ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors measure the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment. ESG includes the energy sector, and the amounts spent show it’s no longer just an ethical choice, says The Rocky Mountain Institute’s Todd Zeranski. It doesn’t just save the planet, it saves our pensions. Why? From regulatory penalties to the cost of climate clean-up, fossil fuel investments are getting too risky and expensive. Those … [Read more...]
“Stop trading renewable energy supply certificates, speed up the transition”
In the UK, REGOs certify that the power a consumer buys is renewable. As REGOs can be traded that means one supplier, sourcing 100% of their energy from renewables, and another simply buying enough REGOs to cover 100% of their output can both say they are 100% renewable. Is there a difference? Yes, says Thomas Harrison at supplier Good Energy. Trading REGOs takes the pressure off suppliers to use all their buying power to expand the supply of … [Read more...]
NECPs – Analysis: EU ideals coming up against political realities
The European Union is trying to maintain its leadership on climate change with its Clean Energy for All Europeans package, which aims to make the EU climate neutral by 2050. The mechanism for achieving this target is member states’ National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). Mike Scott considers the plans, how Germany is moving towards an "Eastern European" energy policy and how the upcoming elections could dilute EU climate policy overall... … [Read more...]
New “Gas for Climate” scenarios: can green gas and hydrogen save gas pipelines?
Gas has a key role to play in decarbonising the energy sector. Until a comprehensive clean energy network can accommodate variable renewables using storage, baseload power will be needed. Natural gas is a lower carbon option than coal, so there is a strong case for it to be the first-choice bridging fuel towards a net-zero energy economy. However, exactly how much gas, what type of gas and how existing infrastructure can store energy in the form … [Read more...]
Why does coal survive? A detailed real-world cashflow analysis
Everyone knows coal plants are bad for the environment. So why do countries still use them? Coal’s attractiveness comes from the relatively low up front capital investment required to start generating energy. On top of that, the rapid rise of variable renewables (solar, wind) need something to rise with it to fill the generation gap when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. In his final instalment - after his similarly detailed … [Read more...]
What’s next for the geopolitics of energy transformation?
January’s IRENA report “A New World” has kick-started the debate on how the accelerating deployment of renewables will affect and alter the global distribution of political and economic power. Jan Frederik Braun and Daniel Scholten review its findings and build on the list of issues that must be faced. For example, although the IRENA report focuses on electrification the authors say power-to-gas is likely to play a major role, and we must face up … [Read more...]
Onsite solar and storage powers off-grid telecom towers
There are more than 3m telecom towers globally, and powering them is a $100bn market. It's a particularly important growth sector in developing countries. They are already using mobiles to leapfrog the laying of costly landlines, but because they lack grids that stretch to remote communities they need to power towers that are off the grid. Dr Thomas Hillig says as solar and storage costs continue to drop they are replacing diesel gensets as the … [Read more...]
Virtual power plants: a story of market rules and smartgrids
Access to the grid-balancing market is competitive and carefully regulated. Green electricity from distributed and behind-the-meter renewable assets is already being traded on wholesale and balancing markets. The assets come in all shapes and sizes: roof-top solar, farmyard biofuel installations, EV and home battery systems, community energy projects, wind installations and heat pumps to name but a few. When they are pooled, by aggregators, they … [Read more...]
Renewable hydrogen “already cost competitive”, says new research
Jocelyn Timperley at Carbon Brief has interviewed the lead author, and the critics, of this new report titled “Economics of converting renewable power to hydrogen”. The research says renewable hydrogen is already proving competitive for niche, high-intensity users in Germany and Texas. Future technological improvements, combined with expected changes to subsidies and CCS requirements, can make it so for large-scale industrial users in the next 10 … [Read more...]
Transition: nation-by-nation review of race to phaseout coal
The global effort to phase out coal consumption is speeding up. However, a lot of necessary work is still to be done, both to align with the ambition of the Paris Agreement and to ensure a just transition for affected workers and citizens. Oliver Sartor at the IDDRI runs through the leading examples of coal's phase-out across the world, nation by nation, and warns that coal producing and consuming countries that do not adapt are in danger of … [Read more...]
Investing in gas: the effect of carbon taxes, gas prices, and the growth of renewables
Schalk Cloete presents his latest article looking at what affects the profitability of an investment in a specific power sector. After reviewing onshore wind, nuclear and solar, he now looks at gas. His analysis of coal is to come. The major variables are increasing CO2 prices, and natural gas pricing. He adds that the growth of wind and solar should benefit load-following gas power plants: they are plugging the intermittency gap when electricity … [Read more...]
Green New Deal can learn from Obama’s $90bn clean energy plan of 2009
The “Green New Deal” proposal is a 10-year plan to curb climate change by shifting the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels. Will it work? Yes (with caveats) if it’s anything like President Obama’s 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: it invested $90bn to promote clean energy as part of an economic stimulus plan to recover from the bank crash. That's the view of Joseph Aldy, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, … [Read more...]
WWF: A Just Transition needs a Just Facilitation
Katie Treadwell at the WWF European Policy Office says to successfully transition to a green and sustainable economy, the EU and its Member States must heed warning signs given by their constituents, such as at the Yellow Vests protest in France. They must ensure their approach to the transformation is ambitious, inclusive and facilitates a just and local transition. Just Transition policies are typically referred to in the context of coal … [Read more...]
Analysis: BP’s outlook for fossil fuels could be undermined by slowing energy demand
BP’s latest projections, released last week, once again concede that their previous reports have been overestimating fossil fuel consumption and underestimating renewables. Yet BP still predicts total energy demand will grow indefinitely thanks to overall global growth, and fossil fuels will always be needed. But Simon Evans at Carbon Brief shows how these projections contrast starkly with McKinsey’s, who find that the efficiency of renewables … [Read more...]
Can nuclear compete for a bigger role in the transition?
With plans to phase out coal-fired generators in most of Europe, nuclear is trying to compete with gas to become the most viable baseload power source to accompany renewables on the path to net-zero emissions. Both technologies have their advantages. Gas is competitively priced while nuclear generates power with almost no emissions. Right now, gas's cost advantage is evidently great enough to tip the balance. If nuclear advocates are to … [Read more...]
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