Daily Climate News - March 28

economics of li-ion vs hydrogen with rooftop PV; floating nuclear power; sulfur hexaflouride emissions;

Mar 29, 2024

The US Department of Energy has announced a conditional $1.5 billion loan guarantee to restart the 800MW Palisades power plant in Michigan, which ceased operations in May 2022. Power Technology | DoE Press Release
France-based Orano, a nuclear fuel company, is considering developing a uranium enrichment facility in the US. Power Technology
In November 2023, Centrus Energy begun enrichment operations at a new facility in Ohio - the “first new U.S.-owned, U.S.-technology uranium enrichment plant to begin production since 1954.” Centrus Energy

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More Floating Nuclear Power Plants Soon

Russia’s state-owned nuclear company, Rosatom, will study the feasibility of floating nuclear plants off the country’s eastern coast. In 2019, Rosatom started operations on the “Akademik Lomonosov” - a floating nuclear plant off the north-east coast with 2 small modular reactors of 35MW each. It’s the only floating nuclear power plant in the world. Power Technology

Research

As per IPCC’s 6th assessment report, the global warming potential of sulfur hexaflouride (SF6) is 24,300 times that of CO2 over a 100-year period and is expected to last more than 1000 years in the atmosphere. SF6 is mainly used in high-voltage electric switchgear in power grids. Other sources of SF6 emissions are medical use, magnesium production, semiconductor manufacture, gas-air tracer experiments and other industrial uses. Analysis of atmospheric observations of SF6 from 9 stations in China from 2011-21 shows that SF6 emissions have nearly doubled over the observed period and contribute about 46% of total global SF6 emissions. MIT News | Article in Nature Communications
Researchers in Australia modelled the operational performance of lithium-ion and hydrogen based storage in six different scenarios also evaluating the economics of energy use based on the schemes, such as feed-in tariffs and tiem of use, in the country.
The model considers battery aging and performance degradation, with results suggesting that both hydrogen and Li-Ion batteries can reduce grid dependency and lower electricity costs by minimizing grid imports. However, the Li-Ion battery outperforms the hydrogen battery in better capacity utilisation due to lower roundtrip energy losses. The Li-Ion battery generates higher net income, achieving a payback period 9 years earlier in the arbitrage scheme and 1 year in the solar scheme, compared to the Hydrogen battery. However, the Hydrogen battery demonstrates a longer lifespan, enduring 18% fewer charge-discharge cycles than Li-Ion battery. This makes the Hydrogen battery suitable for remote applications requiring extended duration of energy storage.
pv magazine | Article in Journal of Energy Storage
Snow decreases annual electricity production from solar panels less than 5% if panels have an incline that allows the snow to slide off, shows a 5-year study of rooftop solar systems in Canada. The absorption of sunlight by the panel and consequent heating causes the snow to melt and the panel to clear up. On the contrary, smoke from wildfires can reduce generation by 7%, found another study in Australia. Pembina Institute

News from Governments

Australia’s government has announced a Solar Sunshot Program with AUD 1 billion in funding to boost domestic solar PV manufacturing.
Solar Sunshot is intended to provide support across the solar PV supply chain, including the scaling up of module manufacturing capabilities and exploration of other areas of the supply chain where grant funding can help kickstart the industry. This could include polysilicon, ingots and wafers, cells, module assembly, and other parts of the solar supply chain, including solar glass, advanced deployment technology, or other aspects identified through industry consultation.
ET Energy | ARENA Press Release
USA has issued a Waste Prevention Rule to reduce waste of natural gas from oil & gas operations.
It requires operators of federal and Indian oil and gas leases to take reasonable steps to avoid natural gas waste from the very beginning of operations, carry out leak detection and repair across ongoing operations, and cut down on wasteful gas venting and flaring. Consistent with the Inflation Reduction Act, the rule also sets new limits on “royalty-free” flaring, so that public and Tribal mineral owners are properly compensated through royalty payments for avoidable losses of natural gas.
ET Energy | Press Release
New York (USA) has updated its Energy Storage Roadmap and estimates $2 billion will be needed to add 6GW storage by 2030. Customer electricity bills are estimated to rise 0.38-0.59% on average across the state over 21 years. Utility Dive | New York’s 6GW Energy Storage Roadmap 2024 update | AI summary of Roadmap (PDF)