Rooftop residential and utility solar exist at two ends of the scale. Is there a sweet spot between those two that can capture the advantages of small-scale (no transmission loss, grid resilience through distribution) and large (economies of scale, easy to invest in)? Yes, reports Laurie Stone of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and it’s being called Community-Scale Solar. More than a sweet spot, it can reach communities underserved by rooftop solar … [Read more...]
Competitive battery storage: InnoEnergy doubles prize to accelerate start-ups entry to market
Utilities and other investors are putting more funds than ever into a battery storage market worth an estimated $250 billion. Right on cue, European clean energy innovation engine InnoEnergy announced a global call for storage entrepreneurs. Their €100,000 first prize meant applications from a diverse range of start-ups flooded in. But which of these should be fast-tracked into this competitive market? At a special event which highlighted a … [Read more...]
China plans UHV transmission lines that span continents
China’s Global Energy Interconnection (GEI) project aims to create a worldwide network of UHV transmission lines that can deliver electricity between continents. If successful, generating electricity in the most remote areas – think deserts and the Arctic – becomes viable, as does China’s ability to sell electricity directly to Europe. First, two main technological challenges have to be overcome: energy loss along transmission lines spanning … [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...]
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...]
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