As the UK becomes consumed by election and/or Euros fever I thought you might like this tiny contribution. According to the good people at Tortoise Media the party manifestos mentioned Climate/Energy as follows: Labour on 12 pages, Lib/Dems on 13 and Conservative on 5. Read into that what you will (note the Labour manifesto has many more pages overall).
Sorry, no Titbits for the next two weeks as am on foreign shores (literally), back first week in July.
COMPANY NEWS
Foresight Solar weathers shareholder continuation vote
A continuation vote at Foresight Solar’s AGM on Wednesday, saw 24.4 per cent of its shareholders opt for the company to be wound up, prompting Iain Scouller, an analyst at investment banking and brokerage firm Stifel, to suggest several of the largest shareholders may have voted to end the fund’s life.
Based on the latest accounts, Scouller noted the largest shareholders in March were BlackRock, Gravis Capital, Cazenove Capital and Charles Stanley, who hold between five per cent and 13 per cent of FSFL’s shares.
However, Scouller said the level of votes in favour of discontinuation was “surprisingly high”, and questioned whether shareholders ticked the correct box.
With shares in the £510m renewable infrastructure fund currently trading at 88p, a discount to net asset value (NAV) of 22 per cent, initiatives are underway to address the wide discount, including paying down debt and returning capital to investors through a buyback programme.
Despite the notable discontent, the FSFL board said it was “pleased that a significant majority of shareholders supported the board’s recommendations [to continue the company]”, with 76 per cent voting against the fund’s discontinuation and investors engaging with strategies to address the headwinds affecting the alternatives sector. (businessgreen)
UK NEWS
Vestas has begun the planning process for a blade factory in Scotland.
The Danish turbine manufacturer has filed a ‘proposal of application notice’ with Edinburgh City Council for the facility at nearby Leith.
The factory would produce blades for the V236 offshore turbine, it is understood.
A full planning application will be required to secure permission for the facility east of the Imperial Dock.
Industry sources said if built the facility would be a significant investment in the UK supply chain and support hundreds of jobs. (renews)
photo: Forth Ports
Sainsbury’s says packaging shift will save 700 tonnes of plastic annually
Sainsbury’s is introducing packaging changes across its own-brand chicken and fish lines, as part of what it describes as a “significant step towards our plastic reduction goals”.
The retailer says the changes, shifting from plastic to pulp cardboard packaging, will lead to it saving 694 tonnes of plastic a year.
The changes will see Sainsbury’s own-brand salmon fillet trays switch from pulp cardboard instead of plastic, in a UK retailer first, which will result in 70% less plastic, saving 346 tonnes a year, it said.
It said the new trays are made from sugarcane pulp and are lined with polyethene film.
Furthermore, Sainsbury’s is also rolling out cardboard trays across its Taste the Difference and By Sainsbury’s breaded chicken lines, which it says will save 300 tonnes of plastic a year. (sustainability-beat)
Sainsbury also helping EV drivers
Sainsbury confirms this week that EV drivers using their ultra-rapid charging service, Smart Charge, can get rewarded with Nectar points for charging their EVs.
In doing so, the retailer said it has helped create the first EV charging service in the UK to offer a national loyalty scheme. The service goes live at the start of July 2024, giving customers one Nectar point for every point spent. (current-news)
photo: Sainsbury
Ørsted to pump Hornsea 3 juice into 600MWh battery near Norwich
Wind power developers Ørsted are committing to store electricity from their 1.2GW Hornsea 3 marine farm next to a substation at Swardeston, near Norwich
The Danes today confirmed their investment go-ahead to co-locate the 300MW/600MWh storage system, among Europe’s largest, on the Norfolk site. No cash value was disclosed.
Commissioning the devices is timetabled for late 2026. Co-locating both facilities will minimise disruption during construction and later during operations. (theenergyst)
EV OF THE WEEK
The 2024 Chevy Equinox EV – The car for America’s everyman
How does electric motoring capture the mainstream? EV sales have grown spectacularly, even if that growth rate has slowed a little this year. It is still well short of proper mass adoption, except maybe in Norway and China. What is needed to tip it over the edge?
The easiest route would be through price, which is what is happening in China. However, the western nations are reluctant to let Chinese cars undercut local ones. A second route would be through Government help, as happened in Norway, who gave generous incentives to prime the market. A third route is to create a cost competitive offering that appeals squarely to Mr & Mrs average motorist. History suggests that the design should be conservative and the performance OK but not spectacular. Something reliable that people feel comfortable with. That was the trick that Toyota pulled in the USA a generation ago.
Welcome then, the Chevy Equinox EV. This comes out of GM central casting as a sensible no-frills family SUV. GM have optimised the batteries for range rather than quick recharging, but over 300 miles range should appeal as should the $30,000 plus a bit target price. Kudos to GM for persevering with their EV programme whilst others hesitate. This unglamorous EV might just be the one that cracks it for them.
photo: GM
EUROPEAN STORIES
CIP launches Irish biogas partnership
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through its CI Advanced Bioenergy Fund I, has launched a new partnership to develop, construct and operate biogas plants across Ireland with a primary focus on utilising manure as feedstock.
Greengate Biogas comprises CI ABF I, Atlas Renewables and Energex Partners.
When fully established, Greengate Biogas will produce nearly 1.8TWh per year of biomethane across multiple projects, representing approximately 3.5% of Ireland’s current natural gas demand, CIP said. (renews)
photo: Greengate Biogas
VW to use old EV batteries to build massive grid battery
Car maker Volkswagen plans to install large battery storage capacities in northern Germany to store wind and solar power for times of little output, reports newspaper WirtschaftsWoche.
The head of the company’s technology department, Thomas Schmall, said construction is slated to begin this summer.
The storage facility’s initial capacity will be 700 megawatts (the storage duration was not stated) and could be expanded to 1,000 MW later, which roughly equals the capacity of a standard gas-fired power plant, he said. (thedriven)
Tests show 30 year-old solar panels still operating at 79.5 per cent of original capacity
A rooftop solar system installed more than 30 years ago in France – reported to be the country’s oldest installed system – is still operating at just under 80 per cent of its original output, a new report has found.
The 1kW system, first inaugurated June 1992 in Ain in eastern France, was tested by Hespul, an agency formed in 1991 to support the development of renewable energy technologies in France – and which commissioned the 1992 solar array.
The test found that the modules produce on average 79.5 per cent of their original power output, despite being in operation for 31 years.
The same test, carried out on the 20th anniversary of the panels’ installation, found they were producing at 91.7 per cent of their original power. (reneweconomy)
photo: Isowatt
FOCUS ON: HOURLY MATCHING
How can more companies use 24/7 clean energy?
In 2022, a data center in Houston came to Gridmatic with an ambitious ask: they wanted to begin matching their energy consumption with zero-emission power sources on an hourly basis, in a fashion similar to the 24/7 clean energy goal announced in 2020 by Google.
And so over the course of the next year, the energy modeling company did just that. They used artificial intelligence to forecast the data center’s energy needs and the availability of clean energy to identify ideal sources of energy and avoid the over-buying that is typically associated with time-matching energy strategies. By the end of the year-long pilot project, the data center was successfully matching 80% of its power consumption with zero-carbon energy sources on an hourly basis.
Google — the pioneer of the 24/7 clean energy goal — has had a similar experience. As of its most recent environmental report, the tech giant was matching 64% of the energy consumed by its data centers and offices with carbon-free energy on an hourly basis.
If hourly matching is to be a thing for broader swaths of the U.S. power grid, Miller believes there will need to be more localized, dispatchable carbon-free generation such as nuclear generation. There will be at least some increased flexibility in energy demand in the future, EVs and electrolyzers for hydrogen production could shift power consumption to times when wind and solar energy are abundant. But it is unlikely that load flexibility will be sufficient to make 100% 24/7 clean energy possible for a majority of energy customers without overbuilding renewables, which will make them cost comparative with nuclear.
Even then, building more clean, dispatchable generation won’t be enough to make hourly emissions matching more accessible. Getting there in the future will also require more transparent and standardized emissions data. (current-news)
NATURAL CAPITAL
Charity buys into Trayvallich rewilding project, guaranteeing it for the long term
A new charity has taken ownership of a 635-hectare chunk of land that will be used to provide much-needed local housing and nature recovery on a grand scale after a landmark deal with an eco-company.
Barrahormid Trust has bought half of the 1,350-hectare Tayvallich estate from pioneering ‘mass-ownership’ company Highlands Rewilding, which bought it last year for £10.5 million.
The deal means the charity will hold the land for nature restoration and community prosperity “in perpetuity”, with a long-term operating lease set up with Highlands Rewilding – whose mission is to bolster communities and make a profit for investors through ecological restoration.
The land at Barrahormid hosts a farmhouse, farm buildings and the remains of nine crofts with several ruined properties. It is also home to rare wildlife and habitats, including native juniper bushes, Celtic rainforest and marsh fritillary butterflies, with a series of designated conservation areas.
The deal locks in the commitment to manage the land for carbon capture, biodiversity uplift and delivery of benefits to local people “essentially forever” – something the company said it could not guarantee if it retained ownership.
“Nature adapts slowly, but we can act now to give it the best chance for long-term success,” said Jeremy Leggett, chief executive of Highlands Rewilding. (scotsman)
photo: Highland Rewilding
GLOBAL STUFF
Tesla says two humanoid Optimus Bots are handling factory tasks autonomously.
According to Tesla, two of its humanoid Optimus robots are “performing tasks in the factory autonomously,” according to an update the automaker posted on X. The company didn’t say what tasks the robots are handling, or which specific factory or factories the robots are operating in. The claim seemingly fulfills a promise made by CEO Elon Musk in April. (pocket-lint)
photo: Tesla
