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Energy Post

The best thinkers on energy

Germany’s Corona stimulus package: what’s in it for energy, climate?

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€30bn of Germany’s €130bn Corona economic stimulus package is dedicated to the energy sector and the climate. Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool runs through the four main areas of focus. There’s €11bn to fund a reduction in the EEG levy (renewables surcharge) to help electricity consumers. €9bn goes to creating a hydrogen industry for Germany. There’s €7bn to promote e-mobility (tax exemptions, subsidies, co-financing of charging stations and … [Read more...]

Tipping Points reached for Solar, Wind, Batteries, EVs. What of the other Clean Energy techs?

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History shows a disruptive technology’s tipping point can be under 5% of market share, that’s all it takes. The number of horses in use peaked in the U.S. once car ownership reached 3%. Gas lighting in the UK peaked with electric lighting at just 2% of the market. Landline phones in the U.S. fell precipitously after mobiles captured 5% of the market. Ji Chen and Koben Calhoun at RMI argue the tipping point has already been passed for solar, wind, … [Read more...]

Grid-scale Solar PV storage can use re-purposed old EV batteries

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Once an EV battery has declined to 80% of its original capacity it is considered too weak for continued vehicle use. Recycling the battery – at that point - to make another one is expensive. MIT’s David Chandler describes how researchers there have run experiments and models to show that old EV batteries can instead be packed together and used as backup storage for grid-scale solar PV installations. It’s cheaper than building new Li-ion battery … [Read more...]

10,000 sq km of Solar in the Sahara could provide all the world’s energy needs

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A little over 10 years ago David MacKay drew attention by saying “All the world’s power could be provided by a square 100km by 100km area in the Sahara.” Furthermore, MacKay’s calculation of the full potential of the region’s Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) totalled 25 times the TWh/year the world uses today. That was looking at the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) high solar irradiance, ample available land and the technologies of the day. … [Read more...]

Energy Post panel discussion – Cross-Border Capacity [VIDEO]

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Whilst renewable generation continues to grow, cross-border capacity fails to keep up. On May 19, 2020, Energy Post hosted a unique panel qualified to discuss the issue and shed some light on how we got here and what the options might be going forward. The discussion was moderated by Erik Rakhou - alternate member of the ACER board of appeal and consultant at Baringa. Representing the European Commission was Florian Ermacora and for independent, … [Read more...]

Negative electricity prices: lockdown’s demand slump exposes inflexibility of German power

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The lockdown has unexpectedly allowed us to model certain aspects of the energy sector’s possible future. One is the oversupply of variable renewables into the grid. In Germany, a slump in demand plus an exceptionally sunny and windy few months sent wholesale electricity prices negative and to record lows. Fossil generators calculated that paying buyers to take electricity was cheaper than performing a shut-down re-start sequence, so they did … [Read more...]

Clean Energy threatened by lockdown of critical minerals supply

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Clean energy technologies depend on the reliable and growing supply of critical minerals and metals, far more so than the old fossil fuel world. An EV uses five times the quantity needed by a conventional car, and an onshore wind plant requires eight times that of a gas-fired plant of the same capacity. Hence, electric transport and grid storage are now the largest consumers of lithium and cobalt. Examples of rising consumption abound for other … [Read more...]

Europe’s Unprecedented Opportunity to usher in a Green Economy

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While the COVID-19 pandemic is singular in its rapid development and global implications, many have drawn parallels with another, equally significant, global issue: the ongoing climate crisis. In Europe, in particular, the parallels have led to the realization that the European Union’s COVID-19 response may also hold the key to addressing and accelerating longer-term decarbonization goals. Unlike COVID-19, the climate crisis is slow-burning, … [Read more...]

IEA projections 2020: energy demand plunges but Renewables still grow at Gas, Coal’s expense

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The IEA has made its projections for the impact of the pandemic lockdown on energy demand in 2020 (they say it’s too early for them to assess anything more long term), and its implications for the different generation types. This article summarises their special Global Energy Review 2020, published at the end of last week. It assumes that lockdowns are eased this year and growth gradually returns. With that, global energy demand will fall 6% in … [Read more...]

IRENA’s Global Renewables Outlook and how Europe can lead the way

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If the coronavirus slump has knocked everything off track IRENA’s first ever Global Renewables Outlook is a timely reminder of what that track should look like. It can help policymakers design stimuli packages that will get us back onto it, and even accelerate the transition. IRENA’s Gayathri Prakash, Nicholas Wagner and Ricardo Gorini run through the comprehensive report’s main recommendations. Annual investment, shares and GW targets to 2030 … [Read more...]

Bounceback or Recession? Modelling the impact on electricity prices to 2025

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Carlos Perez Linkenheil at Energy Brainpool models three scenarios to understand the factors that are having the biggest impact on – and thereby make predictions for - electricity prices, revenues, energy source merit order, and emissions in the EU. Other parameters in the scope of their analysis include oil prices, gas prices, commodities markets, carbon taxes, and the EUA/emissions market. Clearly, collapsing prices are profoundly distorting … [Read more...]

U.S.: Counting Renewables jobs and projects under threat, what can be done and why

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All sectors across all economies are trying to add up their potential job losses and projects in jeopardy, then telling their governments to prioritise them for support. Mike Jacobs at the Union of Concerned Scientists looks at renewables in the U.S. He quotes news reports that over 100,000 workers in this fast-growing industry filed for unemployment in March 2020. On top of that, the already planned expiry and phase-down of certain targeted … [Read more...]

EU needs clear European Green and Solidarity Pact by September

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Stark predictions around the unprecedented economic challenges facing Europe (and the world) are starting to take shape. The possible solutions must keep pace with them. Here, Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega at the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate lays out those challenges and robust policy answers that can keep us on a net-zero emissions track while stimulating economies, creating jobs, and maintaining social justice. It’s no surprise that there is … [Read more...]

Designing the Covid-19 stimulus: what the 2008 crisis can teach us

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Policy makers around the world are hearing a lot of advice on how to design their stimulus packages. This comes from the IEA where Fatih Birol lays out five fundamental lessons we can learn from the stimulus packages that came out of the 2008 global financial crisis. His main headings are: Build on what you already have – and think big (e.g. feed-in tariffs, production tax credits); Choose technologies that are ready for the big time (e.g. wind, … [Read more...]

Regulatory challenges to foster cross-border trade in electricity systems with increasing shares of renewables

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The share of renewable generation in Europe’s power system is rising fast, but interconnection is not keeping up. Join us on May 19, 2020 to discuss this and related issues. More wind and solar makes the supply of electricity much more dependent on the weather. Nobody wants to build capacity only to switch it off when there’s too much heading onto the local grid. This could put an extra strain on delivering the Green Deal. One solution is to … [Read more...]