The Remarkable Progress of Renewable Energy

[lpetrich]

A $39 Billion Wind Company Bets Hydrogen Is Key to Climate Goals

Hydrogen is important because it’s one of the few fuels that can burn hot enough to make steel and cement, two of the most polluting industries. At the moment, most hydrogen is derived from natural gas and causes greenhouse gas emissions. Getting the element from electrolysis driven by wind farms would make it a zero-emissions fuel, since no carbon dioxide comes with hydrogen in the combustion process. As long as these heavy industries rely on polluting fossil fuels, it may be impossible to achieve the goals in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

“You cannot do it without hydrogen,” Anders Nordstrom, head of hydrogen at Orsted, said in an interview. “Everything that can be electrified, you should electrify, but that leaves a substantial part of de-carbonization where hydrogen is the second-best option because electricity isn’t feasible.”

Power-to-Gas-Linking-Electricity-and-Gas-in-a-Decarbonising-World-Insight-39.pdf

Mentions hydrogen and methane, H2 and CH4. Of these, hydrogen is the primary one, made by electrolysis. Methane is made from it by doing

4H2 + CO2 -> 2H2O + CH4

"Methanation" - either with heat and catalysts, or else by feeding the H2 and CO2 to methanogens, microbes that live off of that reaction.

One can also use carbon monoxide as a feedstock:

3H2 + CO -> H2O + CH4

 

[bilby]

A $39 Billion Wind Company Bets Hydrogen Is Key to Climate Goals

Hydrogen is important because it’s one of the few fuels that can burn hot enough to make steel and cement, two of the most polluting industries. At the moment, most hydrogen is derived from natural gas and causes greenhouse gas emissions. Getting the element from electrolysis driven by wind farms would make it a zero-emissions fuel, since no carbon dioxide comes with hydrogen in the combustion process. As long as these heavy industries rely on polluting fossil fuels, it may be impossible to achieve the goals in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

“You cannot do it without hydrogen,” Anders Nordstrom, head of hydrogen at Orsted, said in an interview. “Everything that can be electrified, you should electrify, but that leaves a substantial part of de-carbonization where hydrogen is the second-best option because electricity isn’t feasible.”

Power-to-Gas-Linking-Electricity-and-Gas-in-a-Decarbonising-World-Insight-39.pdf

Mentions hydrogen and methane, H2 and CH4. Of these, hydrogen is the primary one, made by electrolysis. Methane is made from it by doing

4H2 + CO2 -> 2H2O + CH4

"Methanation" - either with heat and catalysts, or else by feeding the H2 and CO2 to methanogens, microbes that live off of that reaction.

One can also use carbon monoxide as a feedstock:

3H2 + CO -> H2O + CH4

Getting it from electrolysis driven by nuclear fission power has all of the same advantages as electrolysis driven by wind or solar power, but with the added benefit of high efficiency 24x7 production, rather than intermittent and unpredictable stop-start production.

Ceteris paribus, continuous energy is always better than intermittent energy.

There's nothing more useless than doing, with great efficiency, that which should not be done at all. Intermittent power is just not very useful, and every solution to that problem is better paired with continuous power; Or simply not done, thereby saving the expense of doing it.

 

[bigfield]

Gas Plants Will Get Crushed by Wind, Solar by 2035, Study Says - Bloomberg

How can solar/wind crush gas, when you need gas for the night/when the wind isn't blowing?

And if you don't need gas for then, what would you use instead?

Don't worry, someone will invent a replacement any day now.

 

[lpetrich]

Gas Plants Will Get Crushed by Wind, Solar by 2035, Study Says - Bloomberg

How can solar/wind crush gas, when you need gas for the night/when the wind isn't blowing?

And if you don't need gas for then, what would you use instead?

Batteries.

 

[lpetrich]

Danish renewables auction too successful at driving down public cost of clean energy – pv magazine International

The Danish Energy Agency allocated 252 MW of clean energy generation capacity, of which 83 MW was solar and 93 MW solar-wind hybrid facilities which included 34.1 MW of PV capacity. The average price premium to be paid on top of wholesale electricity rates to the successful bidders has fallen 30% in a year, prompting the authorities to muse they may be allocating too much public money to support such projects.

...
The authorities said the budget for renewables auctions could be allocated for other energy transition uses such as backing the use of clean fuel in aircraft and shipping.

Good that they can get around to that.

 

[lpetrich]

Ambitious 1 GW agrivoltaic livestock farming project announced in Malaysia – pv magazine International

The Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute is planning a huge solar power project which will integrate agriculture and livestock farming in the Sabah region. The research institute claims to have already secured $50 million for the project’s first, 200 MW phase. The 25,000ha required for the projects will host up to 150,000 cattle as well as cultivation of forage crops such as kenaf, corn, wheat and hay.

Yet another multiple-use solar-panel installation.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR POWER-TO-X: SUNFIRE PUTS FIRST CO-ELECTROLYSIS INTO OPERATION AND STARTS SCALING - Sunfire
Co-electrolysis?

Here is what it seems to involve: adding CO2 to the hydrogen-side electrode. It then does this reaction:
CO2 + 2H+ + 2e -> CO + H2O

instead of requiring a separate synthesis-gas shift reaction:
CO2 + H2 -> CO + H2O

The resulting CO can then be used in the Fischer-Tropsch process, making hydrocarbons and the like.

 

[Angra Mainyu]

Gas Plants Will Get Crushed by Wind, Solar by 2035, Study Says - Bloomberg

How can solar/wind crush gas, when you need gas for the night/when the wind isn't blowing?

And if you don't need gas for then, what would you use instead?

Batteries.

It depends on how battery technology makes progress, production costs of new technologies vs. new technologies for natural gas exploration and extraction, etc. Of course, solar+batteries might win by 2035 (though 2035 is a lot of time to waste). But then, they might not - it might take longer.

 

[steve_bank]

Batteries have resource issues. They are not a panacea.

 

[lpetrich]

Opinion | Don’t Let China Win the Green Race - The New York Times

America should be leading the way on clean energy, not falling behind.

By John Kerry and Ro Khanna
Mr. Kerry was secretary of state from 2013 to 2017. Mr. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in the House of Representatives.

Washington is consumed with discussion about the consequences of a rising China, from trade disputes, to their authoritarian surveillance and oppression of Uighurs, to their aggression in the South China Sea. There’s comparably little debate about how the United States can shape the environment into which China is rising, let alone the actions we can take at home to ensure our values prevail. We see more focus on tariffs than building wind turbines and solar farms. We should not be spectators in shaping our own future, or the world’s. We should pledge that by the end of the next decade, America will surpass China and win the clean energy race.

We aren’t winning the clean energy race today. In many ways, we aren’t even trying. China is becoming an energy superpower. Earlier this year, the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation reported that China became the world’s largest producer, exporter, and installer of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles, followed by Japan and Germany. The United States ranks fourth.

Electric buses, subsidies for electric cars, high-speed trains between most major cities, ... Amtrak takes 19 to 22 hours between NYC and Chicago, while a Chinese high-speed train going that distance takes only 4 1/2 hours.

I checked that assertion with Distance Calculator Find Distance Between Cities (great-circle distances)

• NYC - Chicago: 1144 km / 711 mi
• Beijing - Shanghai: 1070 km / 665 mi

Close.

Unfortunately, this does not present the raw level of threat that Sputnik presented, and Japan's economic success in the 1980's didn't either. Sputnik was a demonstration that Soviet nuclear bombs could reach the US in only half an hour -- and be very difficult to stop.

 

[lpetrich]

Farms can harvest energy and food from same fields | Energy News Network
Yet more agrivoltaics.

Cost, comfort emphasized as building electrification takes off in Colorado | Energy News Network

A Boulder campaign is making a pitch to residents that they can save money and breathe easier by switching from gas.

Comfort, not climate, is the central message of a campaign in Colorado to persuade homeowners to switch from natural gas to electricity for heating and other indoor purposes.

The joint program sponsored by Boulder and Boulder County, called Comfort 365, may provide insights for state legislators as they consider how to drive down emissions from the built environment in order to achieve the sobering goal of wringing carbon out of 90% of the state’s economy by 2040.

Good to emphasize direct benefits.

The Green New Deal in Housing - Upgrading Public Housing - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's building-efficiency and building-electrification bill. Good to improve the Federal Gov't's holdings.

A former Republican congressman changed his mind on climate change. Can he convince the GOP to follow him? | Energy News Network - "Former South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis is on a mission to convince fellow conservatives to support climate action."

He approaches his goal like any seasoned retail politician, with a focus on how to find common ground with potential activists. Rather than start his conversation with voters in North and South Carolina about the local problem of rising sea levels and more intense storms, for instance, he first talks about free market tools to lower carbon emissions.

The reason for that approach is a theory put forward by a Duke University researcher: People won’t acknowledge a problem if they don’t support its assumed solution. To overcome this “solution aversion,” Inglis said, “first articulate the solution that fits with conservative values and free enterprise principles — then you can have a more productive conversation about the problem.”

Good idea, to have a feasible solution.

He appeared last spring with AOC in a town hall about climate troubles. He said that "we see the whites of its eyes", and he objected that a big package like Obamacare was a nightmare, so it's better to implement a Green New Deal in pieces. AOC agreed.

 

[lpetrich]

Gas bans, once a California specialty, arrive in New England | Energy News Network

Cities in California and Massachusetts are advancing what has become the newest trend in the local fight against climate change: bans on natural gas hookups in new buildings.

In July, Berkeley, California, outlawed them. A handful of other California communities soon followed. Then, last week, Brookline, Massachusetts, took up the cause. In a 200-3 vote at a town meeting — the form of citizen government employed by many New England towns — Brookline residents approved a plan to block gas hookups in new homes and in major renovations.

To avoid greenhouse-gas emissions by avoiding consuming fossil fuels.

Berkeley and Brookline have a lot in common. Both are among the most liberal communities in overwhelmingly blue states. Both are well-educated and affluent.

Brookline’s vote nevertheless signals an important shift in local climate action. Where municipalities previously have focused on reducing emissions in electricity generation, attention is shifting toward the carbon footprint associated with heating and cooling buildings.

Norway’s net-positive buildings show how Massachusetts could raise the bar | Energy News Network

The newest office building on the waterfront in the central Norway city of Trondheim is stripped down and striking, with a polygonal roof angling up into the skyline. An elliptical atrium bores down through the center of the structure. The entire building is clad in black.

It takes a closer look to notice that the dark roof — some 32,000 square feet — is covered entirely in solar panels. The panels are expected to produce twice as much energy each year as the offices below will consume, a ratio that helps make Powerhouse Brattørkaia one of the growing crop of net-positive buildings in Norway.

 

[lpetrich]

Floating the solar photovoltaic boat – Physics World - about the numerous floating solar panels that have been installed in several nations.

According to a Reuters report for the World Economic Forum, the technology’s global potential is about 400 GW. That is about as much generating capacity as all the solar photovoltaic panels installed in the world by 2017.

That may, however, actually be a significant underestimate. LUT University in Finland has suggested that there could be 4.4 TW of floating PV on hydro plant reservoirs even if only 25% of the area of the reservoirs of the current 1.2 TW of current hydro plants was used.

National Petroleum Council calls for sharp increase in carbon capture subsidies | Utility Dive

Portugal negotiates with Netherlands mega hydrogen plant in Sines – ECO News

Portugal is negotiating with the Netherlands on the possibility of installing a green hydrogen production unit in Sines, powered by solar energy of one gigawatt, which corresponds to the energy consumed by one million homes. This is an investment estimated at 600 million euros, according to the Portuguese radio TSF.

... The Sines plant, with a gigawatt in the electrolysis reactor, working eight thousand hours a year can produce 160 million kilos of hydrogen, which would be enough to supply a fleet of buses and trucks, with a consumption of 20 kilos to 100. According to TSF, it would be possible to “feed a fleet 27 times the size of Carris [public transportation company in Lisbon], which makes 29 million kilometres per year”.

Looks like a rather awkward translation.

Power-to-gas industry in Germany to experience massive boost in the next five years -- electrolysis of water?

At Hydrogen Fuel Cell ~ Hydrogen Fuel News

New renewable energy storage solution could cut cost of energy storage in half - stacking blocks to store energy and letting them drop to extract energy.

The discovery of low-cost fuel cell catalyst could make hydrogen cars a reality - metals like iron and nickel instead of platinum-group metals, which are extremely expensive and rare.

 

[lpetrich]

Promising plastic waste research could benefit hydrogen fuel cell industry

The research team was able to breakdown key bonds within the plastic within six days. This was achieved by adding the vanadium-based catalyst to a solution that contained plastic waste that was heated to 185 degrees Fahrenheit and then exposed to artificial sunlight.

Using the sunlight is not only more eco-friendly compared to traditional high temperature methods required to break apart the carbon-carbon bonds, but the added benefit is the outcome of the process results in the conversion of the consumer waste plastic into formic acid. Formic acid is a naturally occurring antibacterial agent and is also the simplest known combination of hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Formic acid is HCOOH, and plastics vary widely in composition. H, C, often also O, sometimes also N.

But thermal decomposition of plastics could be a good alternative to recycling. It won't need much sorting out, and it can use dirty plastics.

Japan makes world history with the launch of Hydrogen Frontier

The Hydrogen Frontier was launched from the Kawasaki Heavy Industries yard in Kobe and is the first stage in a hydrogen fuel pilot project between Japan and Australia. Hydrogen will be produced from huge reserves of low-grade coal in Australia, liquified at -235 degrees Celsius, and shipped to Japan via the new vessel, which can carry 1,250m3 of liquid hydrogen in a single tank, the Financial Times reports.

Coal? That's depressing. They ought to be doing elecrolysis with renewable-energy electricity.

WindFloat Atlantic Project, Viana do Castelo - NS Energy

WindFloat Atlantic is a 25MW floating offshore wind farm located 20km off the coast of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. To be developed in 100m-deep waters, WindFloat Atlantic will be the first floating wind farm in mainland Europe.

Floating? That's an alternative to wind turbines that have foundations in the seafloor. A floating one would be anchored to the seafloor with cables, and it could go deeper than a foundationed one.

 

[lpetrich]

Southeast Asian Solar Power Set to Surge as Costs Drop Below Natural-Gas Generation

Regionally, Southeast Asia’s cumulative solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity could nearly triple to 35.8 gigawatts (GW) in 2024 from an estimated 12.6 GW this year, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Expected to have installed a cumulative solar power capacity of 5.5 GW by the end of this year, 44% of the total, region-wide capacity, highlighted Wood Mackenzie power and renewables analyst, Rishab Shrestha. That compares with 134 MW last year.

In addition, Malaysia recently completed a 500-megawatt (MW) solar power auction via which a bid for 365 MW of new solar capacity came in below the average cost of building natural gas-fired power plants, ...

More broadly, Malaysia intends to increase its renewable energy for electricity generation from 6% at present to 20% by 2025.

... Singapore set a goal of installing at least 2 GW of peak solar power capacity by 2030—more than 10% of current peak electricity.

Solar Magazine | Solar Industry News and Insights - in the US, Europe, Africa, India, China, SE Asia.

Seven Solar-Plus-Storage Microgrids Live in the Bahamas; More to Come

Hurricane Dorian all but devastated the Bahamas in September, the lightly populated island of Abaco being hit the worst. It wasn’t long thereafter that the Rocky Mountain Institute joined forces with the Bahamian government, state-owned Bahamas Power & Light (BPL) and U.K.-based Emera-owned Grand Bahama Power Company (GBPC), the primary electric utilities on Abaco and Grand Bahama, respectively, to build new, distributed clean power grids on them and launched U.S. government and international public relations campaigns to raise money and other resources to help fund the effort.

Seven of them are now running, and five more of them are almost but not quite complete.

Solar Energy Advantages and Disadvantages vs. Other Renewables - listing five each.

Advantages:

1. Nearly everyone can adopt directly
2. Fulfill the social responsibility to reduce carbon emissions
3. Help cut electricity bill and save money
4. Enhance the resiliency and reliability of electricity supply
5. Long-time warranty and low maintenance costs

Disadvantages:

1. Some may not have a suitable space
2. Relatively higher initial investment and longer ROI
3. Generation is weather-dependent
4. Some potential pollution would exist
5. Local customer services are not sufficient enough

 

[lpetrich]

Zina for Congress - in NJ-09, just west of New York City.

I never thought about running for anything before.

I was always going to solve things as a businesswoman or an activist. But, when I read that we have 12 years to save the planet, I knew I needed to do more.

...
At first, I aimed to attack climate change from the business side doing what I do best—building and operating businesses—so working with a clean tech start-up that enables clean, renewable energy from hydrogen gas was my way of being part of the solution. Business is a world I have always been very comfortable in; having earned a BA in Economics and Government from Cornell, and an MBA in Finance and Business Economics and MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, I spent nearly two decades on Wall Street, at one point working as a Managing Director at Allianz Global Investors.

My environmental activism also kicked into high gear after the 2016 election. I joined Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a grassroots, bipartisan organization that supports federal carbon fee and dividend legislation.

But as a single mother of two children growing up on this planet, attacking the problem of climate change from business and activist lenses soon didn’t seem effective enough. I decided to educate myself from a scientific standpoint, enrolling in the Masters of Science in Energy Policy and Climate program at Johns Hopkins. I’m dedicating the rest of my life to solving the climate crisis. When I read the UN’s IPCC report on Climate Change, I realized we have NO TIME left. We need to take bold action now. That’s when I decided to run for office.

Some interviews with her:
A POWERFUL Way To React To The Climate Emergency - YouTube
Zina Spezakis is Running for Congress to Save the Planet | Full Interview - YouTube

I'm very impressed with the technical expertise that ZS shows. I'd *love* to have someone like that in Congress.

 

[bilby]

Floating the solar photovoltaic boat – Physics World - about the numerous floating solar panels that have been installed in several nations.

According to a Reuters report for the World Economic Forum, the technology’s global potential is about 400 GW. That is about as much generating capacity as all the solar photovoltaic panels installed in the world by 2017.

That may, however, actually be a significant underestimate. LUT University in Finland has suggested that there could be 4.4 TW of floating PV on hydro plant reservoirs even if only 25% of the area of the reservoirs of the current 1.2 TW of current hydro plants was used.

National Petroleum Council calls for sharp increase in carbon capture subsidies | Utility Dive

Portugal negotiates with Netherlands mega hydrogen plant in Sines – ECO News

Portugal is negotiating with the Netherlands on the possibility of installing a green hydrogen production unit in Sines, powered by solar energy of one gigawatt, which corresponds to the energy consumed by one million homes. This is an investment estimated at 600 million euros, according to the Portuguese radio TSF.

... The Sines plant, with a gigawatt in the electrolysis reactor, working eight thousand hours a year can produce 160 million kilos of hydrogen, which would be enough to supply a fleet of buses and trucks, with a consumption of 20 kilos to 100. According to TSF, it would be possible to “feed a fleet 27 times the size of Carris [public transportation company in Lisbon], which makes 29 million kilometres per year”.

Looks like a rather awkward translation.

Power-to-gas industry in Germany to experience massive boost in the next five years -- electrolysis of water?

At Hydrogen Fuel Cell ~ Hydrogen Fuel News

New renewable energy storage solution could cut cost of energy storage in half - stacking blocks to store energy and letting them drop to extract energy.

The discovery of low-cost fuel cell catalyst could make hydrogen cars a reality - metals like iron and nickel instead of platinum-group metals, which are extremely expensive and rare.

No way in hell can you get a solar power system of any kind to work 8,000 hours a year - unless you're planning to launch it into space.

Even in Portugal, 2,000h/yr of full output would be incredibly ambitious.

When people are basing their assumptions about solar power on the belief that it will operate at full power during the night, it's time to seriously question their claims.

 

[Gun Nut]

Denver enjoys 3115 hours of sunlight per year, on average. This is due to it being sunny here around 70% of the daylight hours. But I would also like to point out that we have a lot less atmosphere here than pretty much everywhere else on the continent.. so that has to mean something about total solar power.. iow, Denver sun has more potential watts in it than Miami sun... right? Or no?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Denver enjoys 3115 hours of sunlight per year, on average. This is due to it being sunny here around 70% of the daylight hours. But I would also like to point out that we have a lot less atmosphere here than pretty much everywhere else on the continent.. so that has to mean something about total solar power.. iow, Denver sun has more potential watts in it than Miami sun... right? Or no?

Atmospheric absorption does make a difference but a fairly small one.

 

[fromderinside]

Since we're losing glaciers anyway why not set up solar farms in the rockies/Sierra, and Andes supply power and increase reflection keeping temperatures down at the same time.

 

[Gun Nut]

Since we're losing glaciers anyway why not set up solar farms in the rockies/Sierra, and Andes supply power and increase reflection keeping temperatures down at the same time.

I hiked up to Tyndall glacier in the Rockies at the end of this last summer. It's almost gone. In a couple of years it will be downgraded from glacier to snow pack. I touched snow that was millions of years old... and it was wet and slushy.