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Surging renewable energy sees record supply to Australia’s electricity grid
At one point in September nearly 100% of eastern Australia’s demand could have been met by renewables, says energy operator Aemo
For a half hour in the middle of a Saturday last month, enough renewable energy was available to meet all but 1.4% of eastern Australia’s entire electricity demand – the closest to reaching 100% clean power in the grid’s history.
Renewables also supplied 38.9% of average demand across the national electricity market (Nem) in the September quarter, the most for any third quarter, according to a report by the Australian energy market operator (Aemo).
Total carbon emissions from the power sector, Australia’s biggest single source, were down 11% on a year ago. The share of generation from gas fell by almost a third and black coal by 7.5%, even though both fuels were slapped with price caps this year by the Albanese government.
Sunny skies as rain clouds disappeared contributed to an abundance of solar output, driving prices on the wholesale spot market negative for 19% of the time. That proportion was more than double that of the September quarter of 2022, and smashed the previous record 9.2% share in the June quarter of this year.
For the September quarter, wholesale power prices in the Nem averaged $63 per megawatt hour, down 41% on the previous three months and 71% lower than a year earlier, as Guardian Australia reported. Average wholesale gas prices on the east coast cratered to $10.41 per gigajoule from $25.94/GJ a year earlier.
Wholesale price reductions, though, would need to be sustained to make much difference to households’ retail energy bills. These are typically set annually.
Electricity demand is also expected to reverse recent declines, with prospects of a hot summer firming as an El Niño takes hold. Air-conditioner use was limited during the past three relatively damp and cool La Niña summers.
During the noon-12.30pm period on 16 September, renewables met a record 70% of power demand in the Nem, including 39% from rooftop solar. Clean energy was sufficient to meet almost all demand in eastern Australia and Tasmania.
“Potential renewable output hit a record 98.6%, which combines dispatched generation and available wind and solar farms that were bidding above the spot price and therefore not dispatched into the wholesale market,” said Violette Mouchaileh, an Aemo executive.
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Building Greener Cities: Climatetech’s Important Role In GHG Reduction
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), empowering cities to take climate action is essential to achieving ambitious net-zero emissions goals. The World Bank reported that although cities generate over 80% of global GDP, they consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for over 70% of global CO2 emissions. With projections indicating that by 2050, over 70% of the world’s population will reside in urban areas, the demand for sustainable urban energy infrastructure is poised to surge, which means energy systems that enable cities to grow sustainably in a net-zero future are needed.
The IEA report emphasizes the importance of digitalization and climatetech solutions for establishing resilient and sustainable urban energy systems, as they can accelerate the energy transition and facilitate smarter, more informed decision-making to meet cities’ energy needs. However, achieving a high level of digitalization and integration of new technologies that significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in cities will require strategic planning, execution, and alignment across all levels of government, as well as adequate funding and infrastructure to address capital shortfalls, lengthy project timelines, and cost overruns.
According to Deloitte, cities must focus on identifying viable business projects and leveraging innovative financing strategies to attract private capital and partners that advance sustainable urban energy systems within their regions. In a series of interviews, leading experts shed light on how well-designed policies and coordinated infrastructure development can bring new climatetech solutions to the market and attract private capital for developing and deploying sustainable projects more efficiently in cities worldwide.
Well-designed policy incentives can bring climatetech solutions into the market
The World Resource Institution emphasizes electrification to reduce CO2 emissions in cities, focusing on two key areas: the transition to electric transport and the adoption of heat pumps, which can significantly reduce buildings’ GHG emissions. However, to fully harness the decarbonization benefits of electrification, it is essential to shift electric generation to low-carbon sources, such as renewables, and expand capacity and flexibility to accommodate cities’ increasing demands for electricity.
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Clean Energy Incentives Keep Emerging — Both From The IRA & The Private Sector
Rebates and tax credits are helping people in the US to switch to household electrification. Award for startups are also helping climate action to become a reality — if only more people were aware of them.
Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is significant because of its dual goals: to tackle the climate crisis and to enhance economic opportunity to build a clean energy economy that includes everyone. Clean energy incentives contained within the IRA promotes broad-based investment across the country. They were also designed to provide place-based bonuses for investing in low income communities and communities that have historically depended on the fossil fuel industry for jobs or been harmed by pollution.
The Biden-Harris administration has set a goal to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2035 and signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to procure 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030. In its first months, the IRA received a lot of criticism. Some people argued that the programs were too complicated, contained confusing criteria, and had different application processes in each state.
Some things have changed. The IRA now invites state, local, and Tribal governments, as well as non-profit organizations and other tax-exempt entities, to receive the following credits as direct payments:
- the Production Tax Credit (45, 45Y);
- the Investment Tax Credit (48, 48E);
- the Credit for Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicles (45W);
- the Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit (45U);
- the Alternative Fuel Refueling Property Credit (30C);
- the Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C); and,
- the Clean Fuel Production Credit (45Z).
The tax credits for clean electricity generation included in the IRA will make substantial progress toward the Biden administration’s goals, according to the World Resources Institute, but may not be sufficient to get to a 100% carbon-free electricity system without additional measures — particularly accelerating the construction of additional electricity transmission capacity. As an editorialist for the New York Times quipped, these rebates “will not showcase the nimble, modern government, fighting for working people, that Mr. Biden hopes to sell to voters.”
Community solar is set to surge in the UK – and you can have a piece of the pie
Five community energy groups in England and Wales are banding together to buy seven solar farms. The collaboration will see the community solar sector grow by 20%, with about £20m in funds being pumped back into communities
Want to own a power plant? Well, a bit of one, anyway. And not just any old power plant, but a successful, clean, green solar farm – boosting the UK’s energy security and its stock of carbon-slashing, home-grown renewable electricity at a stroke.
Of course you do … Well now that aspiration has just got a whole lot easier, thanks to an imaginative yet well grounded group of five share offers hosted by not-for-profit, positive investment platform, Ethex.
It’s giving individuals the chance to buy shares in one or more of seven solar power projects, scattered across southern and central Britain, from Kent and the Isle of Wight to Devon, Shropshire and south Wales.
Each of them will be owned by a community benefit society (CBS), dedicated to generating renewable power in a way that directly benefits the local community. Collectively, these five groups have formed Community Energy Together (CET), a partnership that pools their resources, to enable them to raise the funds needed to purchase the energy projects. So far, over £1m has already been invested.
The seven solar farms have a combined generation capacity of 36MWp – equivalent to meeting the electricity needs of nearly 13,000 homes, cutting carbon emissions by a cool 317,000 tonnes. Once under new ownership, they will boost England and Wales’ total capacity of community-owned solar power by 20%. And green electricity isn’t the only result. They will also, over their lifetime of at least 20 years, generate approximately £20m in funds to be used specifically for projects that benefit the local communities. These could range from energy efficiency and rainwater harvesting systems for public buildings, to programmes that deliver healthy food boxes to families in need.
All the projects are already operating under various commercial organisations, but thanks to Community Owned Renewable Energy (Core Partners) they can – with the help of willing investors putting in as little as £250 each through Ethex – now be brought under the direct control of local people.
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$1 Trillion Worth of Companies Urge Governments: Phase Out Unabated Fossil Fuels Now
By: hammaad saghir - Sustainable Times
In a resounding call for action, more than 130 of the world's most influential businesses, representing nearly $1 trillion in annual revenue, are imploring world leaders to take swift and decisive steps towards phasing out unabated fossil fuels at the upcoming COP28 Climate Summit. These corporate giants, including Volvo Cars, Vodafone, Unilever, Ikea, Nestle, and Decathlon, are sounding the alarm, emphasising that the repercussions of climate change are already impacting their operations and finances.
The call sat out in a letter convened by the We Mean Business coalition, backed by 131 companies representing just shy of $1tr in global annual revenue.
"We call on all Parties attending COP28 in Dubai to seek outcomes that will lay the groundwork to transform the global energy system towards a full phase-out of unabated fossil fuels and halve emissions this decade," the letter states. "This can be enabled by agreeing to a global target of tripling renewable electricity capacity to at least 11,000GW and doubling the rate of deployment of energy efficiency by 2030."
With the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai mere weeks away, the chorus of voices calling for a historic commitment to phase out unabated fossil fuels is growing louder. Last year's COP27 Climate Summit omitted this critical goal from its final agreement, primarily due to opposition from oil and gas-rich nations like Saudi Arabia. However, a coalition of countries is now advocating for a more robust commitment to eliminating unabated fossil fuels, and the Summit's President-designate, Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, has indicated that he anticipates this issue to be central to the negotiations.
In their letter, the business leaders underscore that global emissions continue to rise, and the escalating consequences of climate change jeopardise business operations. They attribute this crisis to the failure of governments to address "the primary cause of climate change": the burning of fossil fuels.
"Our businesses are feeling the impacts and cost of increasing extreme weather events resulting from climate change," the letter notes. "We recognise the need to transition in a way that safeguards our future collective prosperity on a liveable planet. That means reducing our emissions, adopting clean solutions and reducing our use of fossil fuels to limit global heating in line with the Paris Agreement's ultimate goal of 1.5C."
