COMPANY NEWS
Brookfield raises $10B for latest energy transition fund
Brookfield Asset Management announced this week it had secured $10 billion for its latest energy transition fund in its first close. The firm said it will continue to raise money for the fund until Q3 of this year.
The clean energy investor — which has over $850 billion in assets under management, out of which $102 billion is from renewable power and climate transition projects — said the Brookfield Global Transition Fund, or BGTF II, is a successor to its first transition fund, BGTF I, that raised $15 billion in 2022. However, Brookfield said BGTF II is on track to exceed its predecessor’s fund size. (utilitydive)
UK NEWS
Lightsource BP switches on first battery project
Solar developer Lightsource BP has energised its first UK-based battery energy storage system (BESS) – the first of its global multi-gigawatt pipeline.
The two-hour duration 25MW/50MWh Tiln BESS is co-located with Lightsource BP’s 61MWp solar farm situated in Lincolnshire, a region of the UK that has seen growing interest for large-scale solar-based national significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs).
Lightsource BP disclosed that the solar and battery assets share grid connection infrastructure and will participate in both traded markets and the provision of ancillary services. The developer did not confirm who had supplied the BESS for the project. (energy-storagenews)
photo: Lightsource BP
Octopus and National Grid join forces for heat pump rollout
Octopus Energy and National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) have announced a collaboration aimed at expediting the deployment of clean energy technologies.
This partnership introduces a streamlined approach to the installation process, focusing on heat pumps and electric vehicle (EV) chargers.
Typically, installing such devices requires an assessment of the local grid capacity and often a subsequent upgrade of the incoming electricity supply fuse by the local distribution network operator.
Under the new agreement, engineers from Octopus Energy can now upgrade the fuse simultaneously during the installation of heat pumps, EV chargers and solar panels in customers’ homes.
This integration aims to significantly reduce wait times for customers, potentially shaving off up to ten weeks from the installation process. (futurenetzero)
Consortium Secures £1.5 Million Grant to Develop Wave-Powered Microgrid for Island in Thailand
Eco Wave Power Global has announced that it has won a £1.5 million grant as part of a consortium led by Toshiba (U.K.) and Aquatera (U.K.) to design a pilot microgrid project for a remote island in Thailand.
The £1.5 million grant is part of Innovate UK’s Energy Catalyst program Round 10, which supports U.K. and international businesses and organizations in developing market-focused technologies that provide clean, affordable and accessible energy..
The consortium is led by Toshiba Europe Limited, Aquatera Ltd. and also includes Hitachi Energy Ltd. and teams from the University of Manchester, the University of Exeter, the Asian Institute of Technology, and the Queen Mary University of London. The consortium will utilize the onshore Wave Energy Converters developed by EWP and implement advanced technology developed by the corporate partners and the university teams. (renewableenergymagazine)
photo: Eco Wave Power
AMP announces market leading four-hour battery storage projects
AMP will soon begin construction on several battery storage projects which will feature new long duration batteries that will allow renewable energy to be stored for up to four hours, significantly longer than most storage solutions currently available in the UK.
Urban Reserve Storage, which is backed by a £45 million debt facility from Allianz Global Investors, comprises of four projects which in combination will be able to store 90MWh of electricity, using the latest high energy density lithium-ion cell produced by global leading renewable energy technology company and EV manufacturer, BYD.
While most batteries deployed to date in the UK are only able to store excess energy for one to two hours and are connected at high voltage levels, AMP are deploying 4-hour batteries which will be connected at 11kV and installed in urban areas. (AMP)
Westinghouse and Community Nuclear Power plan Teesside SMR fleet
US nuclear power developer Westinghouse has teamed up with UK-based Community Nuclear Power on plans to develop four small modular reactors (SMRs) at a site in north Teesside, paving the way for the UK’s first privately-financed SMR fleet.
The two firms have struck an agreement to build four Westinghouse-designed AP300 SMRs in the region, and are currently exploring potential suitable locations for the project, which they hope to have generating low carbon electricity by the early 2030s.
Community Nuclear Power said it was currently working with strategic partners including engineering giant Jacobs and financial firm Interpath Advisory to develop a fully licensed site for the project, with a target for this initial phase of the project to be finalised by 2027. (businessgreen)
photo: Westinghouse
EV OF THE WEEK
Hyundai intend to bring Casper EV to Europe
Car companies are beginning to turn their attention towards the badly under-represented segment of electric city cars. As battery tech gets cheaper, the maths gets easier, and the rationale for affordable electric city runabouts is undeniable.
It is not surprising that Hyundai have stepped into this space. They had previously promised that they would not ignore small EV’s, and have recently launched the Casper as a 1litre petrol car in South Korea. The Casper EV is said to have a range of about 125 miles, and will cost in the region of £17,500 and likely launch late this year, coming to the UK market ahead of the recently announced Dacia Spring EV.
photo: Hyundai
EUROPEAN STORIES
Ørsted announces job cuts and pulls back from key markets
Offshore wind energy giant Ørsted has scaled back its development targets and announced hundreds of job cuts as financial turbulence continues to hit the offshore wind industry.
The Copenhagen-listed company, which is currently developing the world’s largest wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire, has revised its wind power generation targets for 2030 to 35GW to 38GW, down from the previous target of 50GW.
In a note to investors, the company said it would press ahead with between 600 and 800 job cuts as it aimed to become a “leaner and more efficient organisation”.
As part of its ongoing cost-cutting exercise, it also announced it would pull out of the Spanish, Norwegian, and Portuguese markets, and pause dividends for three years. (businessgreen)
photo: Orsted
Turkish trial validates carbon scrubbing tech for commercial shipping
London-based carbon capture start-up Seabound is celebrating proof of its contribution to stripping carbon emissions from commercial shipping.
Container shipping is estimated to account for 3% of global carbon emissions, and is considered one of the hardest sectors to abate.
The company developed equipment for container ships, using a proprietary second-generation CCUS technique known as calcium looping. The method transforms gas-based pollution into solid pebbles of calcium carbonate, easily offloaded at port for reuse or for sale.
In a Turkish shipyard Seabound had its ‘scrubbing’ system retro-fitted to the ‘Sounion Trader’, a vessel big enough to carry 3,200 containers, and operated by freighting giant Lorimar.
Two months of sea trials on voyages around the Mediterranean saw a massive one-tonne a day of CO2 extracted from the vessel’s diesel exhaust. The kit’s maiden voyage saw 78% of carbon captured, along with more than 90% of atmospheric sulfur. (theenergyst)
photo: Seabound
FOCUS ON: E-FUELS
E-fuels: A quick explainer
The news that the European Commission has left open the door for the manufacture and sale of vehicles with internal combusion engines after 2035, so long as they are powered by synthetic e-fuels, has raised a number of questions about these carbon neutral fuels. Here are some of the answers…
- E-fuels are synthetic fuels that can be used to power internal combustion engines.
- E-fuels are made by breaking down water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis. The hydrogen is then combined with carbon dioxide (CO2) to create a liquid e-fuel. Importantly, the hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity and the CO2 is taken directly from the atmosphere or captured from industrial plants. E-fuels should not be confused with biofuels, which are made from biomass.
- E-fuels can be burned in standard combustion engines without modification, and can use existing tanker based supply chains. They are carbon neutral, rather than zero carbon as they emit the CO2 that has been used to make them.
- E-fuels are slightly cleaner than existing fossil fuels in that they emit significantly less nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than petrol and diesel.
- Advantage: E-fuels work well in situations where it can be a storage mechanism for excess renewable energy.
- Disadvantage: EV’s convert electricity into energy much more efficiently than e-fuels. According to Volkswagen, the numerous individual steps involved in producing e-fuels mean that only around 25-30% per cent of the energy used in the process remains at the end, whereas a BEV converts the energy used into power at a rate of around 70-80%. (fleeteurope)
E-fuels will only be able to power 2% of EU car fleet by 2035
Low levels of production mean that e-fuels will only be able to cover around 2% of the EU’s vehicle fleet by 2035, a new study concludes.
The analysis, carried out by clean mobility NGO Transport & Environment (T&E), predicts that e-fuel production will still be in its infancy by the time the draft EU ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars is enacted.
Some synthetic fuels are theoretically carbon neutral, as CO2 is captured for production and then released when the fuel is combusted, leaving the net level of carbon in the atmosphere unchanged. Fuel manufacturers and some automotive industry players have pushed for e-fuels to be classified by European lawmakers as a green alternative to petrol and diesel.
If successful, this would allow internal combustion engine vehicles to continue to be sold past the 2035 deadline, provided they are powered by carbon neutral fuels.
But according to T&E, just 5 million cars out of the EU’s fleet of 287 million could fully run on synthetic fuel in 2035. (euractiv)
GLOBAL STUFF
HydrogenPro to carry out FEED for 300MW Texan green ammonia project
HydrogenPro is set to carry out a front-end engineering design (FEED) study for a 300MW green ammonia facility in Texas, US.
The Norwegian alkaline electrolyser OEM has said the milestone reflected a “strong vote of confidence” in its ability to provide technology and services at scale.
With FEED anticipated to kick-off shortly, the undisclosed client plans to establish a green ammonia production facility with capacity exceeding 300MW.
HydrogenPro’s electrolysers are being used at the Utah for Mitsubishi and Chevron New Energies’ ACES Delta project, which plans to produce up to 100 tonnes of green hydrogen per day which will then be stored in salt caverns for future use. (h2-view)
photo: HydrogenPro
Philippine off-grid island will switch from diesel to tidal energy
The UK’s Inyanga Marine Energy Group is going to build Southeast Asia’s first tidal energy plant, which will power an off-grid island.
Energy company Energies PH in the Philippines, through its affiliate San Bernardino Ocean Power Corporation, has contracted with Inyanga, which will deploy its patented HydroWing tidal stream technology. Hydrowing is a modular, multi-rotor tidal energy device with a permanent gravity-based structure, and one to three retrievable wings with two to five turbines per wing.
The site will be at the remote Capul Island off Northern Samar Island in the Philippines, along the San Bernardino Strait, a passage well-known for the strength of its marine currents. (elektrek)
photo: Inyanga
TECHIE CORNER
‘Little ghosts’: Scientists expose hidden solid-state battery killer
Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have uncovered crucial insights into early battery failure signs.
While developing a new solid electrolyte for EV batteries, the Argonne team identified an unusual behavior – brief voltage fluctuations. Investigating further, they discovered the occurrence of soft-shorts, characterized by small, temporary short circuits. In this phenomenon, lithium filaments grow from the anode to the cathode but on a smaller scale than in permanent short circuits. According to the team, some electrons may still flow externally, and ion movement between electrodes can persist.
The team, collaborating with Argonne’s computational experts, created models predicting ion and electron flows during soft shorts, considering factors like filament size and electrolyte properties. Although batteries with soft-shorts can operate for extended periods, the filaments gradually increase, ultimately leading to battery failure. Researchers highlight that soft shorts mark the initial step toward irreversible battery malfunction.
Soft shorts exhibit dynamic behavior, often forming, disappearing, and reforming within microseconds or milliseconds, a crucial finding for the team.
The primary cause of soft-short disappearance is heat generated as electrons traverse lithium filaments, akin to household wire heating. According to researchers, this heat can swiftly melt filaments, especially if the electrolyte is thermally insulating.
Additionally, soft-shorts may dissolve when filaments interact with specific electrolytes. Argonne’s solid electrolyte exploration involves materials capable of severing small filaments before they bridge to the cathode, averting internal short circuits. (interestingengineering)
