The electrification of road freight has great potential, but there are some big gaps that first have to be bridged. Writing for IRENA, Dolf Gielen, Francisco Boshell, Guy Lentz and Sita Holtslag explain what needs to be done to ensure that the technological advances and cost reductions happening at the forefront of e-mobility are quickly delivered onto our roads. To illustrate the problem: in Europe over half of road freight is transported less … [Read more...]
Who will be the Hydrogen superpower? The EU or China
Implicit in the EUâs plans, announced in July, to be the worldâs Hydrogen leader is that this technology will have others competing for the top spot too. When EU nations ramped up their solar PV sector in the 2000s they couldnât survive the arrival and rapid expansion of Chinese production. Will EU Hydrogen meet the same fate? Sören Amelang at CLEW speaks to a wide range of experts to try to answer this vital question from all the relevant … [Read more...]
The new era of electricity needs modern ways to charge customers
Todayâs technologies â wind, solar, storage - have widely differing cost and operating characteristics to fossil fuels. So the way customers are made to cover those costs â assigning different rates to different customer classes â should change. Jim Lazar and Mark LeBel at RAP explain why and how, referencing their comprehensive manual âElectric Cost Allocation for a New Eraâ. They describe how the full range of technologies now establishing … [Read more...]
Three U.S. utilities to skip the gas âbridgeâ, move straight from coal to renewables
At the end of June, utilities in three U.S. states declared they are closing down coal plants and moving straight to renewables, without building new gas plants as a âbridgeâ fuel. For example, to replace lost coal capacity, Tucson Electric Power in Arizona will add 2,457MW of new wind and solar generation, backed up with 1,400MW of battery storage. Similar commitments are being made by other utilities in Colorado and Florida. New Mexico is … [Read more...]
Batteriesâ next challenges: fast charging, vehicle-to-grid, long duration, second life
Li-ion battery storage costs continue to fall dramatically. But for batteries to fulfil their potential, particularly for grid storage, developers need to focus on fast charging, electric vehicle-to-grid capability, long duration storage and second-life batteries, explains Madeline Tyson at Rocky Mountain Institute. She runs through the different types of Li-ion batteries, their strengths and weaknesses, how they can be harnessed to address these … [Read more...]
2019âs grid storage additions fell for the first time since 2013. Why?
Globally, new installations of grid storage fell year-on-year in 2019 for the first time since 2013. This IEA summary of the landscape is taken from its latest series of Tracking Clean Energy Progress reports. The IEAâs recommendations reflect the fact that grid storage is new and complex, needing changes to existing regulations and market rules that are unviable in the age of transition. The policy goal is to monetise the value of storage in … [Read more...]
Tipping Points reached for Solar, Wind, Batteries, EVs. What of the other Clean Energy techs?
History shows a disruptive technologyâs tipping point can be under 5% of market share, thatâs 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...]
Virtual blockchain for prosumers replicates a live utility-scale grid
Wayne Hicks at NREL describes research thatâs created a virtual blockchain âprosumerâ accounting system that replicates a live utility-scale grid. The goal of a real-world application is to allow countless individual households with their own electricity storage and generation to buy and sell power to each other; a truly revolutionary pathway. Clearly, it will require a system that securely accounts for vast amounts of transactions - a big enough … [Read more...]
Grid-scale Solar PV storage can use re-purposed old EV batteries
Once an EV battery has declined to 80% of its original capacity it is considered too weak for continued vehicle use. Recycling the battery â at that point - to make another one is expensive. MITâs 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. Itâs cheaper than building new Li-ion battery … [Read more...]
Negative electricity prices: lockdown’s demand slump exposes inflexibility of German power
The lockdown has unexpectedly allowed us to model certain aspects of the energy sectorâs 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...]
U.S.: Counting Renewables jobs and projects under threat, what can be done and why
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 Covid lockdown 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 … [Read more...]
Green Ammonia can replace fossil fuel storage at scale
Whatâs the best way to store energy, from industry scale to electric vehicles, replacing the widespread use of fossil fuels? Pure hydrogen is an energy dense alternative, but the gas takes up a lot of space. Liquid ammonia doesnât, yet it contains the hydrogen and therefore the energy. Ian Wilkinson at Siemens explains the advantages of using ammonia, NH3. Already the world produces 180m tonnes a year, worth âŹ80bn. Itâs mainly for agricultural … [Read more...]
Europe needs its own EV battery recycling industry
Europe needs its own battery recycling industry, and the EUâs European Battery Alliance should make it happen, says RaphaĂ«l Danino-Perraud writing for the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate. For economic, strategic and environmental reasons, todayâs overwhelming dependence on outsourcing â in this case to Asia - for battery manufacture and recycling needs to change. To start with, Asia provides over 90% of global car battery output, half coming … [Read more...]
Grid Battery tech on track. It now needs re-designed markets, monetisation
The rapid expansion of variable renewable electricity generation is making cost effective storage more urgent. Sure enough, in Europe several electricity storage projects are under construction and new ones are announced almost on a weekly basis. The battery technology seems to be on track, with estimates of $156/kWh in 2019 dropping to $61/kWh by 2030. But progress is hampered by the lack of a market that recognises and rewards the true value of … [Read more...]
Multi-energy âislandâ Microgrids can increase grid resilience
As the number of different technologies producing power and providing storage increases, the grid is getting complicated. The best way to make it resilient against outages is therefore changing. The traditional way is to shut down the failing plant, leaving the rest of the grid to cope as best as it can with the change in voltage and frequency. Xi Zhang at the Energy Futures Lab, Imperial College, describes the research looking at multi-energy … [Read more...]
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