AN ENERGY SYSTEM ON THE BRINK OF TRANSFORMATION

“The global transition to renewable energy has been accelerating worldwide, driven by the urgent imperative to address the climate emergency and increasingly favourable economics.

This has been supercharged by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, creating unique conditions to accelerate the transition, with the IEA recognising that renewable energy, such as wind and solar, showed ‘a degree of immunity to the crisis’.1 The temporary acceleration of the share of renewable energy driven by Covid-19 has fixed the eyes of the world’s energy leaders on the opportunity to realise the potential of renewables to reduce emissions, permanently. The UK is one such test-case.

The UK Prime Minister has increased the Government’s offshore wind target from 30 GW to 40 GW by 2030 and pledged that offshore wind will power every home in the country in that time. This will form a keystone in the country’s path to a net zero energy system.

The UK Government will soon release its energy white paper, detailing its strategy for the coming decade and beyond. This is an opportunity to set an ambitious target for renewable energy to become the primary source of power by 2030. In 2019, the UK energy system reached 37% renewable energy.

By 2030, modelling undertaken by Wärtsilä shows that the country could easily achieve a permanent 62% renewable generation, even with the energy system as it is today. The country should go further, setting a target to achieve 80% renewable energy by the end of the decade. That may sound ambitious, but it is realistic. During the initial Covid-19 lockdown, when energy demand fell by up to 10%, the energy system as it is today coped with up to 60% renewables for short periods. Energy systems in other European countries, such as Germany and Spain, achieved over 70% renewable energy. If current systems can manage major spikes of renewable energy today, then – as this report shows – with investment in technologies that add system flexibility, we can be confident to set ambitious targets for permanently higher levels of renewables in the near future.”

Source : Wärtsilä Energy Transition Lab Report

By Ville Rimali Growth & Development Director

Advantages of Renewable Energy

“Advantages of Solar Energy

1. Renewable Energy Source

Among all the benefits of solar panels, the most important thing is that solar energy is a truly renewable energy source. It can be harnessed in all areas of the world and is available every day. We cannot run out of solar energy, unlike some of the other sources of energy.

Solar energy will be accessible as long as we have the sun, therefore sunlight will be available to us for at least 5 billion years when according to scientists the sun is going to die.

2. Reduces Electricity Bills

Since you will be meeting some of your energy needs with the electricity your solar system has generated, your energy bills will drop. How much you save on your bill will be dependent on the size of the solar system and your electricity or heat usage.

For example, if you are a business using commercial solar panels this switch can have huge benefits because the large system size can cover large chunks of your energy bills.

Moreover, not only will you be saving on the electricity bill, but there is also a possibility to receive payments for the surplus energy that you export back to the grid through the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). If you generate more electricity than you use (considering that your solar panel system is connected to the grid). 

3. Diverse Applications

Solar energy can be used for diverse purposes. You can generate electricity (photovoltaics) or heat (solar thermal). Solar energy can be used to produce electricity in areas without access to the energy grid, to distil water in regions with limited clean water supplies and to power satellites in space.

Solar energy can also be integrated into the materials used for buildings. Not long ago Sharp introduced transparent solar energy windows.

4. Low Maintenance Costs

Solar energy systems generally don’t require a lot of maintenance. You only need to keep them relatively clean, so cleaning them a couple of times per year will do the job. If in doubt, you can always rely on specialised cleaning companies, which offer this service from around £25-£35.

Most reliable solar panel manufacturers offer 20-25 years warranty.

Also, as there are no moving parts, there is no wear and tear. The inverter is usually the only part that needs to be changed after 5-10 years because it is continuously working to convert solar energy into electricity and heat (solar PV vs. solar thermal). Apart from the inverter, the cables also need maintenance to ensure your solar power system runs at maximum efficiency.

So, after covering the initial cost of the solar system, you can expect very little spending on maintenance and repair work.

5. Technology Development

Technology in the solar power industry is constantly advancing and improvements will intensify in the future. Innovations in quantum physics and nanotechnology can potentially increase the effectiveness of solar panels and double, or even triple, the electrical input of the solar power systems.”

Sources: GreenMatch

2020 was the UK’s Year of Battery Storage

“Solar Media Market Research, which is the in-house team of experts at Energy-Storage News’ publisher Solar Media, tracked 60 new planning applications for large-scale battery storage projects in the UK last year, representing some 1.2GW of capacity. Lauren Cook said that activity has increased year-on-year in this regard and business models are changing quickly. Legislation has also shifted to allow projects of over 50MW capacity to bypass the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project planning status that larger projects previously had to attain.

“The battery storage pipeline in the UK has reached over 14.5GW with around 1.2GW operational. The pipeline is continuing to grow as we see increasing number of projects of 50MW and larger,” Lauren Cook told Energy-Storage.news in an interview.

“There is also increased interest in battery storage co-located with wind and solar and we are now seeing more planning applications being submitted for these projects.”

Energy-Storage.news asked Cook how much of an impact lifting those rules that limited projects to under 50MW would have. During the webinar, the analyst had said that of projects deployed and planned in the UK, the largest share by percentage had been projects with 49.9MW rated output: in other words, the largest that developers could make them while complying.”

Source : Energy Storage News

ESS is the Key to sucess of Renewable Energy.

The renewable energy problem

“There are some days when the sun doesn’t always shine, and the wind doesn’t always blow. And then there are days when these happen for extensive periods. This causes intermittency & variability of your renewable energy generation.

The natural environment has a massive impact on the balancing capability of renewables. Which often results in decreased commercial capability of your renewable assets.

How can you increase the capability of your renewable assets?

Grid scale storage solutions

By applying our unique storage expertise into your renewable energy generation projects, you can transform the value of your assets, get a detailed roadmap for your route to market and achieve your goals. “

Source : Corre Energy