The EUâs Net Zero Industry Act wants to drive home-grown production of eight âstrategicâ net-zero technologies, including solar, wind, batteries and CCS. The target is 40% made at home, though the policy is yet to be worked out. You Xiaoying writing for China Dialogue talks to experts in China and the EU for their predictions. Most say that Chinese firms are not very worried. Firstly, they can â and are already making moves to â set up production … [Read more...]
IEA report: global manufacturing capacity is expanding rapidly for solar, wind, batteries, electrolysers, heat pumps
The IEA summarises its special briefing, âThe State of Clean Technology Manufacturing.â Itâs a global update on recent progress in key regions, focussing on five technologies â solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers and heat pumps â critical to the energy transition. It should be read to keep decision makers informed of investment trends and the impact of industrial strategies. Overall, manufacturing capacity for these technologies is expanding … [Read more...]
Community Batteries: when theyâre the best option for overcoming grid constraints. And when theyâre not
Community batteries are a shared asset in neighbourhoods with rooftop solar, avoiding the need for every household to have its own battery. Even people unable to have rooftop solar can use it. Itâs taking off in Australia, supported at both the state and federal level. But Bjorn Sturmberg, Alice Wendy Russell, Hedda Ransan-Cooper, Louise Bardwell and Marnie Shaw at the Australian National University summarise their research which warns that it … [Read more...]
Perovskite: abundant, cheap, printable solar cells demonstrated, ready to generate power
Laboratories around the world are racing to make printable perovskite solar cells, produced in abundance and so thin they can be wrapped around almost anything. Itâs a huge advantage over the typical silicon cell that is relatively big and fragile. And perovskite is much less expensive to produce. David Beynon at Swansea University describes research there that has demonstrated how a roll of plastic film can be loaded into a printing press to … [Read more...]
Five charts on the Energy Transition: the 2020s is the decade of maximum disruption. By 2030 the endgame will be clear
Sam Butler-Sloss and Kingsmill Bond at RMI present a succinct summary of why the energy transition matters, how the 2020s is the era of maximum disruption, and how by 2030 the transitionâs endgame will be apparent (though far from complete). Four key technologies are already entering the exponential growth stage: solar, wind, EVs and heat pumps. As early as 2030 their cheapness will flush away the fossil equivalents in succeeding decades, say the … [Read more...]
Record clean-power growth in 2023: is Coal and Gas decline now structurally embedded?
Last year, wind and solar reached a record 12% of global electricity generation, according to think tank Emberâs latest global electricity review. The overall share of all forms of low-carbon electricity rose to almost 40% of total generation. Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief goes through the Ember review which heralds this as the moment fossils began their permanent decline. Ember calls it âstructuralâ and âenduringâ because previous declines only … [Read more...]
Renewables âcost of capitalâ 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...]
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...]
Fulfilling U.S. wind and solar ambitions will use under 1% of its land (thatâs less than the fossil fuel footprint)
Meeting the U.S.âs wind and solar ambitions in full would take up less than 1% of its land, less than the fossil fuel industryâs current footprint. Steve Clemmer at UCS goes into the details of NRELâs comprehensive study of land use for wind and solar. Of particular interest is the observation that setting a high bar for âresponsible sitingâ of wind and solar projects - avoiding the use of sensitive, protected, urban areas, difficult terrain or … [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 IEAâs âThe Role of Critical … [Read more...]
EU: data shows RussiaâUkraine war has not increased Coal and emissions. Itâs quite the opposite
The Russian gas crisis has not resulted in the return of coal and high emissions in Europe, says Lauri Myllyvirta at CREA. He presents the figures that show quite the opposite. Coal returned, as expected, with the post-Covid rebound, but peaked in September 2022 below its pre-Covid level, and has been falling since along with emissions. Meanwhile, high gas prices caused by Russiaâs cut-off has kept gas demand low and, more importantly, driven the … [Read more...]
Green Hydrogenâs 6,000-fold scale-up by 2050 must far exceed Wind and Solarâs. Is it possible?
To scale âgreenâ hydrogen to make its contribution to limiting warming to 1.5C, electrolyser capacity needs to grow 6,000-fold by 2050 from todayâs levels of 600MW, according to the IEAâs Net-Zero emissions by 2050 scenario. Adrian Odenweller and Falko Ueckerdt at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, writing for Carbon Brief, summarise their study that concludes even if electrolyser capacity grows as quickly as wind and solar, it is … [Read more...]
What if Exxon had acted on its 1970s climate forecast? No climate crisis, cheap energy, Exxon the unrivalled top global energy firm
In January the world media widely covered a paper published in Science that looked at the internal Exxon report that predicted the climate change crisis we now all know we are facing. The paper concludes that the Exxon forecasts were very accurate. John Grant at Sheffield Hallam University composes a counterfactual history of what would have happened in Exxon and the world had taken the report seriously and acted immediately. Yes, weâd have … [Read more...]
Wind and Solar generated record 20% of EU electricity in 2022. More than gas, nuclear, hydro, coal
Now 2022 is over, the figures are in for all the main electricity generation types. For the first time ever, wind and solar delivered more electricity in 2022 than gas, nuclear, hydro or coal. In total, thatâs a record one-fifth of the EUâs electricity last year. We can thank the âtriple crisisâ of Russian gas cuts, the 500-year record droughtâs effect on hydro, and the unexpected French nuclear shutdowns for the renewed drive for wind and solar. … [Read more...]
Wind (and Solar) need their own Financial Transmission Rights to hedge their unique congestion risks
Financial Transmission Rights (FTRs) help generators and load-serving entities hedge congestion-related risk. Transmission congestion causes a divergence between wholesale power prices where it is generated and the trading hubs where it is delivered and sold. Because the congestion, and therefore the risk, varies over time it is particularly important to variable renewables. That uncertainty increases investor risk which potentially slows … [Read more...]
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