Opinion:
¶ “How Falling Solar Costs Have Renewed Clean Hydrogen Hopes” • The world is increasingly banking on green hydrogen fuel to fill some of the critical missing pieces in the clean-energy puzzle. For decades, researchers have heralded a new “hydrogen economy,” but it’s barely made a dent in fossil fuel demand, so far. Now, that might change. [MIT Technology Review]
H2FUTURE green hydrogen plant (Voestalpine image)
Science and Technology:
¶ “UK Peat Emissions Could Cancel Forest Benefits” • A peat bog is a Jekyll and Hyde thing. A wet, pristine peat bog soaks up CO₂ and, unlike trees, has no limit to the amount of carbon it can capture. Trees only capture CO₂ until they are mature. But a dry, degraded bog is a big source of CO₂ as the carbon in the bog oxidises. [BBC]
World:
¶ “Northvolt: $3 Billion For 2 Battery Gigafactories In Europe” • Northvolt raised another $1.6 billion in debt, bringing total debt and equity raised to $3 billion. This and the previously raised $1.4 billion are for two battery gigafactories, one each in Sweden and Germany, along with “investments in R&D, industrialization, and recycling.” [CleanTechnica]
NorthVolt Labs (NorthVolt image)
¶ “Sembcorp Commissions 800 MW Of Wind Power Projects In India” • Sembcorp Energy India Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries, has announced the completion of three 800 MW wind energy projects in India. Together, the projects will provide enought electricity to power more than 600,000 homes. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Mercedes-Benz And CATL Team Up” • One of the largest EV battery producers on the planet, CATL, and a luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz have teamed up to “lead in battery technology.” In particular, they are combining their R&D efforts. The batteries they produce are also intended to be manufactured in a such a way as to be CO₂-neutral. [CleanTechnica]
Mercedes EQS (Image courtesy of Daimler/Mercedes Benz)
¶ “JinkoSolar Will Run Entirely On Renewable Energy By 2025” • JinkoSolar announced that it will be 100% powered by renewables by 2025. It has unveiled its RE100 roadmap, which provides details on its approach. The company has crystalline silicon solar module manufacturing facilities in China, Malaysia, and the US state of Florida. [Solar Power World]
¶ “Borssele 3&4 Delivers First Power” • First power has been achieved from the Blauwwind consortium’s 732-MW Borssele 3&4 offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea. The developer said 36 of the 77 MHI Vestas 9.5-MW turbines are now installed, and it is expected that one additional machine will become operational each day. [reNEWS]
Blauwwind wind turbine (Blauwwind image)
¶ “Korea May Let KEPCO Generate Power Directly, But Only From Renewable Sources” • A bill before South Korea’s National Assembly would allow state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp to generate power directly for the first time in 20 years. The new power would be restricted to renewable sources, under the government green drive. [Pulse News]
¶ “Offshore Wind To Reach Over 234 GW By 2030 Led By Asia-Pacific” • Global offshore wind capacity will surge to over 234 GW by 2030 from 29.1 GW at the end of 2019, led by the exponential growth in the Asia-Pacific region and continued strong growth in Europe, according to a report from the Global Wind Energy Council. [Power Engineering International]
Offshore wind farm (David Will | Pixabay)
¶ “US ‘Scrutinizing’ Saudi Arabia’s Nuclear Program After Chinese Help” • Saudi Arabia was reportedly close to completion of building its first nuclear reactor in 2019. It has also built a facility for extracting uranium yellowcake from uranium ore with Chinese help, a Wall Street Journal report says. It cites Western officials with knowledge of the site. [Haaretz]
¶ “Aker Offshore Wind Unveils Norway Floater Plans” • Aker Solutions’ new offshore wind spinoff is planning to develop floating and deepwater wind projects, totalling 1700 MW, in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Aker Offshore Wind said one project, Sorlige Nordsjo 2, could potentially be the site of the 1.2-GW Sonnavindar project. [reNEWS]
Floating offshore windpower (Principle Power image)
US:
¶ “First Solar Joins RE100 And Pledges To Power 100% Of Global Operations Renewably By 2028” • First Solar Inc makes thin-film PV modules and provides EPC services. The company, based in Tempe, Arizona, committed 100% renewable power for its global PV making operations by 2028. US operations are to use carbon-free electricity by 2026. [Semiconductor Today]
¶ “Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Overhaul of Environmental-Review Law” • A legal battle with far-reaching consequences for industry and ecosystems has kicked off with a federal lawsuit over the Trump administration’s revamp of a longstanding law that requires extensive environmental reviews for road, industry and building projects. [Courthouse News Service]
Yellowstone National Park (Chris Marshall | Courthouse News)
¶ “Invenergy Reaches Financial Close On Oregon Solar” • Invenergy and CoBank have completed construction financing for two solar projects totalling 100 MW, the Prineville and Millican Solar Energy Centers. The two projects in Crook County, Oregon are under construction and scheduled to be operational at the end of 2020. [reNEWS]
¶ “Facebook To Purchase Power From Apex’s 300-MW Lincoln Land Wind Project” • Apex Clean Energy has announced that Lincoln Land Wind executed a power purchase agreement with Facebook for about 170 MW of renewable power from the Illinois project. This makes Facebook the largest corporate customer of Apex by megawatt. [Citybizlist Real Estate]
Have an amusingly care-free day.
geoharvey 