Plus: What Glasgow pact achieved; Zero-carbon ammonia; billions more for renewables; making solar panels in Europe, India
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Peter
Observations & Comments
I encourage you to try the “Can you fix Smogtown” game in the Feature Story section. I tried it a few times and so far haven’t won. I get a good ways along and then make a rookie move and get voted out. Not that I ever wanted to be a politician, but I guess I’ll stick with my day job.
COP26 is done. It’s been said that just enough progress was made to not call it a failure. Others say too much is being left to the private sector to make progress. All I can say is I’ve had my fill of headlines with new pledges and commitments. Sorry to disappoint if you were hoping for a nice tidy summary. The best quick summary I saw was from Bloomberg: What the Big Glasgow Deal Really Achieved: COP26 Daily
Consider learning about what Alberta Innovates is doing to find non-combustion uses for bitumen – see the Bitumen Beyond Combustion section.
Take note of the Solar and Wind stories this week. In particular, capacity to make solar panels is set to be added in Europe and India, thanks to government support. I see many stories in the 10’s and 100’s of megawatts, but there are so many, I just include the really big ones – billions of dollars or Gigawatt in scale.
There were no material ‘Finance & Sentiment’ stories this week. I guess all the big announcements were already made in Glasgow. If I missed something, send me a note.
Feature Story
Play the game: Can you fix Smogtown | Bloomberg CityLab
By Linda Poon and Laura Bliss
[Excerpt]
What does it take to be a climate-friendly mayor, and at what cost?
It’s a question my colleague Laura Bliss and I posed this week in Bloomberg CityLab’s new choose-your-own-climate-policy game. As the newly-minted mayor of the college city Smogtown, players have to make tough choices to tackle issues like traffic congestion and inefficient buildings — while also considering how each decision affects their chance of re-election. And the most ideal policies for the environment may not be the most popular.
The ultimate goal: to reach net-zero carbon emissions.
The challenge is no doubt formidable, even for a small city like Smogtown, but progress isn’t out of reach. Choose wisely; stakes are high, and one wrong decision can mean the end of your political career.
Technology
Hydrogen
Massive 6,000MW wind and solar hub proposed in S.A. for green hydrogen | RenewEconomy
Plans for another massive wind and solar development have been unveiled in South Australia, this time in the state’s north as developers race to map out possibilities for multi gigawatt scale projects that could deliver the electricity supplies needed for a green hydrogen industry.
The Hydrogen Stream: International alliances for hydrogen keep proliferating | pv magazine
This week, Russia joined forces with the United Arab Emirates to develop common hydrogen projects and similar moves were made by Chile and South Korea, Japan and Australia, as well as by France and Germany. French President Emmanuel Macron announced €2 billion in new investments.
Canadian company says it has zero-carbon ammonia technology at 60% cost | Recharge News
A Canadian technology company says it has developed equipment that will produce zero-emissions green ammonia from renewable hydrogen at a far cheaper price than highly polluting grey ammonia.
Bitumen Beyond Combustion
Researchers look for new uses for bitumen to continue driving oilsands economy | CBC
Bitumen can be used to make carbon fibre. With Alberta’s oilpatch under intense environmental scrutiny, a provincial research agency is looking at new opportunities for the oilsands to continue contributing to the Canadian economy. Alberta’s natural resources, bitumen included, can contribute to the Canadian economy during the energy transition and be part of a net-zero emissions solution over the long term, according to Alberta Innovates. A white paper, Bitumen Beyond Combustion, examines other uses for bitumen that would not require burning it as fuel.
Carbon Capture
World first as emissions free electricity, generated using natural gas, is fed into the grid | Energy Voice
Clean energy company NET Power, which has developed “revolutionary technology” to produce clean energy from natural gas, has delivered power from its test facility in La Porte, Texas.
Four CCS Projects set to receive portion of $1.1B through the EU Innovation Fund | CCS Institute
The Institute welcomes the €1.1 billion funding announcement by the European Union to develop seven large-scale innovation projects, which will include support towards carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. The investments will be granted through the EU Innovation Fund, following decisions made after the first-call for projects. The fund aims to support low-carbon technologies across Europe.
Energy Crisis Livens Up Oil-Sands Carbon Cut Plan as Prices Soar | BNN Bloomberg
[Excerpt] The largest initiative — called the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero initiative — is a partnership between Suncor, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Cenovus, Imperial Oil Ltd., MEG Energy Corp. and ConocoPhillips to use carbon capture and other technologies to nearly zero out emissions from oil-sands operations by 2050. The project has an initial C$75 billion price tag, and as much as two-thirds of the capital may need to come from the government, Suncor Chief Executive Officer Mark Little said in July.
Energy Storage
Canadian Solar targets 1.5GW / 3GWh of UK battery storage with developer Windel Energy | Energy Storage News
Vertically-integrated solar PV company Canadian Solar is co-developing 1.5GW of battery storage projects in the UK, extending a partnership with developer Windel Energy after the pair recently committed to developing 1.4GWp of solar in the country.
QuantumScape Builds a 10-Layer Solid-State Battery, Beats 2021 Goals | Auto Evolution
QuantumScape has recently revealed third-party tests with its single-layer lithium metal solid-state cells that confirmed and even excelled the results it achieved on its own evaluation. In February 2021, the company said it successfully tested four-layer cells. The next step for 2021 was to create ten-layer cells. The startup announced on November 16 that it made these batteries, and they also presented great results.
Solar and Wind
Equinor partnering with EWP for 3GW wind offshore South Korea | Equinor
Equinor has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean East-West Power (EWP) to cooperate on 3 GW of offshore wind projects in South Korea. Together the partners will contribute significantly to the country’s ongoing energy transition and development of an offshore wind industry in Korea.
RWE unveils plans for €50bn renewable energy investment this decade | edie
RWE has set a target to double its renewable energy generation capacity to 50GW by the end of the decade and pledged to invest €50bn to achieve this expansion.
Enel secures EU funds to scale up Italian heterojunction PV module factory to 3 GW | pv magazine
An unspecified sum is being provided by the European Union to help Enel become a large-scale PV panel manufacturer. The Italian company secured the funds through the Innovation Fund
Equinor partnering with EWP for 3GW wind offshore South Korea | Equinor
Equinor has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean East-West Power (EWP) to cooperate on 3 GW of offshore wind projects in South Korea. Together the partners will contribute significantly to the country’s ongoing energy transition and development of an offshore wind industry in Korea.
A billion-dollar solar investment is coming to Texas | Inhabitat
Chem-Energy has announced a planned investment of $1 billion in a solar and battery plant project. Development will take place in Central Texas starting spring 2022. The petroleum products giant is among the many firms in the industry seeking to diversify as the world phases out fossil fuels.
SSE outlines £12.5bn net-zero investment plan through to 2026 | edie
Energy giant SSE has unveiled a £12.5bn capital investment plan for decarbonisation through to 2026, representing a 65% increase in spending on the low-carbon transition on current levels. The funding will be used to double SSE’s net installed renewable energy generation capacity to 8GW by 2026 and more than 16GW by 2030.
Shell partners with Simply Blue Group to develop Western Star Floating wind project | WindTech International
Shell has signed an agreement with Simply Blue Group to acquire a 51% share of their Western Star venture, which seeks to develop a floating wind farm off the Clare coast in Ireland. The joint venture will seek to co-develop up to 1.35GW in total: 300MW-450MW in the first phase with 700MW-900MW to follow.
Turkish 1.35GW solar project lands financing deal from GE, UK government | PV Tech
A 1.35GW solar project in Turkey, said to the country’s largest, has received a US$291 million financing deal from the UK government to help it proceed.
Transportation
Electric Semi-Trailers Are Next Step in Greening China’s Roads | BNN Bloomberg
[Excerpt] As of September, there were some 32 million semi-trailers plying the nations roads and highways. Over the past few years, authorities have been tightening emissions standards to squeeze out rigs that don’t meet the bar – an incentive for manufacturers to electrify. In mid-October, SAIC kicked off construction of a facility in Inner Mongolia to make 10,000 hydrogen semi-trailers annually.
Nissan launches Ariya electric crossover for $46K in the US | Electrek
Nissan launched the Ariya electric crossover in the US today [Nov 17] and opened reservations. It starts at $46K before incentives. The Ariya is Nissan’s long-awaited second electric car to follow the Leaf.
Monarch Raises $61 Million for Its Fleet of Electric Tractors | BNN Bloomberg
Monarch Tractor has raised another $61 million in capital, in its ongoing efforts to electrify farm equipment and disrupt the world’s largest and dirtiest diesel engines. Tractors, in many ways, are an ideal use case for electric technology. The weight of the ponderous battery that goes into Monarch’s machine isn’t much of a liability in the field and electric motors can be controlled much more precisely than a diesel engine.
Ford announces plans to produce 600,000 electric vehicles per year by 2023 | Electrek
Ford announced today [Nov.18] that it doubled its planned electric vehicle production capacity by 2023 to 600,000 electric vehicles per year.
Believe it or not, electric cars aren’t the best-selling electric vehicles. These are | Electrek
Electric bikes. They’re two-wheeled electric vehicles that outsell electric cars handily and are a much more affordable way for many commuters to begin replacing gas-driven miles with a cleaner alternative.
Circular Economy
Goldman and VW-backed Northvolt produces battery cell with recycled nickel, manganese and cobalt | CNBC
Swedish battery firm Northvolt said Friday it had produced its first battery cell with what it described as “100% recycled nickel, manganese and cobalt.”
The US finally adopts a national recycling strategy | The Verge
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new national recycling strategy today, the agency’s first ever such commitment. It’s a roadmap for the US to achieve a goal of recycling at least half of its municipal waste by the end of the decade.
Big brands cutting virgin plastic use by 20% | Recycling International
Major brands signed up to Ellen MacArthur’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment are set to cut their use of virgin plastic by almost 20% by 2025, compared to 2018. A reduction target is now mandatory for all of the Global Commitment’s 63 brand and retail signatories. According to the foundation, raising ambitions to this level will avoid eight million tonnes of virgin plastic from being produced each year by 2025, the equivalent to keeping 40 million barrels of oil in the ground.
Policy
EU to spend over €1 billion on Innovative Projects to Decarbonise Europe’s Economy | Energy Industry Review
The European Union is investing over €1.1 billion into seven large-scale innovative projects under the Innovation Fund. The grants will support projects aiming to bring breakthrough technologies to the market in energy-intensive industries, hydrogen, carbon capture, use and storage, and renewable energy. The projects are located in Belgium, Italy, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.
Netherlands plans extra 10.7GW offshore wind by 2030 | Wind Power Monthly
The Netherlands plans to have an additional 10.7GW of offshore wind capacity operating by 2030, nearly doubling its current target for the end of the decade.
India planning more than five-fold increase in funding for PLI solar manufacturing scheme | PV tech
India’s government is set to scale up funding for its production-linked incentive (PLI) programme for solar manufacturing as it eyes exports of PV equipment. While the scheme was originally designed to allocate INR 45 billion (US$604 million) over five years to back the domestic development of high-efficiency PV modules, this will be increased to INR 240 billion (US$3.22 billion), said India’s minister of new and renewable energy, RK Singh.