Energy review will 'threaten wind farms'

Energy review will 'threaten wind farms'

www.all-energy.co.uk News

Energy companies have warned that changes to the way onshore wind farms are subsidised could halt a multi-billion pound investment. They are expected to invest about £50bn over the next 15 years in onshore wind farms to meet climate change targets. But it is understood that a review of the renewable obligation certificate system - the method the Government uses to subsidise renewable energy projects - could result in less for onshore wind farms. A decision is expected in July.

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MGT Power Teesside 300MWe Wood Chip Biomass Project Update May 2011

At the time of writing (May 2011) the only large scale (>100MWe) coastal biomass development projects with full planning consent and construction permits are MGT Teesside, Prenergy Power (Port Talbot; 350MWe) and Helius (Avonmouth; 100MWe). MGT Teesside has its Section 36 Consent, its local planning consent, its Environment Agency EPR emission permit, and has resolved a number of its standard consent conditions and is finalizing the remaining. The project continues to maintain a full 300MWe export contract with National Grid.

All of these large biomass projects are believed to be on hold pending the UK Governments ongoing review of ROC banding. The government’s programme on ROC banding decisions is as follows:

1. Autumn 2010-28^th Feb 2011: Arup and Ernst & Young undertake a review of the underlying economics of all UK renewable energy generation technologies, including hydro, landfill gas, biomass, solar, onshore wind, offshore wind.
2. March 2011. DECC releases these reports to the industry. [This is still delayed as of 20^th May 2011, without any explanation. It is highly likely that UK Government has been surprised by some of the more expensive technology cost predictions, together with the impact of the Fukushima disaster on carbon prices, and the recently announced carbon tax floor price].
3. July 2011. UK Government announces its intended new ROC bands.
4. July 2011 – October 2011, Industry reviews the UK Government announcement and consults with DECC on the likely impact of the new announced prices.
5. April 2012. The new ROC bands are fixed.

MGT plans to remobilize the project pending the July 2011 announcement (8 weeks away). An enlarged team will then finalize the following contracts with the aim of a start of construction within approx. 6-9 months:

• Fuel Supply Agreements (all commercial terms agreed, detailed boiler plate T&Cs being finalised )
• Construction Contracts (FEED study and Tendering completed)
• Power Purchase Agreement
• O&M Agreement
• Equity Shareholders Agreement
• Lenders Agreement

Anyone interested in expressing interest in any of these contracts should register on the project website (www.mgtteesside.com) or email info@mgtpower.com

Chlorophylic Solar Collectors

Despite having been in the biomass industry for quite some time now I was nevertheless surprised to hear that 99% of the mass of a tree comes from thin air - but as John Drori explains in this TED talk, we often don't know as much as we think we know!

That was my inspiration for Chlorofilic Solar Collectors - that, and reading up on large scale battery technology, which could help make solar power more viable.

Armed with some idle time and artistic talent I put together what might be a pitch for a new type of solar technology:

Yes, it is tongue-in-cheek, but nothing there is untrue. Biomass energy really does come from the sun, and it really is stored in the trunk of the tree. We already have the solar technology we are looking for!

UK’s ambitious targets

UK's ambitious targets

www.all-energy.co.uk News

The UK is to put in place the most ambitious targets on greenhouse gases of any developed country, by halving carbon dioxide emissions by 2025, after a tumultuous week of cabinet rifts on the issue. Agreeing the targets took weeks of wrangling among ministers, but late on Tuesday afternoon the energy and climate secretary, Chris Huhne, announced to parliament that the "carbon budget" – a 50% emissions cut averaged across the years 2023 to 2027, compared with 1990 levels – would be enshrined in law.

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Three panamaxes available for every Pacific spot cargo

Three panamaxes available for every Pacific spot cargo

Lloyds List: Dry Cargo

Brokers expect charter rates to plunge over the next week as 'fierce competition' hots up

UK Government Committed to CO2 Reduction

A limit on the total amount of greenhouse gases to be emitted by the UK between 2023 to 2027 has been proposed to cut Britain’s emissions by 50% from 1990 levels and highlighting the Government’s commitment to being the greenest government ever.

Today's proposal, set out by Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne, is in line with advice from the independent Committee on Climate Change.

More on DECC's website

Biomass Power Generation is Officially Good Value

From Mott MacDonald's May 2011 report to the Committee on Climate Change (page 17):

Nuclear (£96/MWh), wood combustion (based on CFBC - £103/MWh) and Gas-CCS (£100-105/MWh) all provide a lower levelised cost than offshore wind (£169/MWh). But all three would probably need a large first of a kind (FOAK) contingency added to provide comfort for bankers. Coal-CCS is also estimated to provide a lower levelised cost than offshore wind at about £146/MWh, which is a substantial premium (£35-40/MWh) over gas-CCS. Much of this premium reflects the currently elevated prices of coal equipment versus CCGTs.

Of the other low carbon technologies now being considered for wide deployment, solar PV is quite clearly very expensive at £343-378/MWh. This reflects the early stage of this technology and the low annual capacity factors (~10%) achievable in a UK setting.

And the savings on biomass is greater at larger scale:

Of the other bio-energy applications, the smaller wood based technologies tend to have comparatively higher costs with small BFBCs and advanced gasification both around £155/MWh.

Available here: MotMac Report to CCC May 2011

As to why smaller bio-energy applications are more expensive than the CFBC based approach: no one would build a small conventional power plant these days because they are terribly inefficient compared to a larger plant - and the same holds for bio-power plants. A larger, 300MW+ plant touches 40% efficiency, whilst smaller 100MW plants are on the low 30s and as size decreases from there, low 20s.

If you double your efficiency, you have halved the amount of biomass needed to produce the same amount of power - big is indeed beautiful.

UK Government Should Scale Back Offshire Wind!!

from www.all-energy.co.uk

The U.K. government should consider scaling back its ambitions for costly offshore wind power by 2020 and look elsewhere to meet its binding renewable energy targets at lower cost to the consumer, the Committee on Climate Change said Monday. Nuclear power, onshore wind, renewable heat, renewable energy imports and even purchasing carbon credits to meet emissions targets would be cheaper than building the tens of gigawatts of offshore wind the government had envisaged, said CCC Chief Executive David Kennedy.

Not enough reliable wind?

Not enough reliable wind?

www.all-energy.co.uk News

Pöyry's 'North European Wind and Solar Intermittency Study' (NEWSIS) has found that "The creation of an offshore 'super grid' and a major upgrade of energy interconnections are not the silver bullet solutions to Europe's energy needs". It says that the introduction of improved connectivity would only partially alleviate the volatility of increased renewable energy generation. Basically it claims that "Wind and solar output will be highly variable and will not 'average out'", even over wide areas- it looks at the NW of Europe- England, Wales , Scotland (but oddly not Ireland, North or South), France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.

UK urged to abolish RE targets

UK urged to abolish RE targets

www.all-energy.co.uk News

Britain should abolish its renewable energy targets and focus on less costly ways to cut carbon- dioxide emissions, according researchers at the Policy Exchange. Britain could save 12.5 billion pounds ($20.6 billion) by scaling back ambitious wind projects around its coastline, the London-based research group said in an e-mailed report today. The U.K. should "renegotiate its commitment" to the European Union renewable target, the report said.