Global Climate News - April 9
Reusable packaging for solar panels; Space-based Solar power; Floating solar at sea;
News from Governments
The European Commission has approved a €350 million German scheme to support up to 90MW of electrolyser capacity and up to 75,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen. The aid will be offered as a “direct grant per kilogram of hydrogen produced” for a maximum period of 10 years and is open to companies planning to construct electrolysers in Germany. Offshore Energy | EC Press Release
The US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has announced stricter clean air standards, including limits on possible carcinogens - ethylene oxide and chloroprene, for chemical plants. The rule also requires facilities to monitor emissions of 6 key pollutants (Ethylene oxide, chloroprene, benzene, 1,3- butadiene, ethylene dichloride or vinyl chloride) at the fenceline and ensure that the level for these remains below a specific threshold.
For each chemical, if the annual average concentration at the fenceline is higher than the “action level” for the chemical, owners and operators must determine the cause and make necessary repairs. The monitoring requirements include procedures that account for background levels of the six air toxics.
New York Times | EPA Press Release | EPA Factsheet - Overview of the final rule (PDF)
US Department of Energy is running a Commercial Building Heat Pump Accelerator to help manufacturers “produce higher efficiency and life cycle cost-effective heat pump rooftop units” and help commercial organisations adopt these units. Smart Cities Dive | Press Release | Accelerator Factsheet (PDF)
Six countries bordering the North Sea - Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom and Denmark - have signed an agreement to protect critical infrastructure in the North Sea.
“we have decided to work together to ensure that our data cables, oil and gas pipelines and windmill parks will be secured at the same level. In addition, we are going to structure the reporting of incidents on a collective and secured platform in which Belgium is investing 1 million euro. The participants of this Joint Declaration will work closely with relevant bodies and institutions such as Nota and EU.”
Space-based Solar Power
The energy produced from a solar power plant is limited both by hours of sunlight and intensity of solar irradiation. The areas with most solar potential, such as Sudan, have sunlight for ~85% of the hours in a year. Solar panels in space can receive light and generate power for ~99% of the hours in a year. The power generated by them could be beamed as microwaves to Earth, where it would again be converted back to electricity.
The so-called reference design transforms solar power into electricity via photovoltaic cells in geostationary orbit around Earth. The power is then transmitted wirelessly in the form of microwaves at 2.45 GHz to dedicated receiver stations on Earth, called ‘rectennas’, which convert the energy back into electricity and feed it into the local grid.
Because the power is transferred wirelessly it will be possible to transfer it to receiver station where it is required, even to the Moon or other planets, where a readily available energy supply will boost our ability to explore these locations.
Microwaves are preferred because when beaming from space to earth, they are less likely to be absorbed by the atmosphere as compared to millimeter waves or optical waves
The structures for this system would be bigger and heavier than anything sent to space previously. The estimated area for a 2GW plant is 11.5 square kilometres and estimated mass is 5.9 million kilograms - 14 times greater than the International Space Station.
There are 3 main technical challenges:
sending the massive system to orbit (via multiple launches) and assembling it in orbit
allowing the system to operate autonomously
developing an efficient way to beam the power back to Earth
NASA analysed the potential cost and life-cycle emissions of a utility-scale Space-based Solar Power system operational by 2050. Here’s a quick overview:
Two reference designs - RD1 which generates power for 99% of the year; and RD2 which generates power for 60% of the year - are considered
the systems are assumed to be developed during 2030s; launched and assembled during 2040s; and operational from 2050-80
Launches (2000-4000 launches estimated) and manufacturing are highest contributors to cost and GHG emissions
baseline lifecycle cost of electricity for RD1 is 0.61 $/kWh and for RD2 is 1.59 $/kWh
The RD1 LCOE and RD2 LCOE are 12-31 and 32-80 times higher, respectively, than the 2050 projections for terrestrial alternatives. Therefore, our baseline analysis of SBSP designs does not return cost competitive results relative to terrestrial alternatives. For comparison, the average energy cost of a U.S. household in August 2022 was 0.167 $/kWh
As per NASA’s analysis, to achieve cost competitiveness with solar/wind power systems on Earth, the following would need to happen
lower launch cost: $50M per launch, or $500/kg $425/kg with 15% block discount
electric propulsion orbital transfer from LEO (low Earth orbit) to GEO (geostationary orbit)
extended hardware lifetimes: 15 years
cheaper servicer and debris removal vehicles: $100M and $50M, respectively
efficient manufacturing at scale: learning curves of 85% and below
The European Space Agency has been running a program, SOLARIS, to assess the possibility of a space-base solar power system in preparation for a decision in 2025.
Recharge | NASA - Space-based Solar Power Report (Jan 2024) | ESA - SBSP history (recommended) | William Brown’s experiment - flying a helicopter with microwaves beamed from the ground (video)
Top Stories + Research
Coffee contributes the most ($1.5 billion in 2022) to Ethiopia’s exports revenue, and Europe buys the greatest share of it.
Left: Ethiopia exports (2022), Right: Share of Ethiopian Coffee importers (2022), Src: OEC.world This is changing as European buyers are uncertain whether the small coffee farmers in Ethiopia can prove compliance with EU’s Regulation on Deforestation-free Products. The regulation requires traders to prove that products brought into EU from outside were not produced on deforested land or contributed to land degradation, and is scheduled to come into force late December 2024.
Floating solar power is typically installed on canals, lakes and reservoirs. Indonesia is testing a 600 watt floating solar system, including battery storage, in the sea. The system uses “floating cubes” that are resistant to UV and corrosion from seawater, chemicals and oil. It has been installed in an area protected by a breakwater - “a permanent structure constructed at a coastal area to protect against tides, currents, waves, and storm surges”.
Building the Solar2Wave prototype, Src: ITS Press Release The team plans to develop a 25kW after results are available from this prototype.
PVPallet is making reusable packaging for solar panels. The pallets are made from recycled polyethylene, have removable sidewalls and a steel-reinforced base to better protect panels during transport and on field. Solar Power World | PVPallet Website
Lithuania may donate unused equipment from its old, Soviet-era thermal power plants to Ukraine to assist in the repair of energy facilities destroyed by attacks from Russia. POLITICO
MIT scientists analysed travel data across US states from 2020 to 2022 to determine the impact of remote work on vehicle and public transit use.
Here we find that, using the pre-pandemic levels as the baselines, a mere 1% decrease in onsite workers corresponds to a 0.99% reduction in state-level vehicle miles traveled and a 2.26% drop in metropolitan statistical area-level transit ridership. Notably, a 10% decrease in onsite workers compared with the pre-pandemic level could yield a consequential annual reduction of 191.8 million metric tons (10%) in CO2 emissions from the transportation sector, alongside a substantial US$3.7 billion (26.7%) annual loss in transit fare revenues within the contiguous USA.
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Soumya Gupta
Founder, Telborg.com | SummaryWithAI.com
