The growth of intermittent wind and solar and the search for replacements for coal and gas points at storage solutions that can ensure a reliable supply of electricity at all times. Standard lithium-ion batteries have limitations. Put simply, the future demand for batteries (including for transport) is expected to far outstrip the supply of lithium. But hydrogen and bromine are abundantly available on a global scale. Helena Uhde and Veronika … [Read more...]
Critical Raw Materials for the energy transition: Europe must start mining again
A ramp up of the supply of critical raw materials (CRMs) is essential for the world’s energy transition. Wind and solar, batteries, digitalisation, transport and hydrogen cannot meet their targets without it. The EU defines 30 minerals as critical. To give one example, the global deficits in lithium supplies could surge more than 60-fold to 950,000 tons by 2030. Frank Umbach at EUCERS takes a thorough look at the issue. Europe represented just 5% … [Read more...]
Energy Post Quiz 2021: ANSWERS
Hope you all had fun with the Energy Post Quiz, published before the Christmas break. Here are the answers. There are ten questions, both entertaining and insightful. The answers could all be found in articles that appeared here during 2021, and we give you the links to them. During 2021 Energy Post had another strong year in terms of number of debates hosted, event attendance, and readership for our articles: our readership grew by … [Read more...]
Energy Post Quiz 2021
Energy Post has had another strong year in terms of number of debates hosted, readership growth and event attendance. Our readership has grown by 17.16% year on year. We hosted 14 panel discussions (including 3 for ECECP with an average of 20 panellists from all corners of the globe). Together we've reached hundreds of thousands with our event packages. Our thanks to all our authors. Now, with all those parties cancelled due to Covid you have … [Read more...]
Intelligent, flexible Sector Coupling in cities can double the potential for Wind and Solar
This week the European Commission tabled the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) which should accelerate the decarbonisation of buildings. Buildings and cities play a key role in the energy transition. And the target high shares of variable renewable power supply will be much more easily achieved if the sectors using them display demand flexibility. In essence, that means using or storing the excess wind and solar generation … [Read more...]
Can Carbon Offset loopholes be fixed with better evaluation and rules?
Carbon offset programmes rightly get a lot of criticism. There’s plenty of evidence of offsets not delivering all the GHG emissions reductions they are credited for. Though still on the international agenda, should they be ditched? Or can they be improved with better analysis and evaluation, and making that a pre-condition for creating carbon offset credits, asks Meredith Fowlie at the Energy Institute at Haas. She starts by looking at those … [Read more...]
New research shows Wind turbines, configured right, could provide grid stability
Research at NREL, in collaboration with GE, has led to a demonstration of common wind turbines in “grid-forming mode”. They managed to set the grid voltage and frequency, operating without power from the wider electric grid. It opens the door to reducing reliance on conventional sources of stability like coal or gas generators. The well-known weakness of wind is its variability and therefore its need to be supported by traditional baseload … [Read more...]
The 10 big problems with simply replacing fossil cars with electric
The planned rapid transition to electric vehicles has major challenges. Schalk Cloete compiles them into a list of ten, including: preserving our car-centric cities preserves its inefficiencies and societal costs; it works against much of the personal “behaviour change” we need; though BEVs (battery electric vehicles) are better in cities, when infrastructure costs are included they are less efficient than hybrids and modern ICEs for many driving … [Read more...]
Industry’s large on-site batteries can profitably help stabilise the grid
Energy-intensive industries that invest in their own large on-site batteries will provide multiple benefits to themselves as well as to grid stability, says a new study by the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy (JISEA) in partnership with NREL and others. It matters because future power systems will need to be highly flexible due to the variability of wind and solar. The study assessed two established energy-intensive industries (chlor-alkali … [Read more...]
Avoiding renewables bottlenecks needs long term planning of electricity transmission infrastructure
As more renewables are rapidly added to grids, network operators must plan new transmission lines to integrate them immediately, avoiding wasteful bottlenecks. It’s a puzzle that’s getting bigger and more complex as the energy transition gains pace, which means transmission policy and planning must improve, and fast. Rather than making lots of small incremental steps, planning ahead will prove less costly and capture efficiencies and economies of … [Read more...]
Climate change, “wind droughts” and the implications for Wind energy
What effect will changing trends in regional wind speeds have on the future of wind energy? Very large, considering that a small change in wind speed has a big effect on the power output of a turbine (it’s related to the cube of the wind speed). Hannah Bloomfield at the University of Bristol first looks at the “wind drought” experienced in Europe this year which saw SSE in the UK report a 32% drop in power from its renewable assets. Meanwhile, … [Read more...]
Will Wind & Solar confront its 10 challenges? If not, we need Nuclear, CCS, and more
Wind and solar’s impressive cost declines have seen its welcome and rapid emergence. But currently they account for a mere 2–4% of global energy. So these variable renewable energy sources (VREs) must now address 10 big challenges if they are to dominate the energy sector, explains Schalk Cloete in this data-led review. Their cost declines will be confronted and even cancelled by new costs they’ve not yet faced during their low-hanging-fruit … [Read more...]
Germany: can 100% renewable power reduce energy costs within the decade?
A bold report is presented by Thure Traber, Hans-Josef Fell and Sophie Marquitan at Energy Watch Group. It says that a 100% renewable power system for Germany can undercut fossil power within this decade. The authors look at the full cost of fossil power, including subsidies. Importantly, they explain how unit costs will rise further, as demand declines, due to the decreasing utilisation of its expensive infrastructure. Meanwhile, total system … [Read more...]
Modelling Hydrogen’s role in high penetration Wind + Solar grids
A hydrogen ramp-up is going to be expensive and asset-heavy. So, a whole-system analysis is needed to ensure its deployment is done cost-effectively today and meets long term goals. This is what all nations committing to hydrogen are struggling with. Kelley Travers at MIT describes their modelling, in collaboration with Shell, that looks at the optimisation of hydrogen deployment in grids where variable renewables (VREs) like wind and solar are … [Read more...]
Surging U.S. renewables on track to take 30% market share by 2026
While the U.S. Congress debates whether backing the transition is a winning strategy, the energy sector is clearly showing the nation’s direction of travel. Dennis Wamsted and Seth Feaster at IEEFA look at the impressive growth of the clean energy champions, wind and solar. Since 2019, wind and utility-scale solar generation has risen by 76 TWh — a 31% increase — while coal and gas has fallen by 1.6%. By 2026, wind and utility-scale solar will … [Read more...]
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