This month, the White House released a U.S. Department of Energy report, the Solar Futures Study, on how solar power could generate up to 45% of the U.S. electricity supply by 2050. It’s less than 4% today. Joshua Rhodes at the University of Texas at Austin looks at what obstacles must be overcome. The good news is that the technology and engineering is already available. And solar’s advantage is that the sun shines nationwide. Other region and … [Read more...]
The U.S. now needs a Carbon Tax to transition from Gas to Renewables
Gas emissions must be halved (and coal eliminated) by 2030 to meet President Biden’s goal of a carbon free power sector by 2035. The problem is that gas additions are half the price of new wind and solar installations. Though the clean energy champions are still getting cheaper, so are gas additions. Nikos Tsafos at the Center for Strategic and International Studies looks at the policy options over the next decade for the U.S. The stark fact is … [Read more...]
New thermoplastic blades for coastal Tidal Energy turbines
Large-scale tidal power turbines provide an option for clean energy generation that doesn’t depend on the weather, like wind and solar. Research led by NREL is using, for the first time anywhere, thermoplastic composite blades that will improve fatigue performance over typical epoxy blades, can be manufactured faster and more energy-efficiently, and can be recycled. The test site is located in New York City's East River, installed in Verdant … [Read more...]
Record global power sector emissions by 2022, because Renewables aren’t growing fast enough
The IEA is forecasting that renewables will cover only half the projected increase in global electricity demand in 2021 and 2022. Despite renewables’ impressive growth, coal and gas will be needed to cover the rest. That means emissions will rise to record levels. That will be the reverse of the IEA’s (and many others’) “Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050” pathway, where three-quarters of global emissions reductions between 2020 and 2025 come from the … [Read more...]
Wind, Solar: continuing cost declines will help meet rising renewables targets
The EC’s “Fit for 55” proposals include the raising of the EU’s 2030 target for total energy produced from renewable sources to 40%. Much of the rest of the world will likely raise its targets at some point too. Continuing to cut the cost of renewable energy generation will be essential to make that happen, and take pressure off all the other associated costs of supporting its integration into the energy system. Michael Taylor at IRENA summarises … [Read more...]
How to keep Wind and Solar profitable as its electricity gets cheaper
Success can cause problems. As wind and solar penetration increases the electricity it generates gets cheaper. If it stops being profitable we’ll stop building it, thus endangering our emissions-free goals. Dev Millstein at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory summarises their research paper that looks at how market value changed over time at 2,100 utility-scale power plants across major power markets in the U.S., using 2019 data. It’s clear … [Read more...]
EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism lacks the detail to drive industry’s relocation near clean energy
High emissions industries should be relocated to where the cheap clean energy is. So long as the shipping costs (in terms of price and emissions) aren’t prohibitively high, those locations can be anywhere in the world. To get the calculations right, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (accounting for the emissions of imported goods) must be harmonised internationally. They must also – crucially – count all relevant emissions. But the EU’s draft … [Read more...]
Where to build new Wind Turbines in Germany? Lowest cost vs residents and nature
Germany was a wind energy leader. But by 2019 it was only ranked sixth globally for newly installed capacity per year. Antje Nieber and Paul Lehmann at the University of Leipzig explain why. At its heart is a conflict of priorities: lowest cost versus the interests of residents and nature, being played out at the national and federal levels. The switch from feed-in tariff support to lowest-cost tenders stalled a lot of wind projects. Lawsuits and … [Read more...]
Germany: will the end of feed-in tariffs mean the end of citizens-as-energy-producers
Germany’s feed-in tariffs ran for 20 years. The guaranteed electricity price and connection to the grid incentivised ordinary citizens and communities to invest in smaller scale solar, biomass and wind generation for their homes and local areas. But that guaranteed price is now too expensive, and so the tariffs are ending and lowest-bid auctions are taking over. It’s the bigger players who are winning those auctions, and some of the existing … [Read more...]
Robots can make Offshore Windfarm maintenance better, safer, cheaper
Maintaining offshore windfarms is expensive, and around 80% of the cost is spent on the support vehicles and the technicians working in often dangerous conditions. It’s not just the turbines. By 2030 they’ll need an extra 2.5m kilometres of new submarine cables globally to get the power on to shore. David Flynn at Heriot-Watt University explains how a combination of robots, AI and humans could do a much better, safer job and cut costs. Drones – … [Read more...]
Does new German target mean Coal gone by 2029, Renewables 65% by 2030?
The stiffer emissions targets introduced this month to Germany’s Climate Protection Law - CO2 emissions from the energy industry must fall to 108 Mt by 2030 instead of 175 – point to an even earlier coal phase-out date of 2029, with renewables generating 65% of electricity by 2030. The existing plan had meant coal must be gone by 2038. Michael ClauĂźner, Carlos Perez-Linkenheil and Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool explain why, using their modelling … [Read more...]
Solar “soiling”: energy loss from dust on panels can range from 7% to 50%
Dust and pollution particles on solar cells cut energy conversion, enough to cause big problems for investors let alone those depending on the generation. In parts of the U.S. energy loss can be as high as 7% and 50% in the Middle East. For assets supposed to deliver for 25 to 50 years this is hardly acceptable. Engineering solutions are struggling to keep up with the phenomenal take off of solar. Predicting the effects of “soiling” in your … [Read more...]
New U.S. Offshore Wind target: from standing start to 30GW by 2030
In March, the Biden administration announced a bold target to deploy 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. Until now, offshore wind’s rise has been driven almost exclusively by Europe and China. The U.S. accounts for just 0.1% of the world’s installed capacity (versus 17% for onshore wind). Why the hold up, given the U.S. could require up to 400GW of offshore wind by 2050? As Stephen Naimoli and Nikos Tsafos at CSIS explain, offshore costs … [Read more...]
What is making Denmark a decarbonisation success? Policy, society, geography
Denmark is proving itself to be a decarbonisation leader, happy to turn its back on its history of oil and gas production and heavy reliance on coal. Its ambitious goal of cutting GHG emissions by 70% by 2030 makes it a global policy frontrunner, second only to Finland which aims to be climate neutral by 2035. Thibault Menu references his report for IFRI that asks what makes Denmark special. It has a long tradition of  providing stability and … [Read more...]
A circular economy for waste solar PV materials: what needs to be done to get it started
Solar is already in the vanguard of the energy transition, and can similarly lead the world’s transition to a circular economy. Decommissioned PV modules could total 1 million tons of waste in the U.S. by 2030. Yet there are virtually no incentives or regulations to promote its recycling or reuse. In fact, says NREL, most current regulations in the U.S. define it as solid waste, making it difficult to introduce it to a recycling value chain. In … [Read more...]
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