TenneT is calling for greater offshore wind ambition in Europe, during a visit by German minister Stephan Weil to the construction site of the 900MW BorWin5 offshore grid connection. The grid operator’s managing director Tim Meyerjurgens said: “TenneT has now met and even significantly exceeded the Federal Government’s expansion targets for sustainable North Sea wind … Read more
Switching just some of the huge subsidies supporting fossil fuels to renewables would unleash a runaway clean energy revolution, according to a new report, significantly cutting the carbon emissions that are driving the climate crisis. Coal, oil and gas get more than $370bn (£305bn) a year in support, compared with $100bn for renewables, the International … Read more
Decarbonizing the U.S. power grid rapidly will cost $4.5 trillion, according to a new report from the energy consultancy and research firm Wood Mackenzie. For context, the 2018 U.S. military budget was $700 billion. A huge rollout of wind and solar power generation, a reinforced transmission network and the vast deployment of energy storage will be … Read more
Sam Arie, Financial Times, 17 July 2019 Few things should make you as optimistic — or as pessimistic — as the rise of renewable energy. Optimism comes from a new sense of urgency as the UK, Germany and Spain set record highs for use of wind and solar power, and record lows for coal. Even … Read more
The most established methods of energy storage (pumped hydro, batteries, and green hydrogen) all have their drawbacks, being expensive or geographically constrained. But a breakthrough low-cost, build-anywhere solution may have been found, thanks to a privately-funded UK-based company that has been quietly developing its unique technology for the past 14 years. Highview Power’s liquid-air energy … Read more
Finland’s new government said on Monday (4 June) the country will aim to cut its carbon emissions completely by 2035. The Nordic nation will take over the rotating EU presidency in July, with an ambitious pan-European climate deal still left on the negotiating table. After more than a month of talks, Finland agreed on a … Read more
In a series of blogs, Eddie O’Connor will examine how Europe will meet it’s Paris decarbonisation goals. In this blog post, Eddie discusses how the supergrid discussed in Blog Post 4 integrates decarbonisation into the energy markets. The need for a new economic paradigm to pilot the way to sustainability in electricity production … Read more
In a series of blogs, Eddie O’Connor will examine how Europe will meet it’s Paris decarbonisation goals. In this blog post, Eddie discusses how the supergrid discussed in Blog Post 3 will require changes in politics to operate. Much has been made of the loss of confidence of big business in the … Read more
Low-carbon energy investment must increase 250% by 2030 if countries are to meet their targets under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the International Energy Agency warned this week. “The bottom line is that the world is not investing enough in traditional elements of supply to maintain today’s consumption patterns, nor is it investing enough in cleaner … Read more
The bonds that hold nature together may be at risk of unraveling from deforestation, overfishing, development, and other human activities, a landmark United Nations report warns. Thanks to human pressures, one million species may be pushed to extinction in the next few years, with serious consequences for human beings as well as the rest of … Read more