Plus: Hydrogen facing challenges; Giant battery in Holland; India chasing $9B in rooftop solar; Singapore mandates SAF; Pension fund divests Oil & Gas
Hi everyone,
In “Peter’s take” below, I continue my hobby-horse of late: urbanism – this time with a look at the benefits of denser cities and the complimentary policies needed.
As usual, scan through the other headlines for the key energy transition signposts from the last two weeks. If you see stories worthy of highlighting, I’m happy to enlist your help to crowd-source good stories.
As always, continue to forward to others and encourage them to subscribe.
Thanks,
Peter
Peter’s take: The case for denser cities
Denser cities unlock a myriad suite of benefits:
- More energy efficient buildings
- Enables improvements in transit frequency and more diverse offerings (light rail, rapid bus, street cars, etc.)
- Reduces sprawl and related negative effects on agriculture and biodiversity.
- Mixed use (commercial & residential) delivers very high property tax per acre/hectare.
- Enables efficient use of city infrastructure: roads, sewers, water, power, etc.
- Enables efficient use of city services: policing, fire, ambulance, etc.
- and the list goes on…
Complementary policies are needed to help unlock these benefits:
- Address zoning bylaws that represent barriers to densification
- Eliminate minimum parking requirements
- Street designs that provide for pedestrians and protected bike lanes
- Consider narrower lanes to make streets safer
- Require developments to provide flexibility for future mixed-use
- Address barriers to micro-businesses
- Planning that provides for quick access to:
- parks & green spaces,
- everyday needs such as groceries, drug stores, etc.
- “third places” to support social connections
- Address building codes to:
- enable the shift to net zero standards
- unlock “point access block” designs
Denser cities with great public transit also make more viable the option of inter-city high speed rail – something common in Europe but noticeably absent for most of North America.
None of the lists above speak to the net effect of making cities more attractive places to live and work or, for that matter, how there could be other knock-on benefits to society such as the potential to reduce loneliness.
So here is the invitation: open your mind to the possibilities, talk about it with others, raise awareness, get involved locally to affect change. With two thirds of the global population expected to live in cities by 2050, solving for climate change necessarily means thinking about energy use in cities.
Finance & Sentiment
Barclays ceases direct funding of new fossil fuel projects | ESG Dive
Barclays announced Friday it will no longer provide direct financing for any new upstream oil and gas, thermal coal expansion projects or related infrastructure to help achieve its net zero goals. The bank also unveiled a Transition Finance Framework the same day, laying out how it will classify “transition finance” and allocate funding to decarbonize high-emitting sectors.
Fueling the Future of Policy in 2024 | RBC
[Excerpt] 2023 has been a challenging year for the renewables space as high interest rates, biofuel mandate cuts and supply chain issues in renewables dampened sentiment on the sector.
Dutch Pension Giant PFZW Divests 98% of Oil and Gas Companies over Lack of Climate Action | ESG Today
Netherlands-based PFZW, one of the largest pension funds in Europe, announced that it has exited its investment in over 300 fossil fuel companies, including Shell, BP and TotalEnergies, over a lack of convincing decarbonization plans, with only seven remaining in its portfolio. PFZW’s goals include working towards a climate-neutral portfolio by 2050, and achieving a 50% absolute carbon reduction by 2030 for its equities, liquid credit and real estate holdings. The pension fund also aims to have 15% of its assets invested in climate solutions by 2030, and to allocate €2 billion over the next 2 years to investments in companies with measurable impact on the climate and the energy transition.
Technology
Hydrogen
Hydrogen hopefuls stare into valley of death as electrolyser bubble pops | RenewEconomy
Hydrogen electrolyser manufacturers are staring into the valley of death, as the hype-fuelled valuations of 2021 and high hopes of the hydrogen economy come crashing down around their ears. Last week, two of the most notable electrolyser technology developers – Plug Power and Bloom Energy Corp – revealed the depth of their problems as they try to achieve massive scale while improving and reducing the cost of the technologies they are developing.
[Comment] While this is not a typcial “this happened” type story, I encourage you to read this if you are wanting to understand the state of play globally with respect to hydrogen. It provides a really good sense of the challenges.
Mystery developer announces plan to spend over $3bn on blue-hydrogen-to-methanol plant | Hydrogen Insight
A mystery developer has announced plans to spend billions of dollars building a blue-hydrogen-to-methanol plant in Louisiana using methane and carbon capture and storage (CCS) — representing the second iteration of the project since it was first proposed in the 2010s.
Glasgow Airport hydrogen hub to support zero-emission flight by 2027 | Passenger Terminal
[Excerpt] The Glasgow Airport Hydrogen Innovation Hub brings together a multidisciplinary and international consortium, including H2GO Power, Ricardo, Altrad Babock, ZeroAvia, OG Clean Fuels, University of Glasgow and Scottish Water Horizons, supported by Loganair, easyJet and British Airways and other airport energy users.
California places near-$130m order for six more hydrogen trains for intercity lines | Hydrogen Insight
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has signed a $127m order for six hydrogen trains for intercity railways with Swiss manufacturer Stadler. Caltrans aims to start operating H2 trains in 2027.
EU green-lights €7bn in hydrogen infrastructure subsidies from seven member states | Hydrogen Insight
Third multi-billion-euro H2 approval covers deployment of 3.2GW of electrolysers and thousands of kilometres of hydrogen pipelines. Seven EU member states are set to shell out billions of euros to deploy hydrogen infrastructure in the bloc, after the European Commission (EC) today (Thursday) gave the so-called “Hy2Infra” programme the green light to proceed.
Malaysia’s largest green hydrogen project to begin construction this year after closing $400m in finance | Hydrogen Insight
Semarak Renewable Energy has commissioned PowerChina to build a 60MW facility powered by floating solar. PowerChina is due to break ground on the project in the final quarter of this year.
Clean Energy Provider GeoPura Raises $70 Million to Accelerate Green Hydrogen Buildout | ESG Today
[Excerpt] According to GeoPura, proceeds from the latest financing round will be used by the company to increase the manufacture and supply of its HPUs, which replace traditional diesel generators. It will also expand its production of green hydrogen, along with storage and distribution assets.
Carbon Capture
Heidelberg Materials Reaches New Milestone In Edmonton CCUS Project | Carbon Herald
[Excerpt] The project is set to become the world’s first full-scale application of CCUS in the cement industry, and the significant milestone Heidelberg Materials has reached in it is the award of a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the carbon capture technology to Technip Energies.
The Grid
Dynamic line ratings and how they help powerlines move more power from renewables | Utility Dive
[Comment] I spent some time at lunch this week learning about how power lines are sometime under-utilized, and by using remote monitoring, transmission companies can fine tune their systems to move more electricity from renewable projects. Lines stretch and sag the more power pushed through them, but the cooling effect of a windy day might offset that, allowing more wind power to be transmitted instead of curtailed. Key to this is what industry calls Dynamic Line Ratings – among the “Grid Enhancing Technologies” (GETs) that are beginning to be used more widely. Learn more here (for Canada) and here (for US): GETs could facilitate 6.6 GW of clean energy in five PJM states, saving $1B a year: RMI
Octopus Energy launches UK’s ‘first’ mass-market V2G tariff | CURRENT±
Energy supplier Octopus Energy has launched the “first” mass-market vehicle-to-grid (V2G) tariff in the UK, guaranteeing free charging for its electric vehicle (EV) customers. The energy supplier recently reached over 200,000 customers signed up to EV-optimised tariffs, namely Intelligent Octopus Go and Octopus Go, which means their customers now account for one in five UK EV drivers.
No limits: Horizon clears way for more regional rooftop solar with smart software | one step off the grid
Internet connected technology that helps balance energy across regional microgrids being rolled out by Horizon Power will expand access to rooftop solar for regional Western Australia, starting in the coastal town of Carnarvon. Smart Connect Solar works with a distributed energy resource management system to predict weather patterns and forecast energy generation and demand, allowing operators to manage a customer’s solar generation in real time and quickly respond to changes in network load and weather conditions.
Urban Design & Buildings
To Design Cities Right, We Need to Focus on People | Scientific American
[Excerpt] Planning should be chiefly a design process, not a legal one. Design-based, community-scaled solutions are paramount because we now must grow within our existing places rather than sprawl, which has ruined too much land, generated too many greenhouse gas emissions and wasted too much time as we drive for every simple thing. The city and all its neighborhoods must get better with more people in them.
[Comment] I was immensely pleased to my hometown City of Calgary has hired the author, Tim Keane, as General Manager of Planning and Development Services.
Increasing public transit subsidies makes transit more efficient | Sustainable Mobility
This comes from Alex Mitchell’s weekly Sustainable Mobility newsletter. I encourage you to consider subscribing.
🚌 A new study is turning conventional wisdom on its head by arguing that increasing public transit subsidies makes transit more efficient, not less. Whether it changes the perspective of the Cato Institute is still unclear.
New initiative in Canada focused on building: Climate Smart Buildings Alliance
[Comment] Credit to RBC for launching this initiative. I was impressed to see their three core priorities are materials, electrification and net zero buildings and retrofits, and will advance these through industry driven projects and government-industry collaborations.
In contrast, Canada’s Transition Accelerator has its Building Decarbonization Alliance, yet out of all 6 reports thus far, none appear to address the need to influence governments on net zero building codes. I’m left wondering: why not take this on as well and maybe partner with CSBA?
Is your neighborhood changing?
[Comment] The two minute video below can be applied to every city in Canada and the US and makes the case for densification.
Small Modular Reactors
Romania bets on long shot ‘baby nukes’ as coal cliff edge looms | Politico.EU
[Excerpts] Romania is leading EU efforts on small-scale reactors that could make the bloc a clean tech leader. But so far, they remain unproven. Romania is looking to build six advanced — and miniature-sized — nuclear reactors. The two most advanced projects in the bloc — Romania’s Doicești and the 24 small-scale reactors planned in Poland — will use technology from two U.S. firms, GE Hitachi and NuScale. NuScale, the U.S. firm building the Romanian reactor, saw a major contract in Utah canceled in November amid fears of low subscriptions for the plant’s power and rising costs.
Energy Storage
Dutch developer Lion Storage planning 1.5GWh BESS for 2026 operation | Energy Storage News
Battery energy storage system (BESS) project developer Lion Storage is planning a 364MW/1,457MWh project in the Netherlands for operation in two years’ time.
[Comment] A battery that can deliver 364MW for four hours is an impressively large battery! Especially so for Europe.
Wärtsilä’s high energy BESS solution to get first field deployment at 600MWh Scotland project | Energy Storage News
The first energy storage asset built using Wärtsilä’s new Quantum High Energy battery energy storage system (BESS) solution will be a 300MW/600MWh project in Scotland, UK. Wärtsilä launched its GridSolv Quantum High Energy (Quantum HE) in November last year, touting its use of 306Ah lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells which enable 9% higher energy density than the previous iteration of its GridSolv Quantum solution.
Giant four-hour battery lands “biggest”debt financing for an Australia big battery | RenewEconomy
The owners of a giant four-hour battery project on the outskirts of Melbourne say they have closed the “largest” non-recourse debt financing package for an Australian grid scale big battery, and the first for a four-hour battery facility. The package for a 200 MW, 800 MWh component of the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub was announced by co-owners Equis Australia and the newly formed SEC, the new energy utility created by the Victoria state government.
Arevon lands US$1.1 billion package for California solar PV and 600MWh BESS project | Energy Storage News
Renewables developer and operator Arevon Energy has secured US$1.1 billion in debt and tax equity financing for a solar-plus-storage project in California, which features a 150MW/600MWh BESS.
EV Battery Venture ACC Raises $4.7 Billion to Build Gigafactories Across Europe | ESG Today
[Excerpt] ACC was founded in 2020 as a joint venture by Stellantis and TotalEnergies – with Mercedes-Benz joining the JV in 2021 – and supported by the French, German and European authorities in order to create a European battery champion for electric vehicles.
Solar and Wind
A Native American tribe plans to build a $1B solar farm in Colorado | electrek
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is going to build the Sun Bear Solar Project, one of the US’s largest solar farms, in Colorado. The up to 971 megawatt (MW) solar farm will sit on around 4,000 acres of Ute Mountain Ute tribal land, nine miles south of the tribe’s capital, Towaoc, in southwestern Colorado. Sun Bear will be around eight miles long and one mile wide and will feature 2.2 million solar panels.
India Plans $9 Billion Rooftop Solar Push as Key Elections Loom | Bloomberg via Yahoo
India plans to invest about 750 billion rupees ($9 billion) to power 10 million homes with rooftop solar panels, boosting the weakest segment of the country’s booming renewable industry.
Transportation
Jeep-maker Stellantis to adopt Tesla’s charging port | TechCrunch
Stellantis, the parent company of brands like Jeep and Chrysler, announced it will adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). It is the last major Western automaker to announce compatibility, meaning Tesla’s push to make its EV charging standard the dominant one in North America is essentially complete.
‘Airbus Of Autos’ European Automakers Could Band Together To Build Cheap EVs | Jalopnik
Volkswagen, Renault and Stellantis are apparently exploring the idea of linking up to build cheaper electric vehicles as Chinese-made EVs and Tesla bear down on their home turf. This outside threat exposes competitive weaknesses at Europe’s biggest mass-market automakers. Because of that, it is becoming more and more clear that the status quo has to change.
California Approves $1.9 Billion Investment in Clean Transportation Infrastructure | ESG Today
The California Energy Commission announced that it has approved a plan to invest $1.9 billion through 2027 on projects aimed at expanding infrastructure for zero emissions vehicles and transportation, including the buildout of an EV charging and hydrogen refueling network.
Singapore to Require Sustainable Aviation Fuel Use on All Departing Flights from 2026 | ESG Today
Singapore Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat announced the launch of the Singapore Sustainable Air Hub Blueprint, outlining a series of key actions aimed at decarbonizing Singapore’s aviation sector, including new rules mandating that all departing flights be required to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), beginning at 1% from 2026, and expected to increase in following years.
Chicago’s Metra thinks outside the box with Stadler battery train order | Railway Gazette
[Excerpts] The $154m deal announced on February 21 includes staff training and spare parts. The first of the units are expected to be delivered from Stadler’s Salt Lake City plant in 2027-28. Metra plans to deploy the battery units on the 26 km Beverly Branch of its Rock Island Line between LaSalle St and Blue Island. The units are expected to have a range of 70 to 100 km between charges.