2019 has seen Energy Post’s readership surge to its highest ever levels; 13.4% more readers than 2018 with 17% more subscribers ensuring our platform continues to grow as a voice for independent experts. The most popular topics include CO2 extraction, battery tech and falling cost of renewables but, head and shoulders above the rest, it is the role of hydrogen in the clean energy future that has captured our readers’ attention most of all. Our annual Energy Quiz – based on our top 10 best-read articles published this year – provides a snapshot of the most fascinating issues our contributors have researched and analysed in 2019. My thanks to all of them and to our editor, Arasan Aruliah, for working with them and attracting so many new readers along the way. Now, with perhaps a little extra time on your hands at some point over the holidays, it’s the Energy Post Quiz 2019…
1. Renewable hydrogen already cost competitive – Jocelyn Timperley, March 15
According to the paper under the spotlight in this report by Jocelyn Timperley, renewable hydrogen is already commercially viable if sold at what price per kilo in Germany and Texas respectively?
2. 50% hydrogen for Europe: a manifesto – Ad van Wijk and Frank Wouters, May 7
By analysing and comparing an extensive array of scenarios, how many GW of capacity did report authors Ad van Wijk and Frank Wouters estimate are required for solar and wind to be competitive in Europe respectively?
According to James Conca’s report, V-flow batteries won’t degrade for more than how many years?
4. Solar energy is green, solar panels are not – Cathy Chen, January 31
Which 19th century mathematician, and arguably the world’s first computer programmer, is the link between English poet Lord Byron and the AI-driven lab at the centre of Cathy Chen’s report?
5. The European Battery Alliance is moving up a gear – Carole Mathieu, May 24
The EBA has set a target of how many GWh/yr of battery manufacturing capacity to be available in the EU as of 2025?
According to IRENA, the global weighted-average price of electricity from PPA and auctions could fall to what USD/ kWh price by 2020 (representing a reduction of around 20% compared to the global weighted-average cost of electricity from onshore wind projects commissioned in 2018)?
7. Extract CO2 from our air, use it to create synthetic fuels – James Conca, October 11
According to this report, Carbon Engineering’s Direct Air Capture system can remove a ton of CO2 from the air for approximately what cost in USD
8. Digitalisation is changing the energy landscape – Matt Brown and Ravi Mahendra, February 7
According to the Financial Times, systematic and algorithmic trading now account for nearly what percentage of the traded volume on just the CME energy product group – the highest level of any commodity group?
According to their analysis, the upcoming expiry of which Act could lead to ‘even the continued operation’ of existing biofuel plants being put under question?
10. The Clean Hydrogen revolution: how, by whom, when? – NoĂ© van Hulst, May 22
Swedish utility Vattenfall has calculated that producing a €20,000 car from CO2-free steel (using green hydrogen) rather than regular steel would add how much to the price?
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Thanks for reading Energy Post and we wish you a well-earned break over the holiday season. Answers will be published in the first newsletter of 2020 which will be sent on January 10th. You can subscribe to our free newsletter here