Renew Extra Weekly

 In a new report, the Britain Remade lobby group pushes nuclear strongly, as part of its ecomodernist growth-based future . It models different nuclear build costs and renewable price scenarios to assess long-term impacts on household energy bills.  But although it accepts that ‘renewables may have seen large price-falls over the last 15 years’ it says that ‘ at high penetrations costs linked to managing intermittency are high: Britain has added 40 GW since 2010 and 120 GW is forecast by 2030, yet balancing, curtailment, backup, and overbuild still add cost and leave gaps that require firm power’.  It is also not very happy about the local environmental impact of renewables, given their high land use compared with nuclear plants. Well yes, but the land on which renewable techs sit is not all lost to other uses and offshore wind farms use no land.  And the nuclear fuel cycle (from uranium mining through to eventual waste disposal) also involves land use.  The new...

The UK net zero carbon plan involves the installation of 70 million solar panels, 6,000 wind turbines, and 4,500 km of underwater electricity cables and will cost about £240 billion. So it’s quite ambitious, with, according to a new study, almost one in five of the public believing that the UK’s 2050 net-zero target is bad for the economy and almost three-quarters of believing that new climate policies will make their lives more expensive. It seems that they are starting to believe claims about the high cost of the transition that have been made by right-wing politicians and some web pundits .  However, in addition to political opposition to net zero from Reform & the Tories, BNEF says that it has also got less than 100% backing from some energy practitioners. Kate Mulvany, principal consultant at Cornwall Insight said ‘Whether or not it ultimately turns out to be good value is only something that can be determined in the long term,’ while Andy Brown, deputy board chair at Ors...

Solar is booming- accelerating ahead exponentially, with well over 1.8TW already now installed globally. According to Carbon Brief/ IEA   it’s set to overtake coal in power generation by 2030, taking over the lead from wind. That’s mainly since PV cells are getting cheaper, rapidly so, and are relatively easy to install in solar farms and also, to a lesser degree, on roof tops, although that’s usually a bit more expensive. Averaged levelised costs have been put by IRENA at around $0.043/kWh - see chart below .    There are land use and impact issues, but also agrisolar options for limiting them. In addition, floating units are also being developed for use on reservoirs, so avoiding land use and reducing fresh water evaporation. The cooling effect also improves the efficiency of PV cells in warm climates.  Meanwhile, wind also continues to boom, and is set to double up , adding its second TW capacity by 2030. That’s mainly driven by onshore wind, with (see chart) its ...

UK gas and electricity consumer prices will rise by 2% under the latest cap announced by energy regulator Ofgem, so that typical households will pay £1,755 a year, up £35 a year on the current cap, or £2.93 a month. It’s not a huge increase, but it is on top of high prices.  Gas fixed costs have risen slightly, but about £1.42 a month of the increase will be used to fund the government's extension of the Warm Home Discount, giving money back off winter bills for some people on some benefits. Though about £1.23 extra a month will go to the cost of ensuring a stable electricity supply, to balance when there is too much and too little power in the system. That especially met with a lot of negative reaction, with the Daily Mail saying ‘Wind farms are driving YOUR electricity bills up’, the Telegraph opining similarly. Well yes, wind farms have negotiated contracts so that they are compensated when their power is not used, but that is often because of lack of a proper flexible grid sy...

US President Donald Trump has pretty consistently been opposed to renewable energy and policies seeking to promote its expansion as a response climate change.  Amongst other things his ‘one big beautiful bill’ phases out tax credits for wind and solar energy and opens up federal land and water for oil and gas drilling, while creating new federal support for coal.  Though it may be presented as a tax saving measure: the bill’s cuts to clean energy tax incentives are expected to save the Treasury $499 billion. But Trump also uses wider anti-green invective.  In one his key new Presidential Orders he says renewable energy is ‘unreliable, expensive, displaced more dependable energy sources, dependent on foreign-controlled supply chains & harmful to the natural environment & electric grid’.  It really feels like a vindictive attack. For example, the US Department of the Interior may no longer issue permits for wind or solar on federal lands unless they generate ...

While there are worries about energy use and potential job losses associated with AI in some sectors, the optimists are quite positive, even evangelical about the future.  For example, Carl Ennis , Siemens CEO for UK and Ireland, says that ‘the potential for AI to lead the green technological revolution is especially relevant when it comes to enabling a more resilient and responsive energy system. This is essential if UK businesses are to play their part in the transition towards net zero and a greener future’. In effect he says ‘AI turns traditional, reactive grid management into a proactive, intelligent system that can respond faster and more efficiently to the evolving demands of the UK’s low-carbon energy transition.’ And beyond that, he says the ability provided by advanced AI to conduct extended research and development before concepts are taken into the real world could have a transformative impact on the UK’s energy system, and beyond, potentially into ‘multiple areas of bu...