Re-reading this week’s ‘bits, it occurs to me that if the Government were to implement enough of the recommendations of Chris Skidmore’s review, we would be a lot less likely to suffer disasters such as British Volt. COMPANY NEWS Lightsource bp closes first tax equity deal with Wells Fargo for 481 megawatt solar portfolioLightsource bp … Read More
hydrogen
hydrogen hubs/CES/solar prices/electrolysis & focus on BNEF review of 2022
Encouraging to start the year with record levels of wind generation in the UK. Good news, but might it be seen as a metaphor for some turbulence to come? There are plenty of challenges ahead as highlighted in the Focus section below. COMPANY NEWS Insurance giant Chubb launches global climate businessProperty insurance giant Chubb has … Read More
AD/battery/ammonia/floating wind & focus on COP27
COP27 continues to debate the EU’s late arriving proposal on a loss and damage fund, so we shall have to wait on that, the most important decision at this year’s summit. In the meantime the UK’s Autumn statement is with us, and with it the expected windfall tax on electricity generators. General consensus seems to … Read More
rust battery/hydrogen/dairies/ammonia & focus on microgrids and the great clean energy acceleration
Glad to see the post about the boom in renewables, below. I hope that the UK will join in, although messages are mixed currently. A good example being that we criticise the President of DR Congo for issuing licenses to drill for oil in peatlands and then issue plenty of our own in the North … Read More
blue hydrogen/fracking/EGS/private equity & focus on virtual power plants
Does the Government really want to restart fracking in their Red Wall constituencies, or is it all just a ruse, a virtual stick to poke us Woke-y’s with? COMPANY NEWS Iberdrola sells share of wind farm for €700mIberdrola has signed an agreement with Swiss investment firm Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) for the sale of a … Read More
energy saving/solar facade/lithium & focus on new battery technologies
What a week! It starts with a new PM who has shown little sign of recognising the urgency of net-zero actions, and finishes with a new king who has always been a keen friend to environmentalists. Will they behave to stereotype? Liz Truss’s energy policy needs plenty of detail fleshed out, but does at least … Read More
grid battery/green shipping/green hydrogen/lithium/thorium
I return this week to a material that gets airtime every now and then: Thorium. The world might be a very different place if thorium was chosen rather than uranium to power nuclear reactors. I was led to believe that it was pressure from the military that swung the argument in favour of uranium, as … Read More
charging hub/blockchain/flexibility/thermal storage & focus on green infrastructure
A small game of join the dots: A headline suggests that the UK is the second most ready to achieve Net Zero by 2050. Our prospective leadership candidates get surprised by the big cheer they get when they mention environmental policy and third, the biggest generator of levelling up jobs has been the renewables industry. … Read More
banks & pensions/hydrogen island/wooden wind turbines & focus on permafrost
So, we do have a windfall tax on oil companies in the UK, but the not-an-emergency budget has left hanging the prospect that electricity generators might be hit too, which would undoubtedly affect renewables investment and, yet again nothing on energy efficiency. Company news Polestar invests in extreme fast charging battery company StoreDotPolestar has made … Read More
electrolysers/AD/transparent solar panels & focus on global EV sales
Apoliogies for smaller and late Titbits. Been a busy week UK news Scottish hydrogen network trial gets underwayHydrogen from Grangemouth site to be transported along 29 kilometre section of previously decommissioned gas pipelinesPlans to build a network of hydrogen pipelines across the UK took a step forward today, with the start of a Scottish pilot … Read More