Energy losses in the production process contribute to making hydrogen produced with renewable energy expensive. Companies and researchers are working to improve the efficiency of electrolyser technology and scale it up, bringing down the green hydrogen price tag at the same time
For years, farmers had to decide to stick with their traditional produce or twist and turnover their land for renewables projects. Until recently, it has not been a financially viable option for agriculture and solar panels to live side by side. But new techniques are providing a chance to use increasingly scarce land more efficiently
The energy transition is not simply a matter of replacing fossil fuels with zero-carbon alternatives. It will also be marked by a radical change in our relationship with energy and the spread of technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles that can yield significant efficiency gains even before traditional energy savings measures come into play
The solar industry is growing exponentially but with that growth comes an increased risk of environmental damage. Companies are starting to change their ways but halting that change comes at a cost
The nuclear sector wants to cash in on the emerging demand for low-carbon energy by powering hydrogen electrolysis, but not everyone is convinced the industry’s arguments stack up
For heavy emitters of carbon, capturing the particle before it hits the atmosphere offers a route to meeting climate change targets. The Danish government is hoping significant investment in the questionable technology will help its hard-to-abate sectors to fulfil ambitions
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Using the electricity from renewables and converting it to another energy carrier is nothing new. While many in the energy industry focus on green hydrogen, other researchers are examining the possibility of storing that power as molten salt to help high-temperature processes to decarbonise
The expansion of distributed energy resources has precipitated the rise of advanced software platforms to manage them. Virtual power plants and distributed energy resource management systems can help integrate renewables and low-carbon assets more smoothly while allowing value from the flexibility that resources like rooftop solar, battery storage, electric vehicles and heat pumps can also provide to be extracted
Low-carbon hydrogen will almost certainly be needed to cut emissions across a range of hard-to-abate sectors. However, if it is used to solve too many problems, it could end up delaying the energy transition and putting urgent decarbonisation plans in jeopardy
Advancements in technology and increased, though uneven, political support have set the market for electric heavy-duty vehicles in motion. Prices are falling and battery performance is improving but infrastructure remains a barrier
Cities are increasingly buying electric buses to decarbonise public transport services, a key element in many decarbonisation plans that also reduces air and noise pollution. For an effective transition, municipalities must work with transport firms, bus and charging infrastructure providers and energy suppliers to make sure the switch to a sustainable fleet is achieved without too many bumps in the road
Cities are feeling the heat more than outlying areas. The increased use of vegetation, reflective surfaces, building codes promoting ambitious energy efficiency standards and district cooling are being employed to provide heat relief and facilitate sustainable cooling for urban dwellers
New technologies and faster computers are allowing improvements in weather forecasting. Understanding short-term weather patterns are helping grid operators cut costs and carbon emissions while keeping the lights on
Increasing the amount of recycled battery material available in Europe is encouraging new companies to examine different ways to maximise the extraction of the essential metals
Case study: The breathless furore around blockchain has died down but in some ways, the technology is still supporting the energy transition. Carbon-conscious buyers and sellers can use a distributed ledger to track where the electricity they use comes from
CASE STUDY: A new market service rolled out by the UK's electricity network operator in autumn 2020 invites fast-response injections of power or withdrawals of load from generators, electricity storage owners and consumers to help it contain frequency deviations that would otherwise destabilise the power system
Case study: As renewable energy, particularly rooftop solar, continues to be rapidly adopted across Australia, power system operators are having to find new ways of managing electricity generation and supply as the level of complexity increases. Digital solutions are coming into their own
Geoengineering efforts offer a science fiction-style get-out option as the effort to avert catastrophic climate change comes down to the wire. Interest and investment in such projects shift resources away from the mainstream energy transition but some suggest the value of the research lies in a worst-case scenario
Recycling existing aluminium has significant carbon benefits compared to producing brand new material. However, the limited resources cannot keep up with the growing demand. The industry is looking to reduce carbon intensity while maintaining aluminium’s benefits
Floating platforms could open up swathes of the ocean with water depths beyond 60 metres to the offshore wind sector. To tap into those areas, though, floating offshore wind first needs to become less expensive. A European research project is looking to secure some of those price gains to make the technology finally competitive
The growth of wind power capacity is accelerating globally, with 2020 a record year for new installations. But with the expansion comes a growing mass of production waste, emissions from manufacturing and transport, and discarded components from retired machines. The industry’s turbine makers are facing up to the problem but proposed solutions remain commercially immature
Italy is putting many eggs in the hydrogen basket to decarbonise its heavy industry, including its prized steel sector. Authorities dream of converted hydrogen steel plants and “hydrogen valleys” dotted across the country. But while attention is focussed on whether hydrogen can solve Italy’s problems, other key ingredients to make the hydrogen green are being ignored
It cannot easily compete with wind and solar PV for daytime electricity generation but in countries with high levels of direct solar irradiation concentrated solar power could play a vital role in decarbonising energy systems thanks to its ability to act as a thermal battery for overnight production. But few markets are rewarding dispatchable overnight renewable energy, putting the future of the industry at risk
While electric vehicles have proved to be better for the environment than those running on fossil fuel, their production leaves a bigger carbon footprint than making an internal combustion engine equivalent. How batteries for EVs are produced and for how long they last are decisive for making the shift to electric transport as carbon light as possible
Network operators tasked with managing the steadily bigger swings in demand and supply that accompany greater uptake of solar and wind energy have had to choose between constraining clean generation, which adds to operating cost, or increasing grid capacity requiring capital expenditure. A less costly way is to buy system flexibility in a competitive but carefully coordinated process. Trials in areas of Britain challenged by grid constraints are producing encouraging results
For savvy investors, upstream opportunities in the EV battery market are opening up, driven by forecasts of soaring demand. Raw materials are plentiful, but mining and refining capacity of the minerals needed for high-grade vehicle batteries is under pressure, say market researchers
Hydrogen suffers from an abundance of hype, particularly about what it can be used for in the energy transition. Wild claims for the application of hydrogen, with little basis in current science and commercial reality, have worked to obscure the realistic opportunities for putting truly clean hydrogen to work here and now
Denmark has led the way on decarbonisation of heating, with a rapid transition away from fossil fuels aided by its large scale adoption of heating networks over the past 40 years. Instead of exchanging individual heating appliances in every home and commercial building, the Danes are centrally converting their heat networks to renewable energy, saving citizens a pile of money in the process
Decarbonisation of heating requires switching from systems and appliances that combust fossil fuels to those that rely on renewable energy. Nowhere is the switch more challenging to achieve for existing building stock than in the UK. If it can be done there, it can be done anywhere
A new transmission line across the Baltic Sea shows that a more integrated European power network is not only steadily evolving, but that innovative approaches to infrastructure design can bring down the cost of the energy transition.
The head of the new Energy Cluster Denmark body, Glenda Napier, discusses the next steps for the country’s energy transition and how innovation and collaboration will remain crucial to its success
The United States, the home of the car, has yet to make the kind of market impact with electric vehicles (EVs) as it did with the internal combustion engine
Electric cars as the best lower carbon replacement for the internal combustion engine is a done deal for many, but how to decarbonise the haulage sector is an ongoing debate. Increasingly, policy makers and truck manufacturers in Europe seem ready to embrace electric solutions for trucks as well as smaller vehicles
The huge scale of offshore wind farms being built in northern Europe is bringing a new understanding of how much electricity can be gleaned from the wind on land and at sea
The bulk storage of electricity as a flexibility tool will become economically viable with the growing availability of large volumes of low-cost renewable energy. Crushed hot rocks could provide a cheap storage solution
Germany is testing whether a nitrate salt thermal storage system could aid the provision of process steam for industry while earning subsidies for capturing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and combusting it for energy supply
Pollution is causing seagrass growing on our ocean floors to retreat. Scientists believe the habitat could be an important carbon sink and are working to restore it
As emissions from global aviation rise, companies are beginning to look closely at the idea of using electric planes for short-haul flights as a potential solution
While solutions are being found to many of the technological issues that have challenged wave power, the industry is still struggling to justify the investment required compared to the potential electricity generated
Reducing emissions from the ever growing aviation sector is no easy task. Renewables-based synthetic kerosene production is one solution currently being explored
The rapid uptake of electric vehicles in California brings with it an increase in electricity storage capacity that perhaps calls into question the need to invest separately in batteries to support the bulk supply of electricity
Blockchain is regularly touted in the media as a tool to revolutionise business, but the jury is still out on whether it can help speed up the transition to renewables
Elon Musk’s Australian banter about batteries; battery challenge from wind; low cost pumped hydro storage; IEA wants stronger signals for new grid flexibility; facts and figures indicate limited role for battery storage in the big picture
Two-thirds of the business potential in energy efficiency remains untapped; sales figures for plug-in electric cars; cheaper by half to cut emissions with energy saving than green electricity; renewables push coal off the UK grid for a day; BP data reveals green energy trends; wind power supply not that susceptible to still winter weather; fuelish energy subsidies persist
Combining untried wave power with well proved wind on a floating platform may forge a path to commercialisation of a hybrid solution to harnessing the energy of the seas.
Chinese CO2 emissions under control; EU fossil fuel dependency rises; conventional power bleeds billions of value; German Energiewende not a blueprint for the world; bank washes o dirty coal; o shore wind lull before the next storm