Plus: Canada’s grid 81% non-emitting; France invests in domestic battery production; LNG set to grow in fight against pollution
Hi Everyone,
I’m taking you around the globe with this week’s stories.
On the electric vehicle topic, Nissan is struggling to compete with Telsa for its now reduced price of US$35,000 for the base Model 3. Nissan’s new Leaf Plus starts at US$36,550, but still has less range (226 vs 240 miles)
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Thanks,
Peter
We should openly celebrate Canada’s secret advantage: Our electrical grid is among the cleanest in the world – The Globe and Mail
Thanks to Clean Energy Canada for pointing out this excellent post from Chris Turner who reminds us all the notable position Canada is in with 81% of our electricity coming from non-emitting sources. …a must read. Yes, for our US cousins too…California proudly declared ambition to get to 60% by 2030 on the way to 100% by 2045. To be fair, Canada relies on lots of legacy hydro and nuclear and per capital energy use is rather high. So yes, Canada be proud, but acknowledge there is still lots of work to be done to decarbonize our economy.
By the way, Clean Energy Canada has a great weekly email to which you may want to subscribe. While Canada-centric, international stories are included as well.
France Betting Big On Batteries With 700 Million Euro Investment
With the growth in electrification of transport, France is not comfortable importing all its batteries from Asia.
Excerpt: The French government sees a battery-powered future and is betting big on it with news that it will invest 700 million euros in the manufacturing of battery cells for electric vehicles over the next 5 years. …more from CleanTechnica
Australia’s biggest network operator says transition is happening, despite policy uncertainty
Excerpt: It is hooking up dozens and dozens of large scale wind and solar projects, various storage proposals, and numerous rooftop solar installations, as well as technologies that help “smooth” the output and impacts of renewables on the grid. …more from RenewEconomy
Fight against pollution to lift LNG demand – Shell
Excerpt: Global liquefied natural gas trade is set to rise 11 percent this year as China leads a global drive to reduce pollution and tackle carbon emissions, Royal Dutch Shell said in an annual LNG report on Monday. …more from REUTERS
Aramco CEO says oil industry facing ‘a crisis of perception’
Comment: I predict this challenge to only rise. Passenger vehicles only use 20% of global oil production, with electrification expected to still take a couple decades to turn over existing vehicles, so the world still will need lots of oil – an unfortunate reality given our concern about climate change. Companies wishing to continue to produce oil and gas to meet demand will need to demonstrate how they are part of the climate change solution in order to have the long term social and market permission to do so – the bar for which is likely to be very dynamic in how expectations move.
Excerpt: Saudi Aramco’s chief executive said on Tuesday the oil industry is facing “a crisis of perception” and the views of some observers that the end of oil is near with the rise of electric vehicles are illogical and not based on fact. …more from REUTERS
Investors risk losing faith in returns on offer from ‘Big Oil’ – Financial Times
Comment: The point of the article is that even in the face of divestment campaigns, oil and gas companies are positioned to reward handsomely those investors willing to stick with the sector.
India takes ‘long-awaited step’ for large-scale solar and energy storage | Energy-Storage.News
Comment: I’m putting this in the ‘cautiously optimistic’ category based on a couple context points: 1) this is just a notice to tender, not the actual tenders (a way to not have the process slowed by an upcoming election) and 2) the track record of recent bid cancelations raises doubt for this round. That all said, the cumulative size on offer is big (well, big for anywhere else besides India and China).
ScottishPower unveils £2 billion investment with battery storage, EVs in its crosshairs
Excerpt: ScottishPower has unveiled a £2 billion (US$2.65 billion) investment programme for 2019 to target large-scale battery storage and public EV charging points. …more from Current±
Toyota announces partnership to create HD road maps
Excerpt: The company’s research arm will work with mapping platform CARMERA to build advanced maps using data from participating AVs. …more from Smart Cities Dive
Welcome to the age of electric motorcycles
Multiples companies are bringing their motorcycles to market, with a couple profiled in this piece. by Popular Science
Zero’s SR/F Source: Zero
Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire Source: Harley-Davidson