A NEG-ligible achievement | The Monthly
Hurricanes prompt Florida to order compulsory back-up power for nursing homes | Decentralized Energy
Climate change makes power supplies less reliable. Sometimes we need to mitigate the risk.
Pro-coal right comes after Turnbull | The Saturday paper
The pro-coal 'Monash Forum' may do little but blacken the name of a revered Australian | The Conversation
Minerals Council goes cold on coal in new energy policy | SMH
BHP formally leaves World Coal Association | AFR
How Sam Walsh started the retreat that earned Rio Tinto $US9b | AFR
Down to the wire: A sustainable electricity network for Australia | Grattan Institute
Billions of dollars spent on network infrastructure that was not needed. We need to re-think how we forecast demand and cope with demand during peak times of consumption.
Still too much NSW baseload after Liddell closure: AGL Energy | AFR
Even after the shutdown of Liddell, NSW still has excess baseload supply. Were the doomsayers right?
Frydenberg Factcheck: Is S.A really burning 80,000l of diesel an hour to keep lights on? | Renew Economy
If you were unlucky enough to catch Josh Frydenberg’s recent ‘car crash’ of an interview, where he tried to spin Australia’s fourth consecutive year of growing greenhouse emissions as nothing but good news, your ears might have pricked up at the claim that South Australia and Victoria have had to bring in ‘expensive and polluting’ diesel generators and that South Australia in particular is burning ‘80,000 litres of diesel an hour, just to keep the lights on’.
With so many half-truths floating about in the so called ‘energy debate’, it’s worth unpacking this claim. Read more
Better the Devil You Know: Changes in the commodity market over the last 10 years | Lindsay Horn
Less than 10 years ago the Wall Street Banks were on top of the oil trading heap and their client business in derivatives was an important source of profit for the banks and a major entry point for any corporate hedger.
Things have changes in the last 10 years.
Loy Yang B failure sends prices soaring, triggers supply safeguards | SMH
The Australian Energy Market Operator has kicked off emergency measures to protect power supply after Victoria's Loy Yang B brown coal-fired power station failed on Thursday afternoon, sending electricity spot prices soaring.
As temperatures rose around southern Australia Loy Yang B's generators failed at around 4pm, instantly taking around 528 megawatts of energy out of the state’s grid.
Read more
Levelized Cost of Energy 2017 | Lazard
Lazard has conducted this study comparing the levelized cost of energy for various conventional and Alternative Energy generation technologies in order to understand which Alternative Energy generation technologies may be cost-competitive with conventional generation technologies, either now or in the future, and under various operating assumptions, as well as to understand which technologies are best suited for various applications based on locational requirements, dispatch characteristics and other factors. We find that Alternative Energy technologies are complementary to conventional generation technologies, and believe that their use will be increasingly prevalent for a variety of reasons, including RPS requirements, carbon regulations, continually improving economics as underlying technologies improve and production volumes increase, and government subsidies in certain regions.
Download the full report here
Colorado’s renewables revolution gathers steam | Carbon Tracker
On 28 December 2017, Xcel Energy filed their Electric Resource Plan (ERP) for Colorado. Over 350 proposals for renewable energy were received by Xcel Energy and highlight the incredible cost reductions in renewable energy with storage. According to the filing, the median bid price for wind plus storage was $21/MWh and for solar plus storage was $36/MWh. Around 26 GW of solar and wind with storage were bid.
- The filing shows the median bid price for wind plus storage was $21/MWh and for solar plus storage was $36/MWh. As far as we know, these are the lowest renewables plus storage bids in the US to date.
- Several details remain unknown, but the median bid for wind plus storage appears to be lower than the operating cost of all coal plants currently in Colorado, while the median solar plus storage bid could be lower than 74% of operating coal capacity.
- New research shows US coal burn declined 2% y-o-y, confirming coal is not coming back and will likely remain at the mercy of cheap gas and renewables.
British billionaire who saved the Whyalla steelworks has bigger ambitions in the energy sector | AFR
British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta spent almost $700 million buying unloved steel businesses when he rescued the stricken Arrium in mid-2017 in his first foray into Australia, but he expects those operations will end up being dwarfed by a much larger energy division which is growing rapidly because of huge demand in a country grappling with soaring energy prices.
"Our energy business is probably going to be the largest business we do in Australia," Mr Gupta told The Australian Financial Review.
The industrialist, who runs Liberty House, teamed up with his father's company SIMEC under the banner of the GFG Alliance to officially take ownership of the former Arrium assets at the end of August and the early signs are good.
"It's already a profitable business," he said.
The assets comprise the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia, an associated iron ore mine in the nearby Middleback ranges, electric arc furnaces and mini-mills in Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle, and a national steel scrap and recycling business that handles about 1.4 million tonnes of ferrous scrap annually.
More than 3500 people rely on the steelworks for employment in Whyalla, so he is lauded as a saviour. On December 22 he announced plans to proceed with a $1 billion upgrade of the Whyalla steelworks to lift its output by 50 per cent and modernise the technology in the plant.
AGL announces plans for Liddell Power Station
AGL has outlined plans for Liddell Power Station beyond its announced retirement in 2022.
The NSW Generation Plan proposes a mix of high-efficiency gas peakers, renewables, battery storage and demand response, coupled with an efficiency upgrade at Bayswater Power Station and conversion of generators at Liddell into synchronous condensers. The feasibility of a pumped hydro project in the Hunter region is being explored with the NSW Government. Details of the plan, which was developed to align with the National Energy Guarantee, are attached.
A world in transformation: World Energy Outlook 2017 | IEA
The resurgence in oil and gas production from the United States, deep declines in the cost of renewables and growing electrification are changing the face of the global energy system and upending traditional ways of meeting energy demand, according to the World Energy Outlook 2017. A cleaner and more diversified energy mix in China is another major driver of this transformation.
Over the next 25 years, the world’s growing energy needs are met first by renewables and natural gas, as fast-declining costs turn solar power into the cheapest source of new electricity generation. Global energy demand is 30% higher by 2040 – but still half as much as it would have been without efficiency improvements. The boom years for coal are over — in the absence of large-scale carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) — and rising oil demand slows down but is not reversed before 2040 even as electric-car sales rise steeply.
WEO-2017, the International Energy Agency’s flagship publication, finds that over the next two decades the global energy system is being reshaped by four major forces: the United States is set to become the undisputed global oil and gas leader; renewables are being deployed rapidly thanks to falling costs; the share of electricity in the energy mix is growing; and China’s new economic strategy takes it on a cleaner growth mode, with implications for global energy markets. More
Climate and energy – appeasement does not work | Renew Economy
The current chaos around climate and energy policy brings to mind George Santayana’s caution that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. That is exactly what we are witnessing, albeit with far more profound implications even than the advent of the Second World War. More
India's Electricity Sector Transformation | IEEFA
IEEFA's latest report entails a comprehensive analysis of India’s electricity sector transformation with a focus on the coming decade.
The report presents a sectoral model out to FY2027 that predicts dramatic market share gain by renewable energy with a sustained deflation in renewable tariffs, premised on 50% reduction already in last two years with a record low solar energy tariff of Rs2.44/kWh (US$38/MWh) in 2017.
With record low renewable tariffs of US$18 and US$21/MWh set in Mexico and Chile respectively this past week, further Indian cost reductions are set to continue. This translates into likely peak power sector coal usage not more than 10% above the current levels by FY2027, subsequently, import thermal coal demand in India will continue to decline as a result.
A combination of India’s ambitious energy policy and ongoing solar and wind energy tariff deflation will enable India to catalyse US$200-300Bn of investment in renewable energy infrastructure over the coming decade. Improvements in energy efficiency and reduction in technical and commercial losses will deliver better electricity production per coal tonnage. To conclude, the transformation will ensure India can support its economic growth while keeping GHG emissions in check.