Global Climate News - April 23
IEA's Global EV Outlook 2024; Indian States' Electricity Transition 2024; Carbfix - turning CO2 into solid rock; UK's Smart Shipping Acceleration Fund;
IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2024
Key ideas:
EV sales - projected to reach 17 million by end of 2024, were at 14 million in 2023
China leads in adoption - nearly 45% of total EV market share, also leads in production
In China, we estimate that more than 60% of electric cars sold in 2023 were already cheaper than their average combustion engine equivalent. However, electric cars remain 10% to 50% more expensive than combustion engine equivalents in Europe and the United States, depending on the country and car segment.
Among emerging markets, Viet Nam and Thailand lead in EV sales as % of cars sold
Global EV battery manufacturing capacity reached 2.2TWh in 2023 (demand was around 0.75TWh)
Recent reporting shows that from 2022 to 2023, investment announcements in EV and battery manufacturing totalled almost USD 500 billion, of which around 40% has been committed. Over 20 major car manufacturers, representing more than 90% of global car sales in 2023, have set electrification targets. Taking the targets of all the largest automakers together, more than 40 million electric cars could be sold in 2030, which would meet the level of deployment projected under today’s policy settings.
40% of EVs sold in 2023 used Lithium-iron-phosphate batteries
public charging needs to increase sixfold to keep up with EV use
more charging support needed for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles
The Guardian | IEA Press Release | Global EV Outlook 2024 (PDF)
IEA - Global EV Policy Explorer | IEA - Global EV Data Explorer
Indian States’ Electricity Transition 2024
Analysis on the energy transition of 21 states in India finds:
States with highest renewable energy consumption - Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand (significant hydropower), Karnataka, Kerala
Rajasthan added most renewable capacity - 16GW from 2019 to February 2024
Rating of power utilities - highest in Gujarat, lowest in Jharkhand
Useful state-level initiatives - promoting distributed energy sources, solar pumps for agriculture, energy storage solutions
Notified green hydrogen policies in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh
Odisha and Uttarakhand have competitive green tariff rates - INR 0.25/kWh ($0.003/kWh) and INR 0.26/kWh ($0.003/kWh) respectively
Karnataka also has highest number of public EV charging stations - 5059
ET Energy | IEEFA & Ember - Indian States’ Electricity Transition (SET): 2024
News from governments
UK has launched the Smart Shipping Acceleration Fund to invest up to £8 million in project that will carry out feasibility studies for reducing emissions from shipping and ports. The projects can focus on one or more of the following
vessel optimisation and smart efficiency technologies
vessel efficiency focused on data, software or autonomy
autonomous vessels including subsystems such as control systems and sensors
sensor and robotic systems both within the port environment and on vessel
smart maintenance operations technologies
port and shipyard operations optimisation and digitisation
digital tools such as for smart route planning and emissions monitoring
big data and AI, how new business models can create value in the maritime sector and for optimisation and planning of maritime traffic
smart shipping safety and skills
Offshore Energy | UK Smart Shipping Acceleration Fund - application deadline June 26, 2024
Top Stories
Iceland-based Carbfix dissolves captured CO2 in water and injects into underground basaltic rock formations, where the CO2 reacts with minerals in the rocks and forms solid carbonates. This is preferred over other carbon storage methods as it is permanent CO2 storage, and high pressure and safeguards to prevent leakage are not needed. The approach was initially tested at the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Plant in Iceland which uses volcanic heat to generate electricity and provide hot water. 2014 onwards, CO2 was captured using direct air capture from steam generated at the plant.
To date, over 70,000 tons of CO2 have been successfully stored at the Carbfix injection site in Hellisheiði, Iceland. To ensure that mineralisation is taking place and that the CO2 is being safely stored, established monitoring techniques are employed. These include the injection of chemical tracers to track mineralisation and the flow of the injected fluids, regular fluid sampling in adjacent monitoring wells, CO2 soil flux measurements to confirm that the injection is properly managed, and reservoir modelling.
Basalt rock formations are chosen as they are highly reactive and contain the minerals needed to form carbonates. They’re also the most commonly occuring rock type in the Earth surface. Carbfix - mineral storage atlas
As offshore wind farms are built, more subsea cables need to be laid to connect these to the grid. The most preferable approach to protect these cables is burying them in the seabed, but where this cannot be done, external protective structures are used. These structures can be concrete mattresses, rocks, sand or gravel bags, or tubes such as sleeves made from polyurethane or ductile iron.
External structure for subsea cable protection, Src: NICE protection project - Phase 1 literature review Most often, rocks and concrete mattresses are used but these have associated emissions. As part of a new project, carbon-neutral and plastic-free cable protection has been used for a wind farm off the coast of Scotland. The project also aims to develop protection structure designs that will enhance the ability of sea life to colonise and thrive on these protection structures.
Those curios can find details on how the seabed is prepared for laying cables, and how cables are installed and protected in the report here.
Offshore Energy | Nature Inclusive Cable Enhancement Programme
Researchers at MIT have demonstrated a ‘photomolecular effect’
photons in the visible spectrum cleave off water clusters from air–water interfaces
In 14 experiments, the researchers show evaporation at the air-water interface when exposed to light alone, not from heat. This is a fundamentally new finding and can explain some previous observations like clouds absorbing more sunlight than calculated theoretically. It could also be useful in energy-intensive industrial applications such as evaporation of syrup and drying paper in paper mills. MIT News | Article in PNAS (needs subscription)
Work has started on the first high-speed rail project in the US to connect Los Angeles (California) and Las Vegas (Nevada) by 218-mile rail line, with an aim to complete the project by 2028 when LA hosts the Olympics. Smart Cities Dive | Brightline West
RMI is proposing Green Iron Corridors to produce low-emissions steel at a competitive cost. A major cost (15-40%) of producing ‘green’ steel is the cost of hydrogen needed for reducing the iron, which in turn depends on availability of cheap renewable energy. If there is sufficient renewable potential near areas where iron ore is mined, refining could be set up there, and refined iron could be shipped to regions where there is significant steel demand, for steelmaking.
The modeling confirms lowest-cost export options with high-grade iron ore co-located with favorable renewable energy resources and enabling policies can produce iron at $390 per ton — comparable to recent global prices.
The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, convened by UNEP, is underway in Ottawa, Canada. The discussions aim to set the ground for finalising the text of a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution at the next Committee session to be held in the Republic of Korea in November this year. The Guardian | UNEP Press Release | 3rd session report (PDF)
IAEA publication on Radiation Safety in the Use of Radiation Sources in Research and Education
You can find all previous posts of this newsletter here.
​Best,
Soumya Gupta
Telborg.com - AI for credible Climate research
SummaryWithAI.com - Summarize long PDFs with AI
LinkedIn | Twitter | soumya@telborg.com
