Wind and solar will reach 50% of global generation by 2050

Analysts are now predicting that wind and solar power will reach 50 percent of all electricity generation by 2050.

Steep cost reductions coupled with cheap batteries will make the drive towards renewable energy unstoppable.

65 researchers from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) pooled together data on the evolving cost of clean energy technologies across the world.

Their analysis shines a light on the vital role that falling costs in battery storage will have in the future. Lithium-ion batteries have already dropped in price by 80 percent since 2010, and this is anticipated to continue with the attending growth in electric vehicles.

Read the ClimateAction story -  “Wind and solar will reach 50% of global generation by 2050.”

Solar is now the most popular form of new electricity generation worldwide

Solar has become the world’s favourite new type of electricity generation, according to global data showing that more solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity is being installed than any other generation technology.

Solar PV outstripped coal as the leading source of
new electricity generation worldwide last year.

Worldwide, some 73 gigawatts of net new solar PV capacity was installed in 2016. Wind energy came in second place (55GW), with coal relegated to third (52GW), followed by gas (37GW) and hydro (28GW).

Read the piece on The Conversation by  a Professor of Engineering at the Australian National University, Andrew Blakers - “Solar is now the most popular form of new electricity generation worldwide.”

Australia’s carbon emissions rise in off-season for first time in a decade

Australia’s carbon emissions jumped at the start of 2017, the first time they have risen in the first few months of a year for more than a decade, according to projections produced exclusively for the Guardian.

Two thirds of the increased emissions from the electricity
 sector was driven by NSW, much of it cause by a fall
in generation by the Snowy Hydro scheme.

Emissions in the first three months of the year normally drop compared with the previous quarter, driven by seasonal factors and holidays. But in something not seen in since 2005, emissions rose in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the last quarter of 2016 by 1.54m tonnes of CO2, according to the study by consultants NDEVR Environmental. The rise was driven by increases in emissions from electricity generation.

Read Michael Slezak’s story on The Guardian - “Australia’s carbon emissions rise in off-season for first time in a decade.”

Hydro gets a boost, but ‘seawater hydro’ could help South Australia

The federal government has announced a A$2 billion plan to expand the iconic Snowy Hydro scheme. It will carry out a feasibility study into the idea of adding “pumped hydro” storage capacity, which it says could power up to 500,000 homes.

Sea water could play a role in resolving
 South Australia's power problems.

Hydro is one of the oldest and most mature electricity generation technologies. And pumped hydro storage – in which water is pumped uphill for later use, rather than simply flowing downriver through a hydro power station – is the dominant form of energy storage globally.

But there are limitations to how much freshwater hydro can be accessed, so it’s worth looking at what alternate approaches are available. One promising prospect is to use seawater instead of rivers. This tactic could potentially help South Australia resolve its highly publicised energy problems.

Read the piece on The Conversation by the Deputy Director from the Melbourne Energy Institute at the University of Melbourne, 

Roger Dargaville - “Hydro gets a boost, but ‘seawater hydro’ could help South Australia.”

China cans 103 planned coal plants to curb smog and reduceover supply

The Huaneng's Dalate coal-fired-electricity-generating
 station towers stand near Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China.

Beiijing: China is cancelling plans to build more than 100 coal-fired power plants, seeking to rein in runaway, wasteful investment in the sector while moving the country away from one of the dirtiest forms of electricity generation, the government announced in a directive made public this week.

The announcement, made by China's National Energy Administration, cancels 103 projects that were planned or under construction, eliminating 120 gigawatts of future coal-fired capacity. That includes dozens of projects in 13 provinces, mostly in China's coal-rich north and west, on which construction had already begun. Those projects alone would have had a combined output of 54 gigawatts, more than the entire coal-fired capacity of Germany, according to figures compiled by Greenpeace.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “China cans 103 planned coal plants to curb smog and reduceover supply.”

Spotting agreement behind the elephant in the room

Every so often elections matter. The last one mattered big-time for carbon emissions.

In 2013, we voted to end the carbon tax. In its two years of life, emissions from electricity generation fell an exceptional 10.6 per cent. We now know that in the 21 months since they've climbed 5.6 per cent.

The extraordinary turnaround is appallingly timed for a country which in April signed the Paris Accord agreeing to attempt to hold the increase in global temperatures to between 1.5 and 2 degrees.

Pitt&Sherry energy analyst Hugh Saddler, who compiled the figures, says they are the result of an abrupt change in the mix of electricity generation "away from hydro and back to brown and black coal as removal of the carbon price changed the relative costs".

And a change in attitudes. The political messages that we helped create assured us that saving energy was no longer that important.

Read Peter Martin’s piece in today’s Melbourne Age - “Election 2016: Behind the battlelines there's surprising agreement on climate change.”