Here are the highlights of our 2-day 4-session workshop “CHINA: Carbon Neutral by 2060 - Innovation”, compiled by Sara Stefanini. It’s a quick and efficient way for readers to see the main points made by our expert panellists. Held at the end of May, it was the fourth of our EU-China workshops since the first was held in November 2020, produced for the EU China Energy Cooperation Platform (ECECP). As always, leading speakers from the EU, major … [Read more...]
Will China’s gigantic wind and solar “bases” mean targets met four years early?
China will have doubled its 2020 installed wind and solar capacity by 2025, exceeding 1,100GW, according to government plans. That’s four years sooner than required to meet their target of peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. Writing for Carbon Brief, Lauri Myllyvirta and Xing Zhang at CREA explain that the main driver is the creation of “clean energy bases”: large-scale concentrations of wind and solar power on deserts … [Read more...]
China’s impressive growth in Renewables and Transmission now needs Market innovation
***REGISTER NOW for CHINA: Carbon Neutral by 2060 - INNOVATION*** - China has the world’s largest power plant fleet for both coal and renewables. Together they make up most of the total power capacity of over 2,200 GW... STOP PRESS: China's Transition is the biggest single opportunity for managing climate change and also for those businesses who are ready with the innovations that will ensure the best possible outomes in an incredibly … [Read more...]
Solar + Storage Hybrid plants are poised for explosive growth in the U.S.
At the beginning of 2021 the U.S. had 73 solar and 16 wind hybrid projects, amounting to 2.5GW of generation and 0.45GW of storage. By the end of 2021, over a third of the 675GW of solar in the grid connection queue were hybrids, and 19GW were wind hybrids. Only one in four typically get approved, built and connected. But that still points at a twenty-five-fold increase in hybrid generation. It’s why Joachim Seel, Ben Paulos and Will Gorman at … [Read more...]
Q&A: How fast can renewables deliver on Germany’s new energy independence goals?
How quickly can Germany reduce its dependence on fossil fuels? Benjamin Wehrmann at Clean Energy Wire asks six practical questions that must be answered, then gathers the expert answers. What are the current expansion goals for wind, solar and other renewables? Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will the new emergency plans bring an end to Russian imports as well as reach climate targets? Are renewable power companies ready to deliver a fast … [Read more...]
“Floato-voltaics”: floating solar farms on existing municipal water reservoirs
The municipality of Cohoes, population 17,000, in New York State, is building a floating solar farm on its 10-acre water reservoir. It should power all the city-owned buildings and streetlights, save $500,000/year in electricity costs and still leave 40% of the generated electricity remaining for other civic use. It will cost $6m. It will be a first for a U.S. city, explains Connor O'Neil at NREL. The case for city “floato-voltaics” is so … [Read more...]
Germany’s electrification ambitions: TSOs scenario for 91% Renewables by 2045
The German TSOs submitted in January scenarios for their grid to 2037, making projections for increasing electrification. In addition, and for the first time, they included an ambitious and long term scenario to 2045. By pure chance, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Germany’s response – to consider a reduction in its serious dependence on Russian energy imports – should make eyes turn sharply towards that 2045 scenario. Simon Göss at cr.hub, … [Read more...]
Critical minerals and materials: supply bottlenecks and risks need international cooperation
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...]
Lifting and lowering tons of bricks: the best storage solution for Wind and Solar intermittency?
It’s a high capacity storage system that’s simplicity itself. Use excess wind and solar to raise heavy weights. Keep them at a height for as long as you like. Lower them to generate electricity. James Conca looks at a system being developed by Energy Vault and already being demonstrated in the Swiss national grid. At scale, a single “vault” with 10,000 bricks will have an annual output of 27 GWh, sitting on only 14 acres of land. The bricks are … [Read more...]
Energy Storage to 2050: how it can support the grid 24/7 all year long
NREL is modelling grids with rising amounts of storage that captures excess wind and solar power to deliver it back during peak times. Storage capacity starts at around 10GW today and rises to hundreds by 2050. A range of increasingly complex system configurations and grid mixes are studied. The storage can gradually replace thermal peakers (fed with coal or gas but having GHG emissions, and expensive to start-up for peaking) as the grid gets … [Read more...]
Grid-scale modelling of Distributed Energy Resources and dynamic pricing for all customers
Smart grids can solve multiple problems now and throughout the lifetime of the energy transition. The supply from hundreds (existing + new wind, solar, etc.) and ultimately millions (rooftop solar, EV batteries) of power sources can be matched in real time with demand from all major customer devices (air conditioners, water heaters, batteries, EVs). Dynamic pricing keeps the peaks low and the troughs high. It takes the pressure off total load, … [Read more...]
Research into slowing lithium degradation can extend Battery life by 30%
The massive scale-up of batteries is essential to a successful transition. That will be made much easier if the lifetime of existing lithium batteries is greatly extended. With each charge-discharge cycle, the batteries accumulate tiny islands of inactive lithium that are cut off from the electrodes, decreasing the battery’s capacity to store charge. Jennifer Huber at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory explains how new research is showing a … [Read more...]
The right – and wrong – way to design a behind-the-meter Battery pilot
Here’s a story on how not to design a pilot project. The point of any pilot is to serve as the basis for larger rollouts. They should also be designed to maximise benefits. Joseph Daniel at the Union of Concerned Scientists describes how a U.S. utility in Michigan tried to create a pilot for behind-the-meter small-scale home storage. They wanted to invite anyone to apply to join. The problem was the likely applicants would be wealthy home owners. … [Read more...]
Replacing centralised power with Distributed Energy Systems needs new policies and coordination
We need integrated resilient smart grids that can accommodate the rapid growth of intermittent renewables as well as the rise of “prosumers” who both buy and sell electricity into the grid. This is the focus of three online discussion sessions on February 8th, 9th and 10th organised and hosted by power management company Eaton. The proliferation of multiple generation sources (solar, wind, batteries and other clean, flexible technologies) means … [Read more...]
What do German households pay for power? Costs, surcharges, taxes, grid fees
Power prices in Germany are among the highest in Europe. Though the high costs are in large part due to the mandatory support for renewable energy sources, most customers continue to support the country's energy transition. That might be because German households only pay a little over 9% of their average monthly income on energy, similar to France and the Netherlands. In contrast, Bulgarian households spend more than 25% percent on electricity, … [Read more...]
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