Focus is on EV charging this week. Whilst compiling it I got to wondering about whether the public charging network and charger availability is keeping up with EV ownership. I am guessing that quite a percentage of readers own an EV. My sense is that there is more competition for charger time than there was a year or so ago, but that charger reliability and useability is improving. I have had to queue a couple of times, but not for long and I am not the only one looking to use the lamppost charger outside my house any more. If you have strong views on this I would like to hear from you and might pull together the feedback in next week’s edition.
COMPANY NEWS
Aggreko acquires RenEnergy
RenEnergy, an industrial and commercial renewable energy company with operations in the UK and South Africa, has been acquired by energy services group Aggreko.
Founded in 2006, RenEnergy has extensive expertise in renewable energy services in the solar carport and electric vehicle charging space. The company, which has its UK base in Norwich, designs and implements renewable solar photovoltaics systems. Its South African business also develops energy storage products.
RenEnergy UK will continue to operate under the RenEnergy brand and the senior leadership teams in the UK and South Africa look forward to further developing the business following the acquisition. (insidermedia)
photo: Aggreko
Gresham House Energy Storage scraps dividend amid UK grid battery sector downturn
In a trading update, the £841m trust said it would not declare a dividend for the fourth quarter of 2023 and warned that if the current revenue environment endures, it will be “challenging” to generate the cash required to cover the dividend this year.
The board intends to recalibrate the trust’s dividend target for 2024 and the dividend policy on an ongoing basis to “better reflect the predominantly merchant nature of its revenues”. A further announcement is expected by the publication of its annual results in April.
The challenging revenue conditions for battery storage in Great Britain throughout 2023 has led to all three battery storage trusts being unable to cover their dividends, with the strain on revenues expected to persist until the end of 2024. (businessgrteen)
UK NEWS
Disused coal mines in England to be mapped for clean energy potential
Dan Norris, the Mayor of the West of England, has pledged funding to explore the potential use of old, flooded coal mines as a source of clean thermal energy.
Norris last week announced plans to launch a £1.6m Heat from Mines study, backed by the UK’s Coal Authority and Historic England, to explore whether disused mines in the region can be repurposed as a clean energy source to heat homes.
There are more than 100 coal mines in and around the Somerset Coalfield and South Gloucestershire areas in the West of England where coal was mined from the 15th century through to 1973, when the last pit was closed.
Almost a quarter of the region’s homes now sit above these inactive coal mines, which are now flooded with water. Proposals suggest that by using heat pumps, the water, which has been naturally warmed by the earth, could heat homes across the west.
Norris says there is the potential to heat more than 100,000 homes as well as other buildings such as schools, hospitals and offices.
Through detailed ground investigations, the study will map the mine areas that have the greatest potential as a heat resource. (power-technology)
photo: Martin Tester/Creative Commons
British solar panel maker sets new world efficiency record
Pioneer solar technologists Oxford PV have set a new record for the world’s most efficient solar panel, marking a crucial milestone in the clean energy transition.
The firm, a fourteen year spin-off from Oxford University, has allied with scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Solar Energy Institute to make a perovskite-based panel which achieves a record 25% conversion efficiency, advancing on conventional panels’ benchmarks in the low 20s.
Last May the firm achieved a world-beating rate of 28.6% for energy conversion by a single perovskite-coated cell. Small losses are incurred when as many as 72 cells are assembled into a single solar panel.
Greater things are yet to come. According to the company, stabilising the volatile perovskite mineral and layering it on standard silicon cells grant a theoretical maximum efficiency of over 43%, compared to less than 30% for standard silicon-based cells. (theenergyst)
Amazon and ENGIE forge green energy pact in Moray West
Amazon has signed a corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with ENGIE to secure 473MW of renewable energy from the Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland.
The wind farm, part of the Ocean Winds initiative, is a joint venture between EDP Renewables and ENGIE and is under construction in the Moray Firth region.
The 882MW wind farm is set to generate power in 2024.
The deal supports Amazon’s goal of powering all operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years earlier than initially targeted. (futurenetzero)
Plans for Solar farm to supply Donnington Park Services
Plans for a major new solar farm next to the M1 in Leicestershire have emerged. Developers say it will help make moves towards a zero emissions travel network.
The proposal, put forward by Moto Hospitality Limited, centres on land next to the Donington Park service station at Junction 23a of the M1 in Castle Donington.
In all, plans would see more than 15,000 photovoltaic solar panels installed on what is called a “ground-mounted solar farm”. Moto Hospitality Limited say it would generate 9MW of power, providing “much-needed” electricity to EV chargers on site at the services. (leicestermercury)
OVO partnership to lower heat pump running costs
OVO has partnered with manufacturer Vaillant to offer a “best-in-market” heat pump rate of 15p/kWh, which is said to cut running costs by an average of £495 a year.
Heat Pump Plus is an add-on that will allow homeowners with a Vaillant heat pump to access this new rate, cutting heat pump running costs by almost £500, based on an air source heat pump with a UK average Seasonal Coefficient of Performance of 2.8 and annual consumption of 3,644 kWh.
This will mean customers have two separate rates – one for the heat pump and one for regular household energy usage.
The energy supplier references research which reveals that 78% of survey participants in the UK see running costs as the most significant barrier to installing a heat pump, with 75% believing they would make the switch if these costs were reduced by roughly 50%. (current-news)
photo: Ovo
EV OF THE WEEK
The divergent paths of Polestar and Volvo
Volvo Cars announced record profits this week, and also that it was ceasing to fund it’s sister company Polestar. This is something of a paper exercise as the two companies are both owned by Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holdings. Geely will continue to support Polestar and will take ownership of Volvo’s 48% stake.
Polestar was conceived as a performance EV brand closely associated with Volvo, but that has changed as both companies have developed their own distinct EV identities.
The trading situation at Polestar has been mixed this year. They have had to lay off 15% of staff as sales targets have not been met, but their products have been much admired, and they have been a leading exponent of the “Chinese brand in Western clothing” sales model.
This year sees two significant launches for the company. The Polestar 3 luxury SUV was launched late last year and now comes the Polestar 4, which, confusingly, is smaller than the 3. This is a mid-sized “coupe SUV”, although seems to have little of the SUV about it. What it does have is sleek looks, a long range (375miles is the boast), surprisingly good passenger space all in the beautiful packaging that we expect from Polestar. A couple of eccentricities are on show too: The ambient lighting shines through the perforated door materials and in what must be a first for a passenger car, it has no rear window. Cameras project to the rear view mirror. It will be interesting to see how the buying public respond to this.
Photo: Polestar
EUROPEAN STORIES
Norway has made a vital climate leap. This is how Britain can do the same
After a groundbreaking decision by the Oslo district court on 18 January, the Norwegian government must now take into account the emissions that come from the burning of oil and gas reserves in addition to the impact of getting the reserves out of the ground, before they approve a new field. The legal win, which applies for the first time the reasoning of a separate case in the Norwegian Supreme Court, was a result of Greenpeace Norway and Young Friends of the Earth Norway challenging the approval of three new oil and gas fields by the government. They argued the government had not properly vetted for climate harm. The court agreed.
Meanwhile, for UK-based oil and gas projects such as Rosebank, our government only takes into account the damage wreaked by extracting reserves rather than by combusting them. But there is hope among climate campaigners that this position will become untenable. The judgment in Norway has set a precedent that provides fertile ground for the government’s position to be challenged in UK courts. (guardian)
Ireland rolls out deposit recycling scheme
Consumers in Ireland can now return their empty plastic drinks bottles and aluminium cans at vending machines across the country in exchange for money off their supermarket shop, marking a major milestone for the circular economy that will intensify pressure on the UK to follow suit.
Several years in planning, Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) officially launches this week, with hundreds of reverse vending machines having been installed in large shops and supermarkets across the country where consumers can bring back empty drinks containers in exchange for tokens.
The move makes Ireland the 41st nation in the world to introduce a DRS for recycling drinks bottles, and the 15th country in Europe to roll out such a scheme. Evidence has shown the approach routinely leads to an increase in recycling rates. (businessgreen)
photo: Lidl
Veolia hits 2GW in flexible power
Veolia has achieved the milestone of managing more than 2GW of flexible electrical power across nearly 10,000 sites in Europe.
The company aims to accelerate its efforts, targeting 3GW of flexible power by 2030 to balance grid demand and intermittent production.
The International Energy Agency estimates a tenfold increase in the need for flexible assets worldwide by 2030, driven by the growth of over 500GW in Europe from PV and wind. (energylivenews)
FOCUS ON: EV CHARGING
More than 16,000 public chargers added to UK network in 2023
The total number of public chargers in the UK now stands at 53,677, an increase of 45% or 16,622 on a year ago.
But this is still just 80.1 devices per 100,000 population and just 15.1 Rapid Chargers of 50kW and above per 100,000 population, according to figures from the Department for Transport.
The figures for Northern Ireland are weak at 24.4 and 4.1 respectively, an issue highlighted by the NFDA in a recent visit to NI.
The roll-out of charging infrastructure is failing to keep up with increased sales of EVs, an issue of concern for dealers. (motortrader)
MFG to install 800 ultra-rapid EV chargers across acquired Morrisons forecourts
The Motor Fuel Group (MFG) has announced a £2.5 billion agreement with Morrisons to acquire 337 petrol forecourts as it targets 800 installations of 150kW chargepoints in five years.
Revealed this week, the partnership also relates to the proposed acquisition of over 400 associated sites from Morrison across the UK that are also intended for “ultra-rapid electric vehicle [EV] charging development.”
MFG confirmed it is targeting the installation of 800 ultra-rapid EV chargers across these 737 total acquired sites in the next five years.
The agreement will also see Morrisons take a minority stake of approximately 20% in MFG, whilst entering into commercial and supply agreements. (current-news)
Photo: MFG
Why the slowest EV chargers may be the fastest way to get people into EVs
To support 33 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads by 2030, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates the U.S. would need nearly 27 million Level 1 and 2 charging ports at residences and workplaces.
Reaching that number will require an enormous effort, but community-led electricity provider Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) believes one tool for getting there is to “right size” charging solutions, putting less focus on speed and more emphasis on ubiquity. The community choice aggregator sources clean energy for residents of San Mateo County just south of San Francisco, where EVs accounted for one-third of new car registrations last year and around 250,000 residents live in multifamily dwellings. It is focusing millions of dollars on incentives for Level 1 charging. The strategy, it says, will get more people some power instead of a few people a lot of power. (grist)
GLOBAL STUFF
Carbon Offset Demand Hits Record in 2023 Off Huge December
Even after a turbulent year full of scandals and accusations of fraudulent projects generating carbon offsets, companies reaffirmed their commitments to their net-zero goals by purchasing and retiring a record 164 million of these offsets in 2023. This is up 6% from the 154 million offsets retired in 2022.The carbon offset market, where verified emission reduction certificates are bought and sold by companies, was poised for its second straight down year in retirements – the key indicator of demand. Through November, just 127 million credits – representing 127 million tons of CO2 equivalent – had been retired, down from 129MtCO2e at the same point in 2022. However, companies retired 37 million credits in December alone, some 43% higher than the next largest month on record (25.9 million in December 2021). Large companies retiring offsets or signing contracts to do so in December included Shell, Salesforce, HP, Microsoft and Nestle.
The surge in activity in December is a vote of confidence for carbon offsets as a tool to help companies neutralize their residual emissions in order to achieve net-zero goals. The market saw a wave of support from policymakers, corporations and nonprofits at COP28 in Dubai, especially in the wake of failed negotiations to advance a UN-regulated carbon market under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement. It’s not out of the woods, however – groups like the Integrity Council on Voluntary Carbon Markets and the Voluntary Markets Integrity Initiative will need to continue to refine standards defining what high-quality offsets look like. Financial institutions will also need to hold companies accountable for poor offsetting practices. The success of these efforts will determine whether this record volume is a mirage or the beginning of a huge growth cycle. (bnef)
At Solar Farms Planted with Native Vegetation, Insects Flourish, Study Finds
To reach its climate goals, the U.S. will need to build solar arrays on some 15,000 square miles of land, an area larger than Maryland. Growing native plants at these sites could give a much-needed boost to imperiled insects, a new study finds.
For the research, scientists at the Argonne National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory planted native flowers and grasses at two solar farms in southern Minnesota in early 2018. For the next five years, they regularly surveyed each site.
Over the course of the study, researchers found the number and variety of both plants and insects grew substantially. Particularly encouraging was the growth of pollinators, such as moths, butterflies, beetles, hornets, wasps, and native bees.
The loss of grasslands across the continent has imperilled native bees. More than a quarter of North American bumblebees are now threatened with extinction. The new study found that native grasses grown on the solar farms were a boon to native bees. While the total number of insects grew threefold over the course of the study, the number of native bees multiplied by a factor of 20. (yale360)
photo: University of Dayton/Terry Lavvy
Cancelled NuScale contract weighs heavy on new nuclear
NuScale, the first new nuclear company to receive a design certificate from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, (NRC) for its 77 MW Power Module Small Modular Reactor (SMR), said in November it was terminating its Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP) with the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS).
What does this mean for new nuclear? Ted Nordhaus, Founder and Executive Director of The Breakthrough Institute has written a scathing piece for the Breakthgrough Institute called ‘Advanced Nuclear Energy is in Trouble’ He identified five key issues: high interest rates and commodity prices, constrained supply chains, a regulatory regime that penalizes innovation, project costs versus system costs, and fuel production.
High interest rate and commodity costs in the last couple of years have hit the industry especially hard due to long project lead times. Nuclear supply chains are struggling to rebuild as tight regulation forces many materials to be tracked from certified mine to certified manufacturer.
The regulatory regime, meanwhile, continues to cut and paste large nuclear reactor regulations on to the small reactor designs, whether it makes sense to do so or not according to Nordhaus.
Delivery costs for small nuclear are relatively low due to the relatively small volumes of steel and mortar needed, but system costs must factor in safety regulation which is stricter than other types of energy projects. Proponents argue this makes it harder to compete with fossil fuels and renewables, which pay little to no cost for polluting or intermittency, the Institute says.
Advanced nuclear fuel production, meanwhile, had been outsourced to Russia for decades and is only now being hastily reassembled in the United States for the new reactors, with developers such as Terrapower forced to delay their commercialization timelines due to a lack of fuel.
“Taken together, these developments suggest that current efforts are unlikely to be sufficient to deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear energy,” The Breakthrough Institute said. (reuters)
