Headlines this week that it is raining in Antarctica should re-affirm that what we talk about in this newsletter is relevant, if that was ever needed. UK NEWS Floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea could be worth up to £1.4 billionThe Crown Estate has released new research indicating that the floating offshore wind opportunity … Read More
geothermal
BECCS/nuclear/low-emission steel/tar sands & focus on geothermal energy
Least surprising news of the week: Hinkley Point C nuclear project is behind schedule and over budget. Whilst UK tax payers won’t be on the hook for the cost over run, the delays do put a dent in the idea that nuclear is going to be a viable route to hitting climate targets. BlackRock commits … Read More
Constraint/flexibility/geothermal/vertical-agrivoltaic/wave power & focus on sodium-ion batteries
We truly live in the exponential age: I only heard of sodium-ion battery technology about this time last year and now the first car is being launched running on sodium and gigafactories are being built. I checked the Northvolt website relating to the first story below and it trumpets the arrival of sodium-ion technology too, … Read More
Heat pumps/nuclear/interconnectors/electrolyzer/magma chambers
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 … Read More
Biogas/heat pumps/fusion/geothermal & focus on EU & UK ETS
Looking at the selections this week, two kinds of innovation are featured: First are the “out of the box thinking” type such as the burying of biomass and the fracking energy storage. The second is the Government sponsoring the long term ambitions of the fusion industry, and trying to pick winners. COMPANY NEWS AstraZeneca Partners … Read More
Batteries/ev charging/pumped storage/enhanced geothermal & focus on oil states and the energy transition
We are now officially in La La Land. This week Antonio Guttieres, the UN Chief suggested that we are now entering the era of “Global Boiling”, and according to the Guardian water temperatures in the Florida Keys Ocean were recorded at 38.43C, a temperature you would expect in a hot tub. Meanwhile in an alternate … Read More
UK-Morocco cable/EV fires/solar & battery/hot rocks/Shanghai Auto Show & focus on UK energy transition
The top two stories suggest that there is a reasonable secondary market in renewable assets. More mature projects being sold into long term funds. That is encouraging. COMPANY NEWS NextEnergy Solar Fund to sell some PV farms to invest in storageNextEnergy Solar Fund has announced plans to sell a 236MW portfolio of subsidy-free UK solar … Read More
Battery recycling/CCS/folding solar/algae & focus on Geothermal Energy Storage
Two stories today about drilling holes in the ground: This is just my view, but I suggest that the Government would be better advised to support Enhanced Geothermal that CCS. If CCS was really the answer it would have been built years ago. I shall watch with interest to see how enthusiastically the Harbour/BP venture … Read More
Geothermal/capacity market/home solar/seaweed/lithium/microgrid in a box
Everyone has a view on Elon Musk, he’s hard to ignore. But I do like the description of him by Charlie Munger as “gifted but weird”. Charlie has earned the right to his views as it was him who suggested to Warren Buffet that he invest in $232m in a then unknown Chinese battery company … Read More
Solar thermal/rooftop solar/HVO/methane/volcano/perovskite solar
COMPANY NEWS UK solar innovator Naked Energy continues European expansion with new partnershipsBritish solar thermal design and engineering company Naked Energy has announced further international expansion after partnering with two leading European engineering-led firms.Portuguese business Tech4Food will now offer Naked Energy’s cutting-edge solar thermal and photovoltaic thermal (PVT) products as part of its engineering solutions … Read More