The Remarkable Progress of Renewable Energy

[lpetrich]

Renewables projects ramp up Down Under - in South Australia

Hydrogen-fuelled ship project secures EU funding - Splash247 - the hydrogen is stored in liquid form and its energy is extracted with fuel cells.

Why Vanadium Flow Batteries May Be The Future Of Utility-Scale Energy Storage

The Lithium-Ion Battery With Built-In Fire Suppression - IEEE Spectrum - Li-ion batteries have a risk of catching fire

Wind and solar now power a 10th of the world, while coal smoulders | Corporate Knights - "But Canadians can't brag, wind and solar generate only 5.3% of our total electricity – about half the global share"

The weekend read: The ground beneath – pv magazine International

Sheep were the last thing on the mind of a solar developer 10 years ago. But in 2020, sheep are now an important consideration. Minnesota Native Landscapes (MNL) is a solar vegetation management company that plays an essential role in communicating to energy professionals how vegetation management is an often neglected line item on a project manager’s task list.

... A professional vegetation strategy for solar farms, designed to maximize all of a project’s benefits literally from the ground up, is gaining wider acceptance.

Agrivoltaics. Like sheep grazing underneath solar panels.

 

[lpetrich]

Liebreich: Separating Hype from Hydrogen – Part Two: The Demand Side | BloombergNEF - first article Liebreich: Separating Hype from Hydrogen – Part One: The Supply Side | BloombergNEF

n broad summary, I concluded that ‘green’ hydrogen (i.e. hydrogen produced via electrolysis using renewable energy) will be cost-competitive with ‘blue’ hydrogen (i.e. zero-carbon hydrogen produced via fossil fuels with carbon capture) in around a decade and competitive with ‘gray’ hydrogen (i.e. hydrogen produced from fossil fuels without carbon capture) at around $1/kg by 2050.

Given the rapid growth of renewable-related technologies, that may be overly pessimistic.

As a chemical feedstock, of course, hydrogen is irreplaceable. However, as an energy storage medium, it has only a 50% round-trip efficiency – far worse than batteries. As a source of work, fuel cells, turbines and engines are only 60% efficient – far worse than electric motors – and far more complex. As a source of heat, hydrogen costs four times as much as natural gas. As a way of transporting energy, hydrogen pipelines cost three times as much as power lines, and ships and trucks are even worse.

The article then discussed the prospects for a variety of potential uses of hydrogen.

All new U.S. electricity generation capacity came from renewables this summer

Grappling with blade recycling, wind sector buys time with life extensions | S&P Global Market Intelligence

All of South Australia's power comes from solar panels in world first for major jurisdiction - ABC News

Danish research shows “almost no birds" die in collisions with wind turbines | RenewEconomy

Nikola, Toyota, Hyundai seek zero-emission hydrogen trucks

Solar-Powered Yachts Are Taking Over—and That’s a Good Thing – Robb Report

 

[lpetrich]

First Solar recycles old panels into new ones - "The first wave of solar panels is reaching the end of their useful lives. Now they can become new solar panels instead of trash."

Toyota Brings the Hydrogen Fuel Cell to the Wider Marine Industry

New catalyst turns greenhouse gases into hydrogen gas
CO2 + CH4 -> 2CO + 2H2
You won't want to breathe the exhaust of that reaction. Nothing about what to do about that CO.

S. Korea, Russia to build stronger ties in hydrogen sector

The Trump administration is burying dozens of studies detailing the promise of renewable energy

In all, the department has blocked reports for more than 40 clean energy studies. The department has replaced them with mere presentations, buried them in scientific journals that are not accessible to the public, or left them paralyzed within the agency, according to emails and documents obtained by InvestigateWest, as well as interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees at the Department of Energy, or DOE, and its national labs.

The end is near, however, even if Trump has to be dragged kicking and screaming from the White House.

Yes, We're Already Transitioning From Fossil Fuels | RealClearPolitics

Lazard.com | Levelized Cost of Energy and Levelized Cost of Storage – 2020

PV powered desalination is “the most competitive design” – pv magazine International - "Scientists in France conducted an analysis on the competitiveness of water desalination, taking a large scale project planned for Morocco as a case study. The research concludes that PV without storage is the cheapest option to power desalinators, and will likely remain so until at least 2030."
PV without storage? One doesn't need electricity storage because water is easy to store (looks at water bottle on desk).

Massive $5 million solar power system pays off for Australia's largest free-range chicken farm - ABC News

Wind - Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia Announce Agreement to Spur Offshore Wind Energy - Renewable Energy Magazine, at the heart of clean energy journalism
Given how well offshore wind turbines have worked in Europe, it should be an easy task to import the technology.

Official press release: Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia Announce Agreement to Spur Offshore Wind Energy and Economic Development - Alliance will streamline development of offshore wind resources in Southeast and Mid-Atlantic region

 

[lpetrich]

Fiji plans ‘Pacific’s largest solar project’ – pv magazine Australia - 15 megawatts - they won't have to import fuel oil for generating that electricity

Offshore Wind Energy, Not Nuclear, Is the Future - Jacobin magazine, but its author argues that nuclear energy is failing by capitalist standards. Given the rate at which renewable energy generation is being improved, I suspect that that is indeed that case. In fact, renewable energy may even preempt nuclear fusion.

South Africa solar thermal project breaks continental generation record | RenewEconomy - of around-the-clock electricity generation, with the help of molten-salt energy storage.

Renewables cut Australia's emissions more than Covid, energy analysis finds | Environment | The Guardian - very welcome

From design to recycling, opportunities abound to make solar more circular | Greenbiz

Several renewable energy initiatives passed in the 2020 election. Here's what you need to know. | TheHill - "... the results of this year’s elections included only wins for renewable energy, including a constitutional amendment in Nevada which will see the state using 50 percent renewable energy by 2030 as well as a ballot measure in Columbus, Ohio, that sets up a system for buying 100 percent renewable energy for residents."

New Facility Will Store Wind Power as Highly Compressed Air - something cheaper than batteries

 

[lpetrich]

US renewable energy industry cheers Joe Biden election win as 'beautiful day' | Recharge - "Solar, wind and clean-energy industry bodies send out congratulations for next US President with accent on renewed hope for climate action"

Frankfurt begins construction of a US$590m hydrogen filling station for train fleet - an alternative to diesel fuel and line electrification

Green Hydrogen Nail, Meet Shale Gas Coffin (& Nuclear Could Be Next)

President* Trump won the Oval Office in 2016 with a promise to save coal jobs, but it’s been downhill for coal, oil, and gas ever since. The writing was already on the wall during the Obama administration, as leading US and global businesses lined up in favor of wind and solar power. Private sector dollars have continued to energize the wind and solar industries all throughout Trump’s tenure, with a generous assist from the US Department of Energy, no less.

The next big thing in renewable energy is "green hydrogen", H2 produced by power-to-gas systems: electrolysis of water. H2 can then be used as a chemical feedstock, for making nitrogen fertilizer and lots of other thing. It can be used as an alternative to coal-based smelting for steelmaking.

"Nuclear Energy Not Looking So Hot These Days, Either" - seems like it is heading toward economic preemption.

Australia state unveils $23 billion energy roadmap in renewables push | Reuters - New South Wales, in the southeast

 

[lpetrich]

World's largest renewable energy project proposed for north-west Australia ditches electricity in favour of ammonia exports - ABC News
Originally planned to deliver electricity to Singapore through four 3000-km / 2000-mi cables to Singapore.

Five Actions President-Elect Biden Could Take Quickly On Renewable Energy

Roll back President Trump's executive orders. ... Appoint renewable energy advocates to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. ... Include clean energy in an infrastructure bill. ... Review tariffs imposed by President Trump. ... Revoke a key permit for the Keystone X.L. Pipeline.

Green Hydrogen Could Fill Big Gaps in Renewable Energy - Scientific American - "A zero-carbon supplement to wind and solar"

First, significant amounts of excess renewable electricity have become available at grid scale; rather than storing excess electricity in arrays of batteries, the extra electricity can be used to drive the electrolysis of water, “storing” the electricity in the form of hydrogen. Second, electrolyzers are getting more efficient.

...
Current renewable technologies such as solar and wind can decarbonize the energy sector by as much as 85 percent by replacing gas and coal with clean electricity. Other parts of the economy, such as shipping and manufacturing, are harder to electrify because they often require fuel that is high in energy density or heat at high temperatures. Green hydrogen has potential in these sectors.

It's remarkable what a buzz I'm now seeing about renewable-energy hydrogen.

Renewable energy defies Covid-19 to hit record growth in 2020 | Environment | The Guardian - "International Energy Agency expects green electricity to end coal’s 50-year reign by 2025"

“Renewable power is defying the difficulties caused by the pandemic, showing robust growth while others fuels struggle,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. “The resilience and positive prospects of the sector are clearly reflected by continued strong appetite from investors.” Fossil fuels have had a turbulent time in 2020 as Covid-related measures caused demand from transport and other sectors to plunge.

 

[lpetrich]

Electric Aviation Could Be Closer Than You Think - Scientific American - I'm skeptical, because on an airplane, weight is at a premium, because it is weight that has to kept airborne.

Farms Will Harvest Food And The Sun, As Mass. Pioneers 'Dual-Use' Solar | Earthwhile - more and more agrivoltaics

"Watermelon, eggplant, certain varieties of peppers, and corn require a high degree of sunlight so we’re not certain any of those will be successful," says Gerald Palano, an alternative energy specialist with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. According to Palano, many leafy vegetables can grow well in the shade: lettuce, spinach, kale, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

Toshiba to end construction of new coal-fired power plants | The Japan Times

Seawater could provide nearly unlimited amounts of critical battery material | Science | AAAS - lithium. There is a big problem, however. It's VERY dilute.

The new fuel to come from Saudi Arabia - BBC Future - "green hydrogen"
More and more buzz about hydrogen. Even if it sometimes seems like all talk and no action.

 

[bilby]

Solar is now ‘cheapest electricity in history’, confirms IEA - so pleasant to see renewable energy winning in economics.

Floating solar PV plants on hydropower reservoirs could produce 10,600 TWh of potential power a year globally, NREL finds | Solar Business Hub - equivalent to an average generation rate of 1.2 terawatts

Renewable Technology Will Take Starring Role As Energy Recovers From Covid-19

Renewable Energy Surges Even In Fossil Fuel Friendly Red States

Kansas, Iowa and North Dakota generate enough renewable energy to meet more than half their electricity demand, according to the report. Oklahoma is not far behind at 45 percent. Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota also appear on the top-ten list.

What Is Happening With Solar Energy? - it's on the rise

Solar+storage replaces US coal plant – pv magazine International - "The utility plans to replace the San Juan coal-fired station’s 847 MW of capacity with 650 MW of solar generation and 300 MW/1,200 MWh of accompanying energy storage."

Is wind power’s future in deep water? - BBC Future - floating wind turbines anchored to the ocean floor.

It really doesn't matter how cheap energy is at times of excess supply.

How cheap is solar energy just after sunset when demand is at its peak? Because that's a far more useful question than "what is the cheapest source of energy at the point of peak supply?"

Intermittency is a MASSIVE hidden cost; And it would certainly be the largest cost element by FAR in a 'solar and wind only' power grid.

 

[lpetrich]

Wind farm with ability to power one million households up and running

Situated 23 kilometers (around 14.3 miles) off the coast of Zeeland, in the southwest of the Netherlands, the 752 megawatt (MW) Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm spans an area of 112 square kilometers. It uses 94 wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa.

In an announcement Friday, Orsted described the facility as the second-largest operating offshore wind farm in the world. The largest, Hornsea One, has a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW) and was also developed by Orsted.

...
A number of major offshore wind projects located in European waters are now in the pipeline. These include the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in Britain, which left the EU in January 2020.

A 50:50 joint venture between SSE Renewables and Equinor, the Dogger Bank facility will have a total capacity of 3.6 GW once completed, making it the largest in the world.

I have to marvel at the scale of those projects.

How salt caverns may trigger $11 trillion hydrogen energy boom -- as places to store that hydrogen.

Final turbine completed at Tasmania's Granville Harbour wind farm | RenewEconomy - this 112-MW project will increase installed wind-power capacity by 1/3.

 

[lpetrich]

Nearly 30 US states see renewables generate more power than either coal or nuclear - Energy Live News - "Nationwide, renewables accounted for 20.8% of US electrical generation during the first eight months of 2020, ahead of 19.4% from nuclear and 18.4% from coal"

Northwestern team develops solid acid electrochemical cell for the production of hydrogen from ammonia - Green Car Congress - why get hydrogen from ammonia? Because it's easier to store ammonia than hydrogen.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Australia’s largest poultry farm switches on solar plus energy storage system – pv magazine Australia - "Australia’s largest free-range chicken farm switched on one of the biggest solar plus energy storage system’s of any commercial farm in the country this week. With 1.4 MW of rooftop solar combining with 2.28 MWh of energy storage via 5 Tesla lithium-ion batteries, the farm is excited to save enormous amounts on its energy bill and its emissions. Winner, winner!"

Renewables overtake coal and gas for first time in Western Australia | RenewEconomy - "Still, rooftop solar still provides nearly half of the renewable energy output in the state, and will continue to grow its share as there are few opportunities for more large scale wind and solar until the next wave of coal fired power station closures, expected in 2023."

South Africa solar thermal project breaks continental generation record | RenewEconomy - "Round the clock operation was made possible by optimally managing 9.3-hours’ worth of thermal salt storage overnight, allowing the solar field to continue generation for 13 days."

It uses trough mirrors to reflect sunlight onto long tubes.

100% solar, wind and batteries is just the start — the 'super' power they produce will change the world | Utility Dive

Imagine having an energy system that generates three times more electricity we use today for a fraction of the cost (even free!) while generating no greenhouse gases or toxic waste. Imagine repatriating and growing energy-hungry industries, creating millions of jobs, trillions of dollars in societal wealth, and vastly improving our quality of life — while saving money. Incumbents would say it’s not possible. We have heard that before — but they’ve been proven wrong and we’ve been proven right.

We are on the cusp of the most profound disruption of the energy sector since the advent of electricity itself over a century ago. The costs of solar photovoltaic power, onshore wind, and lithium-ion battery energy storage (SWB) have plummeted over the last two decades, and they will fall another 70%, 40% and 80% respectively during the 2020s as their adoption continues to grow exponentially worldwide. The convergence of SWB now offers an electricity solution that coal, gas, nuclear and other conventional energy technologies can no longer compete with.

Seems very optimistic. Like "Too cheap to meter". But given the great growth in wind energy and solar energy and associated technologies, I would not want to rule it out. I'm expecting synfuels to be next, starting with hydrogen.

 

[lpetrich]

Green Hydrogen: Could It Be Key to a Carbon-Free Economy? - Yale E360 - "Green hydrogen, which uses renewable energy to produce hydrogen from water, is taking off around the globe. Its boosters say the fuel could play an important role in decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors of the economy, such as long-haul trucking, aviation, and heavy manufacturing."

I agree. Synfuels like H2 will have an important to play in a renewable-energy economy, because of their much higher density than batteries. H2 itself is difficult to store, because of its low boiling point. But one can make easier-to-store synfuels like ammonia, methanol, and hydrocarbons.

As renewable power prices drop, researchers tally up their added costs | Ars Technica - "Matching demand when the supply of wind and solar varies has costs, but small ones."

Philip Heptonstall and Robert Gross of Imperial College London decided to try to figure out what the costs actually were. After wading through hundreds of studies, the answer they came up with is somewhere between "It's complicated" and "It depends." But the key conclusion is that, even at the high end of the estimates, the added costs of renewables still leave them fairly competitive with carbon-emitting sources.

So energy storage and long-distance transmission are not impossibly expensive.


US renewable energy industry cheers Joe Biden election win as 'beautiful day' | Recharge - I agree.

 

[lpetrich]

Burning Iron for Fuel: Metal Powder as Renewable Energy - "Here’s how it works: Iron is burned in furnaces, fulfilling a key industry requirement for high heat that isn’t covered by many other renewables. Then, the resulting oxidized rust waste is recycled back into newly re-burnable iron fuel using electrical energy that can be from clean sources."

It may be easier to make hydrogen with electrolysis, but if iron does well in some applications, then why not?

Renewable energy defies Covid-19 to hit record growth in 2020 | Environment | The Guardian - "Global renewable electricity installation will hit a record level in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency, in sharp contrast with the declines caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the fossil fuel sectors."

Wind Power to Run Giant Green Hydrogen Plant at BP Oil Refinery - Bloomberg - it looks like oil companies will have a little bit of a future in a post-fossil-fuel world.

Solar-plus-storage replaces coal plant in New Mexico, makes carbon-capture retrofit moot – pv magazine USA -- carbon capture? Good riddance. It should be made unnecessary.

 

[lpetrich]

Volvo Boss Wants to Replace Diesel with Fuel Cells in Large Trucks - FuelCellsWorks - "Lars Stenqvist, technical manager at AB Volvo, believes that for the long-distance transports, the fuel cells will be what counts. They expect large volumes of fuel cells in trucks, construction machinery, buses and at Volvo Penta with marine and industrial uses."

"Svante Axelsson from Fossil-free Sweden believes that five years ago it was not realistic with hydrogen. Now the concept looks quite attractive. Svante Axelsson believes that it is due to two things. Electricity from wind and sun is cheap. That electricity needs to be stored, for example in batteries or in the form of newly produced hydrogen gas. The technology used to make hydrogen has improved and become cheaper. The large scale means that the price is pushed down even more."

Daimler, Toyota, and Hyundai are also working on powering trucks with hydrogen fuel cells.

Wind & Solar Are Cheaper Than Everything, Lazard Reports - beating combined-cycle natural-gas generation, the currently cheapest fossil-fuel option

90% of the Global Power Capacity Added in 2020 Will Be Renewable

With GOP Support, Arizona Mandates Cleaner Energy - Scientific American - because of how economically competitive renewable energy has been getting.

Typhoon Wind Turbines and Maritime Propulsion

Beginning over a decade ago in response to powerful winds destroying wind turbines, Japanese researchers began developing wind turbines capable of operating during typhoon force winds. More recently, General Electric has begun developing typhoon capable wind turbines. There is potential to adapt some typhoon capable wind turbines to maritime propulsion and especially for sailing directly into headwinds.

Almost universally, wind turbines are locked down to prevent self-destruction when wind speeds exceed 60 knots. ...

A competing typhoon turbine configuration is based on the vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) where three vertical-axis Flettner rotors are spaced 120 degrees apart at an equal radius from the vertical power shaft. Each Flettner rotor has a vertical fin. The vertical-axis wind turbine typically operates at 30 percent efficiency, compared to horizontal-axis turbines achieving as high as 40 percent efficiency with equal wind speed. However, the typhoon turbine can remain operational in above 60-knot winds while conventional wind turbines need to be locked down. During high wind speeds, typhoon capable wind turbines would be suitable for commercial maritime propulsion.

 

[lpetrich]

Combining Flow Batteries with Tidal Power to Create Hydrogen

In November, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland announced it would be installing a 1.8-MWh flow battery at the organization’s tidal energy pilot site on the Scottish island of Eday.

This novel blend of tidal power technology and flow battery technology powers EMEC’s on-site hydrogen production facility. The setup will allow for continuous green hydrogen production from a variable renewable energy source. Produced by the UK-based Invinity Energy Systems, the flow battery system to be utilized at the EMEC tidal facility will be assembled from eight separate modules. The project is expected to go live by the end of 2021.

The flow batteries here will be vanadium ones.

Primary Energy vs Final Energy: Why Replacing Fossil Fuels Won't Be So Hard - Bloomberg - "Much of the energy from burning coal, oil and gas is simply lost as waste heat, meaning a switch to renewables isn’t that big a leap"

The average efficiency of coal power plants globally is about 33%, according to the World Coal Association. That is, only a third of the energy stored in the black lumps is converted to electricity. Many modern internal combustion engine cars have an efficiency of about 20%, transforming only a fifth of gasoline’s energy into motion.

Solar Panels + Agriculture: You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - more and more

 

[lpetrich]

Texas will host the largest solar project in the US - Electrek - 1.31 GW in NE Texas

A step closer to practical solar hydrogen production via elaborately modified hematite photoanode - using sunlight directly to split water into H2 and O2

Too cheap to keep: How throwing away power is the best way to balance the grid – pv magazine USA - remarkable that wind and solar electricity generation have gotten far enough for that to be a seriously-discussed strategy.

Agrivoltaic beekeeping project in Spain – pv magazine International

General Motors’ electric vehicle plan just got bigger, bolder, and more expensive - The Verge

3-D printed electrodes free the gas - making electrolysis more efficient

Hydrogen-powered trains could replace diesel engines in Germany - CNN

European wind and solar link arms to push green hydrogen over blue | Recharge - renewable-energy-generated H2

 

[lpetrich]

Finland and Japan are Studying Hydrogen Powered Ship Designs - synfuels advance further

The Renewable Energy Cows Come Home, Now With Green Ammonia - renewable energy for making ammonia as a synfuel and a fertilizer feedstock.

Wind Turbine to Power a Home for 2 Days on a Single Spin | IE - a 13-MW turbine

New Offshore Wind Turbine Can Power a Home for a Day in Just 7 Seconds - Union of Concerned Scientists

That uses 1 kW for each individual home. That also mean a rotation period of 14 seconds. Also, the blades are 107 m / 350 ft long.

Massive 853-foot-tall wind turbines are coming to America's East Coast - "Each Haliade-X will stand 260 meters (853 ft) tall, with a 220-meter (722-ft) rotor incorporating three 107-meter (351-ft) blades"

"The Vineyard Wind 1 project, an 800 MW renewable energy project, will place a number of these monster turbines some 15 miles off the South coast of Martha's Vineyard, an island off Massachusetts, to take advantage of the strong winds off the East coast of the United states. It'll power about 400,000 houses in New England, expecting to become active sometime in 2023."

Remarkable how far that bit of engineering has gone.

A wind-powered vertical farm: Giant urban farm opens in Denmark

Though they will never see daylight or soil, hundreds of tonnes of lettuce, herbs and kale will be harvested over the coming months from the vast farm, run by Danish start-up Nordic Harvest.

"We have only an output of about 200 tonnes per year but we have built the support facility to support a production of 1,000 tonnes per year," CEO Anders Riemann told AFP.

This indoor farm uses 20,000 LED's to provide light for its crops, and robots deliver supplies across the 7,000 m^2 of warehouse area.

 

[lpetrich]

hydrogen: EXPLAINER-Why green hydrogen is finally getting its day in the sun, Energy News, ET EnergyWorld

Hydrogen has taken off this year as the future green fuel of choice, with governments and businesses betting big that the universe's most abundant element can help fight climate change.

More than $150 billion worth of green hydrogen projects have been announced globally in the past nine months. In total, more than 70 gigawatts of such projects are in development, which could require $250 billion worth of investment by 2040, research firm Rystad Energy estimates.

The article asks: why now?

For things that are difficult to run on electricity, like steelmaking, cement, fertilizers, shipping, and aviation.

What the colors mean:

• Gray H2: produced with fossil fuels with carbon release (the usual methods)
• Blue H2: produced with fossil fuels with carbon capture
• Green H2: produced by electrolyzing water with renewable-energy electricity

To make green H2 competitive with gray H2, it will have to cost around $1.50/kg.

The key costs that have to fall to meet the sub-$1.50 target are the cost of wind and solar power and the cost of electrolysers, which split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Renewable power costs need to fall by around 50% and electrolyser costs would need to drop by around 75% to meet that target, Australia's renewable energy agency estimates.

The other main hurdle is transporting hydrogen long distances. To ship liquid hydrogen, it needs to be chilled to minus 253 degrees C. Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries is set to complete construction of the world's first liquefied hydrogen carrier, the Suiso Frontier, by early 2021.

It is much easier to ship hydrogen in the form of liquid ammonia, which needs to be chilled to only minus 33 degrees C, so most of the world's big hydrogen export projects are looking to ship green ammonia.

 

[lpetrich]

Solar Energy Is On The Brink Of A Golden Age | OilPrice.com
After Joe Biden's election,

The U.S. will more than likely be falling in line with the ambitious decarbonization plans put forward by the European Union and even cooperating on a green energy trade agenda. While the United States and Europe together account for a massive chunk of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, their decarbonization can only go so far without likeminded policy from the energy-guzzling giant that is China. And China is, in fact, saying it will now pull its weight in the fight against catastrophic climate change, with lofty targets of peak emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. As for the rest of the global economy: when the Earth’s largest economies lean this heavily into a trend, the rest of the world tends to follow.

Semi-transparent dye-sensitized solar module with 8.7% efficiency – pv magazine International

Semitransparent solar panels could be useful for windows, for instance.

Hydro-Québec to operate world's most powerful electrolyzer - capacity 90 MW, making 11,100 tons H2, 88,000 tons O2.

"The facility will supply green hydrogen and oxygen to the Recyclage Carbone Varennes (RCV) plant project, which will transform non-recyclable waste into biofuels, providing an alternative to landfill."

 

[lpetrich]

Great energy: the future is here thanks to LAVO, and it’s hydrogen

Trump Admin. Drops Green Hydrogen Bomb On Fossil Energy

Scientists Just Set a New World Record in Solar Cell Efficiency - "Researchers have now hit an efficiency of 29.15 percent in the perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell category, which is just one of several different types of cells."

The 5GW UK hydrogen target: A hugely important step – H2 View talks to ITM Power

New research finds catalyst resolves hydrogen fuel cell cost, longevity issues

'This is lift-off' for green hydrogen, says veteran British engineer | S&P Global Market Intelligence - notes "decades of false dawns" before the current rise of H2.

More and more H2.

The natural-gas industry seems to like it because it can use the same infrastructure as CH4 -- pipelines, etc.

It's also a feedstock for more easily liquefied synfuels, like ammonia, NH3. It can also be used to make methanol, CH3OH, and hydrocarbons, CxHy.

 

[lpetrich]

US Solar Companies Installed 3.8 GW of New Solar PV Capacity in 2020 Q3 Alone - Solar Powered Blog

US set for record 19GW of new solar capacity installations in 2020 | PV Tech


Clean Energy Funding Finds Its Way Into Congressional Spending Bill | Greentech Media - "A wide array of research and development funding for renewables, grid, nuclear and carbon capture could make it into the law."

Wind energy, solar energy, energy storage, nuclear energy, carbon capture, energy efficiency, weatherization, phasing down hydrofluorocarbons (some greenhouse gases), ...