Renew Extra Weekly

There has been a debate over whether we should use zero carbon green hydrogen, produced by the electrolysis of water using renewable power, or blue (fossil-derived) hydrogen, made with CCS to reduce emissions. Or even pink hydrogen, using nuclear generated electricity.  There has also been a debate over whether, whatever its source, hydrogen should be used for heating- heat pumps are said to be far more efficient. Plenty of issues then, and, within the EU, policy battles over boiler bans and nuclear, have rather slowed things down in this area.   Even so, the wider picture is that many projects of various types are planned, with REN 21s latest global  renewables review reporting that hydrogen projects announced by the end of 2022 ‘would lead to an installed electrolyser capacity of 134-240GW by 2030’.  Some of them will involve making e-fuels for transport, using CO2 captured from the air, or industry captured CO2. Lots of room for debate there.  And on ...

With their costs falling, the UK is aiming to get most of its power from renewables, but the British Energy Security Strategy also includes an ambition for the UK to produce ‘up to 24 GW’ of civil nuclear power by 2050, which might mean that nuclear energy would provide up to 25% of the UK’s electricity. The government wants it to be mainly private sector funded, but this major expansion programme has not been going very well. Despite government encouragement and some seed corn cash, pension fund and investment managers have not been keen to face the risks and uncertainties, for example of the proposed large new EPR plant at Sizewell. Even NEST, the government’s workplace pension scheme, the National Employment Savings Trust, says it will not invest in nuclear projects like this, despite government policy directives   Some remain hopeful that smaller modular reactor (SMR) projects will be more attractive to investors, but SMRs are some way off yet .  Rolls  Royce ...

Solar PV is doing very well globally , with over 1TW now in the pipeline and a 20% annual growth rate.  Its success is clear from the IEA’s recent global assessment of manufacturing capacity , which also shows that wind is behind target: projected throughput from existing wind capacity and announced new projects equates to just under 30% of planned Net Zero Scenario deployment levels. Hydrogen electrolysers are doing a bit better at just over 60% and heat pumps just over 40%.  The IEA survey also shows that China leads in most areas, with 80% of current and projected (‘in pipeline’) global PV capacity and over 60% of existing and projected global wind capacity. It also does well on battery storage (around 75% and 70%) and quite well on electrolysis (40% and 35%) and heat pumps (35% and 25%). Only the EU beats it in the projected pipeline for heat pumps (40%).  So is that how the global energy future is going to look? China in the lead with PV, followed by wind? With hydro...

The UK government has committed to boosting the clean energy sector with £205m for the latest round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which is seen as the main way ahead for supporting renewables. It has already supported almost 27GW of low carbon generation projects and the fifth allocation round is expected to further encourage green industries and jobs, including £170m set aside for established technologies such as offshore wind, as well as a £10m allocation for tidal stream technologies.   However, there are economic issues with the overall CfD programme. RenewableUK’s Economics and Markets Manager Michael Chesser said: ‘Unfortunately, in the light of global inflationary pressures, the budget and parameters set for this year’s CfD auction are currently too low and too tight to unlock all the potential investment in wind, solar and tidal stream projects which the industry could deliver’. The still continuing lack of support for significant onshore wind in Engla...