Opinion:
¶ “Where Will Renewable Energy Be in Five Years?” • Leading renewable energy producer NextEra Energy expects that near-firm wind and solar (ie, with a four-hour battery storage adder) will be cheaper to build than all but the most efficient natural gas power plants within the next five years. This could produce an investment surge. [Motley Fool]
Wind farm (Getty Images)
Science and Technology:
¶ “AES Invests In 5B Portable Solar Technology” • 5B is an Australian solar energy company with an innovative new idea. Instead of building a solar system onsite, make it in a factory using preassembled units that are hinged together and fold up like the sides of an accordion. Now AES, a co-founder of Fluence Energy, is among those financing 5B. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “World’s First Foiling Electric Boat” • Electric boats are starting to bloom. Boat maker Candela says it offers the “first electric boats with real range,” by adding hydrofoils. Their speedboat can go quite far – 50 nautical miles at 22 knots, which is 57.54 land miles at 25.3 mph. And it has a maximum speed of 30 knots (35 mph). [CleanTechnica]
Foiling electric boat (Photo via Candela)
¶ “Rigid Sails And Solar Power For Zero Emission Shipping” • Renewable energy is a source of emissions free power and on-board ships it can be harnessed by various means including rigid sails and solar panels. Both have potential to significantly reduce vessel emissions especially as the underlying technologies keep on being improved. [Splash 247]
World:
¶ “The Search Engine Boss Who Wants To Help Us All Plant Trees” • Christian Kroll wants nothing less than to change the world. The 35-year-old German is the boss of search engine Ecosia, which has an unusual but very environmentally friendly business model – it gives away most of its profits to enable trees to be planted around the world. [BBC]
Tree planting project (© Joshi Gottlieb)
¶ “New Record-Low Solar Price Bid – 1.3¢/kWh” • Portugal held a solar power auction, in which one of the bids broke the world record for the lowest solar power price. The lowest winning bid was to supply solar electricity to the grid at a new record price of €0.01114/kWh (1.327¢/kWh). The array will save Portugal €37.2 million per year for fifteen years. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “Work Underway On Gravitricity Storage Demo” • Winch specialist Huisman has begun on the fabrication of Gravitricity’s €1.1 million energy storage demonstrator, which is due for trial in Edinburgh early next year. The full 16m-high rig will be assembled at a grid-connected site at the port of Leith for testing to begin in spring 2021. [reNEWS]
Gravitricity storage demo (Gravitricity image)
¶ “Korean ESS Companies Ramp Up Overseas Business To Hike Up Revenue By 40%” • South Korean tech heavyweights Samsung SDI Co and LG Chem Ltd are expected to see a boost in market shares as they secure hefty energy storage system orders from overseas markets. Both intend to fortify their global energy storage businesses. [The Korea Economic Daily]
¶ “Renewables Set Power Generation Records In First Half Of 2020” • The latest Drax report shows renewables up 32% year-on-year as biomass, wind and solar set new generation records in Q2 2020. At one point renewable electricity sources were providing 69.5% of Britain’s electricity, the Drax Electrical Insights quarterly report says. [reNEWS]
Installing a turbine blade at Hornsea (Ørsted image)
¶ “Renewables And Covid-19 Combine To Cut Australia’s Greenhouse Emissions” • The continued growth of Australia’s renewable sector and a sharp fall in consumption of transport fuel because of Covid-19 have contributed to a fall in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. But the fall was 1.4%, and most of the cuts may be temporary. [RenewEconomy]
¶ “China Poised To Overtake US In Nuclear Power By 2030” • China’s total nuclear power generation capacity, including reactors under construction and in planning, was 108,700 MW as of April, more than America’s 105,120 MW, according to the World Nuclear Association. Western countries are tending not to build nuclear plants. [Nikkei Asian Review]
China pushing to lead
US:
¶ “42 Target Stores May Host Tesla Supercharger Stations” • It’s exciting news for lovers of Tesla and Target. Tesla is apparently working to bring Superchargers to 42 more Target stores across the USA. And 42, as we all should know from the Douglas Adams classic (as Elon Musk certainly does), is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “US Wind Power Adds 1800 MW Of Capacity In First Quarter Of 2020” • The US wind industry added more than 1,800 MW of new capacity in the first quarter of 2020, an American Wind Energy Association report says. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories said in a market report that 9 GW of wind capacity were added in 2019. [Industry Leaders Magazine]
Wind turbines
¶ “Dozens Of Shops Are Now Replacing Nissan LEAF Batteries” • A growing number of shops and suppliers are getting into the business of replacing LEAF batteries. Good first-generation batteries now available for as little as $1000. People with an older LEAF can even get newer 62-kWh packs to get over 200 miles of range in the oldest LEAFs. [CleanTechnica]
¶ “GM Gets Serious About Electric Cars And Autonomous Driving With Help From Corvette Engineers” • There can be no doubt that GM is indeed getting serious about building electric cars and cars that drive themselves after the news this week that it is reassigning some of its best and brightest engineers to create its cars of the future. [CleanTechnica]
Have a fundamentally magnificent day.
geoharvey 