Business

The small problems in the way of big energy projects

Rocketing bills and worries over energy security sound like the perfect excuse to pump investments into large-scale infrastructure schemes—but in Europe at least, appetite for big projects is limited

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Europe breaks fossil fuel shackles

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Insurance’s unspoken role in the transition to net-zero

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We face a fundamental change of the cost structure on the supply side and a need for a fundamental change.

Jochen Kreusel

- Market innovation manager in the power grids division at ABB Power

They [the European Commission] are looking at this stuff backwards. I still think they are convinced the short-term market model could work even though they are also starting to realise that you need something parallel, with long term price signals that give investors confidence to invest in infrastructure and allow them to see a decent market return.

Francesco Venturini

- Global head of renewables for Italian utility Enel

Despite tremendous cost decline of wind and solar technologies, electricity prices will probably remain too low to attract the level of investment needed.

Fatih Birol

- Executive director of the International Energy Agency

The greatest barrier to overcome is the integration of variable renewables into electricity systems. This will require developing power system flexibility and also a friendly deployment of variable renewables.

Fatih Birol

- Executive director of the International Energy Agency

Securing a slice of the PPA market

With a buying power significantly stronger than the general public, corporations are looking to buy up solar capacity through power purchase agreements (PPAs) to help decarbonise their activities. But the market, and the regulations, are not yet ready

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Clean Hydrogen: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good

Harnessing the power of hydrogen through scalable and colour-agnostic infrastructure that already exists today will accelerate the clean energy transition, argues David Burns from Linde

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Our current threat is complacency

A sustainable and resilient energy system must incentivise a strong role for demand-side flexibility solutions, says Bertrand Deprez from Schneider Electric

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A new flight plan

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) acting as drop-in substitutes for the fossil fuel kerosene are expected to play a leading role in decarbonising aviation. They are currently produced with materials like used cooking oil and animal fat waste, but new low-carbon feedstocks are needed to scale up output and ensure future flights are truly sustainable

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India’s pollution progress

Air quality and the energy transition are closely linked: tackling one issue normally means making a dent in the other. India is a great example of that paradigm in action, but more still needs to be done, according to health expert Pallavi Pant

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Understanding clean aviation fuels

For episode four, Sylvain Verdier from Topsoe discusses what Sustainable Aviation Fuels are and how the aviation sector is facing up to the challenge of growing the level of feedstocks required

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The problem with wind power

Wind power will be central to the energy transition, but it is currently stuck in the mire. Unsticking itself is all but straightforward

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Clean heat standards can help decarbonise heating faster and more fairly

The European Commission should include clean heat standards in its forthcoming Net Zero Industry Act to force industry and enable consumers to switch from fossil fuel boilers to lower-emitting heat pumps, concludes a new report from the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP)

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Policy Dispatch Podcast, Sam Morgan

Beyond the tipping point

Clean energy continues to shatter predictions as the green transition gathers pace. Jarand Rystad, one of the sector’s top analysts, reveals why plus what the future might hold for the various technologies fighting for a piece of the energy market

Understanding the energy crisis

Long-duration energy storage faces a harsh commercial reality

Europe braces itself for a battery arms race

Hydrogen set to spread its wings

Danish PtX dreams begin with offshore wind

The Green Shipping News

Understanding storage

The case for prioritising greater investment in secure and predictable renewables

Extreme weather records: why we need a strategy to adapt our buildings

The lure of powering Europe from the Sahara Desert endures

Europe breaks fossil fuel shackles

What our editors are reading

Offshore wind growth accelerates

Reports

Offshore wind capacity is expected to grow by 18.4 GW in 2023, a record, with China accounting for over half of this total. By 2030, the annual total will reach 45.7 GW, mainly due to the mature markets of China, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, but emerging markets such as the US, Taiwan, France, South Korea, Poland and Japan will also make significant contributions. From 2031 to 2035, the report says that installations will average 45.6 GW per year, peaking at 48.2 GW in 2035.

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Power sector emissions peak

Reports

After reaching an all-time high globally in 2022, CO2 emissions from power generation will stay steady through 2025. While the EU’s natural gas-fired power generation is forecast to fall, growth in the Middle East will partly offset this. Declines in coal-fired generation in Europe and the Americas will likely be matched by a rise in Asia-Pacific. More than 70% of the increase in global electricity demand through 2025 is to come from China, India and Southeast Asia. However, considerable uncertainties remain over China as it emerges from Covid restrictions.

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Renewables sector linked to modern slavery abuses

Reports

Evidence has emerged linking supply chains for renewable energy products to modern slavery and human rights abuses, says a new report by the Clean Energy Council of Australia and law firm Norton Rose Fulbright. Abuses most often occur in the later tiers of the supply chain and are hard to document. The main points of exposure include the manufacture of components and the extraction of raw materials. In some instances, such as producing polysilicon, a key component in solar panels, the primary market that uses the product linked to modern slavery is renewable energy. In other cases, renewable energy is just one of many end users.

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