Tag Archives: renewable

Top 250 Oil and Gas Companies Hold Just 1.5% of Global Renewable Electricity Ownership

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Oil corporations are making minimal investments in wind energy.

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Significant oil and gas firms hold under 1.5 percent of the global renewable electricity capacity, raising concerns about their dedication to green energy transition, despite their public assertions.

Marcel Llabero Pasquina and Antonio Bontempi, researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, analyzed ownership data of over 53,000 renewable energy projects—including wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal—tracked by the NGO Global Energy Monitor. They compiled this information to determine the proportion of these projects owned by the 250 largest oil and gas companies, which together dominate 88% of global hydrocarbon production.

As the world shifts away from fossil fuels, many chief energy companies have committed to investing in renewables, yet findings indicated that these top firms own merely 1.42% of operational renewable energy capacity worldwide. Notably, more than half (around 54%) of this capacity was acquired rather than developed by these companies. Their analysis of total energy output showed that just 0.13% of energy produced by these companies comes from renewable electricity.

“The findings were astonishing even to me,” remarks Llabero-Pasquina. “We understood they played a limited role in the energy transition. We thought it was merely for appearances. Yet, the numbers are even lower than we anticipated.”

Llavero Pasquina and Bontempi are associated with Environmental Justice, a collective dedicated to researching and advancing the global environmental justice movement. Llabero-Pasquina believes that the campaign’s stance bolsters his research. “It is crucial for us to maintain high rigor in our work so that we can effectively persuade others and demonstrate the truth.”

It is not surprising that major energy corporations, renowned for their oil and gas ventures, do not hold substantial stakes in renewable energy, says Thierry Bros from the Institute of Sciences in Paris. “Ultimately, [the energy transition] must be disruptive and not play into the hands of these companies.”

However, Bros argues that big energy firms are misleadingly portraying their efforts towards energy transition. “They represent themselves as incorporating methods like carbon capture for emissions from fossil fuels. Yet, I believe their actual engagement leans more towards carbon capture and sequestration, which may extend beyond their genuine expertise,” he states.

Offshore Energies UK, representing the UK’s offshore energy sector, including oil, gas, wind, carbon capture, and hydrogen, refrained from commenting directly on these findings. Nevertheless, it highlighted a previous statement from CEO David Whitehouse: “Rather than being in conflict, oil and gas, wind, and emerging low-carbon technologies form a unified system. The expertise of our workforce, the same individuals who developed the North Sea, is instrumental for achieving this transition,” he remarked.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

China’s renewable energy boom at risk of disruption from extreme weather

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The three Gorge dams in China are the main sources of hydroelectric power generation

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China’s vast electric grids cause more fuss than any other country with renewable energy, but the system is also vulnerable to electricity shortages caused by adverse weather conditions. The need to ensure reliable power supply could encourage Chinese governments to use more coal-fired power plants.

China’s energy systems are rapidly becoming cleaner, setting new records for wind power and solar energy generation almost every month. The country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions – the highest emissions in the world are expected to peak soon and begin to decline. Wind, solar and hydroelectric power currently account for about half of China’s generation capacity, and is expected to increase to almost 90% by 2060, when the country promised to reach “carbon neutrality.”

This increasingly reliance on renewables means that the country’s electricity system is becoming increasingly vulnerable to changes in weather. Intermittent winds and sun can be replenished by more stable hydropower produced by huge hydroelectric dams enriched in southern China. But what happens when the wind and sun slump coincides with drought?

Jinjiang Shen Darian Institute of Technology in China and his colleagues modeled how power generation on increasingly renewable grids corresponds to these “extreme weather” years. They estimated how future mixing of wind, solar and hydropower behaves under the most favourable weather conditions seen in the past.

They found that future grids are much more sensitive to weather changes than they are today. In a very unfavourable year, 2060, it could reduce the amount of generation capacity by 12% compared to today’s grid, leading to a power shortage. In 2030, in the most extreme cases, they found that this leads to over 400 hours of blackout times, a power shortage of nearly 4% of total energy demand. “That’s not a number that everyone can ignore.” Li Shuo At the Institute of Policy Studies in Asia Association, Washington, DC.

In addition to the overall lack of force, drought could specifically limit the amount of hydroelectric power available to smooth out irregular winds and solar generation. This could also lead to a shortage of electricity. “It is essential to equip a suitable proportion of stable power sources that are less susceptible to weather factors to avoid large-scale, large-scale power shortages,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

One way to help is to run excess electricity more efficiently across states. By expanding the transmission infrastructure, researchers found that it could eliminate the risk of power shortages on today’s grids and reduce half of the risk by 2060. Adding new energy storage in tens of millions of kilowatts, whether using batteries or other methods, would also be alleviated against hydroelectric droughts.

According to Li Shuo, any additional storage amounts China needs to be added to achieve carbon neutrality “becomes an astronomical number.”

These changes are difficult, but they add that many storage is viable given the enormous amount of batteries already produced in China. Lauri Myllyvirta At the Finland Energy and Clean Air Research Centre. He says the country is also building 190 gigawatts of pumped hydropower storage. This says that it can provide long-term energy storage by using surplus electricity to pump water over the dam and releasing it when more electricity is needed.

But so far, the electricity shortage has primarily spurred the Chinese government to build more coal-fired power plants. For example, in 2021 and 2022, hydroelectric droughts and heat waves increased enough electricity demand to cause serious power outages; Continuous expansion of coal. Record hydropower generation in 2023 resulted in record time for emissions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said coal would peak this year, but he has entrenched political support for power sources. “If China is struggling with another round of these episodes, more coal-fired power plants shouldn’t be the answer,” says Li Shuo. “It’s difficult to abolish coal. China loves coal.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The Importance of Thermal Storage in the Expansion of Renewable Energy

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It's now well established that to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, we need to get to net zero carbon emissions as quickly as possible, which means getting more of our energy from renewable sources and finding ways to store energy for long periods of time to overcome the intermittency of wind and solar.

Giant battery farms and green hydrogen (using surplus renewable energy to split water) are often touted as the most promising storage solutions, and clever new ways to store excess electricity are emerging all the time (see “Giant CO2-filled domes could store surplus renewable power”), but the potential to store renewable energy as heat is often overlooked.

When we think of renewable energy, we tend to think of electricity. But heat is also a valuable commodity in its own right. About half of the world's total energy demand is for heat, whether it's to heat our homes or to power industrial production of food, medicines and materials. What's more, stored heat can be used to generate electricity when the sun stops shining and the wind dies down.

The good news is that, as we outlined in our feature “How Incredibly Simple Technologies Can Accelerate the Race to Net Zero”, a range of thermal storage technologies are emerging. Collectively known as thermal energy storage (TES), many of these innovations are incredibly simple, from baked bricks to molten salt. Crucially, they're affordable: early estimates suggest that these technologies could be as little as one-fifth the cost per kilowatt-hour of energy storage using green hydrogen. In a recent report, the International Renewable Energy Agency said TES offers “unique advantages”.

The problem is that awareness of TES is relatively low, and investment even less. Private backers are starting to pour big dollars into pilot projects in the US and Europe. But for TES to live up to its promise as a relatively easy way to make a big impact on the problem of renewable intermittency, governments will need to step up. And if the price is as reasonable as it appears, there's no reason not to.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

IEA warns that record growth in renewable energy in 2023 will still fall short

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China played a big role in the growth of solar and wind power in 2023

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According to one study, 2023 will see a record expansion of renewable energy, with nearly 50% more solar, wind, and other clean energy sources built than in 2022. report From the International Energy Agency (IEA). But this unprecedented pace lags behind the pace needed to reach net-zero emissions and limit dangerous climate warming by mid-century.

“When you look at the numbers, it definitely has a ‘wow’ effect.” Fatih Birolsaid the IEA Director-General at a press conference today. “Renewable energy expansion exceeds 500 gigawatts in 2023.”

Under existing policies, the IEA predicts that renewable energy will overtake coal to account for the largest share of global electricity in 2025. The IEA predicts that by the end of 2025, renewable energy capacity will increase by 2.5 times. “It's very good news,” Birol said.

This is a significantly higher increase than projections made ahead of the COP28 climate change summit to be held in Dubai in December 2023. report A paper published last November by British energy think tank Ember found that the world is on track to double production capacity by the end of 2010.

but, dave jones At Ember said this difference is mainly due to the latest data on China's unusual development of solar and wind power, rather than policy changes or new project announcements in the past few months. The IEA report says China will have access to more solar energy in 2023 than the entire world saw in 2022.

“China is the most important driver of this impressive growth that we will see in 2023,” Birol said. He also pointed to record renewable energy capacity increases in the US, Europe, Brazil and India as a key driver of the surge.

Nevertheless, the IEA forecasts that the world still lags behind the goal of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, one of the key outcomes agreed at COP28. .

“We're not there yet, but we're not miles away from that goal,” Birol said, adding that officials are concerned about what the COP28 goals on clean energy and methane will do in the “real world.” It added that it plans to closely monitor the situation.

Closing the renewable energy gap will require different interventions in different regions of the world, the report says. In high-income countries, this will include improving electricity grids and speeding up the granting of permits for large backlogs of energy projects. Low-income countries need improved access to finance for clean energy projects.

“We are talking about transitioning away from fossil fuels, but there are still many economies in Africa that are in debt,” he says. Amos Wemanya Speaking at PowerShift Africa, a Kenyan energy think tank, he added that some of the continent's clean energy investments are going to rich countries.

Mr Jones said if the twin COP28 targets of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency were met by the end of 2010, global carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by more than a third and fossil fuels would be cut by more than a third. It says it could start to be replaced by fuel. “2024 will be the year renewable energy goes from being a nuisance to an existential threat to the fossil fuel industry,” he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com