The Remarkable Progress of Renewable Energy

[lpetrich]

Breakthrough Solar System Uses Recycled Aluminum to Store Energy—Without Batteries
noting
Azelio - "Clean power when you need it" - "Thermal energy storage with dispatchable electricity"

It works by melting an aluminum alloy that melts at around 600 C. The heat is then recovered to generate electricity, using a kind of piston heat engine called a  Stirling engine. From Stirling Engine ‹ Azelio

The most prominent advantage of the Stirling engine – besides being carbon neutral – is its high efficiency. The Azelio Stirling engine conversion rate to electricity is substantially higher than in traditional CSP. Having developed a reliable and highly robust design the need for maintenance is kept to a minimum. Owning our own high-volume assembly facility ensures the high quality and keeps production cost down.

The system's Stirling engines then run electricity generators. The system is advertised as "dispatchable", and it looks like the case.

4 astonishing signs of coal’s declining economic viability - Vox

1. It is already cheaper to build new renewables than to build new coal plants, in all major markets.

2. Over half the existing global coal fleet is more expensive to run than building new renewables.

3. By 2030, it will be cheaper to build new renewables than to run existing coal — everywhere.

4. Investors stand to lose over $600 billion on doomed coal plants.

...
It is not economics propping coal up

All of this raises the question: if more than half of current coal plants are uneconomic, and virtually all future coal plants will be, why are people still investing in them? How is coal defying market gravity, staying up despite the economic forces dragging it down?

Because most energy markets aren’t particularly market-like. They tend to be centrally planned and highly regulated, though they do range in the degree of regulation. The most competitive markets — “deregulated” markets where there is something akin to open competition among energy resources — are generally found in the EU. In the US, there is a mix of semi-regulated markets (with some competition) and fully regulated markets, wherein the entire electricity supply chain is controlled by monopoly utilities. The situation is similar in Asian countries, a mix with even more barriers to markets.

...
Coal is kept alive by path dependence, political influence, and distorted markets. Killing it off for good is the capitalist thing to do.

 

[lpetrich]

4 astonishing signs of coal’s declining economic viability - Vox

4 ways policymakers can avoid a coal disaster

Carbon Tracker concludes with four recommendations.

The first it directs to China, though it could equally well be directed to any country. COVID-19 has dealt a serious blow to China’s economy and will deal more serious blows to other economies across the world before it is done. In doing so, it has slowed economic activity and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

When rebuilding, use renewable energy and not fossil fuels.

Second, governments need to take the risk of stranded coal assets seriously and stop incentivizing and underwriting new coal projects. ...

Third, policymakers should move toward more lightly regulated, competitive energy markets, with more “price discovery” through regular interaction of buyers and sellers. ...

Finally, policymakers should devise a phase-out schedule for existing coal plants.

Coal left Appalachia devastated. Now it’s doing the same to Wyoming. - Vox - "Vulture capitalists are sucking value from a dying industry."

Wyoming is facing a potential crisis. Coal mines have shut down, hundreds of people are out of work, unemployment offices are overwhelmed, and there appears to be worse to come.

The coal industry, long seen as a friend and economic linchpin in the state, is falling apart, and the very communities that have supported it most are getting screwed over in the process.

This wasn’t supposed to happen in Wyoming. After all, it’s not like Appalachian coal country (West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, along with eastern Ohio and parts of Alabama, Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia).

Appalachia, which has been ground into codependent poverty by the coal industry over the course of a century, has been declining, in coal output and employment, for decades. Lately it has only gotten worse, as companies declare bankruptcy, executives get healthy bonuses, polluted coal mines are abandoned, and miners and retirees are denied long-promised health benefits and pensions.

 

[lpetrich]

Emissions are down thanks to coronavirus, but that's bad - POLITICO

FIVE WAYS CORONA HELPS THE ENVIRONMENT:

1. Improvements in air quality
2. Industry shut-downs reduce emissions
3. Minds may open for structural change
4. Public financial institutions will push green stimulus
5. Low oil prices make it harder for the dirtiest oil to compete, and easier to cut subsidies

FOUR WAYS CORONA WILL HURT THE ENVIRONMENT

1. Political and financial capital will be diverted
2. Mountains of waste
3. Home energy use will go up
4. Low profits reduce what a company can invest in risky and long-term bets

 

[James Brown]

"Codependent Poverty." Nice phrase.

Recently re-watched October Sky, about four Appalachian teenage boys in the Sputnik era determined to build and fly rockets, with an eye toward using their self-taught skills to get out of a lifetime of working in a coal mine. Their desire to "get out of here" reminds me of a woman's desire to get out of an abusive marriage.

 

[fromderinside]

When the book 'Rocket Boys' came out I was charmed. It was about education and one particular boy who inspired some friends to break some rules and make rockets. Yes it was written against the tapestry of coal mining culture. But, more it was about youthful spirit without political or social baggage. 'October Sky' mostly captured that sense too.

Yes, I think" Burning Bed" is a good movie too. But, the similarities of the two stories are more about individuals taking action and doing things than they are about the social environment in which they are set.

 

[lpetrich]

Coronavirus creating solar industry 'crisis': U.S. trade group - Reuters

The spreading coronavirus is threatening project schedules in the booming U.S. solar industry following a year in which the sector topped natural gas as the nation’s top new power source, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Fallout from the pandemic has impacted both supply chains and demand in the fast-growing industry, and the president of the top U.S. solar trade group said its annual market report’s projection of 47% growth in 2020 will be ratcheted down in the coming weeks and months.

...
Solar companies are facing not only disruptions to supplies of components such as panels and inverters, but labor shortages as Americans are asked to limit social contacts to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 disease or are forced to stay home due to school closures, Hopper said. In the rooftop solar market, homeowners may be putting large investments on hold for the time being, she added.

He Set Up a Big Solar Farm. His Neighbors Hated It. - The New York Times

Opponents in New York cite reasons from practical to the aesthetic: the impact of the solar arrays on pastoral vistas, the hazard of glare for drivers passing by and even concern for endangered short-eared owls that may struggle to find field mice to eat among the panels.

There is also economic opposition from small farmers who lease land parcels from bigger farmers or landowners; they fear that they will be squeezed out by energy companies willing to pay more to use farmland for their solar cells.

Europe Puts Focus On Floating Solar & Agrivoltaics | CleanTechnica

Norwegian oil giant Equinor is partnering with Saipem, an Italian oil and gas contractor which is 30% owned by Italian energy company Eni. Together, they will jointly develop “floating solar panel park technological solution for near-coastal applications,” according to PV Magazine. Saipem has a subsidiary called Moss Maritime that provides engineering services to the offshore oil and gas industry, as well as the renewable energy sector. The partnership’s goal is to develop a modularized system that features easy fabrication, transportation and onsite installation. In other words, a plug and play floating solar system. The companies have yet to release any technical details of their technology.

In effect, an oil company using its offshore-drilling expertise for renewable energy.

Solar Power Europe is a new trade group that is promoting agrivoltaic technology. “Solar energy and agriculture can go hand in hand,” said Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe tells PV Magazine. She sees a “triple benefit” in which the combination increases the yield of agricultural crops, reduces water consumption, and produces renewable electricity. “This is what a climate-neutral Europe looks like, where local agriculture and low-cost solar energy may become the engines of a sustainable European economy,” Hemetsberger says.

I think that those previously-mentioned upstate New Yorkers could use some of that -- put the panels on stilts so that they can grow crops and let livestock graze.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-power-capacity-up-by-fifth-after-record-year

...
The world’s wind power capacity grew by almost a fifth in 2019 after a year of record growth for offshore windfarms and a boom in onshore projects in the US and China.
The Global Wind Energy Council found that wind power capacity grew by 60.4 gigawatts, or 19%, compared with 2018, in one of the strongest years on record for the global wind power industry.
The growth was powered by a record year for offshore wind, which grew by 6.1GW to make up a tenth of new windfarm installations for the first time.
...

“If we are to have any chance at reaching our Paris agreement objectives and remaining on a 1.5C pathway, we need to be installing at least 100GW of wind energy per year, and this needs to rise to 200GW per year and beyond,” he said.
The council had expected that global wind power installations would rise by 76GW this year but will offer a new forecast in the second quarter of the year that takes into account the impact of the coronavirus.
...

 

[bilby]

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-power-capacity-up-by-fifth-after-record-year

...
The world’s wind power capacity grew by almost a fifth in 2019 after a year of record growth for offshore windfarms and a boom in onshore projects in the US and China.
The Global Wind Energy Council found that wind power capacity grew by 60.4 gigawatts, or 19%, compared with 2018, in one of the strongest years on record for the global wind power industry.
The growth was powered by a record year for offshore wind, which grew by 6.1GW to make up a tenth of new windfarm installations for the first time.
...

“If we are to have any chance at reaching our Paris agreement objectives and remaining on a 1.5C pathway, we need to be installing at least 100GW of wind energy per year, and this needs to rise to 200GW per year and beyond,” he said.
The council had expected that global wind power installations would rise by 76GW this year but will offer a new forecast in the second quarter of the year that takes into account the impact of the coronavirus.
...

Divide capacity by three to get the actual amount of power generation. Then try to comprehend that that power is almost all generated at times of low (often negative) wholesale electricity prices.

It's great for propaganda - but it's a shit electricity generation technology, nonetheless.

The more of this shit there is, the worse off consumers will be.

 

[skepticalbip]

I think that those previously-mentioned upstate New Yorkers could use some of that -- put the panels on stilts so that they can grow crops and let livestock graze.

Crops and grass for grazing don't grow well in the shade, even if the shade is from solar panels.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I think that those previously-mentioned upstate New Yorkers could use some of that -- put the panels on stilts so that they can grow crops and let livestock graze.

Crops and grass for grazing don't grow well in the shade, even if the shade is from solar panels.

Then grow the crops at night, when the panels can't cast a shadow.
I mean, duh!

 

[lpetrich]

I think that those previously-mentioned upstate New Yorkers could use some of that -- put the panels on stilts so that they can grow crops and let livestock graze.

Crops and grass for grazing don't grow well in the shade, even if the shade is from solar panels.

Or so it might seem. There are lots of plants that grow well in shaded areas. You'd be surprised. Fruits & Vegetables That Grow in the Shade | Home Guides | SF Gate

 

[skepticalbip]

I think that those previously-mentioned upstate New Yorkers could use some of that -- put the panels on stilts so that they can grow crops and let livestock graze.

Crops and grass for grazing don't grow well in the shade, even if the shade is from solar panels.

Or so it might seem. There are lots of plants that grow well in shaded areas. You'd be surprised. Fruits & Vegetables That Grow in the Shade | Home Guides | SF Gate

Did you check the site you linked to see what was on it? I didn't see anything on that link relating to growing crops in the shade.

But, of course, there are plants that like shade like some flowers, ferns, and mosses but not so much food crops or grazing grasses... the kind of plants farmers are interested in.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I think that those previously-mentioned upstate New Yorkers could use some of that -- put the panels on stilts so that they can grow crops and let livestock graze.

Crops and grass for grazing don't grow well in the shade, even if the shade is from solar panels.

Crops, generally no. Grazing land, though, can function in partial shade. If you have sun-tracking collectors you have partial shade, not full shade.

 

[lpetrich]

Or so it might seem. There are lots of plants that grow well in shaded areas. You'd be surprised. Fruits & Vegetables That Grow in the Shade | Home Guides | SF Gate

Did you check the site you linked to see what was on it? I didn't see anything on that link relating to growing crops in the shade.

Check again. Those fruits and vegetables are often grown as crop plants.

 

[skepticalbip]

Or so it might seem. There are lots of plants that grow well in shaded areas. You'd be surprised. Fruits & Vegetables That Grow in the Shade | Home Guides | SF Gate

Did you check the site you linked to see what was on it? I didn't see anything on that link relating to growing crops in the shade.

Check again. Those fruits and vegetables are often grown as crop plants.

Indeed they are but the fruits shown like kiwi and guava require full sun for fruit production. The plants may survive in partial sun but would struggle. Fruit production would be sparse if at all, depending on the amount of sun.

ETA:
By the way, the site you linked does not claim that those fruits can be productive in shade or even in partial sun.

 

[lpetrich]

Heartland Institute Warns Renewables Will Damage The Environment & Harm People — Junk Science For Pollution | CleanTechnica

The message they have for their readers is this: electric car batteries use minerals like lithium, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and others. Mining is a dirty business that tortures the Earth and can cause health problems for workers. Therefore, any mining for minerals used in renewable energy production is inherently bad and should be stopped!

Sharp-eyed readers will note that any extraction techniques used to wrest fossil fuels from the Earth are perfectly OK. No miner has ever suffered black lung disease and no one involved in fracking has ever suffered any health related issues.

...
The Institute has a long history of publishing “studies” that support its world view. Its methodology is simple. It sets forth the conclusion it wants the studies to come to, then hire stooges who will manufacture data to support those conclusions. If you shovel enough money at people, they will say and do anything you ask. The studies, however, have no scientific validity, although they do provide fodder for the lies and disinformation fomented by Rush “Anal Cyst” Limbaugh and Faux News talking heads.

I concede that we will eventually have to address resource extraction. Instead of seeking out ore bodies, we can mine garbage dumps.

The author of this piece is one Paul Driessen. Driessen is not only a contributor to the Heartland Institute, he is also a senior policy advisor with the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow and the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise.

OK. Let’s go a little deeper. According to DeSmog Blog, about half of all funding for CFACT since its inception has come from Donor’s Trust, a front group set up years ago by the Koch Brothers to funnel money to people and groups who will sing from the free enterprise song book. The major contributors for the CDFE are the Mercer Family Trust and ExxonMobil, according to DeSmog Blog.

 

[lpetrich]

Off-The-Radar Renewable Energy Explosion After COVID-19 Dust Settles — CleanTechnica Interview | CleanTechnica

Earlier this week, renewable energy advocates raised the alarm when it became clear that the new $2 trillion stimulus package will not shine so kindly upon wind, solar, and other clean tech. That stinks, but the groundwork for a low carbon revolution was already laid by another stimulus bill that passed Congress way back before the latest crisis hit — just about 11 years ago, as a matter of fact.

That's ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Climate Crisis: Trump's War on Solar - Rolling Stone - "Expanding access to renewable energy is the key to a future free of fossil fuels. So why are we moving so slowly?"

olar power’s great leap forward over the past decade has been stunning. Solar energy can now supply nearly 14 million homes in the U.S., up from fewer than 800,000 in 2010, and the price for solar generation has plunged by 90 percent. Over the same time, our solar workforce — primarily installers — has more than doubled, to nearly 250,000. Southern states like Florida, South Carolina, and Texas are starting to realize their solar potential, ranking behind only California in new installed capacity last year, when solar accounted for nearly 40 percent of new electrical production nationwide. “Today, solar is cheaper than pretty much any other power technology you can install,” says Jigar Shah, the founder of Sun-Edison, who now helms the green-investment firm Generate Capital.

...
Trump’s hobbling of solar is particularly grievous because it has the rare ability to bypass partisan fights about global warming. Americans across the political spectrum have embraced rooftop solar as a way to lower their electrical bills and survive blackouts and superstorms. For many conservatives, solar-energy autonomy is appealing. “Solar provides some choice from being tethered to these government-created monopolies,” says Debbie Dooley, who leads the Green Tea Coalition, an offshoot of the Tea Party. “Solar equals freedom.” In a rare mark of political unity, the federal tax credit that offsets the costs of installing solar panels enjoys support from 89 percent of Americans — including 83 percent of Republicans.

One can be more self-reliant, and it's good that some right-wingers recognize that.

 

[lpetrich]

Blaming government may be rather silly here, because existing sorts of utilities may be natural monopolies - it's difficult to have multiple sets of electricity-distribution systems.

Flow battery could make renewable energy storage economically viable

For its design, the USC team used a waste product of the mining industry and an organic material that can be made from carbon-based feedstocks, including carbon dioxide, and is already used in other redox flow batteries.

In tests, the iron sulfate solution and Anthraquinone disulfonic acid (AQDS) battery was found able to charge and discharge hundreds of times with "virtually no loss of power." The researchers say that the inexpensive nature of the materials used could also lead to significant electricity cost savings compared to redox flow batteries using venadium, if manufactured at scale.

A Durable, Inexpensive and Scalable Redox Flow Battery Based on Iron Sulfate and Anthraquinone Disulfonic Acid - IOPscience

How Low Can Energy Storage Go? Lots and Lots Lower!

As for the cost of this new energy storage breakthrough, USC notes that iron sulfate is an abundant byproduct of the steel industry that currently goes for about 5 cents per pound.

The anthraquinone disulfonic acid end of things is a bit more challenging, but the research team estimates that a scaled-up production system should be able to pump it out at the rate of $66.00 per kilowatt hour.

 Anthraquinone - some chemical supply houses offer AQ disulfonic acid.

I don't see what's so special about AQDA in this context - there may be alternatives that are even easier to make than it is.

 

[lpetrich]

First wind turbines, then solar panels, then electricity storage, and now synfuels.

Renewable energy and 100% clean power targets: The missing puzzle piece - Vox - "It’s about using renewable energy to make gas."

Intermittency in supply is a big problem and storage is a necessity. Storage has a big problem: how to do it cheaply. Batteries aren't going to do it, but power-to-gas synfuels might. Electrolyzing water to make hydrogen, and then maybe also combining the hydrogen with carbon dioxide from the air to make methane -- natural gas. This technology can also be used to make heavier hydrocarbons and oxyhydrocarbons, including liquid ones: power-to-liquids. Liquid hydrocarbons, methanol, etc. The technology exists - it's the Fischer-Tropsch reaction - it has been used, most recently for synthetic motor oil - and all that is needed is to scale it up.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...y-iowa-largest-source-electricity/5146483002/

...
A new report from the American Wind Energy Association says wind is now the largest single source of electricity in Iowa.
According to the trade association's Wind Powers America 2019 Annual Report, Iowa is now generating more than 10,000 megawatts of wind energy, accounting for more than 40% of the state's electricity.
Wind became the leading source of electricity in both Iowa and Kansas this year, making them the first states to reach that benchmark. Previously, coal-fired power generation had been Iowa's main source of electricity.
Projects in Iowa added the second-most wind power capacity of any state in 2019, behind only Texas.
...

Whupping in on 'em!