Dolf Gielen, Priyank Lathwal and Silvia Carolina Lopez Rocha at the World Bank present a thorough review of the pathway to financing global clean renewable hydrogen over the coming decades. The wind and solar that powers production will continue to get cheaper, and so will electrolyser costs as they scale up. Nevertheless, the total financing will still be considerable. World Bank analysis shows around $30tn between now and 2050 will be needed … [Read more...]
Renewables “cost of capital” in Europe lower than oil, gas, coal. What the U.S. and China can learn
The ultimate price of anything is highly dependent on the cost of capital needed to put it in place. That cost reflects the risks financial markets perceive. And policy certainty reduces risk. Gireesh Shrimali, Christian Wilson and Xiaoyan Zhou at Oxford University, writing for WEF, summarise their global study which shows the cost of capital for different energy technologies, and therefore which ones will trend upwards and dominate. They cover … [Read more...]
Critical Minerals: will there be enough to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target?
If the production and processing of critical minerals cannot keep up with the accelerating adoption of batteries, EVs, wind turbines and solar PV technologies, the pace and success of the global energy system transformation will be put at risk. In this explainer, Lilly Yejin Lee and James Glynn at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University address the big questions, drawing on the data underlying the IEA’s “The Role of Critical … [Read more...]
Making Hydrogen will consume 2% of total global renewable capacity growth by 2027
25 countries plus the EU have announced big ambitions for renewable hydrogen production. But how much renewable energy will be needed to make the H2 over the next five years? Nations are not keen to expend new clean energy generation on (expensive today) hydrogen production when their grids are still not emissions-free. According to the IEA, for 2022-2027, their main case forecasts around 50GW of renewable capacity will be dedicated to hydrogen … [Read more...]
Swiss industry and science consortium on track to optimise hydropower production using satellite data
The “Defrost for Hydropower” project combines SLF’s snow expertise with satellite imagery from Wegaw’s cutting-edge geospatial technology and Hydrique Engineers advanced modelling skills, in order to more accurately predict water flow into hydro dams up to 4 months in advance as well as hydrological inflows on a regional scale. … [Read more...]
Gas crunch: market and policy causes, and lessons learned
Andrei Belyi at the University of Eastern Finland says there are three main causes behind the huge rise in European gas prices. Everyone already understands that the reversal of the previous gas glut that gave us such low prices has been caused by a decline in European gas production, LNG imports and Russian gas deliveries. Added to that is the utilities’ reliance on spot contracts rather than termed contracts – great when prices were low – that … [Read more...]
Will Norway’s new government consider phasing out oil and gas?
A Labour-led left coalition won the Norwegian elections in September. The Socialist Left Party looks keen to limit new oil and gas exploration and production. The dominant Labour Party and the Center party, much less so. Still, it could be the moment when Norway starts to put the climate above its oil and gas policy, explains Silje Lundberg at Oil Change International. Until now – left or right - it’s definitely been the other way around. The … [Read more...]
Oil’s decline will weaken its political influence
2020 was another bad year for the oil and gas industry. The pandemic made it worse but it was not the cause: a decline has been going on for a long time. Energy firms in the S&P 500 (overwhelmingly oil and gas) make up 2.3% of the total value, down from 16% just over a decade ago, and 30% forty years ago. Clark Williams-Derry and Tom Sanzillo at IEEFA explain why, how and what the likely consequences are for oil firms. For many years it’s … [Read more...]
