Blowout 237
A review of global energy and climate news stories compiled by Roger Andrews:
….the US’s growing coal exports; Snowy hydro reservoirs at low levels; Ontario cans renewables projects, North Carolina rejects wind farms; post-Brexit power cuts in Northern Ireland; ….
Desperately seeking truth part 1
Much of the energy debate at present is based around the risks associated with energy procurement systems; emissions from burning fossil fuels (FF) and radiation hazards linked to nuclear power. New renewables (wind, solar and wave power) are presented as a risk free alternative to FF and nuclear. However, what is systematically overlooked by renewables advocates are the risks associated for individuals or for society not having access to affordable energy when it is needed.
The ThorCon Molten Salt Fission Power Plant
Guest post on Energy Matters by Robert Hargraves, co-founder of ThorCon.
ThorCon is a molten salt fission reactor. Unlike all current operating reactors, the fuel is in liquid form. The molten salt can be circulated with a pump and passively drained in the event of an accident. The ThorCon reactor operates at garden hose pressures using normal pipe thicknesses and easily automated, ship-style steel plate construction methods.
Understanding where the truth lies is no easy matter. The 100+ comments where the management of ThorCon are deeply engaged provide a foundation for readers to reach informed opinions.
Blowout 234
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week we feature OPEC, which has agreed to raise production without specifying by exactly how much. The market, however, appears to regard this outcome as favorable and oil prices are up. We follow with the oil potential of the northern seas; surging US gas production; leaking methane; nuclear in Japan, China and Korea, coal and Trump’s trade war; Germany puts jobs before CO2; renewables in India and California; biomass in Europe; energy storage in New York; EVs in Paris; Norway’s electric plane; pumped hydro for Loch Ness; flow tests at Horse Hill; Antarctic ice; football in Nigeria and how we humans have five years to fix climate change or face extinction.
From earlier in the week:
The BP 2018 Statistical Review, electricity and CO2 emissions
Blowout 232
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week’s feature story returns us to the UK, which despite previous failures is once more looking into carbon capture & storage. But this time it will be done with a “profoundly large scale sequestration system” big enough to ” arrest the progression of climate change”. This is a hard act to follow, but we do our best with stories on OPEC; renewables, solar subsidies, coal and Rosatom in China; Germany finally sets up a coal phaseout commission; Sweden approves Nordstream 2; too much solar in California and Australia; not enough wind in UK; Drax plans more biomass; Swansea tidal lagoon numbers are “awful”; another way of extracting CO2 from air; liquid air energy storage and why we haven’t found aliens yet – climate change killed them.
Earlier in the week:
Blowout 230
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
Topping the list this week is Germany, which has again delayed setting up the committee that will decide how to phase out its coal plants. Could it be that Germany is finally coming to realize that it can’t phase out its coal (and nuclear) plants and keep the lights on? We follow up with stories on OPEC; Venezuela and Russia; the North Sea makes a comeback; the “Bulgarian Stream” pipeline; the US-led international alliance to push nuclear power; cheap coal edging out gas generation in Europe; India running out of coal; the UK to pay to stay in Euratom; synchronous condensers instead of batteries in South Australia; solar panels that generate energy from raindrops and a renewed search for the Loch Ness Monster.
Blowout 228
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
The big news this week is Trump’s re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, which will cut Iran’s oil production to the point where, combined with cratering oil production from Venezuela, it could cause another oil price spike. We follow with our usual mix – more on Iran, Venezuela and OPEC; oil in Norway; gas pipeline constraints in Europe; Japan moves to coal; British Columbia misses its renewables target; stalemate at the Bonn Climate Conference; California to mandate rooftop solar on new houses; Tesla’s 1GW battery; hydrogen storage in UK; the Swansea Bay tidal standoff; more cracks at Hunterston and how the ravages of climate change threaten historical records.
Blowout 227
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week’s lead story features media hysteria over the alleged dangers of nuclear power. Russia’s first floating nuclear plant has begun its journey from St. Petersburg to Murmansk and is already being described as a “floating Chernobyl” even though it doesn’t have any fuel loaded. We follow up with a mix of hopefully more educational stories on OPEC and Angola; oil company profits rise; Nord Stream; US nuclear plant closures; Allianz to stop insuring coal miners; coal miners making money because of the “war on coal”; Denmark’s EV debacle; Mercedes exits the US home battery market; the enormous pumped hydro potential of Indonesia; frustration at the Bonn Climate Conference; Ireland faces EU emissions fines; energy efficiency rollouts in the UK and how you can now earn UN carbon credits by riding your bicycle:
Blowout 226
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week we feature the impact of renewable energy on electricity prices. The question is, if renewables are so cheap why are electricity rates increasing? To follow: OPEC achieves 150% production cut compliance; 2018 oil price to average $65; US gas pipelines under threat; Gazprom pumps record gas to Europe; more US nuclear plant shutdowns; more gas plants for sale in UK; US EPA agrees biomass is carbon neutral; Taiwan’s energy shortage, hydro and geothermal in Kenya; Australia’s NEG to kill renewables; South Africa explores energy storage; Brexit won’t change UK’s “climate ambition”; cracks in Hunterston reactor; the UK’s first blockchain energy transfer (all of 1kWh), and how climate change shrinks birds.
Dismantling the New England Grid and Prosperity
Roger Andrews has got a hold of high resolution grid data for New England, 2017 and lays out the plans for greening electricity supplies in these 6 tiny states. You probably already guessed – coal, nuclear and gas are on the way out to be replaced by wind and solar. Targets and optimism abound while blackouts are just around the corner.
A brief review of the New England electricity sector
Blowout 225
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews:
For our lead story this week we return to the UK, which is reviewing the question of whether its 80%-by-2050 emissions reduction target will be enough to meet its Paris commitments and whether it shouldn’t target 100% instead. We follow with our usual mix of stories from the energy and climate patch: Trump slams OPEC; fracking in China; Canada’s oil pipeline crisis; rising world demand for Russian nuclear power stations; Germany confirms LNG plans; Australia’s clean coal plan collapses; EU denounces the “Belt & Road” initiative; hydro in Indonesia; biomass at Drax; electricity price hikes in Scotland; gravity-based energy storage and California Governor Jerry Brown says global warming will kill 3 billion people.
Blowout 224
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around The World compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week’s lead story features the UK, where nuclear power plants are now apparently being considered as balancing facilities for wind and solar. Hard to follow up on that, but we do our best with OPEC near to accomplishing its goal; New Zealand bans oil & gas exploration; the Russia-Ukraine gas spat continues; Wylfa nuclear plant delayed by seabirds; Lithuania to cut transmission ties to Belarus nuclear plant; brown coal-to-hydrogen in Australia; German coal phase-out to take “several decades”; Ontario’s electricity costs; the Basslink cable down again; Los Angeles paints its streets white; sunscreen saves the Great Barrier Reef and how global warming will cause baby fish to get lost.
Blowout 223
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
In this week’s feature article a major corporation that has proudly gone “100% renewable” – Google – admits that its power really doesn’t come from renewables at all. We follow up with the usual dose of OPEC; a giant oil discovery in Bahrain; Finland approves Nordstream 2; the Bonneville Dam under fire; Belgium to ditch nuclear; the IEA driving the world towards climate disaster; China’s globally interconnected clean energy grid; towns to regulate cryptocurrency mining; Lancashire ready for fracking; Sizewell’s uncertain future; melting ice in Antarctica and how Scotland the Brave can save the world from climate change.
And lost in the big transition last week
Blowout 221
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews. A bit delayed this week because I have a job 🙂 Finding it difficult to keep all the strands running.
This week we again feature Tesla’s Big South Australian Battery (BSAB), which Tesla claims is not getting paid for 30-40% of the energy it delivers to the grid. Stories to follow include: OPEC and Russia to stick together: Gazprom can’t do without Ukraine’s pipelines; Germany to convert to LNG; the Cyprus gas field conflict; blackout warnings in NSW; the Gulf’s first hydro plant; the EU’s “stupid” climate targets; the Europe-China interconnector; climate concerns can a UK coal mine; more climate change lawsuits on the cards in the US; thermal energy storage in crushed rock; global CO2 emissions rise in 2017 and palm trees in Canada.
Blowout 220
An ecelctic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week we feature the one technology that could solve all the world’s energy problems – nuclear fusion – which MIT scientists claim can be supplying grid power within 15 years. We follow with OPEC and Venezuela; Europe’s oil future; the UK/Russia standoff; Canada to go nuclear; Ireland to ban coal; South African coal miners put renewables on hold; Russia hacks US power plants; New York commits $1.4 billion to renewables; Czech tycoon commits $1.2 billion to buying old coal plants; Europe’s hydropower drying up; smart grids in UK; an Even Bigger South Australian Battery; electricity from raindrops and how the Permo-Triassic mass extinction was caused by burning coal.
Blowout 219
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world compiled by Roger Andrews.
This week’s lead story picks itself. Finally we have a study from a respected academic institution which concludes that 100% – or even 77% – renewable energy won’t keep the lights on. We follow with OPEC’s nightmare scenario; Saudi Arabia gets into fracking; oil majors and climate change; another Ukraine-Russia gas dispute; Germany’s coal phase-out stalls again; Canada’s climate targets; cheap power from Snowy 2.0; competition for Tesla; Theresa May seeks energy cooperation with EU; Labour backs Mersey tidal; Scotland’s world-beating wind farm and how Serbia and Kosovo made you late for work.
Oil Production Vital Statistics February 2018
Last month I wrote this on the price of oil:
A correction is now overdue and I suspect we see $65 before a significant move above $70. The only bearish signal is US+Canada production growth.
The Brent front month corrected to ~$63 and now stands on $64.37. Art Berman has an interesting article Oil Price Crossroad recognising that we are now in the territory of market indecision. The IEA OMR is confusing saying both “rebounding US production underpinned non-OPEC output growth” and “Non-OPEC output dropped by 175 kb/d in January” (I think the former is YoY and the latter MoM). Below the fold I simply try to look at the bare facts.
Oil Production Vital Statistics February 2018
Blowout 219
An eclectic mix of energy and climate news stories from around the world.
This weeks’ lead story inevitably features the Beast from the East. Was it caused by climate change? Of course it was. Stories to follow include OPEC meets the US shale producers; the plight of Venezuela’s oil workers; North Sea oil & gas; Australia buys Snowy Hydro; Fukushima nuclear releases; the Arab World’s first nuclear plant; coal in China; yet another 100% renewable study; surplus solar and cryptocurrency mining in Japan; UK zero-CO2 ad banned; a diesel car ban in Germany; GE’s gigantic new wind turbine and airdrops for starving polar bears.
The Beast From the East
Europe, including the UK, has been gripped by freezing, snowy weather blowing in from Siberia. Atmospheric circulation has gone into reverse with freezing easterly winds. It has been far below zero across the whole of northern Europe all week. Global warming or solar driven climate change?
The UK has closed most of its coal-fired power generation. The 11 GW that remain have been running eye balls out all week, day and night. It has been windy, and wind has put in a strong performance, that is until the wind drops. Solar panels are buried in snow. And yesterday the UK grid operator announced we were about to run out of gas. What a mess!
