Veolia Partnership Gears Up to Recycle Former Shell Oil Rig

13.07.2017

Veolia-Peterson is gearing up to recycle a former Shell offshore oil rig, after the top platform of the structure arrived for decommissioning in Great Yarmouth yesterday.

The company, a joint venture between resources firm Veolia and logistics specialist Peterson, has accepted the topside of the Shell Leman BH platform accommodation block into its decommissioning facility at the harbour. The supporting 50m-high steel jacket structure is set to follow later in July.

The offshore accommodation block was previously used as living quarters for Shell oil workers at the Leman BT and Leman BK drilling rigs, located around 50km from the Norfolk coastline.

Alongside the supporting steel jacket structure it comprises around 1,600 tonnes of material and assets, of which the Veolia-Peterson partnership has a target of recycling or reusing 97 per cent under a contract awarded by marine dredging specialist Boskalis.

It is the first offshore structure accepted into the partnership’s Great Yarmouth decommissioning facility, and the two firms expect operations and staff numbers to expand as further opportunities to recycle decommissioned offshore structures increase in the Southern and central-North Sea in the coming years.

The UK government has said it hopes that the UK can become a world leader in oil and gas industry decommissioning as rigs that have operated in the North Sea basin are retired over the coming years.

Estelle Brachlianoff, senior executive vice president at Veolia UK and Ireland, said former oil rigs and other offshore structures represented valuable assets that could be given a second-life through decommissioning and recycling their parts.

“This latest project will continue to show how we can maximise the recycling of these platforms and drive sustainability in the industry,” she said. “Our partnership has successfully delivered a number of projects over the last ten years, this latest one will further the growth of the business and local opportunities in Great Yarmouth.”

The Veolia-Peterson partnership claims it has to date recovered more than 80,000 tonnes of offshore materials through decontamination, deconstruction, and recycling of former sea platforms.

Peterson’s regional director Ron van der Laan said the project would “build on the successes achieved so far and represents a further step towards establishing Great Yarmouth as a centre of excellence”.

The news follows the announcement last week that Swedish energy firm Vattenfall is in negotiations with Peel Ports to establish a new base at Great Yarmouth to support its Norfolk offshore wind farm projects.

Source: businessgreen.com

Blyth Offshore Wind Farm Reaches Milestone as First Turbine Travels Up Tyne

13.07.2017

wind-turbin-vetroturbina — Photo illustration: Pixabay

A pioneering wind farm off the coast of Blyth in Northumberland has reached its latest milestone, with the first of five turbines beginning its journey up the River Tyne to commence installation.

Developer EDF Energy Renewables is currently building the 41.5MW Blyth Offshore Wind Demonstrator Wind Farm in North East England after taking over responsibility for the project from Narec – now named ORE Catapult – in October 2014.

The project will see five MHI Vestas V164 wind turbines installed 6.5km off the coast of Blyth, which are projected to generate enough electricity to power around 34,000 homes.

It is the first offshore wind development to use a ‘float and submerge’ method for installation, with the concrete foundations first floated along the Tyne and into position at sea, before being submerged onto the seabed to provide the support structures for the turbines.

The installation method reduces the need for expensive marine equipment for the installation on the seabed, according to EDF Renewables’ chief executive, Matthieu Hue.

“This is the first major offshore operation on this project and over the coming months people will be able to see the wind farm being built out at sea,” he added. “This ground-breaking scheme will benefit the North East of England and help the UK to meet its future low carbon electricity needs.”

Designed and built by construction firm BAM Nuttall in the Neptune dry dock on the Tyne over the past year, each 60m-long gravity-based foundation (GBF) is made up of more than 1,800 square metres of concrete and will weigh over 15,000 tonnes when fully installed on the seabed.

Once the GBFs are put into position over the summer, specialist contractor VBMS will start laying the inter array cables that will connect the individual wind turbines, each of which have a power rating of 8.3MW.

EDF Energy Renewables claims these MHI Vestas turbines are the largest to be used on an offshore wind farm, and anticipates they will start generating power by the end of the year.

It is the company’s second offshore wind farm development in the UK after the Teesside project off the coast of Redcar.

The cost-saving innovations deployed on the project care part of a wider trend that has seen the industry slash costs by around 40 per cent in recent years.

Energy industry experts are increasingly confidence an auction for a new wave of offshore wind farms scheduled this autumn will deliver further cost reductions from the sector as developers compete to curb the overall cost of offshore wind power.

Source: businessgreen.com

US Offshore Wind Stays Small As Dominion Energy Moves Forward With DONG Energy On Virginia Project

12.07.2017

The United States’ offshore wind industry is only on its first legs, and it’s staying small for the time being, with Dominion Energy announcing this week it will partner with DONG Energy to build a 12 MW offshore project off the coast of Virginia Beach.

The current capacity of the United States wind energy industry sits at an impressive 82 gigawatts (GW), but almost none of that capacity is offshore — only the 30 megawatt (MW) Block Island Wind Farm sits off the coast of America, and that only started generating electricity last December. Various policy shifts might be seeing this trend begin to fade away, with governments along the east coast looking to open up potential locations for offshore development, but it’s still early days yet. The Long Island Power Authority approved the country’s second offshore wind farm, the 90 MW South Fork Wind Farm, earlier this year, while late last year Danish wind energy giant partnered with New England transmission builder Eversource Energy in proposing a potentially massive 2 GW offshore wind farm.

However, much closer is the news this week that Dominion Energy, one of the country’s largest producers and transporters of energy, has partnered with DONG Energy to construct a small, 12 MW offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach — which could be the country’s first mid-Atlantic offshore wind project. Dominion Energy signed an agreement and strategic partnership with DONG Energy to construct two 6 MW wind turbines, with initial work on the newly named Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project to begin immediately, with completion expected for the end of 2020.

12 MW might sound small — and it is — but it is just the first phase in what could become a much larger project, generating up to a potential of 2 GW of energy across a much larger locale leased by Dominion Energy from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will act as a first step and demonstration, while providing experience and data for a possible larger-scale development in the future.

“Virginia is now positioned to be a leader in developing more renewable energy thanks to the Commonwealth’s committed leadership and DONG’s unrivaled expertise in building offshore wind farms,” said Thomas F. Farrell, II, Dominion Energy’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “While we have faced many technological challenges and even more doubters as we advanced this project, we have been steadfast in our commitment to our customers and the communities we serve.”

“Today marks the first step in what I expect to be the deployment of hundreds of wind turbines off Virginia’s coast that will further diversify our energy production portfolio, create thousands of jobs, and reduce carbon emissions in the Commonwealth,” said Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.

“Hampton Roads has the ideal port assets and talented workforce to attract and house the offshore wind business supply chain to support not only Virginia’s commercial wind area, but also wind farms under development in Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland. Today’s announcement advances our efforts to build a new Virginia economy that is cleaner, stronger, and more diverse.”

“DONG Energy is the energy supplier in Europe that has come the farthest in the transition to renewable energy, and we are excited to bring our expertise to America,” added Samuel Leupold, executive vice president and CEO of Wind Power at DONG Energy.

“This project will provide us vital experience in constructing an offshore wind project in the United States and serve as a stepping stone to a larger commercial-scale partnership between our companies in the future. We see the tremendous potential in the Mid-Atlantic for emission-free, renewable wind generation and we are excited to help the Commonwealth in reaping the benefits of wind power.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Coca-Cola Unwraps New Sustainable Packaging Strategy

12.07.2017

Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) will today launch a major new strategy designed to curb the environmental impact of its packaging and boost the recycling rate for its iconic cans and bottles.

The company said that currently UK-wide only 70 per cent of cans and 57 per cent of plastic bottles are recycled each year, despite both materials being fully recyclable.

In order to boost its recycling rates, the company is to unveil a three-point plan designed to increase its use of recycled materials, deliver a multi-million pound communications campaign targeting its customers, and support reform of the UK recycling system, including through a trial of new “incentive-based” waste collection schemes.

Leendert den Hollander, vice president and general manager at Coca-Cola European Partners GB, said that both Coca-Cola Great Britain and its bottling partner Coca-Cola European Partners were committed to working together to improve recycling rates.

“Our goal is to work with local and national partners to ensure all of our packaging is recovered and recycled,” he said. “Our new strategy sets out how we will start work to achieve that. We have focused on the actions we can take as a business – such as our ability to communicate to consumers on the importance of recycling – as well as the areas where we want to work in close collaboration with others to reduce litter and increase the recovery and recycling of plastic bottles.

Specifically, the company has set a new target to work with its recycling partner Clean Tech to double the amount of recycled plastic in every one of its PET bottles by 2020 – from the current average of 25 per cent to 50 per cent.

It will also launch a new communications campaign centred on a TV ad that will debut later this month. The advert is called Love Story and features two “love struck plastic bottles” who are parted and then reunited as they are disposed of properly, recovered and then recycled into new bottles. The company said the campaign will reach 35 million Britons by the end of this year and will be supported by a new recycling message on bottles.

In addition, the company will today reiterate its support for trialling a bottle deposit scheme that would reward customers for recycling.

“As part of its commitment to support DEFRA’s new working group on voluntary and economic incentives to reduce littering, CCEP will seek to advance its own knowledge of how consumers are motivate by an incentive-based scheme by testing an on-the-go bottle collection and reward programme,” the company said in a statement. “This test will examine the behavioural impact of reward schemes and help inform any future national approaches to reducing litter and increasing collection and recycling rates.”

The move comes as consumer goods brands face mounting pressure to tackle litter and develop new approaches to improve the UK’s recycling rates, which have seen progress stall in recent years.

Earlier this year the Scottish government announced plans to trial a bottle deposit scheme in support of its strategy for becoming a zero waste economy – a move which secured support from Coca-Cola.

Meanwhile, green groups have stepped up calls for the introduction of more ambitious policies and new levies on disposable materials such as plastic bottles and coffee cups, following the success of the plastic bag charge.

Den Hollander said Coca-Cola was keen to support wider reform of the UK’s packaging and recycling policy regime that would help accelerate the development of a circular economy.

“Our desire to double the amount of recycled material we use in our plastic bottles sends a clear signal that we want to play a positive role in supporting the circular economy here in Great Britain,” he said. “Our ambition – and our ability to go further in the future – will require reform of the packaging collection system in Great Britain and we will work with others to champion the changes that are required to ensure all our valuable materials are recovered.”

The move was welcomed by Marcus Gover, chief executive of waste advisory body WRAP, who said Coca-Cola’s commitment to “actively encouraging more people to recycle is a really positive step which we welcome”.

“A commitment that half of all the plastic they use will be recycled plastic, understanding that this will cost the business more, shows real leadership in the industry and provides the essential market for recovered materials,” he added. “Initiatives like this are much needed if we are to change consumer behaviour and recover and recycle more – WRAP and Recycle Now are excited to be working with them on this. We need more big brands to help inspire people to do their part.”

Source: businessgreen.com

100 Multinationals Commit to 100 Per Cent Renewable Power

12.07.2017

Obnovljivi grad — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

The RE100 initiative has confirmed that over 100 multinationals have now committed to sourcing 100 per cent renewable power, after AkzoNobel, AXA, Burberry, and Carlsberg today became the latest high profile brands to join the group.

Launched in 2014 by The Climate Group and CDP, RE100 has seen a host of leading Blue Chip firms commit to sourcing 100 per cent renewable power across their operations, typically backed by a firm target date for phasing out the use of fossil fuel power.

RE100 members now include 30 Global Fortune 500 companies and boast total annual revenues of $2.5tr.

The group said that combined its members are committed to creating around 146 terawatt-hours (TWh) of demand for renewable electricity annually – equivalent to the annual power demand of Poland.

AkzoNobel today becomes the second biggest electricity user to join the group after Walmart, with total power demand reaching around 16 TWh annually. The Dutch paints and coatings giant said it aims to come ‘carbon neutral’ and use 100 per cent renewable energy – covering heat as well as electricity – by 2050.

Meanwhile, French financial giant AXA has said it will source 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025, fashion brand Burberry has set a target date of 2022 to procure 100 per cent renewable power for its whole business, and Carlsberg Group said it will source 100 per cent renewable power for its breweries by 2022.

Helen Clarkson, chief executive at The Climate Group, said the campaign had surpassed expectations as more and more multinationals recognised the business case for switching to 100 per cent renewables. “We are really pleased at the success of our campaign; by championing the compelling case for business action, we have reached 100 members three years earlier than expected,” she said. “Changes in the market such as the falling cost of renewables have also worked in our favour. We are increasingly seeing large multinationals such as Google, IKEA and Dalmia Cement demonstrating real leadership on renewables because it makes business sense – as well as helping to lower emissions, providing stable energy costs and increasing competitiveness.”

Advocates of renewables maintain that they can undercut fossil fuels in many geographies, provide attractive investment opportunities to multinationals, and allow large companies to hedge against future energy cost increases by signing long term power purchase agreements with renewables developers.

Clarkson urged the 100 companies signed up to the initiative to now step up efforts to encourage their partners, competitors, and suppliers to commit to sourcing renewables.

“We are now calling on companies to go one step further, and inspire their suppliers and peers to follow their lead so that together, we can speed the transition from fossil fuels to renewables to keep warming well under two degrees Celsius,” she said.

Paul Simpson, chief executive at CDP, said RE100 was part of a wider trend that was seeing leading corporates improve their disclosure of climate-related risks and set ambitious new emissions reduction targets

“Transitioning to 100 per cent renewable electricity through RE100 shows true leadership in our new sustainable economy,” he said. “It’s hugely encouraging that so many members are reporting clear progress, and fast. Following the vital steps of disclosure and insight on climate change activities, action is key to ensuring we move the global energy system to a tipping point by 2020.”

Leanne Wood, chief people, strategy and corporate affairs officer at Burberry, said the company hoped its commitment to procure 100 per cent renewables would help drive the global market for clean power.

“We are proud that over half of our offices, stores, warehouses and internal manufacturing sites globally are powered by either on site renewable resources or through renewable tariffs,” she said. “However, access to renewable resources is still limited in some places. By joining RE100 we aim to drive wider demand for low carbon power and encourage all providers to introduce renewable energy options.”

Source: businessgreen.com

In Rooftop Solar’s New Boom, Installing Solar PV Is A No-Brainer

12.07.2017

solar-panels — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

When South Australia Senator Cory Bernardi – committed Conservative and staunch abstainer from drinking “renewable energy Kool-Aid” – confirmed last week he had installed 12kW of rooftop solar at his Adelaide home, he said it was only to stop the lights from going out.

But with his state’s retail electricity prices rapidly headed into ludicrous territory of around 40c/kWh, Conservative Cory could be a harbinger of the new normal, where putting panels on the roof is a no-brainer for the average Australian household – even those that don’t subscribe to renewables.

Recent data would certainly support this theory. The May report from industry analyst SunWiz shows households and businesses are installing rooftop solar PV at a rate not seen since 2012, at a rate of nearly 100MW a month and a grand total of 5.7GW of rooftop PV installed on a total of 1.7 million households and businesses.

Driving this new solar normal is the seemingly endless rise of grid power prices, watched by an increasingly weary – and well educated – consumer who, like Bernardi, has lost faith in policy-makers to restore any semblance of order.

Over the past week alone, major energy retailers including AGL Energy, Energy Australia and Origin Energy have each announced double-digit electricity price increases in South Australia and New South Wales, starting July 01.

Origin, for example, will raise its tariff for residential customers in South Australia by a further 16.1 per cent, 18 per cent for small businesses.

Considering the levelised cost of generation from a rooftop solar system these days ranges from between 5-10c/kWh, depending on the quality of the panels, and solar tariffs in most states sit somewhere between 8-14c/kWh, it is no wonder people like Bernardi are suddenly buying in.

Even for a working couple, with no battery storage, and with 70 per cent of their solar generation going back to the grid, the payback period for a 5kW solar system could be as short as five years.

Add just a little bit of effort, says Solar Choice’s James Martin, perhaps increasing self-consumption to around 45 per cent, and you can get close to four years payback on a 5kW system almost anywhere in the country.

Indeed, Martin illustrated as much only recently, in an article he penned in May comparing return on investment for 3kW and 5kW rooftop solar systems.

At that time, he based the payback periods for SA households – see chart and table below – on retail electricity prices of 34c/kWh, which he says seemed “ridiculous enough”. Come July 01, when they near 40c/kWh, the ROI equation looks even better.

And even more importantly, it’s an equation people are becoming well aware of.

“We’ve seen inquiry volumes jump 50 per cent in the last week,” Martin told One Step Off The Grid on Tuesday. “There’s been a massive increase – mostly residential.

“People are spooked,” he added. “We’re at a point in this market where people know what solar is for, and people are turning to it to try and combat price rises.

“The more retailers put up prices the more they’re going to push people to go solar,” he said.

Chris Williams from the NSW-based installer Natural Solar, has noticed a similar spike in consumer interest in rooftop solar and storage.

“Anywhere (in Australia) that there’s been an upgrade in bill price of anywhere up to 25 per cent has definitely seen a much higher level of interest,” Williams told One Step on Tuesday.

He says inquiries to his company about installing solar and/or battery storage have increased by between 250-300 per cent in the past few days – all of it what he describes as “organic traffic.”

“We’ve also noticed that there is a higher propensity (for people inquiring) to proceed and have a consultation.

“We’re talking to a more engaged customer, whose motivation is financial. We’re seeing the transition to the early majority, where the standard mum and dad household are looking to make a decision based on economics and proven technology,” Williams said.

In Adelaide, local outfit and installer of the Bernardi system, Tindo Solar, is also seeing market momentum build.

“What we have noticed in a very short period of time is a massive increase of hits on our website and of people wanting quotes,” Tindo’s Glenn Morelli said on Tuesday. And not just from households.

“We had a residential customer ring us up today for his business. So that’s just one example,” Morelli said.

“We’ve got leads and appointments booked for the next two or three months. And that’s out of character for winter, which is usually a quiet period.

“It’s got to the point now where for pretty much any business we can demonstrate a payback of around four years,”

“It’s unusual now to get a commercial payback of more than four years,” he said.

“We like to put it to customers, what else will you do with your money? Whether you put it in shares, or a cash deposit account, you’re going to outstrip that quite easily (by investing in solar).

“And it’s fair to assume that the power price increases won’t stop here.”

It is also fair to assume that the costs of solar, and for that matter of battery storage, will keep going down.

A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance last week predicted that battery storage capacity would grow in Australia to at least 16GW by 2040, with 15GW installed by households and businesses behind the meter.

BNEF also forecasts that large and small-scale solar will reach 72GW by 2040, half of which will be “behind the meter,” flagging a fundamental shift from centralised to distributed generation.

Interestingly, BNEF also warns that this economics-based transformation does not circumvent the need for robust energy and emissions reduction policy in Australia.

“A credible, stable and durable policy regime is essential to achieving and orderly transition, facilitating the most efficient investment and keeping costs for consumers as low as possible.”

For South Australia, already well past is target of 50 per cent renewable energy generation, the latest jump in retail power prices means that time for an “orderly transition” is running out. Just ask Cory Bernardi.

Source: cleantechnica.com

New Study Suggests We Are Headed For Warmest Climate In Half A Billion Years

12.07.2017

climate-change- — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Carbon dioxide concentrations are heading towards values not seen in the past 200m years. The sun has also been gradually getting stronger over time. Put together, these facts mean the climate may be heading towards warmth not seen in the past half a billion years.

A lot has happened on Earth since 500,000,000BC – continents, oceans and mountain ranges have come and gone, and complex life has evolved and moved from the oceans onto the land and into the air. Most of these changes occur on very long timescales of millions of years or more. However, over the past 150 years global temperatures have increased by about 1℃, ice caps and glaciers have retreated, polar sea-ice has melted, and sea levels have risen.

Some will point out that Earth’s climate has undergone similar changes before. So what’s the big deal?

Scientists can seek to understand past climates by looking at the evidence locked away in rocks, sediments and fossils. What this tells us is that yes, the climate has changed in the past, but the current speed of change is highly unusual. For instance, carbon dioxide hasn’t been added to the atmosphere as rapidly as today for at least the past 66m years.

In fact, if we continue on our current path and exploit all convention fossil fuels, then as well as the rate of CO₂ emissions, the absolute climate warming is also likely to be unprecedented in at least the past 420m years. That’s according to a new study we have published in Nature Communications.

In terms of geological time, 1℃ of global warming isn’t particularly unusual. For much of its history the planet was significantly warmer than today, and in fact more often than not Earth was in what is termed a “greenhouse” climate state. During the last greenhouse state 50m years ago, global average temperatures were 10-15℃ warmer than today, the polar regions were ice-free, palm trees grew on the coast of Antarctica, and alligators and turtles wallowed in swamp-forests in what is now the frozen Canadian Arctic.

In contrast, despite our current warming, we are still technically in an “icehouse” climate state, which simply means there is ice on both poles. The Earth has naturally cycled between these two climate states every 300m years or so.

Just prior to the industrial revolution, for every million molecules in the atmosphere, about 280 of them were CO₂ molecules (280 parts-per-million, or ppm). Today, due primarily to the burning of fossil fuels, concentrations are about 400 ppm. In the absence of any efforts to curtail our emissions, burning of conventional fossil fuels will cause CO₂ concentrations to be around 2,000ppm by the year 2250.

This is of course a lot of CO₂, but the geological record tells us that the Earth has experienced similar concentrations several times in the past. For instance, our new compilation of data shows that during the Triassic, around 200m years ago, when dinosaurs first evolved, Earth had a greenhouse climate state with atmospheric CO₂ around 2,000-3,000ppm.

So high concentrations of carbon dioxide don’t necessarily make the world totally uninhabitable. The dinosaurs thrived, after all.

That doesn’t mean this is no big deal, however. For a start, there is no doubt that humanity will face major socio-economic challenges dealing with the dramatic and rapid climate change that will result from the rapid rise to 2,000 or more ppm.

But our new study also shows that the same carbon concentrations will cause more warming in future than in previous periods of high carbon dioxide. This is because the Earth’s temperature does not just depend on the level of CO₂ (or other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere. All our energy ultimately comes from the sun, and due to the way the sun generates energy through nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, its brightness has increased over time. Four and a half billion years ago when the Earth was young the sun was around 30% less bright.

So what really matters is the combined effect of the sun’s changing strength and the varying greenhouse effect. Looking through geological history we generally found that as the sun became stronger through time, atmospheric CO₂ gradually decreased, so both changes cancelled each other out on average.

But what about in the future? We found no past time period when the drivers of climate, or climate forcing, was as high as it will be in the future if we burn all the readily available fossil fuel. Nothing like it has been recorded in the rock record for at least 420m years.

A central pillar of geological science is the uniformitarian principle: that “the present is the key to the past”. If we carry on burning fossil fuels as we are at present, by 2250 this old adage is sadly no longer likely to be true. It is doubtful that this high-CO₂ future will have a counterpart, even in the vastness of the geological record.

Source: cleantechnica.com

MAJA TODOROVIC: The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering has Always Dealt with Energy Efficiency

12.07.2017

Last year in June a training organization for the training of Energy Managers and authorized energy advisors commenced its operation. The first participants have acquired necessary knowledge about legal framework of the Energy Management System and standard ISO 50001:2012. Law on Efficient Use of Energy (Official Gazette RS 25/2013) provides that there are organizations that can carry out trainings of Energy Managers. When the competition was announced in 2015, based on the submitted documentation on technical potentials and human resources, it was decided that the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade becomes the authorized organization.

The Centre is part of the Project “Assistance for the improvement of energy management system in all sectors of energy consumption in the Republic of Serbia”. This project, by the end of 2013, jointly implemented by the Ministry of Mining and Energy and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Japan International Cooperation Agency – JICA). At the opening of the Centre for Energy Efficiency in October 2016, the Minister of Mining, Mr. Aleksandar Antić, reminded that Serbia committed to reduce total energy consumption by nine percent by 20018. On this occasion, he emphasized that in recent years we have achieved savings of almost six percent. Regarding these innovations, we had the honor to talk to the Deputy Head of the Centre – professor and doctor of science, Mrs. Maja Todorović. The process is not easy, but according to our interlocutor, the right steps are being taken.

EP: On the occasion of the opening of Centre for Energy Efficiency one could hear that for Serbia energy savings is more significant than the investment in new energy facilities. How do you personally see the opening of this Centre?

Maja Todorović: The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering has always dealt with energy efficiency, especially the Departments whose main scientific fields closely relate to energy. I am personally engaged in the Department of Thermal Engineering, my narrower field is heating and air conditioning. As an educational institution, we previously had the established regional Centre for energy efficiency, which makes us a recognizable institution in this area. Perhaps it is for this reason that the Ministry decided for the Centre for Energy Managers and authorized energy advisors to be open here. We also responded to a call that the Ministry issued, and the call was related to granting authority for the training of Energy Managers.

The very Law on Efficient Use of Energy predicted the introduction of energy management systems. The system is organized based on the system which exists in Japan. So, the Government of Japan, has offered to our Ministry certain support in the introduction of this system, through the involvement of JICA, Japanese International Cooperation Agency. In line with that the Regulation has been adopted relating to the training itself. We have Energy Managers for Municipal Energy, Industrial Energy and energy efficiency in buildings.

EP: What are the exact responsibilities of the Energy Manager? Do these licenses need to be renewed and what kind of jobs can Energy Managers perform after this training?

Maja Todorović: Energy Manager should contribute to a synchronized, methodical approach in monitoring energy flows in his area. Specifically, they are required by law to monitor the consumption of large consumers; in industry, municipalities and buildings. They need to systematize data on energy flows and energy consumption appropriately. It is necessary to do an annual energy balance and inform the Ministry about it. Based on the balance, an annual program for the improvement of energy efficiency can be done. Energy Manager can, in his field or company, propose measures that will result in energy savings. This is the main task for the Energy Manager. On the other hand, the Ministry will have accurate information about energy consumption, considering all the measures that need to be introduced. Not only that total energy consumption is monitored, but it is also monitored the type of energy, its purpose and the energy sources that are being used.

EP: Serbia is at the very top on the list of countries that consume energy inefficiently. Can we expect
progress and change with this new institution of Energy Manager in real terms?

Maja Todorović: The process is not easy. It started back in 2009, when the Law on planning and construction was introduced in the field of energy efficiency in buildings. With the introduction of Article 4, the introduction of energy certificates for buildings became the obligation, or as we popularly call them: energy passports. When we observe the matter in this way, a lot of campaigns were done in this process. The emphasis was mostly on the residential sector, although the leader in this respect should be the public sector. Certainly, much has been done. There is also considerable support of the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure, then the German Agency for International Cooperation and Development – GIZ. In the meantime, the studies on energy efficiency in buildings have been made. One such study was funded by the World Bank. Here, the biggest problem is to develop models for financing the projects for the improvement of energy efficiency.

A variety of modalities should be provided, so that different entities can find the one that suits them best. And of course, we should encourage the development of ESCO companies that provide energy services. This means that in the beginning you do not have to invest, ESCO company invests for you and they will charge for their services from the savings generated from the project they funded. These financing models are not developed at a sufficiently high level in our country and I think that the state should consider some incentives. For example, reduced duty rates for the equipment and devices that contribute to reduced energy consumption.

EP: You have already had three rounds of training since the establishment of the Centre. How many Energy Managers are there in Serbia currently and how do interested candidates apply for the training?

Maja Todorović: We conducted the first training in June, it was intended to Municipal Energy. Then we had 40 participants. In one training cycle, which lasts 6 days, we can have up to 40 participants. This is maximum because of the capacity for practical part of the training. In October, cycle for Municipal Energy was repeated and we had 3 cycles for Industry, and in February 2017 the first cycle for Energy Managers in building design and construction. For the Municipal Energy we had 70 participants, for industrial managers about 100 and there is a group of 40 students registered for energy managers in building design and construction. After the training, the participants are required to do independent work. To be more precise they must do a plan and program of energy efficiency which their mentor monitors. After this part, it is considered that they successfully completed the training and capable of taking the exam. After passing the exam, we pass on the results to the Ministry, after which candidates apply for a license in the Ministry. We will see if this license will have to be renewed.

When it comes to the registration of candidates, the Ministry held regular seminars informing those who are legal subjects to this system, about the organization of trainings. Currently, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is the only institution that has been authorized. We have on our website published calls for training, so the municipalities and interested companies can send candidates. The Law defined that large consumers are liable. For municipalities, the criterion is number of inhabitants and for the industrial plants the amount of energy consumed.

Interview by: Vesna Vukajlović

This text was originally published in our bulletin number 7 – Energy Efficiency, on April 1th.

APPLE: Building Another Data Center Fueled Entirely by Renewable Energy

11.07.2017

Apple said it will spend 6 billion Danish crowns ($921 million) on a new data center in Denmark, its second in the Nordic country to run entirely on renewable energy. Facebook in January also announced plans to build a data center in Denmark, only its third outside of the United States.

Apple has pledged to back the Paris climate accord by switching to renewable energy and has recently issued a $1 billion green bond after the United States pulled out of the pact. Chief Executive Tim Cook was one of several CEOs who directly appealed to President Donald Trump to keep the United States in the pact before he made his decision.

Apple said the data center would begin operations in the second quarter of 2019 in Aabenraa in southern Denmark near the German border. It will power Apple’s online services, including the iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage, Maps, and Siri for customers across Europe.

– We’re thrilled to be expanding our data center operations in Denmark, and investing in new sources of clean power – Erik Stannow, Nordic manager for Apple, said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

– The planned facility in Aabenraa, like all of our data centers, will run on 100% renewable energy from day one, thanks to new clean energy sources we’re adding – he said.

Apple’s first data center in Denmark near the town of Viborg is due to begin operations later this year. Apple said a planned data center in Athenry, Ireland, announced in 2015 had yet to begin construction. Apple confirmed that the Irish data center is currently under judicial review.

Denmark, a leader in wind power, has abundant supplies of wind energy as well biomass energy.

– The reliability of the Danish grid is one of the main reasons we will operate two sites in Denmark – Stannow said.

The small Nordic country hopes these investments will boost its IT sector.Denmark is becoming northern Europe’s hub for data centers with a high prospective for growth for the tracking industries delivering solutions to the many data centers sprouting up all over the world,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

– Denmark is becoming northern Europe’s hub for data centers with a high prospective for growth for the tracking industries delivering solutions to the many data centers sprouting up all over the world – the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Source: fortune.com

HONG KONG: Time for Power Companies to Lead the Energy Revolution for a Sustainable City

11.07.2017

Reading the coverage of the latest Scheme of Control Agreements (SCAs) between the Hong Kong government and the power companies, you would be forgiven for thinking the rate of return was the only point at issue.

But the real question is whether consumers will be given the necessary incentives to produce and save energy. Power production is the source of almost 70 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions. The environmental provisions in the agreements are important weapons against climate change. Their success will determine if our city can join the solar power revolution.

Previous SCAs largely failed to deliver. With the introduction of a feed-in tariff rebate, the new agreements could mark a turning point for renewable energy. The tariff encourages consumers to produce renewable energy. Power firms pay businesses and households that invest in solar a long-term, pre-announced price for the energy they generate. The Legislative Council environmental affairs panel last month discussed the government’s Climate Action Plan 2030+. Let’s set a renewable target: 10 per cent by 2030 so Hong Kong can inspire all with its resolve.

Agreement has yet to be reached on the level of initial rebate the utilities will offer customers. It is time for a frank debate on who can benefit, what technologies are included and the process for applying. The government last week agreed with legislators and the WWF that the level of feed-in tariffs needs to be sufficient to reward investors, and agreed to publish information on how the rates will be set.

The government and power companies will no doubt be studying the feed-in tariff schemes in the UK, Germany and Taiwan, where rebates for small-scale rooftop solar installations were initially around three to four times the prevailing electricity tariff. These provided pioneer investors with the confidence to invest. Rates swiftly fell to below retail price as the industry matured. We know from our experience of installing solar panels in homes in Tai O that it would require a feed-in tariff rate of at least HK$4 per unit for a reasonable payback. It’s a fair rate to become Asia’s most sustainable city.

Our study on the cost of Hong Kong adopting solar power shows introducing German or British style feed-in tariffs would, at worst, add HK$20 a month to consumers’ bills, if six per cent of the city’s power were supplied by small-scale solar. This could be absorbed by the power companies. The new SCAs also include a welcome innovation of setting up a system of renewable energy certificates that lets customers buy “green” power without having to install it. We can all join the solar revolution.

The SCAs include new initiatives to encourage power companies to improve customers’ energy efficiency. Despite the idea’s “putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank” feel, experience in other markets shows that, given the right policy framework, such firms are well positioned to deliver energy efficiency to customers.

Decentralised renewables and energy efficiency have been highly disruptive to power companies across Europe. One big challenge is how to align their business models to make low-carbon power profitable. In the next 12 months, as the SCAs’ provisions are debated, we urge the power companies to justify their unique place in our community and history, and help their consumers to decarbonise.

We need to meet our “climate ready” goal of ensuring a 26-36 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Our government has so far been very generous to the power companies. Having conceded an 8 per cent rate of return and postponement of competition with the SCAs, the government, community and planet deserve that environmental goals are delivered.

Source: scmp.com

Bangladesh Plans 1.6 Gigawatts Of Solar Projects

11.07.2017

Solarni paneli — Photo-ilustration: Pixabay

Bangladesh is planning to to set up some large-scale solar power projects, the biggest in its history, as it looks to diversify its energy mix and enhance self-sufficiency in the energy sector.

According to media reports, the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) is planning to set up a solar zone which would house the country’s largest solar power project. BEZA is in talks with POWERCHINA to set up a solar power park with total capacity of 1 gigawatt. BEZA is expected to develop a fourth of the capacity, while POWERCHINA would likely develop the balance.

BEZA is also reportedly planning to give away some land to the Bangladesh Power Division to set up 600 megawatts of solar power park.

Bangladesh has virtually no utility-scale solar power projects and its power sector is heavily skewed towards thermal power technologies. Additionally, the country is also dependent of electricity imports from neighboring India.

The government has taken some steps to attract foreign investment in the solar power market but no major progress has been reported on those initiatives so far.

A subsidiary of SunEdison signed an agreement with the government of Bangladesh to set up a 200 megawatt solar project. The power purchase agreement for the project was signed by Southern Solar Power. The company will set up the project in partnership with a local firm — Midland Power — which will have a 20% equity stake in the project.

The status of this project remains unknown given the bankruptcy of the SunEdison. There have been no reports about any company replacing SunEdison in the partnership with Midland Power.

In 2015, SkyPower announced plans to build 2 GW of utility-scale solar energy over the next five years in Bangladesh, representing an investment of US $4.3 billion. The company also announced it will be gifting 1.5 million SkyPower Home solar kits to the people of Bangladesh over the course of the next five years. “SkyPower’s $4.3 billion USD investment will create more than 42,000 total job years in Bangladesh and will include 500 MW of fabrication and assembly facilities,” said SkyPower Chief Commercial Officer, Charles Cohen.

The owner of India’s largest solar power project — Adani Green Energy — also recently expressed its intentions to set up large-scale solar power projects in Bangladesh. The company did not share any details but would likely be attracted by high feed-in tariffs available in Bangladesh.

These and the recent plans would be welcomed by environmentalists who have heavily criticized the Bangladesh government for its plans to set up a huge coal-based power plant in the environmentally critical Sundarbans. Bangladesh has announced plans to set up a 1,320 megawatt coal power plant in the world’s largest mangrove forest.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Solar Energy Corp Of India Launches Two Tenders For 750 Megawatts Of Solar

11.07.2017

Following the massive success of two recent auctions at the Bhadla solar power park in the state of Rajasthan, the Solar Energy Corporation of India has announced two new tenders for the expansion of the solar park.

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) will offer 500 megawatts and 250 megawatts through two tenders at Bhadla solar power through the viability gap funding mode. Project developers will be offered the projects at a fixed tariff of Rs 3.93/kWh (6.1¢/kWh) but will have to bid for the capital cost support needed from the government.

Developers, however, will also be free to quote tariffs lower than the benchmark and opt not to take any capital cost support.

The tenders have been launched under the phase II batch IV of India’s National Solar Mission. The SECI had announced a target to auction 5 gigawatts of capacity through the viability gap funding mode. It has so far auctioned 4.5 gigawatts of capacity, of which power purchase agreements have been signed for 2.5 gigawatts. Through these tenders SECI would achieve its target.

The benchmark tariff offered by SECI is at 61% premium to the current lowest tariff for solar power projects. In May this year, ACME Cleantech Solutions secured a project at the Bhadla solar power park at Rs 2.44/kWh (3.8¢/kWh); no capital cost assistance was offered in that auction.

Thus, the higher tariff on offer, along with the capital cost assistance, will act as a double bonanza for project developers. It would not be surprising if developers bid for lower tariff and no capital cost assistance.

We have seen extreme competition among project developers over the last few months in India. Tariff bids in India crashed 26% in a matter of just three months.

Acme Cleantech Solution (200 megawatts) and SB Cleantech (300 megawatts) were the winners in (Bhadla solar park) auction at a tariff of Rs 2.44/kWh and Rs 2.45/kWh (3.8¢/kWh), respectively. The massive jump in competition within two days is evident from the fact that Acme Cleantech Solutions reduced its bid from a losing one of Rs 3.36/kWh (5.2¢/kWh) in the 250 megawatts Bhadla auction to just Rs 2.44/kWh (3.8¢/kWh) for the 500 megawatts auction – a decline of 27.4% in a matter of two days.

Source: cleantechnica.com

India’s Kochi Metro System Will Get 25% Of Its Power From Solar

10.07.2017

Kochi Metro, recently launched in the Indian state of Kerala, will get a quarter of its total electric supply from solar power systems.

This makes the Kochi Metro project unique, as every station of the project and the coach maintenance yard will have rooftop solar power systems installed. Delhi Metro and Mumbai Metro are the other two prominent subway systems that use solar power.

All 22 stations of the Kochi Metro and coachyard will have rooftop solar power systems installed. The cumulative capacity of these system will be four megawatts and are likely to be partially operational by October this year.

The subway system signed a power purchase agreement for these rooftop systems at Rs 5.51/kWh, which is a highly competitive rate for rooftop projects.

More importantly, Kochi Metro did not have to make any substantial upfront investment in the rooftop systems. The systems will be set up through a RESCO (renewable energy service company) model wherein Hero Power Private Limited will invest Rs 27 crore. Kochi Metro also received 15% financial assistance from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for the project.

Many subway systems in India have moved to rooftop solar power systems, including Delhi and Mumbai. These systems will likely make a substantial contribution to India’s rooftop solar power target.

Delhi Metro has gone a step further. It has signed a power purchase agreement with one of India’s cheapest solar power projects. It will procure around 200 megawatts of power from the Rewa solar power park for 25 years at an average tariff of Rs 3.30/kWh (5.1¢/kWh). The tariff is cheaper than that of many thermal power projects in India.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Reports: Google Gears Up to Receive First Wind Power from Norway

10.07.2017

Google-owner Alphabet Inc. has said it expects to begin receiving power by early September from what is expected to be Norway’s largest onshore wind farm, according to reports.

The US tech giant last year signed a 12-year deal to purchase 100 per cent of the output from the 160MW project, which is located in the region surrounding the ilmenite mines at Tellenes in the municipalities of Sokndal and Lund in Norway.

Once completed it will encompass 50 turbines and will be operated by Swedish renewables firm Arise.

Reuters reported last week that the project’s first turbine is expected to start generating power this month with the energy initially being sold on to the Nord Pool power exchange.

However, from September, all the power from the wind farm is expected to be used to help power Google’s four European data centres in Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

A Google spokesperson told the news agency the firm plans to purchase power from the wind farm as soon as it becomes fully operational “which we expect will take place in early September 2017”.

Meanwhile, Google has also reportedly bought the future output of a 22-turbine wind farm in Sweden, which is due to start operations in 2018 and will bring the total capacity of the tech giant’s renewable power purchases in Europe to 500MW.

Google and parent company Alphabet have been investing heavily in renewables in recent years, and in May Google teamed up with energy supplier E.ON to launch a solar power drive in Germany in order to help simplify and streamline the process for identifying the best rooftop solar sites.

The deals are part of a major trend that has seen a raft of Blue Chip firms, including many of the world’s tech giants, commit to sourcing 100 per cent renewable power over the coming decade.

Advocates of the renewables argue they offer corporate customers financial as well as environmental benefits, as projects allow them to sign long term contracts at guaranteed prices that hedge against future energy price volatility and potential increases in carbon taxes.

Source: businessgreen.com

Gujarat, India, Floats 1 Gigawatt Renewable Energy Tender

10.07.2017

Perhaps for the first time, the Indian state of Gujarat will auction renewable energy projects under its state policy when it puts on the block 500 megawatts each of solar and wind energy capacity next month.

Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) recently issued a request for selection documents for 500 megawatts of solar and 500 megawatts of wind energy capacity. The capacity will be allocated through competitive auctions in mid-July. This will mark the first time Gujarat will auction utility-scale solar power projects, and the first time ever a state would auction wind energy capacity in India.

Gujarat is among the leading states in terms of operational solar and wind energy capacities, yet it has probably never auctioned any projects under the state policy.

Gujarat hosts India’s first and one of the largest solar power projects in the country — the Charanka solar power park. The state’s total installed solar power capacity stands at just over 1,250 megawatts. It is also among the leading states in terms of installed wind energy capacity at 5,339 megawatts.

Power generated from the projects allocated through the auctions will be sold to state-owned power utilities in the states for the fulfillment of the renewable purchase obligation.

Since Gujarat already has substantial renewable energy capacity operational it is very likely that these auctions could see highly competitive bids from project developers. Long-term PPAs with state-owned utilities would also give confidence to the bidders. Gujarat’s power utilities have been ranked among the best performing in the country by the central government’s Ministry of Power.

Public-sector companies will have 15% reserved capacity in solar as well as wind energy tenders. This could possibly mean that 75 megawatts of solar power capacity could be based on Indian-made panels.

Source: cleantechnica.com

South Africa’s Renewable Energy Future At Crossroads Again

10.07.2017

South Africa’s power utility Eskom has once again refused to sign power purchase agreements with renewable energy project developers, and this time it seems to have the complete backing of the government.

Recently, an inter-governmental team informed the South African Parliament that Eskom is facing some challenges which are preventing it from signing PPAs with renewable energy project developers who had secured projects through competitive auctions.

One of the challenges, as quoted by the team, is oversupply in the grid. This directly highlights the poor planning and foresight of the government which launched, and then expanded, the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme.

With its decision not to sign PPAs with planned projects, investments worth $4.45 billion is now stranded. This is the second time that Eskom has backtracked from its commitment to sign the PPAs.

In August last year, Eskom had refused to sign a PPA with a concentrated solar power project backed by SolarReserve with a capacity of 100 megawatts. The project has a tariff of 12.40/kWh and the agreement was supposed to be signed for a duration of 20 years.

Eskom openly stated that it will no longer sign PPAs with any renewable energy projects. The utility stated that there was excess renewable energy going into the grid, which has also increased the cost of power.

Eskom has also expressed concerns over the existing grid’s ability to absorb the new renewable energy projects. However, it received a loan worth $1.34 billion from African Development Bank (AfDB) for the expansion and strengthening of its transmission network.

In January 2017, the South African Renewable Energy Council threatened to drag Eskom to court over its refusal to sign PPAs with renewable energy project developers. There has been no recent update about whether such a lawsuit was ever filed.

In March 2017, energy ministry Tina Joemat-Pettersson said that Eskom would soon sign outstanding PPAs. But the utility missed a deadline set by the ministry.

Source: cleantechnica.com

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