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
The celebrity couple: intermittent renewables and electric cars
Even though storing intermittent wind and solar power in electric car batteries sounds attractive, this will be impractical and expensive in practice, writes Schalk Cloete. Electric cars have much clearer synergies with baseload power plants, while excess wind and solar power is better suited to H2/synfuel production. … [Read more...]
China restarts coal plant construction after two-year freeze
Satellite imagery reveals that many coal-fired power projects that were halted by the Chinese government have quietly restarted, writes Feng Hao of China Dialogue. The reason is probably that China’s power demand is rebounding. However, according to Hao, many coal power plants are running at a loss and there is still substantial overcapacity. Courtesy Climate Home. … [Read more...]
Ukraine has made great progress in reforming the gas sector – but its fate still hangs in the balance
Natural gas still plays an outsized role in Ukraine’s energy mix – and it will continue to do so for many decades to come, writes Jakub Kucera, economic analyst at RSJ, a Prague-based investment company. Kucera explains the many formidable challenges Ukraine is facing in the gas sector and their profound impact on the European energy market. He concludes that Ukraine has made admirable progress in cleaning up the gas sector. Unfortunately, … [Read more...]
Trading platforms and VPPs find profitable niches – and this is only the start
Trading platforms and virtual power plants are growing rapidly in advanced electricity markets in Europe, writes energy expert and author Fereidoon Sioshansi. According to Sioshansi, the first successful platforms may be able to make enormous profits as they corner the market. Courtesy EEnergy Informer. … [Read more...]
Energiewende enters a new phase – how is it performing?
The Energiewende is proceeding ahead of schedule with high grid reliability, writes researcher Schalk Cloete. However, costs are much higher than originally planned, while CO2emissions are stagnating. According to Cloete, wind/solar market shares have now reached the point where large grid expansion projects become critical. One problem is that the net value of new wind/solar is approaching zero as market value declines and integration costs … [Read more...]
Trump is wrecking the climate and free trade. Here is one solution for both
Instead of tit-for-tat retaliation to US tariffs, trade partners should link their response to climate goals and kill two birds with one stone, write four researchers. Courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
Reducing U.K. home energy use by 25% is not “too difficult”
Some energy specialists believe that “all the easy stuff on energy efficiency has been done”, but Jan Rosenow of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) disagrees. New research shows that one-quarter of the energy currently used in U.K. households could be “cost-effectively” saved by 2035, he writes. But it can’t be done without policy support: the government will have to recognise the broader social benefits of energy efficiency investments, … [Read more...]
Interview Sytse Zuidema, CEO EV charging leader NewMotion: “Charging at home and office will become the norm”
Over the next five years the European mobility market – as well as the electricity market – will undergo a transformation, says Sytse Zuidema, CEO of NewMotion, Europe’s largest EV charging company, acquired last year by Shell. The Amsterdam-based company is already developing products that anticipate on the coming digitalization of the energy value chain, such as a highly advanced vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charger and apps that tell people at the … [Read more...]
No plans to phase out coal in Romania, despite diverse energy mix
Coal accounts for about a quarter of energy produced in Romania, which is a net electricity exporter. Compared to countries like Poland where coal dependency is much higher, discussions about a coal phaseout could be more advanced. Why aren’t they? asks Claudia Ciobanu. Article courtesy of Just Transition. … [Read more...]
The Electric Power Struggle
The world is undergoing a dramatic electricity transition, and the global struggle for power over this transformed electric system is set to profoundly shape our future, argues Walt Patterson, Associate Fellow in the Energy, Environment and Resource Department of Chatham House in London. According to Patterson, politics, not economics, will determine the outcome of this struggle. Article courtesy Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy. … [Read more...]
Energy Community sets stage for clean energy transition in South-East Europe
While the European Union has been busy with the new Clean Energy Package and discussing full decarbonisation by 2050, some important developments are also taking place in its closest neighborhood - in South-East Europe, where the Energy Community Treaty operates. Journalist and energy expert Oleg Savitsky attended the  Energy Community Sustainability Forum in June and explains how policymakers are trying to transform the energy markets of the … [Read more...]
Frack Germany? Greens sound the alarm as the frackers strike back
Though many environmentalists cheered two summers ago when Germany’s Bundestag seemingly banned fracking, natural gas production across the country has not stopped. L. Michael Buchsbaum explains how companies are pushing for shale gas fracking, despite its impacts on people’s health and the environment. Courtesy Energy Transition. … [Read more...]
How rapidly can we transition to 100% renewable electricity?
Science tells us that, to avoid devastating climate change, we must rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero. How fast is possible, asks Mark Diesendorf  of the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. He believes the sceptics may be wrong. … [Read more...]
Blockchain technology – a threat to distribution network operators?
Network operators should get involved soon in blockchain technology. If they miss the digital revolution, it will threaten their business model in the longer term and they could end up becoming pure network asset owners without operational responsibilities, writes Marius Buchmann of Jacobs University. Courtesy of Buchmann’s blog Enerquire. … [Read more...]
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