The Netherlands has shown how to drive the cost of offshore wind down to previously unimagined levels: by "taking the risk out of projects", they managed to achieve a historically low price. This paves the way to turning the European North Seas into a giant power generating region, writes freelance journalist Eric Marx for World Energy Focus. The European offshore wind model could be an example to the rest of the world. … [Read more...]
The secret behind the sensational Dutch offshore wind record
Dong Energy has set a record low price for an offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. According to energy expert Mike Parr, the Dutch achieved this result thanks to their tendering model – following the Danes – offering a shovel-ready project to operators. UK wind farms are much more expensive because the UK lets operators carry out preparatory work by themselves. In any case, the future for offshore wind now looks bright. … [Read more...]
How solar growth will wreck the economics of existing power markets
Continued solar growth could lead to significant decreases in wholesale electricity prices during most peak hours, writes Alex Gilbert, cofounder of US-based energy research platform Spark Library, in an article analysing the effects of solar power on electricity markets. While lower wholesale prices can impact solar’s growth they will also hurt other energy sources, particularly coal and nuclear but also natural gas and energy efficiency. … [Read more...]
Germany sets a new solar storage record
With the most photovoltaic capacity of any country in Europe, Germany has begun to store its excess solar power to enhance local usage. Last year, 41% of all new solar installations were equipped with backup batteries, a world record. Although home storage may only have a limited role to play in Germany due to a highly reliable grid, globally the German initiative could provide great benefits, for example in counterbalancing the predicted … [Read more...]
Energy sector is one of the largest consumers of water in a drought-threatened world
The implications of the global water footprint of energy generation are phenomenal, writes Gary Bilotta of the University of Brighton. He warns that if policy makers fail to take into account the links between energy and water, we may come to a point in many parts of the world where it is water availability that is the main determinant of the energy sources available for use. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
How to build a wind turbine
In case you thought that building a wind turbine is a fairly simple matter, this video from Siemens USA gives you an idea of what is involved. A lot of concrete, for one thing. We wanted to share this with our readers. We hope you like it. … [Read more...]
Dutch research project shows costs offshore wind can be reduced 40% in ten years
The Dutch research programme FLOW (Far and Large Offshore Wind energy) shows that a well-coordinated approach between industry, knowledge institutes and government can achieve 40% cost reduction in ten years in the offshore wind sector. In about ten to fifteen years, offshore wind should be able to manage without subsidies. … [Read more...]
A fundamental transformation: “renewables win race on costs”
The cost of wind and solar power will continue to fall massively over the next 25 years, bringing about a fundamental transformation of the global electricity sector, according to new reports from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Electric cars will boom, cheap batteries will be everywhere and there will no Golden Age of Gas, despite continued low gas prices, BNEF predicts. … [Read more...]
Europe can retrieve its lost clean energy leadership by moving away from subsidizing renewables
Europe can win back its lost clean energy leadership by moving away from subsidy-powered renewables, writes Christopher Burghardt, Vice-President Business Development Europe at First Solar and a member of the Board of Directors of Solar Power Europe. Rather than subsidizing renewables, Burghardt argues, Europe should stimulate utility-scale energy production by independent power producers, just as other markets around the world are … [Read more...]
Renewable energy versus nuclear: dispelling the myths
Don’t believe the spurious claims of nuclear shills constantly putting down renewables, writes Mark Diesendorf, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies at UNSW Australia. Clean, safe renewable energy technologies have the potential to supply 100% of the world’s electricity demand – but the first hurdle is to refute the deliberately misleading myths designed to promote the politically powerful but ultimately doomed nuclear … [Read more...]
Renewables in China and India: two Asian giants struggling with inflexible power system operations
China and India are building huge amounts of solar and wind power, but a lot of this capacity is wasted as it cannot be integrated into the grid. In China the problems stem mostly from rigid planning processes and compensation systems. In India, the stumbling block is state-owned distribution operators that have an incentive not to increase access to electricity. In both countries, reforms are contemplated but will be difficult to achieve. This … [Read more...]
Oil giants pile into “new energies”
Major oil companies like Total, ExxonMobil, Statoil and Shell have announced moves into “new energies”, writes Jason Deign, editor and publisher of Energy Storage Report. But according to Deign, it is hard to see how they can fight their way back into a renewable industry already sewn up by large players. The one remaining niche may be energy storage, which is still dominated by cash-hungry startups. … [Read more...]
Elena Bou, KIC InnoEnergy: “If we want our energy companies to succeed, we need one European market”
We are at the beginning of a new era of innovation in the European energy sector. Energy companies will be opening up to new collaborations, investing in startups, creating new technologies and developing new business models that will be much more service and customer oriented. That’s the conviction of Elena Bou, Innovation Director at KIC InnoEnergy, an EU-wide company investing in renewable energy technology. What worries Bou is the … [Read more...]
KIC InnoEnergy: “Solar PV will be one of lowest-cost electricity sources in Europe”
Solar photovoltaics (PV) will be one of the cheapest sources of electricity generation in Europe by 2030. That is a major conclusion that can be drawn from a report on future cost reductions in solar PV recently published by KIC InnoEnergy. … [Read more...]
How to scale up renewables in 10 steps: a quick guide for policymakers
After the signing of the Paris Agreement, governments of both developed and developing countries must design and implement policy instruments to drastically scale up the use of renewables in the energy sector, write Jan Frederik Braun and Nicole de Paula. The authors provide a quick guide to effective policymaking for renewable energy and explain why they are optimistic about the future. … [Read more...]
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