Welcome to Titbits 2024. To use a corny football commentators expression “this one could go either way”. The energy transition is now into territory where a draw doesn’t cut it any more.
One thing that can be guaranteed, however, is that most weeks Titbits will continue to provide carefully curated news in bite-size chunks
UK NEWS
National Grid activates world’s longest land and subsea interconnector
National Grid‘s Viking Link, the world’s longest land and subsea interconnector, began commercial operations on 29th December 2023.
The £1.7 billion project connects the UK and Denmark through a 475 mile cable.
With a capacity of 1.4GW, Viking Link is set to transport electricity equivalent to powering up to 2.5 million UK homes.
The joint venture between National Grid and Danish System Operator, Energinet, marks a significant milestone in interconnecting nations for clean energy exchange.
The project is expected to yield cumulative savings of more than £500 million for UK consumers during its first decade. (energylivenews)
Government launches consultation on support mechanism for long-duration energy storage
The UK government has launched its consultation on its proposals for kickstarting investment into long-duration energy storage (LDES), which includes a cap-and-floor mechanism and excluding lithium-ion from being eligible.
LDES will be pivotal in delivering a smart and flexible energy system integrating low-carbon power, heat and transport, and 20GW of LDES deployments between 2030 and 2050 could result in system savings of £24 billion, the consultation outline said. (current-news)
photo: Drax
Go-Ahead London trial Electroliner from Wrightbus
Go-Ahead London has announced it is to trial the rapid-charge StreetDeck Electroliner, built by Northern Ireland-based manufacturer Wrightbus, this month.
The vehicle, launched in 2021, has been on a UK-wide tour, including in London, to give bus operators and local authorities the chance to see it in action and showcase its capabilities.
Dozens of Wrightbus’s EVs are set to be rolled out across the capital after the firm also secured new orders with Arriva and Abellio last year. (theenergyst)
photo: Wrightbus
UK rooftop solar installations hit 12-year high
The number of rooftop solar panels installed by UK households and businesses hit a 12-year high in 2023, figures from the industry’s official standards body show.
According to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), more than 183,000 solar photovoltaic installations were installed across the UK last year, exceeding the total amount installed in 2022 by more than one third. (powertechnology)
photo: Wikimedia Commons
EV OF THE WEEK
Kia PBV Shows off modular commercial vehicle lineup at CES
CES, the Las Vegas tech fest held every January is an excuse for car companies, and sometimes non-car companies to show off outrageous concepts. This year what got the most attention was Kia’s launch of a range of vans, last mile delivery vehicles, taxis and even robo-taxis all running off the same platform. In fact they are so modular that you can change the utility by sticking parts together with electro-magnets, or to use Kia’s language “life modules” can be connected “via a hybrid electromagnetic and mechanical coupling technology”.
photo: Kia Motors
EUROPEAN STORIES
VW-backed QuantumScape’s solid-state batteries ace the first tests
QuantumScape, an American company counting Volkswagen among its biggest investors, reports a groundbreaking achievement with its latest solid-state battery technology. The battery completed over 1,000 charging cycles with an impressive 95% capacity retention, meaning that a car can go 311,000 miles and still retain the majority of its original battery capacity.
Volkswagen’s subsidiary, PowerCo, conducted the tests on the battery samples in their Salzgitter labs, confirming QuantumScape’s claims. According to PowerCo CEO Frank Blome, these results mark a crucial milestone, propelling the solid-state cell towards mass production. (arenaev)
Bunker One and Color Line Collaborate on Switch to Biofuel
For almost one month, Bunker One has supplied B100 biofuel to Color Line’s SuperSpeed 1 and 2 ferries travelling between Hirtshals in Denmark and Larvik and Kristiansand in Norway. With this switch to biofuel, Color Line’s two passenger ferries have reduced CO2 emissions by approximately 85%.
The numerous benefits of the B100 biofuel, such as CO2 emissions reduction, energy efficiency, and no required modifications to vessel engines, have been the primary motivation behind Color Line’s piloting of the low-carbon biofuel. Equipped with technical expertise and extensive know-how on lower carbon fuels, compliance, and the regulatory landscape for shipping, Bunker One managed to find the best solution that accommodated Color Line’s needs. (renewableenergymagazine)
photo: Color Line
FOCUS ON: HEAT PUMPS
MCS figures highlight 2023 growth in UK heat pump installations
2023 has been a record year for registered UK heat pump installations, according to data from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).
Over 35,000 air source heat pumps and ground source heat pump installations were registered with the body over the course of 2023. MCS said in a statement that the total number of certified heat pumps installations registered since 2008 in the country has now exceeded 200,000. (h&vnews)
Will hotter heat pumps win over homeowners?
Today’s gas combi boilers are typically designed for flow temperatures of around 50-60C. However a new breed of heat pumps is emerging. Engineers have gradually improved the technology, meaning that heat pumps are now able to supply much higher temperatures, sometimes in excess of 70C.
A major change has been the rise of new refrigerants, including R290, or propane. R290 is more environmentally friendly than older refrigerants so leaks are not as potentially damaging in climate change terms. Plus, it is up to 34% more efficient, which helps heat pumps supply higher temperatures without incurring severe efficiency losses.
Among the firms offering R290-based heat pumps are Octopus Energy. It recently announced a heat pump called Cosy 6, which can heat water up to a maximum of 80C. This could make heat pumps viable in a broader range of UK homes, which are notoriously poorly insulated in comparison with much of Europe.
Vaillant’s aroTHERM plus heat pump works in outdoor temperatures as low as -20C and can supply hot water at up to 75C, though to remain efficient it is best not to exceed 55C, according to the manufacturer.
Vattenfall, makes a heat pump that uses a different refrigerant, R744, or CO2. It can supply even higher temperatures, up to 85C.
And a spokesman for Daikin says that its Altherma heat pump, which uses R32 as a refrigerant, can reach 70C. The firm plans to launch a range of R290-based heat pumps in 2024. (bbc)
Swedish ‘Spotify of heat pumps’ hopes to reach more UK homes
The Swedish clean energy company Aira is leading a new wave of companies preparing to harness the growing interest in low-carbon home heating, and is positioning itself as the “Spotify of heat pumps”.
The company’s chief executive, Martin Lewerth, believes its subscription service could soon help 5m households across Europe – including 1m in the UK – turn their back on gas boilers for good.
Aira was founded last year in Stockholm with the backing of the Swedish impact investor Vargas, but it has its sights set on European countries where the heat pump market is preparing to grow at pace. It began a pilot scheme in Italy earlier this year, and plans to launch in Germany as well as the UK.
As part of this plan, it will invest £300m in the next three years in a series of academies across the UK, which it predicts will produce an 8,000-strong army of skilled installers to fit the heat pumps, manufactured at its factory in Poland. Its first two UK academies will be based in Sheffield and London.
This workforce will underpin Aira’s commitment to complete each installation within 30 days of order, and provide a 10-year service guarantee that households will enjoy 20C comfort on even the coldest day of the year.
Aira customers typically choose to pay back the cost of the heat pump, and its installation, over 10 years, or half the expected lifespan of the heat pump. If a customer moves house, they are able to pass the contract to the next owner, or pay the balance of the deal off with the proceeds from the sale. (guardian)
photo: Aira
NUCLEAR NEWS IN UK AND EUROPE
The Civil Nuclear Roadmap
The UK Government has announced plans for a new large-scale nuclear power plant and a £300m investment in reactor fuel, as it aims to quadruple domestic nuclear power by 2050.
The Civil Nuclear Roadmap, published on Thursday, includes plans to build a new nuclear plant on the same scale as Hinkley Point and Sizewell C. Leading candidates for the new plant would include Wylfa on Anglesey or Moorside in Cumbria, the BBC reported.
The £300m funding commitment would support domestic production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), the fuel required by most of the advanced reactors being proposed in the UK.
HALEU is enriched to just under 20 per cent – below the level needed for nuclear weapons but above the 5 per cent current reactors use – but the fuel is currently only produced commercially in Russia.
The Roadmap suggests a target of 24GW of nuclear power.In order to achieve this we shall need at least four new large scale reactors plus20 or so of the proposed Small Modular Reactors, about which there is much talk, but little imminent sign of deployment. (the-i)
Hinkley Point photo: Richard Baker/Creative Commons
NuScale SMR meets Polish safety requirements, says regulator
In an opinion issued on 22 December, the PAA Polish Nuclear Authority) president concludes that the assumptions adopted in the design of the NuScale technology are correct and meet the requirements of Poland’s Atomic Law and selected regulations on the safety of nuclear facilities. The conclusions published by the PAA will be taken into account in the standard and detailed design process of the NuScale reactors that are planned to be constructed in Poland.
In July last year, Polish copper and silver producer KGHM Polska Miedź SA’s plan to construct a power plant based on NuScale’s SMR was approved by the country’s Ministry of Climate and Environment. The decision-in-principle issued by the ministry is a general opinion on selected conditions enabling the construction of a VOYGR modular nuclear power plant with a capacity of 462 MWe consisting of six modules, each with a capacity of 77 MWe.
The decision-in-principle represents official state approval for the planned investment in accordance with the assumptions and concept presented by the company. It is the first decision in the process of administrative permits for investments in nuclear power facilities in Poland that an investor may apply for. Obtaining it entitles KGHM to apply for a number of further administrative arrangements, such as a siting decision or construction licence. (worldnuclearnews)
GLOBAL STUFF
Washington’s cap on carbon is raising billions for climate action.
One year after it went into effect, Washington’s “cap-and-invest” system has already brought in an eyebrow-raising $2.2 billion for action on climate change. The Climate Commitment Act, signed by Governor Jay Inslee in 2021, establishes a statewide limit on greenhouse gas emissions that steadily lowers over time. The law also creates a market, like California’s, for businesses to buy “allowances” for the carbon pollution they emit, prodding them to cut their emissions — and at the same time generating a boatload of money to tackle climate change. Touted as the “gold standard” for state climate policy, the law requires Washington to slash its emissions nearly in half by 2030, using 1990 levels as the baseline.
Experts said that the law is already having tangible benefits. Businesses, hoping to avoid paying for costly pollution “allowances,” are figuring out how to run their operations while emitting less carbon. Meanwhile, the revenue from the program is spurring clean energy efforts, including a large-scale solar project by the Yakama Nation, and attracting green industries like clean hydrogen. The funding will also help families install energy-efficient (and money-saving) heat pumps and provide incentives for garbage trucks, delivery vans, and buses to go electric.
The fate of the climate law could have ripple effects beyond Washington, the second state to adopt a cap on carbon after California. New York, for example, just unveiled plans for a cap-and-invest program in December.
This may sound all good, but the very success of the programme has generated a backlash from anti-tax hawks and a hedge fund manager has funded an appeal to repeal the legislation. This will go to court and should he win it will become impossible ever to have such a scheme in place. (grist)
Plug Power Completes First Installation of Electrolyzer at Amazon Fulfillment Centre
Plug Power Inc. has completed the installation and commissioning of an electrolyzer system at an Amazon fulfillment center in Aurora, Colorado. The 1 MW proton exchange membrane electrolyzer is the first for Amazon and is producing low-carbon hydrogen to fuel more than 225 hydrogen fuel cell-powered forklift trucks at the site, known as DEN8. (renewableenergymagazine)
TECHIE CORNER
Magma Chambers offer unlimited renewable power (if you can find one)
Magma chambers are underground pockets of molten rock. Occasionally they leak to the earth’s surface, as is happening right now near to Grindavik in southern Iceland. In theory they could provide vaste quantities of energy if one could locate one and tap into it.
The problem with this is that we have no instruments that can locate them, and it was quite by chance that Hjalti Páll Ingólfsson at the Geothermal Research Cluster (GEORG) in Reykjavík located one.
Having stumbled across a magma chamber, they have advanced plans to do the unthinkable and deliberately drill into it. The project will do no less than make scientific history, providing our first direct opportunity to study the hidden liquid rock that Earth uses to build its continents. Along the way, it may also discover a path to supply the world with unlimited cheap and clean energy. (new scientist)
photo: Flickr
