Energy Shift: Top themes from 2020 signal 2021 expectations

Plus: many stories from the past month! Dig in…

Hi everyone,

Thank you for inviting me back into your inbox. Attention is a precious things these days and I cherish yours.

Well here we go with another year. I hope you had a good break over the holidays like me: time with our two sons, finished two books, two puzzles, played two new board games and of course good food and video calls with extended family.

It’s been a month since my last update, so there’s lots to catch you up on. Start with my comments section and scan the rest at your leisure.

Please consider forwarding this on to others who you think would be interested and encourage them to subscribe.

Thanks,
Peter

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Observations & Comments

• For a recap of the top 2020 themes and stories of the energy transition, I highly recommend this piece from Bloomberg Green: The Biggest Climate Change Stories of 2020. For my part, the themes that stuck out for me the most were two things that are interrelated: 1) the many pronouncements by governments and companies of ambitions to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 in line with the Paris agreement and 2) the plethora of initiatives in the financial sector to bring greater visibility and commitment to shift capital to climate-friendly investments.

• Finally: circular design comes to batteries. Find out how in this piece from Energy Storage News: Batteries built to last: Half the cost or twice the life?

 

• Ever hear about virtual power plants or demand management and wonder what they’re talking about. This piece from the LA Times does a great job of explaining how a network of batteries in homes or using smart plugs to manage thousands of refrigerators can help with balancing the grid using more renewables: California is scrambling to avoid blackouts. Your refrigerator could help.  My take on the secret sauce to making all of this work: slick software.

 

• Closer to home for me, I wanted to bring this Calgary Herald article to your attention: Oilsands emissions intensity 35% lower than reported and could drop another 19%, new study says. What does this have to do with the energy transition, you ask? Well, the reality is even in a very aggressive energy transition scenario, the globe will need a lot of oil. Canada has an opportunity to fill that need. This report sheds light on just how much progress has been made and continues to be made – progress for which Canadians should both know about and be proud. Here is a link to the Alberta Innovates press release and the published science paper.

 

• The governments of the UK and Canada both released documents just before Christmas outlining their plans for the future of energy and climate. The UK white paper “Powering our Net Zero Future” (170p PDF) might best be digested with Carbon Brief’s in-depth Q&A: How does the UK’s ‘energy white paper’ aim to tackle climate change?. Canada’s A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy lays out how it intends to beat it’s previous 2030 emissions target and a foundation for achieving net zero by 2050. This piece by Bennett Jones provides a nice summary: Canada Proposes New Plan to Invest $15 Billion in Climate Action, Raise Carbon Price to $170/Tonne

 

• One cool technology: Vortex Bladeless: Wind power without blades

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Consumers

Amazon Becomes World’s Largest Corporate Purchaser of Renewable Energy, Advancing its Climate Pledge Commitment to be Net-zero Carbon by 2040 | Amazon.com, Inc. – Press Room
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced 26 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects totaling 3.4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity production capacity, bringing its total investment in renewable energy in 2020 to 35 projects and more than 4 GW of capacity — the largest corporate investment in renewable energy in a single year. These new projects will make Amazon the largest-ever corporate purchaser of renewable energy.

Eight energy majors agree energy transition principles, action on emissions | S&P Global 
Seven European energy majors and the US’ Occidental Petroleum have jointly developed and agreed on six principles as part of a “collaborative platform” to support the energy transition, according to a statement Dec. 17.

Markets Are Divesting You From Fossil Fuels: Nathaniel Bullard | BNN Bloomberg
[Comment] This is worth a read if you want to understand how the energy transition is showing up in the financial market.

Technology

Hydrogen

Air Liquide to Invest Billions in Bet on Hydrogen Boom | BNN Bloomberg
Air Liquide SA, the largest supplier of industrial gases, aims to spend billions of euros over the next ten years on hydrogen production to meet a surge in demand driven by a global shift to cleaner energy, its chief executive officer said on Wednesday.

Gates and Bezos funds back hydrogen-powered plane startup | Bloomberg via JWN Energy
The hydrogen-powered aviation startup ZeroAvia Inc. has raised $37.7 million from the U.K. government and a group of investors that includes funds founded by Bill Gates and Amazon.com Inc.

2020: The Year of Green Hydrogen in 10 Stories | Greentech Media
Green hydrogen exceeded expectations in 2020 with a spate of huge projects, binding deployment targets and a handful of gigafactories.

Japanese companies form industry group to support hydrogen supply chain | Reuters
[88 (so far)] Japanese companies including Toyota Motor Corp have established a new organisation, the Japan Hydrogen Association, to promote the creation of a hydrogen supply chain in the country, its board member companies said on Monday.

[Canada] Federal long-term plan to increase hydrogen use focuses on regional hubs | JWN Energy
The federal government has introduced a plan to greatly increase the use of hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel to help meet Canada’s climate targets. [see related gov’t news release]

Carbon Capture

Norway agrees to fund Equinor’s Northern Lights CO2 project | World Oil
Following a historic vote in parliament, the Norwegian government announced its funding decision for the Northern Lights CO2 transport and storage project. Northern Lights will be the first of its kind – an open and available infrastructure enabling transport of CO2 from industrial capture sites to a terminal in Øygarden for intermediate storage before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a reservoir 2600 meters under the seabed.

Energy Storage

Toyota’s Solid-State Battery Prototype Could Be an EV Game Changer | Motor Trend
Imagine an electric car battery that provides more than 300 miles of range, charges in approximately ten minutes, requires no bulky heating and cooling systems, maintains 80 percent of its charge capacity for 800 cycles (about 240,000 miles), and isn’t prone to spontaneous combustion. Such is the promise of the solid-state car battery, a holy grail that automakers and manufacturers are racing to find. Now, Toyota announced it’ll have a running prototype with a solid-state battery ready by next year.

10 Victories for Virtual Power Plants in 2020 | Greentech Media
2020 forced most people into a more distributed and virtual way of life. But a segment of the grid edge industry has been trying to achieve that for years, installing controllable devices at homes and businesses that can work together to help the grid.

The First Major Long-Duration Storage Procurement Has Arrived | Greentech Media
California’s community-choice aggregators are moving ahead of the traditional utilities. California regulators said this year that the state will need 1 gigawatt of long-duration storage by 2026. But the technologies that can cost-effectively meet that need have so far attracted more attention from white-paper authors than paying customers.

LG signs massive ~$10 billion deal to make batteries in Indonesia | Electrek
LG has signed a massive agreement to reportedly invest close to $10 billion in Indonesia to make batteries in the country. Indonesia is one of the world’s biggest nickel producers, but it has also recently put a ban on exporting nickel ore in order to encourage the industry to process it locally.

A 550 MW ‘Virtual Power Plant’ is planned in California | Rethink
[Full article subject to signing up for trial subscription] Hundreds of thousands of homes in California, and several million smart devices, will be involved in the world’s largest virtual power plant weighing in at 550MW.

New York planning two new ground-breaking battery storage projects | RenewEconomy
Two new ground breaking battery storage projects have been announced in New York, including a Queens-based 100MW/400MWh energy storage system billed as the state’s largest, and a parking lot solar canopy with accompanying battery storage at JFK Airport.

Invinity Flow Battery Costs Fell 30% Post-Merger, Says Exec | Greentech Media
The vanadium flow battery company formed from RedT and Avalon will complete profitable projects in 2021. When two of the long-duration flow battery sector’s leaders ran into problems, a frequent partner, vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals, suggested they should discuss a merger.

Government to support Australia’s first grid-scale solar-plus-vanadium flow battery project | Energy Storage News
A AU$20.3 million (US$15.36 million) project to demonstrate the capabilities of utility-scale vanadium flow battery storage in combination with solar PV has been announced in South Australia, with the Federal government helping to fund the project.

Energy storage tech company Fluence to become ‘unicorn’ with Qatar investment | Energy Storage News
The sovereign wealth fund of Qatar has agreed to invest in energy storage solutions provider Fluence in a transaction that values the technology company at more than a billion dollars.

At 300MW / 1,200MWh, the world’s largest battery storage system so far is up and running | Energy Storage News
The world’s largest battery energy storage system (BESS) so far has gone into operation in Monterey County, California, US retail electricity and power generation company Vistra said yesterday.

Solar and Wind

US consumes more green energy than coal for first time since 1885 | Electrek
In 2019, US annual energy consumption from green energy sources exceeded coal consumption for the first time in 134 years, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Energy Review.

New Jersey trailblazes with monopile factory for US offshore wind | Electrek
The state of New Jersey is investing in a $250 million manufacturing facility to build steel components, known as monopiles, for offshore wind turbines. It will serve the entire US offshore wind industry.

Japan Plans Huge Offshore Wind Expansion to Hit Climate Goal | BNN Bloomberg
Japan will aim to more than quadruple offshore wind generation capacity in the decade to 2040 under plans to meet its mid-century emissions reduction target.

Solar Panel Waste: The Dark Side of Clean Energy | Discover Magazine
Tons of solar panels installed in the early 2000s are reaching the end of their lifecycles, posing a serious problem for the industry to contend with. Current solar panel disposal practices are far from being environmentally friendly.

Tesla expands Solar Roof installation effort with hiring spree in new markets | Electrek
[Excerpt] Last quarter, Tesla almost tripled its Solar Roof deployments, and CEO Elon Musk said that it is Tesla’s next “killer product.”

Total to keep up renewables energy investments in 2021, says CEO | Reuters
Total will be as active in adding renewable energy assets in 2021 as it was last year, Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne told an Oddo BHF conference on Friday. Pouyanne said the investment budget for electricity and renewables would surpass $2 billion in 2021.

Transportation

Apple plans self-driving car ‘in 2024 with next-level battery technology’ | Reuters
Apple Inc is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Tesla opens new world largest Supercharger station with a whopping 72 charging stalls | Electrek
Tesla has now opened a new world’s largest Supercharger station [in Shanghai] with a whopping 72 charging stalls just a month after beating its own record number of stalls at a charging station.

Electric cars closing in on gas guzzlers as battery costs plunge | Bloomberg via JWN Energy 
Electric vehicles may cost about the same as their gas-guzzling brethren in just three or four years – and only get cheaper from there, according to a new report from BloombergNEF.

Europe’s Top Truck Makers Vow To Stop Diesel Vehicle Sales By 2040 | Oil Price
The biggest van and truck manufacturers in Europe have committed to phasing out traditional combustion engines running on diesel by 2040, ten years earlier than initially planned, the Financial Times reported on Monday ahead of an official announcement from the truck makers.

Zoox unveils bi-directional, self driving electric robo-taxi with big battery | The Driven
Zoox, a startup developing an electric and autonomous vehicle that was recently purchased by Amazon, has unveiled its autonomous electric vehicle. It has a massive battery pack.

VW makes new batch of ID.4 1st Edition electric SUVs for the US | Electrek
VW announced that it is making a new batch of ID.4 1st Edition electric SUVs for the US market after selling out the first batch.

Rivian Is Close to Raising Funds at $25 Billion Valuation | Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance
Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric-truck startup backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co., is close to raising a new round of funding valuing it at about $25 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Xcel Energy is charging ahead with $110M electric vehicle plan | [$ Denver Business Journal] 
Colorado regulators have approved Xcel Energy spending $110 million to get new electric vehicles on Coloardo roads and increase car charging infrastructure in the Denver metro area.

A ‘World First’ Project to Heat Homes using Renewable Hydrogen gets the Green Light​ | DEC
[Excerpt] On Monday, the notion of heating homes using hydrogen received another shot in the arm. Ofgem, the U.K.’s energy regulator, announced it would provide as much as £18 million ($24.12 million) in funding for a Scotland-based scheme centered around using hydrogen to heat homes.

 

Circular Economy

Former Walmart Executives Form Company to Reduce Food Waste | Waste360
During their eight-year stint at Walmart’s technology labs, Syed Aman and Sharan Grewal, were part of the team that built the online grocery platform into a multi-billion dollar business. The two used their technology and produce delivery expertise to develop Hwy Haul, a Silicon Valley-based technology company that helps move freight by matching shippers with carriers on its digital freight brokerage platform.

Policy

Japan Plans to Ban Gasoline Car Sales by 2035, but Hybrids Will Remain | Autoweek
Following similar commitments by several nations, Japan is planning to phase out the sale of gas and diesel-engined cars by 2035. Government officials announced the plan as part of an agenda that the Prime Minister set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next few decades, NHK reported.

Massachusetts to Ban Sale of New Gas-Powered Cars by 2035 | Car and Driver
Massachusetts is joining California with a plan to ban the sale of new gasolined-powered cars by 2035. Governor Charlie Baker released a 2050 decarbonization road map that includes the reduction of emissions from passenger cars.

New Jersey trailblazes with monopile factory for US offshore wind | Electrek
The state of New Jersey is investing in a $250 million manufacturing facility to build steel components, known as monopiles, for offshore wind turbines. It will serve the entire US offshore wind industry.

[Canada] Federal long-term plan to increase hydrogen use focuses on regional hubs | JWN Energy
The federal government has introduced a plan to greatly increase the use of hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel to help meet Canada’s climate targets.

South Australia wants all new car sales to be electric by 2035 | RenewEconomy
The South Australia state government says it is aiming to ensure that all new car sales in the state are fully electric by 2035, and is calling on the federal government to finally introduce a fuel efficiency standard to hasten the transition to EVs.

China targets steeper cut to emissions | Reuters
China’s President Xi Jinping on Saturday [Dec. 12] targeted a steeper cut in rates of carbon emissions relative to economic activity by 2030 and set new goals for growth in renewable energy and forest stock, as the country looks to reach the peak of its emissions before the end of the decade.