The EU Taxonomy is a classification system that defines a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities. If your activity is on the list you should see green finance flow your way. Hence the heated debate over what is “green”. It’s of vital interest to sectors like gas and nuclear (it’s green compared to the coal it replaces) as it will have a major effect on the cost of capital and therefore the future of the sector. Indeed, any … [Read more...]
EU Taxonomy: Gas as a transition fuel needs Green Deal support too
PGE Group is Poland's largest energy company. Its transformation plan targets a 50% share from renewable generation and an 85% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030. By 2050 it intends to have net zero CO2 emissions and provide 100% green energy to its customers. As with all nations around the world, and certainly in the EU, successful transitions depend on capital flows to the right sectors, signposted by policies and support. What does and does … [Read more...]
Washington State (U.S.) bill could make it the home for next generation Nuclear
Nuclear may soon be getting a boost from Washington State in the north-west of the U.S. There, a bill is being presented to promote the manufacture and deployment of new nuclear reactors. It will provide generous tax incentives to nuclear investments in the state. It’s the sort of support that renewable energy technology is used to, yet nuclear struggles to get because of critics of nuclear energy. That opposition is very frustrating, explains … [Read more...]
Nuclear-Wind hybrid plants for grid stability, Power-to-X and more
How would you use a nuclear-wind hybrid plant and maximise its potential? When intermittent wind’s output falls, nuclear can step in to feed the grid. When it’s not doing that it can use its power to run the production of a wide range of commodities: from biofuels, hydrogen, pumped hydro to wastewater purification, desalination, chemical manufacturing and more – including straightforward thermal power for industry. In collaboration with NREL, the … [Read more...]
Nine advantages small-scale solutions have for reducing global emissions
Which is best? Spending your budget on a million 1 KW solar panels or a single 1 GW nuclear/hydro/gas plant? Lots of electric bikes or a single tram system? Lots of smart thermostats or whole-building retrofits? Charlie Wilson (University of East Anglia), Caroline Zimm (IIASA) and Simon De Stercke (Imperial College London) summarise their study that lists the advantages of small-scale “granular” solutions over large-scale “lumpy” ones. Granular … [Read more...]
Nuclear: Does the West’s military need Small Modular Reactors?
The development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), generating up to 300MW, are already getting support for civilian purposes. The military in Russia, China and the U.S. are also interested. It should reduce the reliance on long fuel supply lines, the defence of which costs lives. SMRs would be factory made and delivered on site. But Lukas TrakimaviÄŤius says many difficult questions must be answered before the West commits to this solution. … [Read more...]
Biden’s Green New Deal: bipartisan support should clear a path for Nuclear
President-elect Joe Biden knows that a divided Congress and Senate will make passing most legislation very difficult, not least his sweeping decarbonisation agenda. However, there is one area where both Republicans and Democrats share the same goals, and that is nuclear power. Jennifer Gordon at the Atlantic Council explains why this can clear a path for nuclear while other elements of Biden’s clean energy programme may struggle and even fail. … [Read more...]
Study identifies causes of soaring Nuclear plant cost overruns
Why does nuclear power cost so much when the technology has had decades to get it right? MIT’s David Chandler explains how researchers there have identified the main causes of the cost overruns in the U.S. It turns out that building new plants by copying existing designs actually costs more. That’s because site-specific constraints mean problems are being fixed during construction, adding to costs and delays. New types of concrete are being … [Read more...]
Chinese energy institutes present new net-zero scenarios for 2050
It was just one sentence, in September, from China’s President Xi Jinping: “We aim to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.” Already, leading Chinese energy institutes have presented two scenarios that lay out what needs to be done to meet that goal. Writing for Carbon Brief, Lauri Myllyvirta reviews the plans. Both aim for over 85% of all energy and more than 90% of electricity coming from non-fossil … [Read more...]
WEO 2020 means updated price predictions to 2040: Oil, Gas, Coal, Renewables, Power
The combined effect of the global lockdown, more ambitious climate policies and the rise of renewables will have a significant effect on European power prices up to 2040, as well as the sales revenues of renewable energies. Carlos Perez-Linkenheil at Energy Brainpool uses their Power2Sim model to look at the data in the IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook 2020 and make quantitative forecasts. The pandemic has caused structural distortions to the … [Read more...]
The IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2020 at a glance
This month the IEA published its annual flagship World Energy Outlook (WEO). Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool picks out his highlights. This year’s WEO has four scenarios, two of them new: an updated “Stated Policies Scenario” (STEPS: what governments have promised), the new “Delayed Recovery Scenario” (DRS: due to Covid), an updated “Sustainable Development Scenario” (SDS: what’s needed to meet the Paris targets), and the new “Net Zero Emissions … [Read more...]
Nuclear Fusion: will super-cable technology bring “inexhaustible” energy supply a step closer?
Nuclear fusion is the process the Sun uses to produce energy. But attempts to replicate that process here on Earth have all needed more energy to run them than they generate (our existing nuclear plants use fission). Now a team led by MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and MIT spinout company Commonwealth Fusion Systems has developed and tested high-temperature superconductor (HTS) cable technology that can ensure the high-performance magnets … [Read more...]
U.S. Nuclear: change the laws that constrain foreign and domestic investment
Today, Russia and China dominate global nuclear exports and new additions while the U.S. experiences budget overruns and cancellations. Once at the forefront, the U.S. should regain its leadership of nuclear power, argue Matt Bowen, Jennifer Gordon and Jackie Kempfer at the Atlantic Council. To recover its position it first needs to change the laws and policies that constrain its ability to cooperate with allies on nuclear matters, invest in … [Read more...]
ANEEL: Thorium-based reactor fuel could revive Nuclear’s fortunes
A public-private consortium backed by the U.S. DoE is developing a new nuclear fuel – a mix of thorium and uranium – that looks like a major advance on the fuels currently in use, says Jim Conca. Called “Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life” (ANEEL), it has a very high fuel burn-up rate (55,000 MWd/T) compared to the usual uranium (7,000 MWd/T). That high burn-up reduces the waste by over 80%. Less spent fuel means less refuelling, less … [Read more...]
BP Outlook 2020: “peak oil” has already happened
BP’s latest Outlook predicts – for the first time - that oil saw its peak in 2019. In each of BP’s Outlooks, published annually since 2011, they have revised their predictions for the global energy landscape to 2050 as new data comes in. The growth of clean energy and the changing shape of climate policies have seen each successive forecast increase the share of renewables at the expense of fossil fuels. This year even gas has seen its prospects … [Read more...]
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