EU Alternative Clean Energy - Windpower: Europe adds 2.6 GW of offshore wind in 2018

Irish Windpark

The European offshore wind industry added 2,649 MW of net capacity in 2018, the bulk of which in the UK and Germany, but saw installations drop 15.8% from the record 2017, show statistics by WindEurope, released today.

The capacity additions bring Europe’s total offshore wind capacity to 18,499 MW, coming from 105 plants in 11 countries. A total of 409 wind turbines across 18 wind farms started generating power in 2018. Most of the machines were installed in the UK and Germany -- 1,312 MW and 969 MW, respectively. The two countries accounted for 85% of Europe’s fresh offshore wind capacity and were followed by Belgium with 309 MW and Denmark with 61 MW.

“The technology keeps developing. The turbines keep getting bigger. And the costs keep falling. It’s now no more expensive to build offshore wind than it is to build coal or gas plants,” WindEurope’s CEO Giles Dickson said.

In the past year, EUR 10.3 billion (USD 11.7bn) of projects, representing 4.2 GW of capacity, reached final investment decisions (FIDs). The investment amount is 37% higher in annual terms compared to 2017, while the capacity covered rose by 91% due to the quickly falling costs. This amount has supported the 4.2 GW of projects, that are expected to come online in the next couple of years.

A Danish offshore Windpark

WindEurope highlighted in the statistics that turbines and wind farms are getting larger, with the average turbine size reaching 6.8 MW last year, or 15% greater than it was in 2017. The biggest offshore wind turbine, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind's machine with a capacity of 8.8 MW, was switched on at the 657-MW Walney 3 Extension offshore wind farm in the UK. In terms of manufacturers, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (BME:SGRE) and MHI Vestas were responsible for 95% of all connected turbines in 2018, with shares of 62% and 33% respectively.

According to WindEurope’s data, six offshore wind parks are currently being built in Europe, among which is the 1,218-MW Hornsea 1 in the North Sea, the first offshore complex globally with a capacity exceeding 1 GW.

WindEurope’s CEO pointed out that more governments are “recognising the merits of offshore wind,” giving Poland as an example and its plans to add 10 GW by 2040, while there are still some that are not taking advantage of offshore wind’s potential, including Sweden and France.

Read more: Europe adds 2.6 GW of offshore wind in 2018

EU: More growth and jobs: EU invests €873 million in clean energy infrastructure

Europe's transition to a clean and modern economy is the goal of the Energy Union, a priority of the Juncker Commission. It is now becoming the new reality on the ground, and one important building block is adapting the European infrastructure to the future energy needs. Properly interconnected electricity lines and gas pipelines form the backbone of an integrated European energy market anchored on the principle of solidarity. Thus, supporting these 17 selected electricity and gas projects , signals Europe's willingness to upgrade and make the European energy system more competitive that will ultimately deliver cheaper and secure energy to all European consumers.

The EU funding for the chosen projects comes from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the European support programme for trans-European infrastructure.

Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič said: "Once more we demonstrate that cooperation and solidarity pays off and that the Energy Union is becoming a reality with tangible impact on the ground. These are important projects with major cross-border benefits and by implementing them we strengthen energy resilience of EU Member States. The Connecting Europe Facility has yet again shown tremendous added value in the modernisation of the European economy."

Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said: "The construction of the Biscay Gulf France-Spain interconnection marks an important step towards ending the isolation of the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of the European energy market. Only a fully interconnected market will improve Europe's security of supply, reducing the dependence of single suppliers and giving consumers more choice. An energy infrastructure which is fit for purpose is also essential for renewable energy sources to thrive and for delivering on the Paris Agreement on climate change."

For the complete EU Commission Press release, click here

USA: Landmark California bill for 100% clean energy unexpectedly put on hold until next year - by Sammy Roth

California lawmakers will go home for the year without voting on a landmark renewable energy bill, in an unexpected setback for the state’s efforts to lead the world in fighting climate change.

The bill would have required California to get 60 percent of its electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind by 2030, up from the current legal mandate of 50 percent. It also would have tasked state regulators with charting a path to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045, which could have included energy sources not considered “renewable,” like nuclear power, large hydropower plants and gas-fired power plants that capture their carbon emissions.

State senators approved the legislation by a 25-13 margin in May, and for months its eventual passage in the Assembly looked like a foregone conclusion. But the bill got held up after unexpectedly strong opposition from investor-owned utilities like Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, which argued it did not adequately protect their customers from potential increases in electricity costs. Unions also worked to kill the bill in the final week of session, after legislative leaders wouldn’t include provisions sought by organized labor.

Assembly member Chris Holden, a Pasadena Democrat who chairs the Assembly’s utilities and energy committee, said earlier this week he wouldn’t move the bill out of his committee because it didn’t have enough support to pass the chamber. He held to that stance as the legislative session came to a close Friday night, even as climate advocates urged him to advance the bill.

The bill’s failure was a major defeat for Gov. Jerry Brown and powerful Senate leader Kevin de León, a Los Angeles Democrat who wrote the legislation. It was also disheartening for climate and clean energy advocates, who have touted California as a global leader in the fight against climate change — an especially important role now that the Trump administration has backed out of the Paris climate agreement and is working to undo many Obama-era climate initiatives.

Read more: Kevin De Leon's SB 100 renewable energy bill on hold until next year

Clean Energy: Royal Dutch Shell Plans to Spend $1 Billion a Year on Clean Energy by 2020 - Rakteem Katakey

Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to spend as much as $1 billion a year on its New Energies division as the transition toward renewable power and electric cars accelerates.

“In some parts of the world we are beginning to see battery electric cars starting to gain consumer acceptance” while wind and solar costs are falling fast, Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden said in a speech in Istanbul on Monday. “All of this is good news for the world and must accelerate,” while still offering opportunities for producers of fossil fuels.

Shell sees opportunities in hydrogen fuel-cells, liquefied natural gas and next-generation biofuels for air travel, shipping and heavy freight -- areas of transport for which batteries aren’t adequate. The intermittent nature of wind and solar energy means power plants fired by natural gas will have a long-term role, Van Beurden said.

Van Beurden was addressing the World Petroleum Congress -- a gathering of ministers and CEOs from some of the largest oil producers -- at a time when the accelerating shift to clean energy is raising questions about their long-term business models. While Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Arabian Oil Co. boss Amin Nasser said oil and gas will be dominant for decades to come, Van Beurden highlighted the potential for some of the fastest-growing nations to leapfrog straight to a cleaner energy mix.

“When you consider the areas of the world where energy demand is still to expand, like Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, there is a huge opportunity,” Van Beurden said. “These are areas that are not, on the whole, locked in to a coal-driven system. There is the potential for them to shift more directly onto a less energy-intensive pathway to development.”

There is often too much focus on energy-transition policies in Europe and North America instead of the fast-growing developing world, Van Beurden said. “What happens in England is important, but what happens in Ethiopia is at least as important. From Denmark to the DRC, from the U.S. to Uganda, to India, to China, there is a lot of work to do.”

Read more: Shell Plans to Spend $1 Billion a Year on Clean Energy by 2020 - Bloomberg

Alternative Energy: Denmark, a Green Energy Leader, Slows Pace of Its Spending - by Melissa Eddy

 Not long ago, Denmark was making headlines for harvesting so much wind power that it was leading the way in generating renewable energy, while becoming a center of innovation and growth for green and clean technology.

Then, in June, a center-left government was replaced by a right-wing, minority coalition determined to tighten spending and balance the budget in a program to improvethe economy.

The budget cuts include a key fund that was used to seed green technology projects — a government subsidy that environmental advocates said had paid itself off many times over.

“This funding has proven instrumental for Danish advances in clean tech for many years, and it is incomprehensible why it is being cut now,” said Soren Houmoller, whose 1st Mile consulting company helps businesses apply for public funds in Denmark.

Mette Abildgaard, a spokeswoman for green energy affairs for the opposition Danish Conservative People’s Party, said the timing of the cuts was disappointing.

“I believe this is a very bad signal to be sending the world, for Denmark to be taking a step backwards just before the Paris climate summit,” she said last month.

The debate going on in Denmark may serve as a cautionary tale for leaders of the 195 countries now meeting in Paris and trying to reach a global deal to rein in dangerous greenhouse gases that have been linked to climate change.

Should the negotiators be able to put aside their conflicting agendas, and sign an accord when the talks end this week, they will then face another challenge: meeting their national goals.

One lesson they may learn from Denmark is how it is possible to substantially replace fossil fuels with clean and renewable energy. But even when progress is made in reducing environmentally harmful carbon emissions, countries may have difficulty sustaining the gains because of politics, economic concerns and, in places like the United States, ideological disputes.

Read more: Denmark, a Green Energy Leader, Slows Pace of Its Spending - The New York Times

Alternative Energy: Commercial Aviation Biofuels …

In Illinois, the Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels Initiative released their recommendations from MASBI’s year-long study of the potential for aviation biofuels in the Midwest. In the 28-page report, MASBI, policymakers and experts identified next steps in advancing biofuels development, which can reduce carbon emissions, create green jobs in the Midwest, drive innovation in clean technology, improve energy security and power a sustainable future for aviation.

“For every 5 percent of petroleum jet fuel that can be offset by biofuels [in the Midwest],” the report’s authors said, “nearly 3,600 jobs will be created and 150,000 tons of carbon emissions will be avoided annually. MASBI’s recommendations, summarized below, are important next steps that can propel the aviation advanced biofuels industry toward generating some of the nearly 20 billion gallons of jet fuel required to support U.S commercial aviation.”

MASBI was led by United Airlines, Boeing, Honeywell’s UOP, the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Clean Energy Trust. In addition, Argonne National Laboratory chaired an Advisory Council, which included government agencies and non-profit institutions. This initiative, the result of a yearlong study by MASBI researchers, builds on crucial steps taken by the industry since 2006 that have resulted in approved pathways, drop-in fuels, certification to fly aircraft commercially powered by advanced biofuels and more than 1,500 completed commercial flights to date.

Read more: RenAlt Energy - Google+ - 14 Practical Steps Towards Commercial Aviation Biofuels …

Europe Intensifies Chinese Solar Panel Investigation - by James Kanter

European Union regulators ramped up their investigation of the Chinese solar panel industry Thursday by accusing the Chinese government of unfairly subsidizing panel makers.

The latest step in an increasingly acrimonious battle engulfing the global clean-energy industry came a day after the United States made a final decision to impose duties on billions of dollars of solar products from China over the next five years, to shield American producers against lower-priced imports. 

It also came after the Chinese government said Monday that it had filed a case with the World Trade Organization accusing some E.U. countries of violating free trade rules with policies that favored the purchase of solar energy equipment produced in Europe. 

The European Commission is already investigating whether Chinese manufacturers sold equipment for less than the cost of making it. That so-called anti-dumping investigation is the biggest case of its kind in terms of value, covering imports from China worth an estimated €21 billion, or $27 billion.

Read more: Europe Intensifies Chinese Solar Panel Investigation - NYTimes.com

Alternative Energy: U.S. and China clash in trade dispute over alternative energy technologies - by Stephen Vagus

The U.S. and China have been locked in a trade dispute over clean energy projects for some time. The U.S. government recently launched an investigation into wind turbine towers that are being exported from China. The investigation is meant to find any purposeful deficiencies present in the turbines and whether they are being sold at unfair discounts, a fact that the Chinese government has taken issue with. China claims that the investigation is worsening the trade dispute and could put a halt to any progress toward reducing carbon emissions and cooperation toward sustainability.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce notes that the dispute and the investigations that are becoming increasingly common from the U.S. could damage the interest of American companies looking to do business in the country. Government officials assert that they will continue to adhere to the commitments that they made at the recent G20 summit in Cannes, France, and hopes that the U.S. will show respect for these commitments by allowing the country to operate within its own laws and regulations.

China has been earnest in its pursuit of alternative energy thus far, hoping to significantly reduce its carbon emissions by 2020. Though the country is largely self-reliant, cooperation is key to attaining this goal. If relations between the two countries do not improve, it could put the sustainability goals of both nations in jeopardy.

For more: U.S. and China clash in trade dispute over alternative energy technologies