Next Three Years Will Decide Fate of Our Planet’s Climate, Experts Warn

30.06.2017

climate-change- — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Never has the paradox been greater. While the most powerful politician in the world is a climate denier, scientists are now warning that we have just three years to start making radical reductions to greenhouse gases.

Put it another way: that is the term of the Trump presidency. We have three and a bit years left of Trump (if he does not get impeached in the meantime) and we have three years left to save the climate, and begin to bring emissions down by 2020.

Writing in the scientific journal Nature, leading climate scientists have issued their sternest warning yet that time is seriously running out to prevent runaway climate change.

“Should emissions continue to rise beyond 2020, or even remain level, the temperature goals set in Paris become almost unattainable,” they warn. “Lowering emissions globally is a monumental task, but research tells us that it is necessary, desirable and achievable.”

Indeed, if action is not taken by 2020, we could see that Paris agreed limit of 1.5 to 2 degrees being surpassed quite quickly.

They tell world leaders to be driven by the science rather than “hide their heads in the sand.” “Entire ecosystems” were already collapsing, they warn.

The article was signed by more than 60 scientists, including professor Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University as well as politicians such as former Mexican President Felipe Calderon and ex-Irish President Mary Robinson, and former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.

“We stand at the doorway of being able to bend the emissions curve downwards by 2020, as science demands, in protection of the UN sustainable development goals, and in particular the eradication of extreme poverty,” said Figueres, also the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, under whom the Paris agreement was signed.

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, another signatory, added, “The math is brutally clear: while the world can’t be healed within the next few years, it may be fatally wounded by negligence [before] 2020.”

The article outlined six goals for 2020 which could be adopted at the upcoming G20 meeting in Hamburg July 7-8, including increasing renewable energy to 30 percent of electricity use; plans from leading cities and states to decarbonize by 2050; increasing the percentage of new electric vehicles to 15 percent as well as reforms to agriculture, finance and industry.

The good news is that, despite Trump in the White House, climate action is carrying on at a local level. So far, the mayors of more than 7,400 cities worldwide across the world have vowed that Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement will do the opposite of what Trump intended: encourage much greater efforts at the local level to combat climate change.

At the first meeting of a “global covenant of mayors,” city leaders representing just less than 10 percent of the world’s population come together this week to commit to the carbon reductions pledged by Obama, not Trump.

“The Trump administration better watch out for U.S. cities,” said Gregor Robertson, mayor of Vancouver. “They are on the rise, and I think will prevail in the end, turning the tide, and making sure the U.S. is a climate leader rather than what is happening currently.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, added, “We are creating a groundswell of climate leadership by the mayors because cities large and small, rural and urban, in blue and red states, experience the effects of climate change every single day. Climate change touches us all and unites us.”

Kassim Reed, the mayor of Atlanta, told reporters bluntly, “Right now you have a level of collaboration and focus and sharing of best practices that I haven’t seen … My firm belief is that President Trump’s disappointing decision to withdraw from the agreement will actually have the opposite effect in terms of execution.”

Source: ecowatch.com

World’s Largest Wind Turbine Will Be Taller Than Empire State Building

30.06.2017

Wind - Power — Foto - ilustracija: Pixabay

When it comes to the latest wind turbine technologies, size matters. A group of six institutions and universities is designing an offshore wind turbine that will stand 500 meters in height. That’s taller than the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building.

The research team, led by researchers at the University of Virginia, believes that its wind turbine concept will produce 50 megawatts of peak power, or about 10 times more powerful than conventional wind turbines.

“Our mission is to conceptualize, design and demonstrate morphing technologies for 50-megawatt wind turbines that can reduce offshore levelized cost of energy by as much as 50 percent by 2025,” they state.

A typical wind turbine stands around 70 meters tall with blades about 50 meters long. But the team’s Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor dwarfs the field with rotor blades that are 200 meters long, or as long as two football fields.

“We call it the extreme scale,” aerospace engineer and University of Virginia professor Eric Loth told Digital Trends. “There’s nothing like it.” The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Digital Trends reports the blades will face downward and can be assembled in small segments, making it easier to manufacture, transport and put together on site.

Loth added that the blades will also be adjustable, meaning they can fan out during peak wind conditions and contract if weather conditions are damaging.

“Like a flower, the petals are spread out, and we reach out and grab as much wind as we can,” he said.

As Loth explained to Scientific American, these mega turbines will be more cost-effective than existing turbines because wind blows stronger and more steadily at greater altitudes, allowing you to “capture more energy.” Furthermore, the long blades catch the wind more efficiently.

The team wants the massive structures to stand at least 80 kilometers offshore, where winds are usually to stronger and is far enough away to avoid the path of migratory birds.

The turbine’s design was inspired by palm trees, whose trunks bend with the wind.

“Palm trees are really tall but very lightweight structurally, and if the wind blows hard, the trunk can bend,” Loth said. “We’re trying to use the same concept—to design our wind turbines to have some flexibility, to bend and adapt to the flow.”

According to Scientific American, the prototype has yet to be tested. The researchers are currently designing the turbine’s structure and control system and will build a mini-model this summer that stands about two meters in diameter. They plan to test a larger turbine with 20-meter-long blades in Colorado next summer.

Source: ecowatch.com

Sunrun Expands Into Seven New States, Nearly Doubles Market Reach

30.06.2017

Sunrun, one of the United States’ leading residential solar developers, announced this week that it has recently completed expanding into seven new US state markets, nearly doubling its market reach in just under four months.

The California-based company bills itself as the largest dedicated residential solar, storage, and energy services company, though it falls behind larger companies like SolarCity. However, while its nationwide ranking may not explode immediately, Sunrun has just finished expanding its market share, extending its reach into seven new markets — New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington D.C., and Florida — states which, according to recent analysis, add nearly 12 million candidate homes for residential solar systems. This effectively doubles the company’s addressable market, thanks also to expanding operations in Pennsylvania, and re-entering Nevada after the state’s policymakers passed legislation re-allowing solar net metering. (Vivint Solar, another of Sunrun’s competitors, similarly announced that it was re-launching its Nevada services following the passing of the same legislation.)

These recent expansions subsequently bring Sunrun’s total market reach up to 22 states and Washington, D.C., and according to the company’s announcement, “offer another proof point of the inevitability of solar. It demonstrates that falling solar installation costs, combined with strong consumer demand for energy choice, are increasing homeowners’ access to solar power.”

“Expanding to these new markets will give homeowners the opportunity to power their homes directly from their rooftops, making energy more affordable and the electric grid cleaner and more reliable,” said Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun. “Better yet, we provide this service by creating one of our country’s other great needs: new, highly paid jobs that can be neither exported nor automated.”

The move takes advantage of larger global swings in solar cost momentum, which has surprised just about everybody — even the optimists among us. A new report published this week by GTM Research Solar Analyst Ben Gallagher predicts that the average global solar price could decline by 27% by 2022 — and there’s very little that is likely to stem this downward trend.

Unless you are a solar company in America, each of which is currently waiting to hear whether the country’s International Trade Commission (ITC) will rule in favor of a trade filing by Chinese-backed solar company, Suniva, which has asked for a $0.40/watt tariff for cells and a floor price of $0.78/watt on modules. Separate reports from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research have expanded on just what a Suniva favorable ruling could do, with SEIA explaining that 88,000 jobs, or a third of the country’s solar workforce, would be lost, while GTM warns the ruling could slash two-thirds of expected installations through to 2022.

One cannot help but hope that Sunrun haven’t unintentionally stretched themselves too thin on pretenses which will prove false if the ITC rules in favor of Suniva.

Source: cleantechnica.com

China To Install 403 Gigawatts Of Wind Energy Over Next Decade, According To MAKE Consulting

30.06.2017

Over the next ten years, China is expected to install an annual average of more than 25 gigawatts of new wind capacity, resulting in a cumulative growth across the decade of about 403 gigawatts, according to new figures from MAKE Consulting.

Renewable energy analysts MAKE Consulting published its China Wind Power Outlook 2017 report this week, in which it analyzes the Chinese wind energy industry and predicts its path across the next ten years. Between 2017 and 2020, curtailment issues and policy restraints are expected to restrict annual wind energy capacity additions to below 25 gigawatts (GW), but beyond that, grid-connected wind energy capacity is expected to increase. Over the next ten years between 2017 and 2026, MAKE predicts that an average of in excess of 25 GW will be added annually (obviously backloaded to post-2020) to result in a cumulative 10-year capacity addition of 403 GW.

As of the end of 2016, China had installed 23 GW of new wind capacity, bringing its cumulative total up to 168.7 GW, following on from a record-breaking 2015, when it installed 30.5 GW of new wind. However, China’s big issue for new wind capacity is curtailment issues, where wind turbines are not necessarily connected to the grid, or when electricity generated is simply lost along the way. This has been a big issue in China for some time, and while China is moving to address these issues, we’re not likely to see ready fixes until the beginning of the next decade.

The Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA) instituted a new alert system that would provide warnings — red, orange, or green — to states and regions in an effort to prevent further investment in wind power capacity due to curtailment issues. At the launch of the system, China gave a red alert to five provinces — Jilin and Heilongjiang in northeast China, and Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang province in western China — nearly all of which are the traditional wind regions. As a result, curtailment issues have grown so large that policy has been enacted to minimize further problems.

Nevertheless, the NEA, in the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Wind Power published in November of last year, set its targets at 210 GW worth of grid-connected capacity and the wind power generation target at 420 TWh, each by the end of 2020. The NEA also introduced a green certification system to support the country’s non-hydro Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) target by 2020. The NEA also reduced the onshore wind feed-in tariff levels across three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016, in an effort to lighten the burden of subsidy funding for renewable energy sources. The Chinese Government is therefore set to publish at least 2 or 3 additional reductions to the onshore wind FiT level before 2023.

Already this year, China’s wind capacity increased 13% in the first quarter over the same quarter a year ago, bringing the country’s cumulative wind energy capacity up to 151 GW. Capacity additions were focused in the provinces of Qinghai, Shaanxi, Henan, and Hebei saw the largest wind energy capacity increases during the first quarter of 2017.

The Chinese offshore wind industry is also expected to get a boost, according to MAKE Consulting, and is expected to begin adding GW-level capacity annually by 2018. By 2026, MAKE predicts that China’s cumulative grid-connected offshore wind capacity could reach 26 GW.

Source: cleantechnica.com

More Than 250 US Mayors Commit To 100% Renewable Energy Amidst Adoption Of New Climate Resolution

29.06.2017

Obnovljivi grad — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

More than 250 United States mayors have adopted a new bipartisan climate change resolution that includes a push for US cities to commit to 100% renewable energy by 2035, further widening the divide between US cities and their new Commander in Chief.

The resolution was adopted at the 85th Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, which was held from June 23 to 26 in Miami Beach. The resolution is in fact an all-encompassing energy resolution, including numerous functions intended to reverse climate change, and increase US city leadership in the fight against climate change. The resolution focuses on a wide variety of issues that US cities will attempt to take leadership on, including energy efficiency, the electrification of the US transportation sector, driving city and energy technology innovation, and of course supporting cities in their transition to 100% renewable energy generation.

Specifically, the US mayors agreed to support onshore and offshore wind energy production, concluding that “The United States Conference of Mayors supports greater federal, state, and local investment in the development of wind energy” and “supports a continuation of the [Investment Tax Credit (ITC)] for as long as necessary to secure the long-term viability of the domestic wind energy industry, including the offshore wind energy industry, and more specifically, the passage of the Offshore Wind Act.”

“Local leaders are taking command in the fight against global warming even as the Trump administration tries to trample climate progress at home and abroad,” said Chad Tudenggongbu, senior renewable energy campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We applaud the U.S. Conference of Mayors for recognizing that we don’t have four years to wait to take meaningful climate action. A clean, equitable and sustainable energy system shouldn’t be about politics. It’s about the wellbeing of people, the economy and the environment.”

It should come as no surprise that so many US mayors have committed to this resolution so soon after US President Donald Trump announced that he was withdrawing the country from the Paris Climate Agreement. In the immediate aftermath, there was a countrywide revolt against the President’s decision (not to mention global condemnation). Prime among those revolting was Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto, who issued an Executive Order committing the city to the Paris Climate Accords, despite Donald Trump claiming that he had been elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris” — it seems Pittsburgh disagreed. This was unsurprisingly followed by the announcement that membership of the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, also known as the Climate Mayors, had grown from 61 to more than 200 within days of Donald Trump’s announcement.

Only a few days later, and the We Are Still In movement was formed, and stood to represent more than 1,000 mayors, governors, state attorneys general, CEOs, and other prominent US institutions and persons, each of which was committing to the Paris Climate Agreement. “Today, on behalf of an unprecedented collection of U.S. cities, states, businesses and other organizations, I am communicating to the United Nations and the global community that American society remains committed to achieving the emission reductions we pledged to make in Paris in 2015,” said Mike Bloomberg, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, who was part of the team that created We Are Still In.

“I am confident the broad array of leaders and organizations that have signed today’s declaration, and many others that will join in the days to come, will work together to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2025, just as we had pledged in Paris. These groups will take vigorous and ambitious actions to address climate change, and we will communicate those actions in a transparent and accountable way to the UN. The United States can, and will, meet its commitment under the Paris Agreement.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Air Pollution & Dust Cuts Solar Cell Energy Output By Over 25% In Some Parts Of The World, Study Finds

29.06.2017

A new study has now quantified the solar cell energy output loss occurring around the world as a result of air pollution and dust — bringing one of the most serious limitations of solar photovoltaic reliance in the more polluted parts of the world to the forefront, and giving us a better view of what exactly is going on.

Going by the new study, solar cell output in some parts of the world is cut by over 25% as a result of airborne particles (particulate air pollution) and dust.

The regions that are the most affected according to the study are also some of those that have installed the most solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in recent years: India, China, and parts of the Middle East.

“My colleagues in India were showing off some of their rooftop solar installations, and I was blown away by how dirty the panels were,” commented Michael Bergin, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University and lead author of the study. “I thought the dirt had to affect their efficiencies, but there weren’t any studies out there estimating the losses. So we put together a comprehensive model to do just that.”

The press release provides more: “With colleagues at the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Bergin measured the decrease in solar energy gathered by the IITGN’s solar panels as they became dirtier over time. The data showed a 50% jump in efficiency each time the panels were cleaned after being left alone for several weeks.

“The researchers also sampled the grime to analyze its composition, revealing that 92% was dust while the remaining fraction was composed of carbon and ion pollutants from human activity. While this may sound like a small amount, light is blocked more efficiently by smaller man-made particles than by natural dust. As a result, the human contributions to energy loss are much greater than those from dust, making the two sources roughly equal antagonists in this case.

“The manmade particles are also small and sticky, making them much more difficult to clean off,” noted Bergin. “You might think you could just clean the solar panels more often, but the more you clean them, the higher your risk of damaging them.”

Of course, the air pollution that is in the air itself also reduces solar cell output — it’s not just the buildup on the surface of the solar panel that does. To assess the effects of the air pollution itself, the researchers enlisted the help of the professor of climate sciences at Duke (and an “expert” in the use of the NASA GISS Global Climate Model), Drew Shindell.

The press release continues: “Because the climate model already accounts for the amount of the sun’s energy blocked by different types of airborne particles, it was not a stretch to estimate the particles’ effects on solar energy. The NASA model also estimates the amount of particulate matter deposited on surfaces worldwide, providing a basis for Bergin’s equation to calculate how much sunlight would be blocked by accumulated dust and pollution.

“The resulting calculations estimate the total loss of solar energy production in every part of the world. While the United States has relatively little migratory dust, more arid regions such as the Arabian Peninsula, Northern India and Eastern China are looking at heavy losses — 17% to 25% or more, assuming monthly cleanings. If cleanings take place every two months, those numbers jump to 25% or 35%.”

Local variations can of course be significant, though, it should be remembered. For instance, if there are construction zones nearby then the amount of dust in the air will be significantly higher than would otherwise be the case. Seasonal variation can be significant as well.

As far as differences between different regions, they are about what you’d expect — dust is more of a problem on the Arabian Peninsula than air pollution is, and the reviser is true in India and China, where the air pollution problem is significant and still fast growing.

Bergin commented on that: “China is already looking at tens of billions of dollars being lost each year, with more than 80% of that coming from losses due to pollution. With the explosion of renewables taking place in China and their recent commitment to expanding their solar power capacity, that number is only going to go up.

“We always knew these pollutants were bad for human health and climate change, but now we’ve shown how bad they are for solar energy as well. It’s yet another reason for policymakers worldwide to adopt emissions controls.”

That’s something that is easier said than done considering the degree to which much of modern industrial culture relies upon cheap fossil fuel energy — air pollution or emissions controls of course drive up the price of energy use notably.

It should probably be remembered here that, while renewable energy use has been growing rapidly in recent years that it still represents only a very small part of the global energy mix. In general, renewables have simply increased in concert with an energy system that is itself growing rapidly — fossil fuel use has remained for the most part steady. In other words, renewables have to date simply been mostly additive to the energy system — not subtractive of fossil fuel reliance, due to growing energy use globally.

If extreme anthropogenic climate change is to be avoided to any real degree, then this will need to change (rapidly) in the coming years.

The new study was detailed in a paper published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

Source: cleantechnica.com

GTM Predicts 27% Drop In Solar Prices By 2022

29.06.2017

A new report from GTM Research has highlighted what is becoming an increasingly common refrain these days — solar prices simply continue to fall, and they’re not slowing down, either, with GTM predicting that average global solar project prices will decline 27% by 2022.

The latest to sound this refrain is GTM Research Solar Analyst Ben Gallagher, who authored a new solar PV system pricing forecast this week which predicts that the continuing downward trend in solar project prices will not simply be driven by price decreases in modules, but from reductions in inverters, trackers, and even labor costs. Further, every region is expected to benefit as well.

“Component prices are beginning to lose their price variance from country to country,” writes Gallagher. “Beyond a handful of local content requirements, many of the policies that created regional hardware pricing have been eroded by market forces.”

The most recent record prices come from India, unsurprisingly, given that Gallagher explains that the country’s system of tenders has produced consistently and extremely competitive bidding, which obviously leads to “almost unimaginably low system pricing.” In fact, according to Gallagher, “India is seeing the lowest system prices of any major solar market in the world, ever.” Most recently, the report highlights, India has utility-scale solar PV system pricing of 65 cents per watt — that’s seemingly impossible, if we were to time travel back a few years.

Of course, one of the reasons for India’s dramatically low costs is the fact they pay their labor force next-to-nothing, resulting in much lower soft costs, as shown below.

But is there a downside to India’s tender process? Is it sustainable? Gallagher explains:

“The competitive tender process has a harmful side effect: There are reportedly widespread concerns about the viable lifetimes of many of the systems currently installed, as it is suspected that many were hastily constructed using poor-quality components. Developers will look to [engineering, procurement and construction providers] to safeguard their investment by raising installation and procurement quality-control standards and reduce long-term O&M headaches.”

The report also looks into the potential pricing impact in the United States of the Suniva 201 filing, which could have significant and dramatic disruption on the US solar sector. I’ve already covered this news a little bit lately, primarily in the wake of news from the Solar Energy Industry Association’s claim that the US solar industry could lose 88,000 jobs, or a third of its workforce, if the US International Trade Commission (ITC) rules in favor of Suniva’s request for a tariff and price floor on solar parts. Additionally, GTM Research dug into the ramifications of the move — a move which, if approved by the US ITC, would place a $0.40/watt tariff for cells and a floor price of $0.78/watt on modules — which could slash US solar installations by two-thirds through 2022.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Here Comes the Sun: LEON Switches to 100 Per Cent Solar Power for the Summer

29.06.2017

Healthy fast food chain LEON has switched to sourcing 100 per cent solar power over the summer months, as part of its supply deal with Opus Energy.

The company made the switch last week to coincide with the summer solstice. The deal sees the firm move from its usual sourcing of a mix of renewable power to a 100 per cent solar deal, which sees the power it uses matched by power from 1,000 solar projects around the country.

“Solar power plays a vital role in our renewable energy mix, and the UK is one of the world leaders in solar deployment,” said Steve James, director corporate solutions at Opus Energy.

“At Opus Energy we are very proud of our ability to provide 100 per cent sustainable, cleanly-sourced energy to our customers, as well as supporting those who want to generate their own power and make the most of our natural resources – especially in the midst of this year’s heatwave.”

The UK has set a series of solar and renewable power output records in recent weeks with renewables generation peaking at 19.3GW earlier this month thanks to a combination of strong winds and warm weather.

LEON said the switch to solar power would also help promote its new summer menu and was in keeping with its commitment to natural and healthy food.

“At LEON we worship at the alter of the sun,” said Kirsty Saddler, director of brand and marketing at the company. “We think it is the most epic source of energy for us here on earth. Our Summer Seventeen menu will bring you the best of nature’s solar powered produce. We think nature has humankind’s best interests at heart so the more natural the food, the better it is for you.”

Source: businessgreen.com

London to Upgrade 5,000 Buses to Euro VI Air Quality Standard by 2020

29.06.2017

London’s 5,000 most polluting buses are to be upgraded to the latest Euro VI emission standard by 2020 under a new retrofit programme announced yesterday by the city’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan.

Under the £86.1m programme, around 5,000 buses will be retrofitted with a new exhaust system in a bid to reduce air pollution from their tailpipes by around 95 per cent.

City Hall said it was aiming for the entire London bus fleet to meet the Euro VI standard as a minimum by 2020.

In the latest move in the Mayor’s ongoing drive to clean up the capital’s air, Transport for London (TfL) will work with bus operators and five chosen suppliers to install the new bespoke exhaust systems.

The Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) equipment, which is designed to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter emissions, will also be installed alongside diesel particulate filters, City Hall said.

Following a competitive tender process, five suppliers – Amminex, Baumot Twintec, Eminox, HJS and Preventia – were selected to provide and fit the exhaust equipment, with more than 40 new apprenticeships being created to support the retrofit programme.

Khan said there was “no doubt that by cutting the emissions of more than half of the fleet by up to 95 per cent, this innovative retrofit programme is going to make a huge difference to Londoners”.

It follows the launch last week of the Mayor’s draft green transport plan – a wide ranging strategy featuring proposals to expand the green bus network, introduce a ‘Toxicity-charge’ for the most polluting vehicles, and deliver a low emission taxi fleet. Under the strategy, all 9,200 buses across London are set to be zero emission by 2037 at the latest.

Meanwhile, Khan has also said more than 50 tube stations and five tunnels are to be fitted with industrial vacuum cleaners in order to clean up the air on the London Underground, according to the Evening Standard.

The moves come in the wake of an emergency air pollution alert which saw warnings displayed on road signs, bus stops and on the underground network last week.

The incident prompted Khan to request an emergency meeting with the government’s new Environment Secretary Michael Gove, whom the Mayor urged to “get a grip on the national air quality health crisis”.

In addition to the retrofit programme, diesel-only buses are gradually being phased out across the capital, and from next year all new double decker buses will be hybrid, electric or hydrogen powered.

TfL’s managing director of surface transport, Leon Daniels, said air pollution had reached “unacceptable levels” in London, but he described the retrofit programme announced today as “one of the most ambitious of its type” and would help to tackle the problem.

“By retrofitting 5,000 buses – over half of our fleet – with the latest green engine technology, we will be able to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions significantly,” said Daniels.

Source: businessgreen.com

Senvion Closes Contract for 42-MW Serbian Alibunar Wind Farm

29.06.2017

Senvion, manufacturer of wind turbines, has closed the financial contract for the Alibunar wind farm in Serbia with Elicio NV, for the delivery, installation, and commissioning of 21 Senvion MM100 turbines.

Alibunar is located close to the Malibunar wind farm, where four Senvion MM100 turbines will be installed in the second half of this year for another project. Senvion will take care of servicing over a period of 15 years for both projects.

The installation is planned to take place in the first half of 2018, ahead of schedule (originally, the installation was to be completed in the Fall 2018).

“We are happy to be building our first projects in Serbia, this, and early next year. Our activities in Serbia mark a milestone which reflects our successful strategy to enter in new markets,” said Jürgen Geissinger, CEO at Senvion.

“With a strong hub in Milan, Italy, Senvion is well positioned to serve the whole Southern European market very efficiently and the opening of a Senvion local branch in Serbia, we have the right team in place to be a strong partner for our customers in the Balkan region.”

The Alibunar wind farm will be located in the village by the same name, 60 kilometers north of Belgrade. The 21 turbines with a hub height of 100 meters and rated output of two megawatts each will together produce enough energy to power around 27,600 households on average per year.

“The financial closing of the project is a benchmark for Senvion in Serbia,” Carlo Schiapparelli, Managing Director Europe South-East at Senvion said. “We thank Eolico NV for their continuous confidence in our services and products in different markets and are looking forward to this next positive cooperation.”

Source: windpowerengineering.com

Siemens Gamesa Installs 6 Megawatt Wind Turbines On Floating Foundations For Hywind Scotland

28.06.2017

Newly anointed Siemens Gamesa has completed the installation of five 6-megawatt turbines on floating foundations in Stord, Norway, to be then towed to Scottish waters to be installed at what will then be the world’s largest floating offshore wind project, the 30 megawatt Hywind Scotland.

Siemens Gamesa, the newly minted company arising out of the merger between the two company namesakes, which was finalized back in April, announced this week that it had completed the installation of five 6 megawatt (MW) wind turbines atop floating foundations. The completed turbines will now be towed to Scottish waters, where they will be installed 25 kilometers off the coast of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, at water depths between 90 and 120 meters, becoming the 30 MW Hywind Scotland floating offshore wind farm, the largest in the world.

“Siemens Gamesa views the floating wind farm market area the same way as we did with offshore wind farms in the early beginning: it is a very interesting area that is initially a niche market,” said Michael Hannibal, CEO of Offshore at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “This niche may, however, develop over time into a large market. It is a niche in which we would like to build a strong position for this reason.”

The Scottish Government approved Hywind Scotland back in November of 2015, at the same time that developer Statoil announced its final investment decision to build the project.

“Statoil is proud to develop the world’s first floating wind farm,” said Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil’s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions, at the time.

“Our objective with the Hywind pilot park is to demonstrate the feasibility of future commercial, utility-scale floating wind farms. This will further increase the global market potential for offshore wind energy, contributing to realising our ambition of profitable growth in renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions.”

Earlier this year, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, Masdar, announced that it had acquired a 25% stake in the Hywind Scotland project.

The Siemens Gamesa floating wind turbines are built onto ballast-stabilized foundations that will then be anchored to the seabed with mooring lines. Currently, the average traditional offshore wind farm is built in water depths between 20 and 30 meters (according to Fraunhofer IWES). While, strictly speaking, the further you get from shore the deeper the seabed gets, this is not always true, and developers have been able to move further from shore while finding water depths in the sweet spot. Nevertheless, this still restricts the consistency and strength of offshore winds, placing a natural cap on the efficiency of traditional offshore wind farms.

However, floating offshore wind farms — as exampled by Hywind Scotland, which will be installed in waters between 90 and 120 meters — are able to go out further, without worrying as much about seabed depths (they still have to be moored to the seabed). This allows for lower installation costs, as there is no need to be building concrete foundations, and opens offshore wind farms up to more consistent and stronger winds.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Renewable Energy Provides More Electricity Than Nuclear Power In US

28.06.2017

Renewable energy sources are now providing more electricity than nuclear power for the first time ever in the United States, according to figures issued by the US Energy Information Administration and highlighted by Ken Bossong’s Sun Day Campaign.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) published its most recent “Electric Power Monthly” report last week, with data for April of this year. While natural gas continues to lead, followed by coal, renewable energy sources — a combined total of biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind — beat out nuclear energy. The figures have shown it swinging in renewables’ favor, and it grew tight over the first third of this year — renewable energy providing 20.20% of US net electrical generation, while nuclear provided 20.75%. However, for two months straight now, renewable energy sources overtook nuclear — 21.60% for renewables and 20.34% for nuclear in March, and 22.98% for renewables and 19.19% for nuclear in April.

Renewable energy output has been growing steadily, and between the first third of 2016 and 2017, renewables increased their share by 12.1%, whereas nuclear output dropped by 2.9% (so far, we’re seeing coal as the biggest loser in terms of overall share).

It was only a fortnight ago that we learned that, for the first time ever, US wind and solar electricity generation exceeded 10% of the monthly total (in March) — not bad, considering that wind and solar accounted for 7% of 2016’s total electricity generated (although, it’s also possible the EIA undersold the real numbers).

Nuclear energy capacity has been dropping off over the past four years, a trend which is expected to continue moving forward as well. Between 2013 and 2016, six separate nuclear reactors permanently ceased production (Crystal River, Kewaunee, San Onofre-2, San Onofre-3, Vermont Yankee, Fort Calhoun) amounting to 4,862 MW of generation capacity gone from the system. Meanwhile, only one new reactor came online during 2016, adding 1,150 MW, and six more reactors are scheduled to close over the next four years.

Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, renewable energy sources are all experiencing strong growth in the United States. Year-over-year growth between the first third of 2016 to 2017, solar has grown by 37.9%, wind by 14.2%, hydropower by 9.5%, and geothermal by 5.3%.

“In light of their growth rates in recent years, it was inevitable that renewable sources would eventually overtake nuclear power,” said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “The only real surprise is how soon that has happened — years before most analysts ever expected.”

“Renewable energy is now surpassing nuclear power, a major milestone in the transformation of the U.S. energy sector,” said Tim Judson, Executive Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. “This gulf will only widen over the next several years, with continued strong growth of renewables and the planned retirement of at least 7% of nuclear capacity by 2025. The possible completion of four new reactors will not be enough to reverse this trend, with total nuclear capacity falling by 2,806 MW (3%) through 2025.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Panasonic HIT Solar Panel Sets New Record For High Temperature Efficiency

28.06.2017

When we think of solar panel efficiency, we usually think in terms of how much of the sunlight hitting the panel gets converted into electricity. Output efficiency is normally computed by laboratory testing, where the ambient temperature of the test environment is carefully controlled. That number is important, of course, but the temperature of the panel when it is up on a roof in direct sunlight on a hot summer day can significantly impact its performance in the real world. Just as a naturally aspirated internal combustion engine loses power as elevation increases, a solar panel loses efficiency as its temperature rises.

This week, Panasonic announced that its latest HIT solar panel performs best in high temperature environments. The technical explanation is that the output temperature coefficient for its latest HIT solar panel is -0.258%/°C2. That’s an improvement of 0.032 percent.

According to a Panasonic press release,

“Output temperature coefficient is a vital metric in evaluating solar modules as a measurement of how quickly their conversion efficiency degrades as the temperature rises, thereby reducing the output. The standard silicon solar cell’s output temperature coefficient is -0.50%4, which denotes a decline of 0.50% in the conversion efficiency as the module temperature rises by 1°C.

“For instance, at the module temperature anticipated in the summer months (75°C), the conversion efficiency will decrease by 25% in comparison to the environment at 25°C. Panasonic HIT® modules, which boast an improved output temperature coefficient, will nearly halve the decline in the conversion efficiency, significantly increasing performance in high temperature settings.”

Mukesh Sethi, group manager of Panasonic’s solar division in North America, said, “This latest innovation, combined with our efforts in conversion efficiency, are living examples of Panasonic’s relentless drive to provide customers with the very best in residential solar technology. The Panasonic HIT® is proven to offer the very best value to consumers in the residential solar market, and this latest development will be a massive help in locations where extreme heat is a factor for consumers.”

Panasonic is leading the solar panel industry in other important ways. Many commercially available panels come with only a 10-year warranty. HIT panels from Panasonic now come with a full 25-year workmanship warranty, and the company guarantees their output will degrade less than 10% by the end of that period. That’s important. Buying and paying for a rooftop solar panel system that produces far less electricity after a decade is no bargain. “You get what you pay for” is still operative when considering a solar installation.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Climate Change Minister: Clean Growth Plan Coming this Autumn

28.06.2017

The government’s long-awaited Clean Growth Plan will finally be made public after the summer recess, according to newly appointed Climate Change Minister Claire Perry.

Perry, who replaced Nick Hurd at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) earlier this month, told Parliament this morning the plan will be released in a matter of weeks.

Parliament breaks for summer recess on July 20 and returns on September 5.

“My intention is to publish the Clean Growth Plan when Parliament returns from the summer recess, and I look forward to cross-party discussion and hopefully consensus on a hugely important document, both for Britain’s domestic future and our international leadership,” Perry said.

She suggested that between now and the publication date she will explore whether the draft plan can be made more ambitious. “I want the Clean Growth Plan to be as ambitious, robust and clear blueprint as it can be, so that we can actually continue to deliver on this hugely vital piece of domestic and international policy,” she said.

The UK is legally-bound to reduce its emissions by 57 per cent by 2032 compared to 1990 levels, and by at least 80 per cent by 2050, under the Climate Change Act.

The release of the Clean Growth Plan was first promised in late 2016. It is seen as hugely important for industries across the power, transport, and building sectors and is expected to provide a blueprint for the UK’s decarbonisation pathway through the 2020s and early 2030s.

Under current policies the UK is on track to miss its legally binding emission reduction targets for the mid 2020s onwards, prompting campaigners to warn more action is needed to curb emissions from heat, buildings, industry, transport, and agriculture.

There has been growing frustration among business leaders over the repeated delays to the release of the plan, with numerous calls for it to be published as soon as possible in order to avoid an investment hiatus and spiralling decarbonisation costs.

Perry insisted the almost year-long delay to the plan does not reflect a lack of government commitment to the aims of the Climate Change Act, arguing a series of unprecedented events such as tje Brexit vote, a snap election, and the withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement have all led to unavoidable delays.

“We were the first country in the world to set binding carbon budgets, we have over achieved on the first one and second one, and our full intention is to engage the whole of government and industry in delivering on the upcoming budgets,” she insisted.

Green businesses will be hopeful that the new plan will deliver ambitious new policies to promote energy efficiency, green transport, and low carbon industry, as well as reduce emissions from land use and agriculture.

They are also likely to push for the plan to be accompanied by a decision from the Treasury over the level of funding support that will be available for clean power projects from 2020 onwards and clarity from the government over whether it is willing to provide a route to market for increasingly cost competitive onshore wind and solar projects.

Source: businessgreen.com

Moixa Powers Up Plans for 100,000 Battery Virtual Power Plant

28.06.2017

UK-based energy storage and smart grid specialist Moixa will today announce it has secured £2.5m in new investment in support of its plans to build a ‘virtual power plant’ based on 100,000 domestic batteries.

The announcement will be made at the Housing 2017 conference in Manchester, where Moixa will confirm it has secured a £1m funding facility from Greater Manchester Combined Authority to support the development of a new regional sales and delivery centre in the city.

The new office will focus on offering solar and storage products to private customers and pursuing multi-thousand unit deployments with social housing clients.

The company will also confirm that it has secured £1.5m in new equity investment, including £500,000 from Japan’s largest utility, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and £500,000 from First Imagine! Ventures.

As part of the deal Moixa is now working on plans to pilot it battery systems in Japan, alongside Tepco and a number of other partners. Further trials in Europe and the US are also planned for the next 12 months, the company said.

The company, which last year launched a trial in Barnsley to integrate solar panels and its energy storage system, is aiming to aggregate a fleet of domestic batteries, which can then act like a back-up power plant to help balance the grid.

It is aiming to install 50,000 batteries in the UK by 2020 and manage a further 50,000 batteries through its smart grid software, creating a virtual power plant with up to 250MWh of capacity.

“Smart home batteries are transforming our electricity system, saving money for households and communities and supporting a cost-effective, reliable, low-carbon network,” said Simon Daniel, CEO of Moixa, in a statement.

“We are developing solar plus storage solutions for social housing that will help councils tackle fuel poverty and we look forward to collaborating with Greater Manchester and supporting the low carbon energy transition in the Northern Powerhouse region.”

The latest investment round was also backed by Lady Barbara Judge CBE, chairman of the Institute of Directors and Athene Capital, who will now sit on Moixa’s international advisory group as it starts to consider export markets.

She said Moixa was “well positioned to seize opportunities in a rapidly emerging global market”.

“It has unrivalled experience in the UK, strong partnerships with key players, and is working at the cutting edge pioneering the use of smart batteries in virtual power plants to cut costs and carbon in our electricity system,” she said.

The company is aiming to promote the financial benefits of a solar and storage package for customers, noting that solar panels that are integrated with a storage systems can cut domestic energy bills in half while also allowing customers to access a £50 a year ‘GridShare’ payment for contributing to Moixa’s virtual power plant.

Source: businessgreen.com

Onshore Wind Delivers Almost a Quarter of Northern Ireland’s Power

27.06.2017

Onshore wind capacity in Northern Ireland has passed the 1GW mark and is providing nearly a quarter of the country’s power, according to the latest generation figures from NI Electricity Networks.

Following the opening of a number of new onshore wind farms, the latest figures show that there is now 1.029GW of onshore wind capacity connected to the grid in Northern Ireland.

The data also shows that over the 12 months to April 2016 onshore wind met 22.4 per cent of electricity demand in the country, while renewables as a whole met 27.1 per cent of demand.

The country has seen £127.5m of local investment mobilised in onshore wind capacity so far this year, while there has also been additional investment in storage and smart grid technologies.

In addition, the country boasts 197MW of solar capacity, 65MW of anaerobic digestion and biogas capacity, and 4MW of hydro and tidal capacity.

“Crossing this 1GW threshold shows just how much of a success story onshore wind is in Northern Ireland,” said Rachel Anderson, chair of the Northern Ireland Renewables Industry Group, in a statement. “Onshore wind remains one of the vital growth areas to our modern low-carbon economy, so we need to ensure that politicians here join us in securing a bright future for this technology.”

Her comments were echoed by RenewableUK’s executive director, Emma Pinchbeck, who said renewable electricity was “making a massive contribution to Northern Ireland, creating jobs, bringing inward investment and enabling local regeneration”.

“Northern Ireland is making the most of its great onshore wind resources, embracing a mature technology which is now the cheapest way to generate electricity bar none, helping to keep consumer’s bills down,” she added.

Energy policy is devolved to the Northern Ireland administration. However, the administration has emulated the UK government in closing the equivalent of the Renewables Obligation scheme and Feed-in Tariff incentives to new projects a year ago. A grace period means a number of projects are still in development, but developers are concerned future projects could be denied a route to market.

However, the DUP’s recent election manifesto fuelled hopes new projects could come online again, after it called for a new Energy Strategy that addresses the “future of renewables”.

The update comes just a day after the UK’s minority Conservative government signed its controversial £1bn confidence and supply deal with the Northern Ireland’s DUP.

The agreement could have significant implications for the green economy and environmental policy with the deal promising a £1bn, two year investment package, including £150m for new ultra-fast broadband infrastructure.

In addition, the deal promised a review of Air Passenger Duty, which is likely to be opposed by green groups, and ensures DUP involvement in future discussions about agricultural policy and support post-Brexit.

The deal has been roundly condemned by environmental groups, which have criticised leading DUP politicians’ past rejection of climate science and mishandling of renewable heat subsidies.

Source: businessgreen.com

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