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Record global clean energy spending, but it’s still not enough and costs are rising

July 8, 2022 by IEA

Since 2020, clean energy investment has grown by 12% per year – it was only 2%/year during the five years after the 2015 Paris Agreement. That boost is the main reason why total global energy investment is set to reach $2.4tn in 2022, according to the latest “World Energy Investment” report from the IEA. It’s very good news that spending on solar PV, batteries and EVs is now growing at rates consistent with reaching global net zero emissions by … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: batteries, coal, costs, efficiency, EVs, gas, grids, inflation, investment, oil, power, renewables, solar

Critical minerals: price spikes are affecting Wind, Solar, Batteries, EVs

June 9, 2022 by Tae-Yoon Kim

A wide range of critical minerals are needed for the energy transition. Tae-Yoon Kim at the IEA summarises the reasons why we should expect this to be a year of price spikes due in the main to the Russia-Ukraine war and post-lockdown supply chain bottlenecks. So severe is the problem that the long record of declining costs in clean energy technologies like solar, wind, batteries and electric vehicles is being reversed. Although these crises will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: aluminium, batteries, China, cobalt, copper, efficiency, EVs, innovation, lithium, minerals, nickel, palladium, prices, Russia, solar, Ukraine, uranium

Critical minerals and materials: supply bottlenecks and risks need international cooperation

February 25, 2022 by Dolf Gielen, Martina Lyons, Francisco Boshell and Peter Chawah

The growth in demand for minerals and materials needed for the energy transition is putting a strain on supply. Mining and processing are the two key bottlenecks. Dolf Gielen, Martina Lyons, Francisco Boshell and Peter Chawah at IRENA summarise the multiple challenges. New capacity is not the only problem: the geographical concentration of where the mining and, in particular, the processing is being done is the primary risk. China’s dominance in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: batteries, China, cobalt, critical, demand, EVs, grids, innovation, lithium, magnets, manganese, minerals, mining, nickel, prices, processing, solar, stockpiling, supply, wind

Critical Raw Materials for the energy transition: Europe must start mining again

January 10, 2022 by Frank Umbach

A ramp up of the supply of critical raw materials (CRMs) is essential for the world’s energy transition. Wind and solar, batteries, digitalisation, transport and hydrogen cannot meet their targets without it. The EU defines 30 minerals as critical. To give one example, the global deficits in lithium supplies could surge more than 60-fold to 950,000 tons by 2030. Frank Umbach at EUCERS takes a thorough look at the issue. Europe represented just 5% … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies, Resources Tagged With: batteries, China, cobalt, CRMs, Digitalisation, EU, Europe, hydrogen, lithium, magnesium, mining, recycling, solar, transport, Vanadium, wind

Is China really eyeing Afghanistan’s mineral resources?

September 2, 2021 by Lukas TrakimaviÄŤius

Press reports of China hoping to strike deals with the Taliban to secure mineral rights in Afghanistan are very likely to be an exaggeration, explains Lukas TrakimaviÄŤius. It’s true that China wants minerals essential to the clean energy transition and other technologies. It’s also true that Afghanistan has an abundance (copper, cobalt, lithium, rare earths, etc.), and they’re worth something of the order of $1tn. But it can take a decade to get … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Resources Tagged With: Afghanistan, China, cobalt, copper, lithium, logistics, minerals, mining, rareearths, Taliban, transport

How Clean Energy Standards have driven clean electrification in the U.S.

May 28, 2021 by John Rogers

John Rogers at the Union of Concerned Scientists presents evidence from the U.S. of the effectiveness of using standards to drive clean electrification. In principle it’s simple: set a legal requirement for the percentage of clean electricity. How it’s done depends on the efforts of all the actors affected. 30 states are using different versions of Clean Energy Standards (CES) – the first began in 1983 and more than half of them began before 2004 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Grids, Resources Tagged With: costs, electricity, emissions, gas, grids, infrastructure, renewables, standards, US

EU, U.S. exploring new sources of Rare Earth Minerals, should China limit exports

February 25, 2021 by Lukas TrakimaviÄŤius

Reports are emerging that China is considering the restriction of the export of rare earth minerals, as a result of tensions with the U.S. Given China controls around 80% of global supply it would have severe consequences for not just advanced military applications (the presumed primary target) but also clean energy technologies like EVs and wind turbines. However, if the threat is carried out, Lukas TrakimaviÄŤius explains how this could backfire … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Policies, Resources Tagged With: australia, China, EU, EVs, Japan, Military, RareEarth, US, wind

Online condition monitoring: making sense of sensors in the age of the Smart Grid

February 7, 2019 by Smartgrid Forums

Grid operators across Europe are experiencing higher maintenance and reinforcement costs than ever before and, without significant increases in funding, are realising that they must fundamentally change the way that their assets are operated, maintained and replaced. This means running assets closer to their operational limits, performing predictive rather than corrective maintenance and replacing assets as close to the end of their useful life … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community, Energy efficiency, Events, Networks, Platform, Promoted content, Resources Tagged With: Asset Management, Change Management, Digital Twin, Digitalisation, Distribution, Investment Planning, Predictive Maintenance, Smart Grid, Transmission, Utility

Battery manufacture must take a global leap forward to ensure a sustainable and just transition

February 1, 2019 by Martin Brudermuller and Benedikt Sobotka

The global battery market is surging. By 2040 the global energy storage market is projected to attract $620 billion of investment. Over the past decade, the rechargeable lithium-ion battery market doubled on average every three years. To cope with this growth, we need the development of a sustainable and low-carbon value chain for batteries in order to contribute to the implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, says Martin BrudermĂĽller, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy, Renewables, Resources, Transport and energy Tagged With: BASF, batteries, EVs, just transition, materials, renewables, solar, storage, wind

Solar energy is green. Solar panels are not. AI can revolutionise their design

January 31, 2019 by Cathy Chen

Solar panels are manufactured at 2,000ËšC, a temperature so high it requires fossil-fuel power. They are also made using rare earth elements, the supply of which has both capacity and political issues. A new and global project is using artificial intelligence (AI) to rapidly create new designs with new materials that can make their manufacture greener and cheaper. The new designs may even bring their manufacture back to your home country, says … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Innovations, Renewables, Resources Tagged With: AI, artificial intelligence, manufacture, materials, PV, rare earth elements, recycling, solar

Why there is so much aggressive bidding at renewables auctions – and what the risks are

June 8, 2018 by Ana Amazo-Blanco, Silvana Tiedemann, Stephen Tay and Monika Bieri

Renewable energy auctions have seen very low prices in many parts of the world. Why do auctions seem to be so effective in driving down costs – and what are the risks? Ana Amazo-Blanco, Silvana Tiedemann of Navigant[1], and Dr. Stephen Tay and Monika Bieri of SERIS looked at a solar PV rooftop auction in Singapore and an offshore wind auction in Germany to discover the key factors behind the bids and suggest how project developers can make sure … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Markets, Policies, Renewables, Resources Tagged With: climate change, diversification, electricity market, energy trade, energy transition, financing, grid, renewables, solar power, wind power

A common goal for all sustainability advocates

June 1, 2018 by Schalk Cloete

Nothing is better for fossil fuel interests than current government policies supporting wind, solar and electric cars, writes independent researcher Schalk Cloete. These green technologies won't reduce fossil fuel consumption sufficiently for a long time to come, so the fossil fuel sector will be able to survive that much longer. In the third and last part of  a series on green technology-forcing, Cloete calls on all sustainability advocates to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy, Markets, Nuclear, Oil, Gas & Coal, Policies, Renewables, Resources, Transport and energy Tagged With: carbon bubble, climate change, coal power, diversification, energy efficiency, energy storage, energy transition, financing, natural gas, nuclear energy, oil, solar power, wind power

If solar panels are so clean, why do they produce so much toxic waste?

May 30, 2018 by Michael Shellenberger

The disposal of used solar panels is a huge and growing problem that is not being sufficiently addressed, writes Michael Shellenberger, founder of the pro-nuclear citizens movement Environmental Progress (EP). He argues that a fee should be imposed on solar panels which should go into a fund to pay for recyling and clean-up. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy, Markets, Policies, Renewables, Resources Tagged With: climate change, energy transition, financing, renewables, solar power

Planned Kosovo lignite power plant fails to commit to cleaner technologies

May 29, 2018 by Gerard Wynn

London-listed, global energy investor ContourGlobal portrays its plans for a new coal power plant in Kosovo as a step towards cleaner air, but its legal agreement with the government shows that it fails to commit to best-in-class environmental performance, writes energy finance consultant Gerard Wynn. Courtesy Energy and Carbon blog.  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy, EU Policy, Oil, Gas & Coal, Policies, Renewables, Resources Tagged With: climate change, coal power, electricity market, energy security, energy transition, EU energy policy, financing, renewables, solar power, wind power

11 ways the Paris climate deal is working in the real world

May 23, 2018 by Soila Apparicio, Megan Darby and Karl Mathiesen

As climate talks stall, it’s clear the UN process is no longer the major driving force of the climate transition, write Soila Apparicio, Megan Darby and Karl Mathiesen of Climate Home News. While diplomates are negotiating the complex rules of the Paris deal, businesses, researchers, governments and citizens are coming up with new ways to move the climate to a safer place. Courtesy: Climate Home News  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate policy, Energy, Energy efficiency, EU Policy, Oil, Gas & Coal, Policies, Renewables, Resources, Transport and energy Tagged With: carbon bubble, climate change, coal power, electric cars, energy efficiency, energy transition, energy2030, natural gas, oil, renewables, solar power, sustainable mobility, transport, US energy policy

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        Recent Posts

        Wind and Solar generated record 20% of EU electricity in 2022. More than gas, nuclear, hydro, coal

        Steel decarbonisation: Australia must stop making excuses and follow Europe’s lead

        Can new cheap, frequent “laser” monitoring of critical components extend Nuclear plant lifetimes by decades?

        Wind (and Solar) need their own Financial Transmission Rights to hedge their unique congestion risks

        The U.S. should support the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

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