The astonishing growth of the renewable energy sector shows little sign of slowing, as costs continue to plummet, along with the cost of energy storage, to remove many of the barriers to using intermittent renewable generating sources in a range of applications. Much of this is down to the fact that the cost of battery energy storage is one third lower than this time last year. … [Read more...]
Solar consumption and manufacturing: can Europe re-take the lead?
As a solar consumer Europe already plans to re-establish itself as a leader. European solar’s share of total consumption, 5% in 2018, is set to be 36% by 2050. There are three main drivers for progress: increasingly ambitious national targets, the rise of low-cost solar helped by the increase in CO2 costs, and digitalisation. But what about manufacturing? Practically all Europe’s solar cells are bought in cheaply from China and the Far East. … [Read more...]
Onsite solar and storage powers off-grid telecom towers
There are more than 3m telecom towers globally, and powering them is a $100bn market. It's a particularly important growth sector in developing countries. They are already using mobiles to leapfrog the laying of costly landlines, but because they lack grids that stretch to remote communities they need to power towers that are off the grid. Dr Thomas Hillig says as solar and storage costs continue to drop they are replacing diesel gensets as the … [Read more...]
Renewable hydrogen “already cost competitive”, says new research
Jocelyn Timperley at Carbon Brief has interviewed the lead author, and the critics, of this new report titled “Economics of converting renewable power to hydrogen”. The research says renewable hydrogen is already proving competitive for niche, high-intensity users in Germany and Texas. Future technological improvements, combined with expected changes to subsidies and CCS requirements, can make it so for large-scale industrial users in the next 10 … [Read more...]
Flexible renewable power: Spain to triple solar thermal capacity by 2030
Sunny Southern Europe will become increasingly connected to its Central and Northern European neighbours with the ongoing development of cross border interconnectors. This is one of the crucial factors behind Spain’s decision to include an additional 5 GW capacity from STE/CSP plants in its Integrated National Energy and Climate plan (NECP). Complete with inherent storage capabilities, STE can provide flexible, dispatchable power supply at … [Read more...]
Wind build-out: convergence of process and permitting rules needed to promote certainty for investors
Two weeks ago, Energy Post reported on permitting and legal barriers to the development of onshore wind capacity in Germany. In this follow-up analysis, Mike Scott identifies similar obstacles in key regions as well as some clear success stories. To complete the picture, he spoke with WindEurope and Vattenvall to get their views on the way forward for the industry and investors across the EU. … [Read more...]
Energy as a service: light, heat, mobility, information
Large scale electricity generators, unconcerned with end-use, want to sell you more electricity, argues Walt Patterson of the Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy, based at Chatham House. But the arrival of small-scale, localised and micro-grid suppliers could see the electricity generation business turned on its head. It opens the door to the selling of the service – light, heat, refrigeration, motive power, information – rather than … [Read more...]
Corporate PPAs: renewables-rush as governments step back
Costs of developing clean energy capacity are falling and the industry is moving from being supported mainly by state subsidies to a more commercial footing where projects are supported by corporate backing, with EU, national or regional targets providing a foundation for the market. The US sportswear giant Nike has signed its first power purchase agreement (PPA) for renewable power in Europe, committing to buy 40MW of wind power from a 111MW … [Read more...]
Will Toyota’s new battery design solve the looming shortage of vital metals for renewables?
We all know the important part played by lithium in battery manufacture. But there is a longer list of metals - including copper, cobalt and neodymium – that must ramp up supply for the continued rapid growth of EVs, solar, wind and other renewables technologies. EVs alone will increase the consumption of copper nine-fold by 2027. Cobalt prices already doubled in 2017. Neodymium use will rise by 700% in the next few decades to satisfy our need … [Read more...]
IEA: Battery storage races to keep up with solar and wind’s demand-matching challenges
Yesterday’s article from the IEA posed the question: will solar’s inherent intermittency slow its rise as a major power supply. For variable renewables like solar and wind to grow to over 50% of global capacity additions by 2040, storage technology must keep up with this pace. For this to happen, “flexibility” – the ability of the power system to quickly adapt to changes in power supply and demand – needs to grow by some 80% in the next decade … [Read more...]
IEA: solar’s exponential growth could make it less competitive, not more
Solar’s current growth trajectory means a doubling of annual deployment every three years. But despite further expected reductions in some cost areas (e.g. cheaper tech and economies of scale), the IEA’s new VALCOE (value-adjusted levelised costs of electricity) metric calculates that solar’s relative competitiveness per unit added will actually decline as its inherent demand-matching issues scale up with the growth. Brent Wanner, WEO Energy … [Read more...]
South East and Eastern Europe PART II: EU can help bring far-ranging benefits of a meaningful energy transition
In Part 1 of this special report, Komila Nabiyeva demonstrated how investment conditions in South East and Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia make it almost impossible to justify development of renewables infrastructure on any great scale. That being the case, she calls on the EU to play a greater role. Their initiatives are already making a difference. This is encouraging because it shows that with more EU engagement, a more … [Read more...]
EXCLUSIVE: Geothermal could represent a far bigger share of renewables
The IEA says geothermal energy could account for only 3.5% of annual global electricity production and 3.9% of energy for heat (excluding ground source heat pumps) by 2050. But is this down to short term thinking? Geothermal could make a much bigger contribution to renewables, provided it is put onto the fast track like wind and solar, says Alexander Richter, President of the International Geothermal Association. … [Read more...]
Renewables for remote mines power supply in Africa gaining momentum
In the last few years, more and more mining companies have adopted wind and solar systems to reduce their energy costs at remote off-grid mines. In this first phase, the initial focus was on the integration capabilities as miners were afraid that adding intermittent renewables such as solar and wind could affect the reliability of power supply and even lead to production losses. In various microgrid applications, renewables combined with … [Read more...]
EXCLUSIVE: Chinese government’s plan to meet the Paris goals
China is leading the energy transition as the world’s largest producer, exporter and installer of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles. It has a clear lead too in renewable energy patents, ahead of the U.S. and twice that of the EU. But it is also still heavily dependent on coal, the air pollution in its cities is legendary, and the economy is expected to quadruple by 2050. Against this background, Kaare Sandholt, Chief … [Read more...]
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