Back in the early days of all this there was talk of a giant project to build solar farms in the Sahara in order to supply energy for the whole of Europe. That has never happened but the Darwin project described below has reactivated the idea of a giant solar resource linked to distant markets via DC cable. What goes around…
Company news
Tesla Q3 numbers are stunning
The market had high expectations for Tesla this quarter after the company confirmed record deliveries earlier this month..
Wall Street was expecting revenue of about $8.2 billion for the quarter and a gain of $0.55 per share.
Tesla managed to destroy expectations with $8.7 billion in revenue and a gain of $0.76 per share (Non-GAAP).
Revenues grew 30% and operating margins improved to 9.2%
The cars division was the star (deliveries up 43% y/y) but a notable improvement was made by both the battery storage business and also the revamped “low-cost solar” business showed encouraging sales trends. Solar installations doubled over the quarter. (elektrek)
UK news
Scottish Government greenlights Scotland’s ‘tallest’ wind farm
The Scottish Government has given the go-ahead to what claims to be Scotland‘s ‘tallest wind farm.
Located in East Ayrshire and developed by the energy firm Banks Renewables, the Lethans wind farm consists of 22 turbines, at a maximum height of 220 metres, which is considered to be the tallest turbines granted planning permission in Scotland to date.
The wind turbines will have a maximum output of up to 105.6MW. (energylivenews)
ENGIE to help deliver zero carbon for South Somerset
South Somerset District Council (SSDC) has contracted Engie to develop a net zero carbon roadmap. This move follows SSDC’s declaration of a climate ecological emergency in May 2019 and publication of an environment strategy that sets out immediate actions and long-term goals for achieving significant reductions in carbon emissions.
Engie was selected to produce the roadmap for achieving zero carbon for SSDC’s 10 largest energy-consuming sites following a rigorous selection process involving 29 bidders. It will carry out energy audits and carbon assessments of all the sites involved and will develop a carbon reduction waterfall to identity priority areas where the greatest reductions can be achieved. This will map out a path to enable SSDC to achieve optimum carbon savings in the most efficient and cost-effective ways. (theenergyst)
Air pollution costs the average London citizen £1,180 every year.
That’s according to a report by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), which examined 432 cities in all EU countries and the UK, Norway and Switzerland and found air pollution cost city residents across these regions a total of €166 billion per year, which is equal to an average of €385 million per city.
These figures represent the costs related to health problems caused by the polluted air.
The study, conducted by the independent research and consultancy organisation CE Delft, shows Bucharest in Romania tops the European chart for highest costs faced by the average city resident – Bucharest residents face an average cost of €3,004.
Residents in Santa Cruz de Tenerife face the lowest costs at €382.
As well as London, other cities in the UK that rank high in the list of the pollution-related costs for citizens are Manchester with €864, Glasgow with €728 and West Midlands with €715. (energylivenews)
EV of the week
Dacia Spring May Be Least Expensive Electric Car In Europe
Dacia is known for being the no frills, bargain basement brand. The company was founded in Romania in 1966 and sold to Groupe Renault 33 years later. It is the largest company by revenue in Romania and accounts for 8% of that country’s exports. Now it seems Dacia is poised to introduce the least expensive battery electric vehicle in Europe.
How will Dacia do it? By fitting a smaller than normal battery — 26.8 kWh — and selling the car to people who are comfortable with a modest range of 140 miles WLTP.
The SEAT Mii Electric starts at $23,000 in most European countries before incentives and Dacia expects its new compact SUV-style Sprint to sell for less than that. (cleantechnica)
European
Each new wind turbine
Each new wind turbine installed in Europe generates €10 million of economic activity.
That’s according to a new report by the European association WindEurope, which suggests if governments fully implement their national energy and climate plans, Europe will have more than twice as much wind energy capacity as today by 2030.
This translates to 50% more jobs in wind by 2030, reaching a total of 450,000. (energylivenews)
Focus on: Long duration energy storage
The First Major Long-Duration Storage Procurement Has Arrived
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.
That changed on Thursday, when a coalition of eight Californian community-choice aggregators, led by Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE), published a request for offers seeking 500 megawatts of long-duration storage capacity. In doing so, they beat the state’s investor-owned utilities in making good on the California Public Utilities Commission’s call to invest in this resource.
The Joint CCAs stipulated that eligible projects must provide at least 50 megawatts of power capacity with a minimum of 8 hours of discharge duration, and they have to come online by 2026. Bids can earn extra points for coming online sooner.
Numerous companies responded to a request for information earlier this year, but the names are not publicly available. SVCE did confirm that the responses included multiple technologies, ranging from conventional lithium-ion to chemical flow batteries, compressed air, pumped hydro and emerging technologies such as thermal and gravity-based storage. (gtm)
8 hours or more
What is the definition of long-duration storage?
The lithium-ion batteries now being deployed at gigawatt scale typically deliver their full power for up to 4 hours. Beyond that, adding more discharge duration typically costs more than it’s worth right now. But many grid analysts believe that, as wind and solar plants proliferate, cheap long-duration storage will play a valuable role in turning that intermittent generation into a round-the-clock resource.
The industry lacks a firm definition of what “long-duration” storage entails. Some alternative battery startups pitch their 4-hour storage products under the moniker. Cambridge Massachusetts-based startup Form Energy staked out the other end of the spectrum this year, winning a contract for a 150-hour-duration storage plant in Minnesota using their novel Aqueous Air battery technology. (gtm)
Global stuff
Revov South Africa Goes Big On Second Life Batteries
Electric vehicle batteries last much longer than a lot of people think
Recent studies show, however, battery cells could last for over 1 million miles. Toyota is already using a 1 million kilometer tag in its marketing and warranty packages for the UX 300e. With 7 million EVs already on the road worldwide and battery production predicted to reach 800 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2025 from around 210 GWh this year, there are going to be a lot of batteries going around that are still in good shape for repurposing for other applications in a second life, such as in stationary storage.
Revov South Africa is going big on second-life batteries for stationary storage applications. The company contends that at the end of life in an EV the battery cells still have 80% residual capacity. They have signed an agreement that their base stations in China will use 2nd life batteries. They offer a 10 year warranty on both new and second life batteries. Their installations are typically 80% 2nd life vs 20% new batteries, which is testament to their customers’ faith in the 2nd life offer. (cleantechnica)
The world’s biggest (and most extraordinary) solar project
A cattle station halfway between Alice Springs and Darwin is set to house the world’s largest solar farm, with energy generated from the project to ultimately power Singapore.
The 10 gigawatt solar farm, which will be visible from space if built, was granted major project status from the Morrison government in July and has attracted billionaire investors including Andrew Forrest and Mike Cannon-Brookes. Sun Cable are leading the A$20bn project
Overhead transmission lines will send the electricity generated by Sun Cable to Darwin and feed into the state’s power grid, but the company said two-thirds of the power would be exported to Singapore by high-voltage direct current undersea cables.
There will be at least two cables, each with a diameter slightly smaller than a football, with Sun Cable able to provide about a fifth of Singapore’s electricity needs as the country looks to move away from its increasingly expensive gas-fired power system.
The project, called the Australia-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) will also house a 35GW storage facility to facilitate 24/7 dispatch of power (guardian)
Green Mountain Power’s Home Battery Network
Utility pilot projects aren’t famous for standout financial success. Usually the goal is to verify a technology in the field before attempting broader deployment. Sometimes nothing follows the pilot.
Vermont utility Green Mountain Power not only verified the efficacy of residential batteries for meeting grid needs, it saved its customers millions of dollars with them. Now, that program has been ratified by the state’s Public Utility Commission as a permanent residential storage tariff, which means battery installations, and utility savings, will continue to rise.
At a time when forward-thinking companies are excited to erect networks of distributed batteries at some point in the next few years, Green Mountain Power represents something of anomaly. It already has not a couple hundred, but 2,567 utility-controlled Powerwall batteries sitting in customer homes, adding up to around 13 megawatts. (gtm)
