Canadian Solar Joins Ranks Of Solar Firms To Consider Going Private

13.12.2017

Canadian Solar, one of the world’s largest solar power manufacturers, has this week revealed that it is joining the ranks of solar module companies considering going private, following the receipt of a letter from its Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Shawn (Xiaohua) Qu.

Canadian Solar’s Board of Directors announced on Monday that they had received a preliminary, non-binding proposal letter from its Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Shawn (Xiaohua) Qu, proposing the acquisition of all outstanding common shares of the company not already owned by Qu and his wife, Ms Hanbing Zhang. Such an acquisition is the traditional means to “go private” and de-list from a company’s status as a publicly owned company.

The company follows in the footsteps of two big-name solar manufacturers who have already gone private this year, Trina Solar and JA Solar.

Trina Solar announced in March of this year that it had successfully de-listed itself in a $1.1 billion move that was 15 months in the making, following a buyout offer from its chairman and chief executive, Mr Jifan Gao in December of 2015.

JA Solar similarly delisted last month in a move worth approximately $362.1 million in cash paid by an investor consortium headed up by company founder, chairman, and CEO Baofang Jin.

Another company, ReneSola, also de-listed in October.

Canadian Solar will now form a special committee of independent and disinterested directors to consider the proposal, and the company was also quick to explain that “there can be no assurance that any definitive offer relating to the Proposed Transaction or any other transaction will be made by Dr Qu or any other person.”

Dr Qu’s going-private proposal offers $18.47 per common share, valuing the company at around $1 billion.

Source: cleantechnica.com

2 UK Supermarkets Back Plastic Bottle Deposit Return Scheme Rollout

13.12.2017

A number of countries in Europe (and elsewhere) currently employ plastic bottle deposit return programs — programs which essentially pay consumers to return their used plastic bottles to grocery stores where they are collected in exchange for cash back or store credit.

Such programs have proven fairly effective at reducing plastic bottle litter and boosting recycling rates. In Denmark and South Australia, for instance, plastic bottle deposit return schemes (DRS) have boosted recycling rates to as high as 90%. This compares to a plastic bottle recycling rate of around 50% in the UK in 2016.

Owing to the success of such programs elsewhere, 2 supermarket chains in the UK — Iceland Foods, and The Co-op — have now publicly come out in support of the rollout of such a program in the UK. With the intent being to both increase recycling rates and also to reduce the amount of plastic litter making it into the oceans.

“Introducing a DRS may well add to our costs of doing business. However, we believe it is a small price to pay for the long term sustainability of this planet,” stated Richard Walker, the director of sustainability at Iceland Foods. “I urge all other retailers to do the right thing and follow suit.”

Notably, part of the UK, Scotland, has already publicly committed to the eventual launch of a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles.

Here’s more on the subject via Reuters: “The rest of the UK has yet to commit to such a scheme, although in April the government established a working group to formulate a national litter strategy and look at different voluntary and regulatory options to improve recycling.

“…Britain’s environment minister Michael Gove tweeted last month that he was ‘haunted’ by British naturalist David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet II’ TV series that highlighted plastic waste in oceans and said he would take action.

“And finance minister Philip Hammond said the government will look into ways to reduce plastic waste through the tax system and charges on single-use plastic items during his budget speech to parliament in November.

“But such moves may face resistance from the plastic industry. The British Plastics Federation said deposit schemes may not be popular with consumers and could ‘undermine the existing kerbside system’ whereby waste bins are regularly collected from streets outside homes and businesses.”

A ridiculous argument, but presumably the plastics lobby does have some clout so it may well yet be able to do some damage to the campaign to establish a deposit return scheme.

With regard to a trial of such a scheme, the frozen foods chain Iceland Foods has reportedly offered to pilot the use of “reverse vending machines” — like those in use in some other countries.

“This cannot carry on. It is causing untold damage to our oceans and wildlife,” stated Iceland’s Walker. “It is a ticking time bomb for humanity, since we all ultimately depend on a healthy ocean environment for our own survival.”

If followed through with, such an initiative would follow on the UK’s 2015 decision to impose a 5 pence charge on plastic bags (previously given out freely at various stores). That move has reportedly already curtailed the distribution of some 9 billion plastic bags.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Climate Change May Shift Wind Sources From North To South By End Of Century

13.12.2017

By the end of this century, global climate change may impact the wind resources in many regions of the Northern Hemisphere, decreasing hotspots in the North but increasing hotspots in the Southern Hemisphere, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The new research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, investigates the potential impact of climate change on global wind resources. While shifts in wind patterns is concerning enough, the study has massive implications for the wind energy industry, which often bases its wind energy resource estimates on today’s current climate, rather than taking into account the potential shifts climate change will have on these same resources.

The researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder applied “an industry wind turbine power curve to simulations of high and low future emissions scenarios in an ensemble of ten fully coupled global climate models to investigate large-scale changes in wind power across the globe.” Their calculations are disturbing, revealing wind resources decreasing across the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes and increases in wind resources across the tropics and Southern Hemisphere, “with substantial regional variations.”

“There’s been a lot of research looking at the potential climate impact of energy production transformations — like shifting away from fossil fuels toward renewables,” said lead author Kris Karnauskas, CIRES Fellow and Assistant Professor in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ATOC) at CU Boulder. “But not as much focuses on the impact of climate change on energy production by weather-dependent renewables, like wind energy.”

For example, the American Midwest is littered with wind farms with tens of thousands of wind turbines. The new research shows that wind power production in this area over the next 20 years would be similar to that of today, but that by the end of the century it could drop. Conversely, the potential wind energy resources in northeastern Australia could increase significantly.

The reasons for these decreases and increases are not the same, however. Warmer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere at the North Pole weaken the temperature difference between the cold north and warmer equator, and a smaller temperature gradient means slower winds in the northern mid-latitudes. Similar wind resource decreases could occur in Japan, Mongolia, and the Mediterranean by the end of this century.

Conversely, in the Southern Hemisphere, where there is a lot more water than there is land, a different kind of gradient increases wherein land warms faster than the surrounding oceans — just imagine Australia, lots of land surrounded by even more water. The intensified gradient increases the winds, and new hotspots could crop up in areas like Brazil, West Africa, South Africa, and Australia.

“Europe is a big question mark,” said Karnauskas. “We have no idea what we’ll see there. That’s almost scary, given that Europe is producing a lot of wind energy already.”

“The climate models are too uncertain about what will happen in highly productive wind energy regions, like Europe, the Central United States, and Inner Mongolia,” added co-author Julie Lundquist. “We need to use different tools to try to forecast the future — this global study gives us a roadmap for where we should focus next with higher-resolution tools.”

The models created by the researchers did not necessarily all agree on what the future will look like, except to conclude that substantial changes are likely. But those changes will not necessarily be equally spread out. If carbon dioxide emissions continue at high levels without mitigation, then wind power resources may decrease in the Northern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes and increase in the Southern Hemisphere and tropics. But if emission levels are mitigated somewhat, wind resources drop in the North but do not necessarily increase in the South.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Australia Has Already Hit 1 Gigawatt Of Solar Installed In 2017, Breaking Multiple Records

13.12.2017

Australia has already reached 1 gigawatt (GW) worth of solar installed in 2017 according to new figures from SunWiz, the quickest it has taken and only the second time that Australia has installed at least 1 GW.

Australian solar consultants SunWiz published new data this week outlining 10 solar records that have already been broken this year, including its lead highlight revealing that Australia has already installed 1 GW worth of solar (as of the end of November) — the quickest the country has reached the milestone. This is made up of 893 megawatts (MW) of sub-100 kW PV and another 114 MW of systems over 100 kW, totaling just over 1 GW worth of solar.

Further, SunWiz expects the total of sub-100kW solar installations to reach between 1.05 GW and 1.10 GW once the year comes to a close, which means total solar commissioned in 2017 will reach at least 1.16 GW.

The only other time Australia has reached 1 GW worth of installed solar was back in 2012 when 1,058 GW was installed, and SunWiz’ figures predict that Australia will eclipse that by the end of the year.

A record volume of commercial rooftop solar PV has already been commissioned, with 285 MW already installed in the 10 kW to 100 kW range, beating the previous best of 228 MW installed in 2016. November was also a record for sub-100 kW solar with 122 MW worth of small-scale technology certificates (STCs, also known as Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs) registrations beating the previous record held back in 2011.

Other milestones include record solar PV registered in New South Wales in any month, record average system size in the sub-100 kW market (6.7 kW/system), and record volume in every commercial system size sub-range.

Source: cleantechnica.com

World Temperatures To Rise By Up To 15% More By 2100 Than Previously Thought, Study Finds

12.12.2017

climate change — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Earlier estimates may have understated the extent by which world temperatures will rise by 2100 by up to 15%, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.

In other words, if the current goal of limiting climate warming to under 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by 2100 (which is considered by many researchers to be insufficient to avoid civilizational collapse) is to be achieved, then the actions taken will need to be even more rapid and comprehensive then previously thought.

To explain that yet another way, greenhouse gas emissions would have to be curtailed completely within the very near term in order to avoid climate shifts, crop losses, and mass migrations.

“Our results suggest that achieving any given global temperature stabilization target will require steeper greenhouse gas emissions reductions than previously calculated,” as explained by study authors Patrick Brown and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Reuters provides more: “Average surface temperatures could increase up to 0.5° Celsius (0.9° Fahrenheit) more than previously projected by 2100 in the most gloomy scenarios for warming, according to a study based on a review of scientific models of how the climate system works.

“The extra heat would make it harder to achieve targets set by almost 200 nations in 2015 to limit a rise in temperatures to ‘well below’ 2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times to restrict droughts, heat waves, and more powerful storms.

“The models that best represent the recent climate ‘tend to be the models that project the most global warming over the remainder of the twenty-first century,’ the scientists wrote. In one pessimistic scenario, under which greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise until 2100, temperatures could rise by 4.8° Celsius (8.6° Fahrenheit) against 4.3° Celsius (7.7° Fahrenheit) estimated by a UN panel of experts in 2014, they said.”

It should be remembered here that, even according to the UN (which is unrealistically optimistic about climate change mitigation in some regards), current pledges from governments around the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are far too limited to actually limit anthropogenic climate warming to under 2° Celsius. More accurately, current pledges put the world on track to experience 3–4° Celsius warming by 2100.

Source: cleantechnica.com

One Planet Summit: Schneider Electric and EDF sign up to green goals

12.12.2017

7583876320JK15300-580x358 — Foto: The Climate Group

Two of France’s largest companies yesterday promised to deliver major cuts to their carbon footprint and shift to greener transport technologies, ahead of the One Planet Summit in Paris today.

EDF and Schneider Electric, which together boast combined revenues of more than €95bn, both announced they had become the latest corporate giants to sign up to The Climate Group’s clean tech adoption initiatives.

Energy management major Schneider Electric said it had joined the RE100 campaign with a promise to source 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2030. It also confirmed it has signed up to the the EP100 campaign with a promise to double its energy productivity by the same date.

Meanwhile, French utility EDF became the latest high profile firm to join the recently launched EV100 campaign, which aims to make electric vehicles “the new normal”. EDF has promised to transition its fleet to electric vehicles by 2030 in support of the new initiative.

Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group, which co-ordinates the RE100, EP100 and EV100 campaigns, said the announcements underscore the business community’s commitment to delivering on the Paris Agreement.

“These companies are giants in their sectors, so their commitments to purchasing renewable energy, vastly improving energy productivity, and switching to electric vehicles, send clear and significant market signals,” she said in a statement.

The news came a day ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s One Planet Summit in Paris, a high level climate conference taking place exactly two years on from the brokering of the Paris Agreement.

Schneider Electric and EDF have also joined 89 other French companies ahead of the summit in signing the 2017 French Business Climate Pledge, which calls for a “collective change of course” to deliver a “drastic reduction” in global emissions.

Source: businessgreen.com

Jovana Mehandžić Đurđić: Free Charging of Electric Cars at IKEA

12.12.2017

We have all heard of the Swedish giant IKEA – the world’s leading retail chain with a wide range of home decor products. The main concept of IKEA involves developing products that are characterized by good design, functionality, quality and sustainability at such affordable prices that a huge number of people can afford them.

This is also the company to which the sustainable development is one of the important aspects of running the business, and therefore has developed the IKEA Group Sustainability Strategy for making the change “People and Planet Positive”. In addition to this Strategy, IKEA has been applying the IWAY standard for years, which represents the company’s code of conduct in many areas such as working conditions, prevention of child labor and environmental conditions.

Following innovations in all fields, IKEA has installed two chargers for electric cars in its first department store in Serbia, whose opening we are eagerly awaiting. While we are waiting for IKEA to open their doors to numerous buyers, we have used the opportunity to talk with Jovana Mehandžić Đurđić, Regional Manager for Sustainability of IKEA for Southeast Europe, about the chargers, renewable energy sources that IKEA uses, company’s sustainability principles but also about their plans for further development.

EP: IKEA is the first department store in our country that installed chargers for electric vehicles. Do you believe that there will be enough drivers of electric cars and therefore greater need for chargers?

Jovana Mehandzic Djurdjic: Sustainability is one of the key development principles of IKEA and we are trying to have a positive impact on people and the planet. When we talk about chargers for electric vehicles, it means that we encourage and motivate our customers to come to IKEA department store by means of a transport that is sustainable or at least more sustainable than traditional ones. In Great Britain, for example, in the last five years, IKEA has partnered with “Ecotricity” and together they offer free charging for electric cars. We believe that such a strategic approach has contributed to the increased use of electric cars in Great Britain and thus to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Guided by this kind of examples, we believe that charging network and the increase of electric vehicles in Southeast Europe and thus in Serbia is still to come. Health and environment are important factors for the life quality of our customers, so IKEA offers them the opportunity to behave, as the company itself, more responsible to the world in which they live and in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. There will be a public transport line to the department store IKEA Belgrade East, so our customers will not have to use only their vehicles to come to our store.

EP: Can you tell us more about your chargers? How much does an hour of charging cost?

Jovana Mehandžić Đurđić: People will be able to charge their electric vehicles on two parking lots. Since the region of Southeast Europe is a relatively young market for the company IKEA, the department stores in Zagreb and Belgrade offer free charging of electric vehicles to our customers. We want to encourage people to turn to alternative energy sources to a greater extent, and this is just one of the activities in that direction. Globally, IKEA is considering installation of super-fast chargers, as well as Tesla’s chargers into each IKEA facility. Schneider Electric’s 22kW AC fast charger is installed in our department store in Belgrade. We believe that this is just the beginning, as the need grows, IKEA will adjust its capacities. Thus, for example, IKEA department store in Zagreb offers to charge of electric cars on eight parking lots IKEA is part of “Better Cotton Initiative” which means that the wood they use in production is certified and the origin is known. The goal is that by 2020, 100 % of wood they use, as well as paper and cardboard, comes from more sustainable and responsible source of energy. Today, IKEA is one of the biggest users of wood purchased in retail and with FSC certification (a guarantee that the wood comes to the end user by a strictly tracked chain – from wood through processing to production).

IKEA also takes particular care of reducing water consumption during the production process (e.g. during the production of cotton and textile dyeing) as well as in operational business. By 2020, IKEA has set to produce as much energy as they produce, and apparently, they are on the right way to achieve that, but not only through solar power plants on the roof but also by obtaining energy from wind parks that IKEA owns around the world. Also, they introduce numerous innovations in the field of circular economy, which involves converting waste into resources as well as prolonging the life of products. We encourage and motivate our customers to come to IKEA department store by means of transport that is sustainable or at least more sustainable than the traditional ones 66 In that sense, department store IKEA Belgrade East will use its own photovoltaic plant, that is solar panels of total installed power of 340 kWp, and on their installation, we cooperated with the company Strabag as well as domestic company MT-Komex. The efficiency of the panels is 15.4 percent and we believe that the use of solar energy will bring us sufficient savings in daily operation. EP Will the part of the produced energy for chargers come from RES? Will you sell the surplus of the produced energy or it is just for your own needs? When it comes to sustainability, each new department store that they build is characterized by state-of-art technological solutions, which is why their department store is among the most sustainable facilities in the region. The following innovations are applied in IKEA department stores in Belgrade and Zagreb: Separation and management system for 23 waste fractions that reduce the amount of municipal waste to less than 10 percent, Geothermal pumps for cooling and heating, The use of rainwater for flushing toilets, A modern building management system that optimizes resource consumption, Plant for purification of wastewater, Solar panels on the roof and use of only LED lightning in the facilities that will significantly reduce the amount of electricity that we will need for everyday functioning. through four fast chargers of 22 kW AC, Etrel brand from Slovenia.

EP: What is IKEA’s expansion plan in the region and will you install chargers in all new department stores?

Jovana Mehandžić Đurđić: IKEA has an ambitious expansion plan in the region of Southeast Europe – it can easily be said that we are at the very beginning of growth in the four countries which that region includes (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania). Department store in Belgrade is 400th globally, and by 2025 we will open 13 more department stores in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania. We will continue to install chargers in each of our new department store that we build. We hope that by building this infrastructure we will draw attention to legislators to make this technology available to a higher number of people.

EP: IKEA is trying to be energy efficient and responsible to nature in every sense, so you have installed solar panels on the roof of your department store.

Jovana Mehandžić Đurđić: IKEA follows the values and the concept of its founder Ingvar Kamprad who grew up in Smaland, Sweden. Rocky landscape is dominant in Smaland, so its inhabitants have a reputation of being inventive since they use all raw materials in a thoughtful way and they do not recognize imperfect solutions. That spirit that also reflects the firm belief that no method is more efficient than a good example is incorporated into IKEA. In that sense, department store IKEA Belgrade East will use its own photovoltaic plant, that is solar panels of the total installed power of 340 kWp, and on their installation, we cooperated with the company Strabag as well as domestic company MT-Komex. The efficiency of the panels is 15.4 percent and we believe that the use of solar energy will bring us sufficient savings in daily operation.

EP: Will the part of the produced energy for chargers come from RES? Will you sell the surplus of the produced energy or it is just for your own needs?

Jovana Mehandžić Đurđić: Generally speaking, the solar power plant will supply part of our electricity consumption which is between 10 and 20 percent, depending on the season and the amount of solar energy. Chargers are definitely part of that system. The tender procedure, on our side, is still in process, so the answer to this question will soon be known.

EP: Does IKEA have eco vehicles in its fleet, such as electrical or hybrid?

Jovana Mehandžić Đurđić Internal policy and IKEA’s commitment is to use less and less traditional fuel. We support the use of advanced biofuels, since this resource is obtained from waste and in the next phase we will turn to electricity obtained from the green renewable energy source. IKEA actively promotes and encourages its employees and buyers to use more sustainable forms of transport and at the global level, we cooperate with our chain of suppliers and partners from industry in order to work together on innovations, ideas, and testing of the solutions in the field of transport and reduction of carbon footprint.

Prepared by: Nevena Đukić

IKEA is part of “Better Cotton Initiative” which means that the wood they use in production is certified and the origin is known. The goal is that by 2020, 100 % of wood they use, as well as paper and cardboard, comes from more sustainable and responsible source of energy. Today, IKEA is one of the biggest users of wood purchased in retail and with FSC certification (a guarantee that the wood comes to the end user by a strictly tracked chain – from wood through processing to production). IKEA also takes particular care of reducing water consumption during the production process (e.g. during the production of cotton and textile dyeing) as well as in operational business. By 2020, IKEA has set to produce as much energy as they produce, and apparently, they are on the right way to achieve that, but not only through solar power plants on the roof but also by obtaining energy from wind parks that IKEA owns around the world. Also, they introduce numerous innovations in the field of circular economy, which involves converting waste into resources as well as prolonging the life of products.

This interview was originally published in the eighth issue of the Energy Portal Bulletin, named ECOMOBILITY.

November Winds Provided Three Quarters of Scotland’s Power Needs, Data Shows

12.12.2017

Strong November winds helped generate more than three quarters of Scotland’s electricity needs for the month, once again demonstrating the “success story” of the renewables sector north of the border.

Data released today by WWF Scotland shows wind turbines provided 77 per cent of Scotland’s entire electricity demand for the month, and supplied enough power to meet the needs of every Scottish home on 25 of November’s 30 days.

Moreover, WWF Scotland estimates the generated wind output was sufficient to have potentially supplied 100 per cent of Scottish energy demand on seven days last month.

WWF Scotland’s acting director Dr Sam Gardner said the latest data, provided by WeatherEnergy, showed further investment in renewables and power storage was the way forward for Scotland.

“Scotland’s renewable success story powered on during November,” said Gardner. “Over the course of the month Scotland’s windfarms generated the equivalent of 77 per cent of our total electricity demand. If we are to build on this success the UK Government must set out a route to market that encourages continued investment in onshore wind.

“Successive Scottish governments have set out a vision for renewables that has enabled the sector to flourish, drive down costs, create jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The forthcoming energy strategy needs to build on this strong foundation and set out the ambitious vision and steps we need to take to heat our homes and make the transition to electric vehicles.”

It follows news last week that 43 per cent of electricity consumption in Wales in 2016 came from renewable power, up from 32 per cent during the previous year, according to official statistics.

The Welsh Government said data released on Thursday showed Wales was making “good progress” towards its goal of sourcing 70 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030, with the number of renewables projects up 23 per cent since 2014.

There are now 67,000 renewables projects operating in Wales, with capacity having increased by almost half since 2014 to make up 18 per cent of all electricity generation, according to the Energy Generation in Wales 2016 report.

The Welsh Government’s cabinet secretary for energy, planning and rural affairs, Lesley Griffiths, said her priorities were to increase energy efficiency, reduce reliance on fossil fuels for energy and to “actively manage the transition to a low carbon economy”.

“That is why I commissioned the Energy Generation in Wales study to provide a complete picture of energy in Wales and for us to see the progress that has been achieved,” she said. “Today’s report shows we are already making very encouraging progress on renewable energy… By using our abundant natural resources in a sustainable way, we can ensure energy continues its important role in achieving our energy and decarbonisation targets. By doing so, we will deliver a prosperous and low carbon Wales.”

Source: businessgreen.com

EA Technology Promises to Become Carbon Neutral Business

11.12.2017

Cheshire-based energy networks firms EA Technology has promised to go “carbon neutral“, unveiling a seven point plan on Friday to slash its company emissions across heating, lighting and transport.

The firm, which specialises in managing electricity assets, has set out a ‘Carbon Action Plan’ it claims will radically boost its energy self-sufficiency and save thousands of pounds a year in energy bills.

Although the Carbon Action Plan doesn’t set a clear deadline to hit carbon neutral status, it does detail a number of steps EA Technology plans to take to get there.

They include a switch to LED lighting that it predicts will save more than £10,000 and 11 tonnes of carbon each year. Meanwhile a new solar panel installation at its Capenhurst headquarters will generate 40,000kWh of green electricity every year, saving a further £6,500 in electricity costs over the first year.

Any excess electricity generated by the array will be diverted to battery storage, and used either by the headquarters or to recharge employee’s electric vehicles at new on-site charge points.

Over the coming months EA Technology said it will also explore options to install low-carbon heating – such as ground source heat pumps, or hybrid heating systems – into its headquarters.

“Our Carbon Action Plan will give us a modern, integrated, low carbon footprint and we expect to see our emissions reduce year on year with immediate effect as well as delivering the company financial savings,” said Robert Davis, EA Technology chief executive.

“We have carried out a full energy consumption audit of the company looking at everything from encouraging staff to turn off lighting when it’s not needed to creating designated electric charging points in our car parks.

“In the next four years, we predict our people will drive to work in a hybrid or electric car, which will be far cheaper to tax and run. They will plug it in and we will use their batteries to power the company when electricity charges are at their peak. When it dips, we will power up their cars for free.

“As a company, we care about the planet and we want to do everything possible to lead the way in going green.”

Source: businessgreen.com

Green Light for New Scottish Oshore Wind Farms

11.12.2017

WINDMILLS — Photo - Illustration: Pixabay

Dumfries and Galloway council last week approved more than 65MW of new onshore wind projects.

The council gave the green light to the 12-turbine, 40.8MW Windy Rig farm, which developers Element Power claim will deliver enough electricity to power more than 20,000 homes.

Planning permission for the site was submitted in 2015, but only approved by the council on Thursday.

“We are delighted that the Planning Committee approved this proposal today,” Element Power project manager Stuart Davidson said today. “We have worked hard on the proposal for four years. We have worked closely with local communities, reflecting and acting on feedback from consultees and have refined our plans to make sure that they are acceptable. We look forward to continue working closely with the community and local businesses as we now take the scheme forward.”

As part of the development Element Power will deliver a community benefit fund for nine community councils in the local area to Windy Rig. The fund will provide around £200,000 every year to support community projects.

Meanwhile, Muirhall Energy also received planning approval for its 25.6MW project near Langholm last week, also by Dumfries and Galloway council.

The eight-turbine Loganhead wind farm will also have a community benefit package, worth £128,000 a year, alongside a 10 per cent shared ownership offering in the project.

“We are clearly delighted that the planning committee followed the officer’s recommendation to approve our planning application for Loganhead Wind Farm,” said Alastair Yule, senior development manager at Muirhall Energy.

“Throughout this whole process we worked constructively with all consultees to deliver a well-designed wind farm, sympathetic to the local landscape and environment. We would like to thank everyone who has supported the wind farm, and look forward to delivering the project in the near future.”

Source: businessgreen.com

New Climate Study: Most Severe Warming Projections Are Now the Most Likely

11.12.2017

Global warming, under the notorious “business-as-usual scenario” in which humans go on burning fossil fuels to power economic growth, could by 2100 be at least 15 percent warmer than the worst UN projections so far. And the spread of uncertainty in such gloomy forecasts has been narrowed as well.

Climate scientists had worked on the assumption that there was a 62 percent chance that the world would have warmed on average by more than 4°C if no action was taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But a new study has not only raised the stakes, it has narrowed the uncertainty. There is now a 93 percent chance that global warming will—once again, under the business-as-usual scenario—exceed 4°C by 2100.

And since the world’s nations met in Paris in 2015 and agreed to keep overall global warming to “well below” 2°C, even that figure represents “dangerous” global warming. One degree higher would count as “catastrophic.” And a rise of beyond 5°C would deliver the world into an unknown and unpredictable period of change.

Two U.S. scientists reported in the journal Nature that they went back to the climate models used as the basis for forecasts made by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and then matched the reasoning against observations.

In particular, they looked again at seasonal and monthly variability in climate and the latest thinking about energy use, and carbon dioxide emissions, and their impact on temperatures.

There has always been an argument about the long-term accuracy of climate models and what they can usefully predict about the real world by the century’s end. If anything, the new results suggest that tomorrow’s reality could be even worse.

“Our results suggest that it doesn’t make sense to dismiss the most-severe global warming projections based on the fact that climate models are imperfect in their simulation of the current climate,” said Patrick Brown, of the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University in California.

“On the contrary, we are showing that model shortcomings can be used to dismiss the least severe predictions.”

And, the authors warned: “Our results suggest that achieving any given global temperature stabilization target will require steeper greenhouse gas emissions reduction than previously calculated.”

Climate models are only as good as the climate data on which they are based, and one source of uncertainty has been the effect of warming on cloud formation: a warmer world means more evaporation, which could mean more warmth is trapped in the atmosphere—or it could mean more clouds, which reflect more solar radiation back into space.

For decades, researchers have tried to calculate with precision the links between ratios of greenhouse gases released from the combustion of coal, natural gas and oil, and shifts in average planetary temperature.

One of the Carnegie authors, Ken Caldeira of the Institution’s global ecology lab, has so far calculated the rate at which carbon dioxide sets about warming the atmosphere, and the capacity of greenhouse gases to go on warming the world for millennia.

The latest conclusions have been based on simpler evidence: the accuracy with which their forecast models can “predict” the recent past.

“It makes sense that the models that do the best job at simulating today’s observations might be the models with the most reliable predictions,” professor Caldeira said.

“Our study indicates that if emissions follow a commonly-used business-as-usual scenario, there is a 93% chance that global warming will exceed 4°C by the end of this century. Previous studies have put this likelihood at 62%.”

Source: ecowatch.com

Jinko Solar Posts Strong 3rd Quarter, Increases 2017 Shipping Guidance

11.12.2017

Chinese solar manufacturer Jinko Solar has posted another strong financial quarter with year-over-year shipping and revenue increases and an increase to its full-year 2017 shipping guidance, solidifying its market leadership this year.

Jinko Solar published its third-quarter financial results on Thursday, revealing strong growth year-over-year but decreases across the board on a stronger second quarter. The company’s total solar module shipments for the quarter was 2,374 (MW) megawatts, a decrease of 17.7% from the 2,884 MW taken in during the second quarter of 2017 but an increase of 47.8% from the 1,606 MW taken in during the third quarter of 2016. The same can be said for company revenue, which reached RMB 6.42 billion ($964.8 million), a decrease of 19.0% from the second quarter of 2017 but an increase of 20.4% from the third quarter of 2016, and beating expectations by $115.4 million. Earnings per share were RMB0.80 ($0.12), beating expectations by $0.02.

“Module shipments during the quarter exceeded the high end of our guidance, reaching to 2,374 MW,” said Kangping Chen, JinkoSolar’s Chief Executive Officer.

“Demand in China remained strong during the quarter as the distributed generation (“DG”) market there grows rapidly. We have fully evaluated the various remedy recommendations from the US International Trade Commission and are awaiting its final decision on the Section 201 petition. Regardless of what the final outcome is, we strongly believe in the US solar market’s long-term growth trajectory and will adjust our strategy there accordingly.

“I remain confident in the long-term sustainability of our business as we continue to devote resources towards developing new technologies and supporting the expansion of our market share in exciting and rapidly growing markets.”

Looking forward, Jinko Solar expects to ship a total of between 2.3 and 2.5 GW (gigawatts) in the fourth quarter, and has elevated its full-year 2017 guidance to see total module shipments in the range of 9.6 to 9.8 GW, an increase on previous guidance of around 12%.

Source: cleantechnica.com

European Utilities Commit To 100% Carbon-Neutral Electricity “Well Before” 2050 … Because It’s Cheaper

08.12.2017

renewable-energy — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Eurelectric is not just another euphonious name for a trade organization no one has ever heard of. It is the Union of the Electricity Industry for Europe. Its president is Francesco Starace, the CEO of the Italian energy giant Enel. Its vice president is Magnus Hall, CEO of Vattenfall.

Its mandate is to represent the interests of 3,500 electric companies all across the European continent on major issues from electricity generation and markets, to distribution networks, to environmental and sustainability. Its members create more than €200 billion in revenue each year, so when it issues a call for carbon-neutral electricity all across Europe, its words carry a lot of weight with policymakers and government officials.

The members of Eurelectric have unanimously agreed to a Vision Declaration that commits them to an ambitious program of making all electricity generated in Europe carbon neutral by 2050. “Our industry sees a great opportunity on the path towards a progressively decarbonized and fully sustainable European energy future. Electricity is playing a growing role in making this vision happen and Eurelectric is determined to accelerate the energy transition through a progressive electrification of Europe’s energy consumption while making the European power sector carbon-neutral well before mid-century,” says Francesco Starace.

Part of Eurelectric’s mission is to provide clean electricity to power the industries that are largely responsible for carbon emissions today using green electricity in the future.

“Electrification of heating, transport, and industry is a win-win. It comes with higher efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. We should do everything possible to advance electrification with smart regulation,” says Magnus Hall.

Decentralizing the electrical grid and incorporating digital technology will play a large role in meeting Eurelectric’s goals. “The investment required in clean electricity and transition-enabling technologies is huge. This statement reflects our full commitment to invest in innovation, to build new cross-sector business models, and ensure that electricity keeps creating value in decades to come,” said Alistair Philips-Davies, CEO of SSE and vice president of Eurelectric.

It is refreshing to see a regional commitment to clean electricity in Europe. Industry leaders in the US would do well to study the European approach and adjust their thinking accordingly.

Source: cleantechnica.com

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