If offshore wind, why not offshore solar? Itâs been talked about for a while and implemented on a small scale in places like Norway. You Xiaoying, writing for Dialogue Earth (formerly China Dialogue), looks at Chinaâs efforts to establish it as a new and â once scaled up - major contributor to the energy transition. The main advantages over land-based solar are clear: large spaces of land must be found, theyâre not usually near population or … [Read more...]
District Heating: trials face local permitting blocks. Itâs because thereâs too little national and EU guidance
The EU-funded WEDISTRICT project establishes sites to demonstrate innovative 100% fossil free heating and cooling solutions for new and existing district heating and cooling systems. But some of the sites have run into permitting problems with local authorities and stakeholders. In Poland, the project had to be withdrawn. In Spain, it had to relocate to a site in the University of CĂłrdoba. As Khatia Shamanauri and Fintan Burke at ESCI explain, … [Read more...]
Study: will sight of a Wind Turbine reduce your property prices?
Onshore wind turbines have a permitting problem in the U.S. and Europe. One main complaint from homeowners is that they believe the sight of a turbine will reduce their property value. Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas describes his co-authored published study that tests this assumption. The study looks at sale prices of over 300m homes in the U.S. within 10km of a turbine, sold between 1990 and before COVID hit. The clever … [Read more...]
New Offshore Wind projects: is permitting being slowed by evidence from âgrey literatureâ?
Offshore wind is the new frontier of clean energy generation. The permitting process depends on policymakersâ evaluation of the impact assessment evidence. As Claire Szostek at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory explains, that evidence has two sources: primary and âgreyâ literature. âPrimary literatureâ comes from structured peer-reviewed scientific journals. âGrey literatureâ includes all other types of reports and evidence published freely. The … [Read more...]
Massive global expansion of Renewables coming. But weâre still short 20% of our 2030 target
The IEA has released the 143-page âRenewables 2023â, the latest edition of its annual report on the sector. The world added 50% more renewable capacity in 2023 than in 2022 and the next 5 years will see fastest growth yet. Under current policies and market conditions, global renewable capacity is already on course to increase by two-and-a-half times by 2030: great news but still short of the tripling we need. A key reason for the gap is the lack … [Read more...]
Another good year for Renewables. But can we triple Wind and Solar by 2030?
COP28 saw a calling for a tripling of renewable capacities by 2030, off the back of positive signs. In 2022, 80% of incremental power demand and 12% of electricity generated worldwide came from solar and wind. And the IEA believes solar generation can grow at 25% to 2030. But, as Ramnath Iyer at IEEFA explains, specific challenges must be met to ramp up successfully. The non-financial barriers include a lack of policy clarity, permitting, and … [Read more...]
Europeâs grid bottlenecks are delaying its energy transition
***While you're here... REGISTER NOW for "REPowering the grid for Solar PV" with the Vice-President of Tauron, DG ENER C, Eurelectric and SolarPowerEurope - Online Wednesday September 20 from 11:00 to 12:15 CEST*** No amount of record sales and deployment in Europe of heat pumps, EVs, solar farms, wind turbines and all the rest will guarantee the region meeting its electrification targets if the grids arenât ready to integrate them. As … [Read more...]
âGreen Deal Industrial Planâ explainer: 40%+ of the top low-carbon technologies must be made in the EU by 2030
The ECâs new series of proposed targets and reforms, contained in its Green Deal Industrial Plan, aim to ensure that at least 40% of the EUâs low-carbon technologies will be made within its borders by 2030. The eight âstrategic net-zero technologiesâ are: Solar (power and thermal); Onshore and offshore wind; Batteries and energy storage; Heat pumps and geothermal; Electrolysers and fuel cells; Sustainable biogas/biomethane; CCS; Grid … [Read more...]
What is the potential for offshore wind in the Baltic Sea?
What is the potential for offshore wind in the Baltic Sea? Simon Göss summarises the panel discussion that brought together Marcin Nowacki (President of the European Enterprise Alliance), Dariusz LociĆski (President of the Management Board, PGE Baltica), Pierre Tardieu (Chief Policy Officer at Wind Europe), Ricardo Williams (Policy Officer for Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation at DG ENER, EC) and Pernille Weiss (MEP and ITRE committee … [Read more...]
U.S. Residential Distributed Solar: still getting cheaper, installation and permitting too, more batteries
John Rogers at UCS reviews the new and comprehensive âTracking the Sunâ report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which covers both residential and non-residential âgrid-connected, distributedâ solar PV systems in the U.S. There has been clear progress across the board, including PV module efficiency, system costs, installation and permitting, and the uptake of batteries. For example, median efficiency for modules in residential systems … [Read more...]
Event Summary: Building GW-scale Offshore Wind in the Baltic Sea
Here we provide a written summary of the panel discussion âWind of Change or Change of Wind? The future of Baltic Sea offshore investmentsâ held on 12th September 2022 in Brussels. Itâs a full summary of the 90 minute discussion (including audience questions), but it begins conveniently with a summary of the highlights. The Baltic Sea has the potential to develop over 90 GW of offshore wind capacity. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has delivered … [Read more...]
New U.S. Offshore Wind target: from standing start to 30GW by 2030
In March, the Biden administration announced a bold target to deploy 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. Until now, offshore windâs rise has been driven almost exclusively by Europe and China. The U.S. accounts for just 0.1% of the worldâs installed capacity (versus 17% for onshore wind). Why the hold up, given the U.S. could require up to 400GW of offshore wind by 2050? As Stephen Naimoli and Nikos Tsafos at CSIS explain, offshore costs … [Read more...]
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