Plus: Gigawatt scale announcements; Quebec spends on electric school buses; Germany raises ambition
Hi everyone,
Happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s. I hope you get spoiled richly today as you deserve it!
The great thing about running your own newsletter: I get to decide when it’s time for the next issue. So here you go. Enjoy and pass along to others you think would benefit and encourage them to subscribe.
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Until next time,
Peter
Observations, Comments & Questions
In the last issue, I provided some stories about self-driving technology. No sooner had I done that, Bloomberg provided a nice summary of the companies jostling in this arena, including those in China. I also came across this interesting story. Musk call Lidar a fool’s errand, yet developments like this may suggest otherwise. Self-driving technology company Argo AI makes lidar breakthrough. My take: this all might be fine for mild weather places, but I cannot imagine the tech yet working on Canadian roads in winter, when it is sometimes guesswork for a human on where the lanes are.
Ever imagine having a subscription for the vehicle you drive? Now imagine it is electric and you only have one payment coving the vehicle, insurance, 1000 miles per month free and any breakdowns and routine maintenance covered. Now add to that charging is free, with access provided by an RFID card. Well that is exactly what subscription car service Onto is now offering in the UK, at £399 for a minimum one-month contract.
Gigawatt scale renewables announcements are becoming more common. I learned from Rethink Energy this week that a total of 20GW of solar projects were announced across 6 projects in China. Also included was a 1GW/2Gwh energy storage complex. I tried to imagine how much land 20GW of solar would require. Using a rule of thumb of 8 acres/MW (NREL), imagine a block 25 km (16 mi) square. Have I got the numbers right? Someone who knows this stuff, please tell me.
And that wasn’t the only gigawatt scale announcements this week. Canadian investor Amp aims to build 1.3GW of renewables in Australia with eye towards green hydrogen (see Solar and Wind). South Korea also kicked off a 2GW solar tender and Algeria announced a 1GW tender coming this summer. Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power will build a 1.5GW wind power project in Uzbekistan, enough to power 4 million households.
Now, to the subject line of the email: Agrivoltaics – co-developing the same area of land for both solar photovoltaic power as well as for agriculture. Yes, I had to look it up when I read the headline of the feature story below to learn what agrivoltaics meant. Having had the privilege of traveling to Italy twice, and seeing first hand their penchant for design it was no surprise then to learn the government there plans to invest heavily in making double use of the land to harness solar power. Why, I ask, are we not seeing more of this in Canada and the US? It doesn’t have to be as elaborate as pictured. What about simply helping out the bees with wildflowers? What about sheep grazing between rows of panels? Someone please explain the reasons why we don’t see this?
Feature Stories
Italy devotes €1.1bn to agrivoltaics | PV Magazine
The investment will target “the implementation of hybrid agriculture-energy production systems that do not compromise the use of land dedicated to agriculture but contribute to the environmental and economic sustainability of the farms.”
BluEarth to sell power to Shell from 130-MW wind farm in Alberta | Renewables Now
The Bull Creek Wind Facility. Source: BluEarth Renewables Inc. License: All Rights Reserved
Canada’s BluEarth Renewables has signed an off-take contract with Shell Energy North America Canada Inc for almost the entire output of a 130-MW wind farm that will be built in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Quebec unveils funding to electrify 65 per cent of all school buses by 2030 | Electric Autonomy
The province is dedicating $250 million over three years to begin the switch, with local manufacturer Lion Electric set to benefit from the initiative.
Technology
Hydrogen
Daimler, Volvo plan hydrogen fuel cell production in Europe in 2025 | Driving.ca
Rival truck makers form new joint venture ‘cellcentric’, work toward 2022 prototypes. Daimler’s truck unit and Volvo AB said on Thursday they would start making hydrogen fuel cells in Europe in 2025 via a joint venture, and called for E.U. policies to help make the zero-emission technology commercially viable.
SK invested $1.6B in US hydrogen Plug Power; now the two eye China and Vietnam for fuel cell production | Nikkei Asia
U.S. hydrogen fuel cell maker Plug Power, which counts Walmart and Amazon as its clients, is planning to expand its businesses in China, Vietnam and South Korea, through a joint venture with conglomerate SK Group.
Energy Storage
BMW and Ford invest in $130 million round for solid-state battery company Solid Power | Electrek
BMW and Ford are ramping up investment in solid-state batteries with a new $130 million financing round in Solid Power.
Hawaii approves massive battery storage project to help end coal power | RenewEconomy
Hawaiian regulators have approved the proposed 185MW/565MWh Kapolei Energy Storage battery energy storage project on the island of Oahu, paving the way for San Francisco-based developer Plus Power to begin construction on behalf of Hawaiian Electric Co.
Geothermal
Fervo Energy raises $28m to scale next gen geothermal tech | Think GeoEnergy
U.S.-based Fervo Energy, an advanced geothermal energy development company, today announced the close of a $28 million Series B financing to continue the company’s mission of applying transformative geothermal technology to address climate change.
Solar and Wind
Massive solar-plus-storage plant comes online in the United States | PV Magazine
The 420 MW/40 MW storage-plus-storage facility was deployed by the Danish energy company Ørsted on a 3,600-acre site alongside existing oil and gas installations in Texas.
Canadian investor plans 1.3 GW renewable energy hub in South Australia | PV Magazine
Amp Energy, a Canadian clean energy investor with a growing Australia portfolio, has unveiled a new 1.3 GW renewables expansion strategy. Its plan includes at least three massive PV projects, two of which could support South Australia’s green hydrogen aims.
Google Advances Green Goal With AES Deal for Carbon-Free Power; includes 500MW solar, wind, storage | BNN Bloomberg
Google’s moving forward with its goal of becoming carbon-free by the end of the decade after AES Corp. agreed to supply the tech giant with renewable energy to power its data centers in Virginia.
AEP Energy signs PPA with Doral for Indiana’s 1.65GW Mammoth Solar project | Solar Power World
AEP Energy and Doral, a developer of renewable energy projects, primarily in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, announced they have signed a long-term renewable energy purchase agreement for the Mammoth Solar project in Indiana.
Enel launches five new US wind, solar, and hybrid projects in three states | Electrek
Enel Green Power North America, headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, has started construction on five new clean energy projects in the US. The new wind, solar, and hybrid projects announced today represent more than 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity and 319 megawatts (MW) of battery storage capacity.
DOI approves 350-MW solar + 350-MW storage project on public lands in California | Solar Power World
The U.S. Interior Department announced that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has given final approval to a 350-MW solar/350-MW storage energy project on public lands in California. The Crimson Solar Project represents an investment of roughly $550 million and will deliver power through the Southern California Edison Colorado River Substation.
Wind Power Giant’s Profit Hit by Rocks on the Seabed | BNN Bloomberg
The world’s largest developer of offshore wind farms Orsted A/S has found that some of its cables connecting to wind farms have been damaged by scraping against rocks on the seabed and will need to spend as much as 3 billion Danish kroner ($489 million) to fix them. It’s part of the growing pains for the offshore wind industry that’s become one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity.
Ørsted and PGE Complete 2.5 GW Polish Offshore Wind Deal | OffshoreWind.biz
With the closing of the agreement, first announced in February, PGE and Ørsted now each own 50 per cent of the shares in the offshore wind projects Baltica 2 and Baltica 3, together comprising the Baltica Offshore Wind Farm, the largest offshore wind project in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea.
Transportation
Lion Electric to construct the largest all-electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles plant in US | Electrek
The province is dedicating $250 million over three years to begin the switch, with local manufacturer Lion Electric set to benefit from the initiative. That translates to nearly 2,600 buses, according to Quebec’s Transport Minister François Bonnardel.
InstaVolt partners EV subscription service Onto to support increased uptake | Current±
InstaVolt has become the latest electric vehicle (EV) charging network to be available to drivers through EV subscription service Onto.
Policy
Germany pledges to become carbon-neutral by 2045 | Euroactiv
Germany pledges to become carbon-neutral by 2045. Germany has announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2045, in a landmark shift in climate policy driven by a recent constitutional court ruling demanding better defined emissions targets after 2030.
Australian state of Victoria commits $100 million to EVs; $3000 subsidy | The Driven
The Victorian state Labor government, under fire over its controversial electric vehicle road tax, has announced a $3,000 subsidy for electric vehicle purchases, and a target that aims to see half of all new vehicles sales to be fully electric or hydrogen by 2030.
Australian state of Victoria sets new emissions reduction target of 45-50% by 2030 | RenewEconomy
The Victoria state Labor government on Sunday unveiled its long awaited climate change strategy, which now includes a ramped up target of slashing emissions by 45 to 50 per cent by 2030 – far more ambitious than the federal government’s mediocre target.