IEEFA has published its U.S. Power Sector Outlook 2021. Its authors, Dennis Wamsted, Seth Feaster and David Schlissel summarise and explain the projections. They say that coal and gas are set to become the biggest losers as renewable generation climbs quickly. The future for wind and solar – coupled with storage to address intermittency - is looking very good. They present estimates from NextEra (the largest renewable energy developer in the … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2021
China: decoupling GDP growth from rising emissions
To set up this week’s important online event (Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th April) “China: Carbon Neutral by 2060 -EFFICIENCY FIRST” we have an overview of China’s energy transition. Everyone agrees its performance is critical for the world to achieve the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5C by 2050. China made significant progress in 2020 with policy frameworks, renewable capacity additions and EVs, but it also added 38 GW of new … [Read more...]
Plastic Solar Cells: OPV power conversion efficiency now reaches 18%
Don’t just think plastics are insulators. Two Nobel prizes were won by showing they can be semiconductors. That celebrated research opened the door to polymer-based solar cells. They are made in a lab from common elements, using processes established decades ago for ordinary household items like plastic wrap. A design strategy breakthrough led by NREL has now created an organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cell with a record-breaking 18.07% power … [Read more...]
Public opposition and grid integration costs: the two limiting factors for Wind?
Are we heading for an over-reliance on wind? With wind generation costs continuing to drop dramatically, Schalk Cloete takes a data-driven look at the obstacles wind will face as its contribution to the global energy mix (a little over 2% today) keeps rising. In the main, it is grid integration and public opposition to very visible turbines – and they are related. Putting turbines out of sight and offshore will increase transmission costs. And … [Read more...]
Buildings Efficiency in China, and what EU partners should know
To set up our upcoming online event (April 13th & 14th) "China: Carbon Neutral by 2060 -EFFICIENCY FIRST” we look at how Buildings Efficiency is being tackled by Energy Management Contracting (EMC), when an ESCO (energy service company) provides energy retrofit services and gets paid for the future energy savings. The up-front investment cost is recouped over the multi-year lifetime of the service contract by taking a cut of the genuine … [Read more...]
How 3D-supported workflows are driving efficiency in utility-scale solar construction
According to Solar Power Europe, the association representing the European solar sector, expectations around the growth of solar in Europe remain strong. In a recent report(1), the organisation concluded that newly installed solar power in the European Union increased by 11% to 18.2 GW in 2020. And market analysis leads to the conclusion that 2020 will be followed by 4 years characterised by stronger demands, with 22.4 GW in installations for … [Read more...]