After good progress globally since 2015, basic energy access reversed in recent years for the first time in a decade, says the IEA. The 2024 edition of “Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report” measures progress on “strategic development goals” that include universal access to electricity and clean cooking, doubling historic levels of efficiency improvements, and substantially increasing the share of renewables in the global energy mix. The … [Read more...]
Superconducting overhead Transmission Lines that deliver 400MW (and targeting several GW)
How do you double or triple your existing power transmission capacity when costs are rising and you face local opposition to the disruption? Zach Winn at MIT describes a new innovation that uses superconductors designed to transport five to 10 times the amount of power of conventional transmission lines, using essentially the same footprint and voltage level, carried on otherwise standard overhead lines. The superconducting cables (with much of … [Read more...]
Upgrade the grid, or avoid by incentivising flexibility? Electricity demand mapping can tell you what to do
Power grids across the world need upgrading to accommodate the rapidly rising amount of electricity being generated. Without it, it is a serious bottleneck to the transition to clean fuels. Sheridan Few at the University of Leeds summarises his co-authored study that creates a map of where upgrades are most needed in the UK. The map’s purpose is twofold. Firstly, it predicts where power consumption will rise the most and the upgrades are … [Read more...]
How to handle rapid Grid load growth: Data Centres can set the template for EVs, Buildings, new Industry
Due to their growing power demand, data centres can set a precedent for how to handle rapid load growth in a way that supports the grid and ensures reliable, resilient, carbon-free electricity. In other words, they can set the template for the coming surges in demand from EVs, buildings electrification, and the new rich-world policies of onshoring industry and manufacturing, explain Alexandra Gorin, Roberto Zanchi and Mark Dyson at RMI. Big, … [Read more...]
Big Data’s huge power demand can migrate globally, instantaneously: implications for planning regional capacity and markets
Something is going to make the planning of regional power generation and associated markets even harder: the ability of big data users to shift their demand across the globe quickly, based on price. Ira Joseph at CGEP peers into the near future to ask some difficult questions. When such power demand can “at the push of a button” migrate long distances, how do you make predictions for local capacity needs? And today, market design in most … [Read more...]
France’s Macron wants to build 14 new Nuclear reactors by 2050. 6 is more realistic
France's President Macron is talking about a nuclear renaissance, after years of uncertainty over its future. The goal is to build 14 new reactors by 2050. But Jonathan Bruegel at IEEFA says this is unrealistc. France’s nuclear sector has much to recommend it. It produces up to 80% of the country’s total power generation, the highest share of nuclear in the generation mix anywhere in the world, and CO2-free. However, France hasn’t built a nuclear … [Read more...]
Strict rules stop Green Hydrogen production diverting clean power from the grid. What are they?
Green hydrogen must be made from green electricity. But the electricity used for making it must fulfil stricter requirements than conventional green electricity. Matthis Brinkhaus at Energy Brainpool describes the criteria by which hydrogen can be designated as 100% renewable: Additionality; Additionality Plus; Temporal correlation, simultaneity; Geographical correlation, regionality. Brinkhaus points at where exceptions can be made, and where … [Read more...]
Credit Rating Agencies downgrading Coal, Oil, Gas: climate change is now a clear risk category
Credit rating agencies now clearly recognise that climate change has become its own risk category, explains Tom Sanzillo at IEEFA who summarises his 43-page report. Financially, the coal, oil and gas sectors have served the world for decades. But due to regulatory, legal, economic, financial, political and social concerns, coal is credit negative and oil and gas is no longer positive. Sanzillo’s report charts the gradual erosion of the sector’s … [Read more...]
ReDREAM pilot: mobile app for real-time green energy availability, prices, to control your usage
We already have the technology to allow households to monitor and control their energy usage so they can run individual appliances when the energy is cheapest and greenest. It just needs to be tested and then deployed at scale. Luca Arfini, writing for ESCI, describes the EU-funded ReDREAM project where over 700 people in four countries have had the monitoring installed in their homes, and been given the mobile app to control their usage. … [Read more...]
Research into how electrons and protons couple at an electrode can create more efficient fuel cells, electrolysers
Every efficiency gain discovered in the lab feeds through to the final cost of electricity. Anne Trafton at MIT describes new research looking at how electrons and protons couple at an electrode surface, which drives electric current. It’s a critical step in many energy technologies, including fuel cells, hydrogen electrolysers, batteries, and CO2 conversion into chemical fuels. The first step was to develop a way to design electrode surfaces … [Read more...]
Electrostatic Generator fabrics can capture energy from cars depressing roads, swaying buildings + more
Literally anything that moves is using energy that can be harnessed. Not just waves rolling toward shore but cars depressing roads, buildings swaying in the wind, and much more. One way to harness it is to create a material that can be woven into the fabric of roads and buildings so that it captures the energy and converts it into electricity. Caitlin McDermott-Murphy at NREL describes research into Hexagonal Distributed Embedded Energy … [Read more...]
Geothermal Heat Pumps at scale avoid the cost of expensive long-distance transmission lines
A new analysis reveals that installing geothermal heat pumps in 70% of U.S. buildings can reduce the need for new long-distance transmission lines by 33%, explains Kelly MacGregor at NREL. The main message is that, though geothermal deployment is seen as expensive, the avoided costs are significant. Those transmission lines won’t be needed because geothermal is always local and can be deployed in both urban and rural places. Though the widespread … [Read more...]
Tandem solar cells (perovskite + silicon) can reach 40% energy conversion rates
Tandem solar lays new perovskite cells over standard silicon cells. Perovskite absorbs the shorter wavelengths of light that silicon misses. So the thin layer of perovskite collects the visible wavelengths, and lets the near-infrared light through to the silicon underneath. Martina GrĂĽnwald and Sarah Michaud writing for the WEF point at the results of R&D and demonstrations in Germany, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and China. Energy conversion … [Read more...]
EU’s fossil fuel CO2 emissions drop to levels last seen in the 1960s
The EU’s CO2 emissions from fossil fuels (including power generation, industry and transport) dropped 8% in 2023 year-on-year, reaching levels last seen in the early 1960s, reveals an analysis by CREA. More than half of that decline came from an impressive 25% year-on-year reduction in CO2 emissions from power generation. The cleaner electricity mix is thanks to the continuous rise of wind and solar as well as a rebound in hydropower and nuclear. … [Read more...]
Clean energy forecast map tells firms where to build their facilities to minimise emissions
For companies that are serious about their net-zero targets, where you run a facility affects your results. Building a new facility in a region where renewables are ramping up will keep your emissions low. Connor O'Neil at NREL explains how analysts there, in partnership with Amazon, are building out datasets that take a forward look at where clean energy is growing. The “Cambium” data sets contain modelled hourly emission, cost, and operational … [Read more...]
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