(OPR) GERMAN WIND POWER UNDER CYBER ATTACK

Cyberattacks have hit at least three wind power firms in Germany in the two months since Russia invaded Ukraine.

A European wind power industry association says the timing of the hacks suggests possible links to hackers sympathetic with Russia aiming to wreak havoc on European renewable energy systems as Europe looks to cut its reliance on Russian fossil fuels.

German firms Enercon, Nordex Group, and Deutsche Windtechnik have all reported cyber incidents in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Conti, a group that declared support for Russia at the start of the war in Ukraine, claimed responsibility for the attack on Nordex.

The cyberattacks on Germany-based wind power companies began on the day on which Russia invaded Ukraine—February 24.

Turbine maker Enercon GmbH announced a massive disruption of the satellite communication following a cyberattack on a satellite that day.

“Communication services provided via the satellite went down at almost exactly the same time that Russian troops invaded Ukraine,” Enercon said last week in its latest update on the cyber incident. Around 30,000 satellite terminals used by companies and organizations from various sectors were affected across Europe, including 5,800 Enercon wind energy converters (WECs) in central Europe with a total installed power of more than 10 gigawatts.

“The incident is suspected to have happened in connection with the Russian war of aggression, the disruption of the communication to the WECs is collateral damage,” Enercon said, noting that “There is no risk to the WECs and never has been.”

Earlier this month, another turbine maker, Nordex, reported a cyber security incident was detected on March 31, and response measures were initiated immediately. The company shut down IT systems across multiple locations and business units.

“Preliminary results of the analysis suggest that the impact of the incident has been limited to internal IT infrastructure,” Nordex said in an update on April 12.

Russia-backing Conti ransomware group claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Nordex a few days later. Oilprice.com - link - Tsvetana Paraskova - link - more like this (cyber) - link - more like this (Germany) - link

(IAN) POSITIVE

In memory of Alfie - link

(CLE) H2FLY - NEW WORLD RECORD

German aerospace company H2FLY has a new world altitude record with its four-seat HY4, which became the first hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft to reach an altitude above 7,000 ft (approx. 2,135 m) last week– less than a day after the HY4 made the first European flight in a hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft from one major airport to another when it traveled from Stuttgart to Friedrichshafen.

“This is a remarkable achievement for H2FLY, as no other hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft has flown between two commercial airports to date,” says Dr. Josef Kallo, co-founder and CEO of H2FLY. 

“We are also thrilled to have set what we believe to be a new world record by reaching an altitude of over 7,000 feet with our HY4 aircraft. We want to thank our long-time partners Stuttgart Airport, University of Ulm, DLR Stuttgart, Friedrichshafen Airport, and AERO Friedrichshafen, for supporting us in our mission to make sustainable travel a reality.” cleantechnica - link - Jo Borras- link - more like this (H2 aircraft) - link - more like this (Germany) - link

(DEH) DORSET ONSHORE TURBINE GENERATES 3 MW IN 2020

Give us more wind farms.

That's the message from environmental campaigners as it is revealed the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area has just one wind turbine.

The single onshore turbine produced three megawatt hours of electricity in 2020. This was up from two megawatt-hours the year before.

Now, in response to the revelation, representatives from environmental campaigns say plans for an offshore wind farm should be revisited. It comes just weeks after the leader of BCP Council dismissed the idea of considering a wind farm in the region again.

The controversial Navitus Bay offshore wind farm project was rejected by the government seven years ago following heated campaigning and opposition. The scrapped project by EDF Energy and Eneco would have seen up to 121 turbines sited 13 miles from Bournemouth and Poole and nine miles from Swanage.

Speaking about the Government's plans, Green Party councillor Simon Bull, said: “I wouldn’t say the Dorset area is very green.

"It doesn't have any major green generation. Obviously we would have had the wind farm, but that didn’t go ahead, although there's plenty of scope for revisiting that. It's quite disappointing the government’s continued reliance on future nuclear power which we've been promised for a long time and is not something I would support anyway."

“We need to act now to leave oil in the ground and take control of our regeneration of energy.

“We need more wind turbine energy and more tidal energy and more solar power, it’s all there, the wherewithal is there, we just need to develop it as quickly as possible. What we also need to be doing is looking at homes, installation and not wasting the energy we do have."

“In Dorset and out in the sea, we need to increase renewable energy and move away from oil as soon as we can.”

Friends of the Earth representative, Angela Pooley, said: “There are quite a lot of solar farms now, which is good, but we need to make room now for more, especially offshore wind, I think they should be really looking at that again.

“It should also be written into planning for new builds that they've got to be energy efficient and wherever possible, have solar panels fitted.

“We need to change the basic planning rules and move away from fossils, no more extensions, the important thing is to reinvest in renewables. So more wind farms would be perfect.”

In July 2019, BCP Council pledged as an organisation to be carbon neutral by 2030, with the whole of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole hitting this target by 2050.

In this year's budget a £20million fund dedicated to tackling climate change was announced by the council.

It will be split into £4million per year over the next five years.

Maximum Power Output - Typical Turbine - Type Project Cost

100 kW - Norvento nED100 - £345 k
800 kW - Enercon E53 - £1.03 million
1 MW - EWT DW61 - £1.25 million
3 MW - Enercon E82 - £2.33 million
3.5 MW - Enercon E126 EP3 - £3.13 million

Daily Echo - link - Lauren Joy - link - wind turbine cost - link - more like this (onshore) - link - more like this (Friends of the Earth) - link

(IEN) UK LOOKS TO ORBITAL SOLAR POWER

The U.K. government is considering building a £16 billion ($20.8 billion) orbital solar power station, a report from TheNextWeb reveals.

The government recently released its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which includes a section on space-based solar power. It is one of several potential solutions aimed at helping the country achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

The project, called the Space Energy Initiative (SEI), aims to set up the first power station in space by 2035. A U.K. Member of Parliament (MP), Mark Garnier, recently suggested SpaceX might take the proposed solar satellite up to orbit.

The U.K. isn't the first to propose space-based solar power. Last year, China also announced it aims to test a technology that would harvest solar power from orbit before sending it down to a ground-based power station using a powerful, concentrated beam.

In a similar fashion, the U.K. government's idea for a space-based solar power station will use a satellite equipped with solar panels that will transmit energy down to Earth through high-frequency radio waves. On the ground, an antenna is used to convert those radio waves into electricity before it is delivered to the grid.

Unlike solar farms on Earth, which are affected by weather conditions and generate electricity during the day, an orbital solar power station could fly in a geostationary orbit, meaning it would receive sunlight 24 hours a day.

There are several key obstacles that must be overcome before the U.K.'s orbital space station can become a reality. Firstly, much like China's system, tests are required to verify the safety of the technology. The main questions that need answering are how will such a high-frequency energy beam affect communications, air traffic control, and the well-being of nearby residents? China has so far conducted tests from altitudes of 980 feet (300 meters) using hot air balloons and soon aims to carry out 20km-range experiments using an airship.

The cost and emissions of sending such a large station to orbit is also a potential obstacle for a project that's aimed at lowering the cost of renewables and achieving climate goals. This is where the U.K. hopes the world's leading satellite launcher, SpaceX, will help out. In an interview with the Daily Express, Conservative MP, Mark Garnier recently said, "They (the satellites) are going to be in the magnitude of tens of launches in order to get these things into orbit, and you have got to get the assembly unit up there as well."

"This is where SpaceX comes in, with its really big launch capacity. You want big launches that could heavy payloads up into low-Earth orbit," Garnier, who is also chair of the advisory board of the SEI, continued.

SpaceX is lowering the cost of satellite launches with its reusable first-stage technology, and it soon aims to lower it even further with its fully reusable Starship launch vehicle. The private space firm is unlikely to have any agreement in place with the SEI, however, the organization is still developing its technology and it is far from bringing any machinery to the launchpad. Still, the SEI aims to launch the first orbital demonstrator for a space-based solar power system by 2030. Interesting Engineering - link - Chris Young - link - SpaceX - link - more like this (space) - link

(IAN) READING 6

Morrisons- link - more like this - link

(CNB) GREATER CHANGHUA 1 & 2A PRODUCES POWER

An offshore wind turbine in waters off Taiwan. Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs says it's targeting 20% renewable energy generation by the middle of this decade. Billy H.C. Kwok | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A large-scale offshore wind farm in waters off the coast of Taiwan has produced its first power, with those involved in the project describing the news as a "major milestone."

In a statement Thursday, Danish energy firm Orsted said the first power at the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a facility was delivered on schedule following the installation of its initial set of wind turbines.

Electricity, it said, had been "transferred to Orsted's onshore substations via array cables, offshore substations, and export cables. The renewable energy was fed into the national grid via Taipower's substation." Taipower is a state-owned utility.

Situated 35 to 60 kilometers off Taiwan's west coast, the scale of Changhua 1 & 2a is considerable, with Orsted describing it as "Taiwan's biggest offshore wind farm."

It will have a capacity of approximately 900 megawatts and use 111 turbines from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. Capacity refers to the maximum amount of electricity installations can produce, not what they're necessarily generating.

It's hoped that construction of the project will wrap up this year. According to Orsted, the facility will eventually generate enough power to meet the needs of 1 million households in Taiwan.

"Delivering the first power as scheduled is a major milestone for both Orsted and Taiwan," Christy Wang, who is general manager of Orsted Taiwan, said. "This has not been an easy task, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic challenges during the past two years," Wang later added.

Thursday's announcement represents a step forward for Taiwan's offshore wind sector but a report from the Global Wind Energy Council, published in April, highlighted how things have not all been plain sailing.

"Taiwan should have commissioned more than 1 GW [gigawatt] of offshore wind capacity from three projects last year based on the project COD [commercial operation date] plans, but only the 109 MW Changhua demonstration came online in the end," the Global Wind Report for 2022 said. The delay, the GWEC added, had been "primarily caused by COVID-19 related disruption."

In Asia, the GWEC's report puts Taiwan second only to China in terms of planned offshore wind installations in the near to mid-term. CNBC - link - Anmar Frangoul - link - more like this (offshore) - link - more like this (Taiwan) - link

(DEZ) COVENTRY EVTOL & DRONE PORT

Above: the first Air One airport is being constructed in Coventry city centre

Aviation and aerospace manufacturin company Urban-Air Port has designed Air One, an airport for electric flying cars and large drones in Coventry, UK.

The 17,000-square-foot airport is designed to be "a world-first fully-operational 'pop up' urban airport and charging hub for future electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) aircraft", Urban-Air Port said.

Air One, which was constructed from steel and aluminium wrapped in a tensile translucent fabric, is located in the centre of Coventry in the West Midlands and set to open this month.

Urban-Air Port said flying cars that transport passengers could start using the airport in 2025, while the first cargo drone is set to take off on 25 April 2022.

"We wanted to create a multi-functional operations hub for manned and unmanned vehicles providing aircraft command and control, refuelling, cargo and passenger loading," founder and executive chairman of Urban-Air Port Ricky Sandhu said.

"This new, green intermodal infrastructure will remove the largest, single constraint to sustainable air mobility and significantly cut congestion and air pollution from passenger and cargo transport and create a zero-emission ecosystem," he told Dezeen.

The airport will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

"In Coventry, we are powering AirOne from hydrogen fuel cells that will also power our fast EV chargers," Sandhu said. "The EV chargers are for ground transport vehicles so we provide a seamless journey that is zero-emission."

While the EVTOL cars will transport passengers around the country, the autonomous drones will collect and deliver emergency supplies and equipment for the British police and emergency services. The vehicles will take off from a 14-metre-wide launchpad that sits atop the middle of the prefabricated building, giving it its domed shape.

When a flying car or drone touches down on the landing platform, the vehicle drops down inside the hanger, where it can recharge and unload to be ready for its next flight. A model flying car called Air Taxi SA-1 by South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Group's Urban Air Mobility Division Supernal is currently on display in the hangar.

One of many car manufacturers in the race to commercialise flying taxi services, Supernal is planning on commercialising the aerial vehicle by 2028.

Elsewhere inside the building, there will be a passenger lounge, security screening area, restaurants, shops and a designated drone area. A separate defence and logistics area will house disaster relief operations, airside-mobile-clinics, air evacuation hubs, defence and logistics lines and other emergency services.

The airport, which is also known as a skyport or vertiport, has a 60 per cent smaller footprint than traditional heliports. According to Sandhu, the decision to create a smaller airport was based on its central city location.

"In Coventry, we are in an ultra-dense location where almost half a million people work and live right next to the main train station in the city centre," explained Sandhu.

"Our solution is compact but high capacity – that means we take up less space in the heart of a city where these electric vehicles can land and take off efficiently and quickly providing a new mode of sustainable transport and new connectivity." dezeen - link - the excellent Alice Finney - link - more like this (evtol) - link

(SKY) UK - 7GW OF SOLAR FEASIBLE WITHIN 2 YEARS

Solar UK says it has enough panels ready to install that would provide more energy than the nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point

Solar power could cut bills and replace the need for Russian gas far more quickly than other sources of energy, the industry has told Sky News.

But a new wave of vast solar farms is leading to opposition from rural communities who fear "industrialisation of the countryside".

Solar Energy UK said there were 7GW of 'shovel-ready' solar installations that have planning permission and authorisation to connect to the electricity grid.

That is far more energy than even the Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor, which won't be completed until at least 2026, a decade after it was given the go-ahead.

Cam Witten, head of policy at Solar Energy UK, said: "Hinkley Point is about 2.5GW, if memory serves.

"We've got about 7GW of solar that we can feasibly get built and start exporting to the grid in the next two years. It's a really quick turnaround for basically three times the reward."

The UK has 14GW of installed solar capacity, up from around 1.5GW a decade ago. Its rapid growth has been driven by plummeting costs - down 85% over the same period.

New solar farms are generating electricity for less than £50 for 1 megawatt hour (MWh), enough to supply 2,000 homes for one hour. The agreed price for electricity from the Hinkley reactor was £92 per MWh, rising with inflation. And the cost of gas in recent weeks has been around £225 per MWh. Economies of scale are increasing the size of proposed new solar farms.

Currently the largest is Shotwick Solar Park in North Wales, which has a capacity of 72 MW.

But Sunnica is applying for permission to build a 500MW 'energy farm' in East Cambridgeshire and West Suffolk. It would have more than one million panels, as well as battery storage, across an area equivalent to 2,500 football pitches.

Nick Wright is part of the 'Say No to Sunnica' campaign group and a local farmer. He says it is fertile soil that is good for a range of food crops. "A scheme of this size is industrialisation of the countryside," he said.

"We need food security as well and this is the incorrect place for solar. In the UK we have 600,000 acres of south-facing industrial roof-space which is unused, we have brownfield sites and we have arable land that is less versatile that this.

"Prime quality soil shouldn't be used for solar."

The expansion of large-scale solar has been opposed by some Tory MPs, including Matt Hancock, the former health secretary. Similar opposition to onshore wind has left it in the doldrums. And the government's recent energy strategy shied away from an explicit target for solar energy. Instead there is an ambition for increasing capacity by "up to" five times by 2035, with a pledge to consult on changes to the planning rules to accelerate the roll out.

The strategy has far more comprehensive plans for eight new nuclear reactors and 50GW of offshore wind. But emerging technology could allow solar panels to harness the same amount of the sun's energy in a smaller area.

Oxford PV will shortly start production of panels containing a mineral called perovskite. The first generation is 20% more efficient than current silicone-based panels. But the spin-off from Oxford University is confident they can raise that to 100%.

It could make smaller installations on rooftops of schools, factories and office buildings highly cost effective. Laura Miranda, the company's head of materials research, said the discovery was a gamechanger. "This is the biggest breakthrough in solar technology in decades," she told Sky News. "We know there are concerns about land use.

"Having more energy and more power coming from the same area means that we can reduce the areas where we put those panels for the same output." Sky News - link - Thomas Moore - link - more like this (pv) - link - more like this (farmers) - link

(SIH) NISSAN AND NASA'S SOLID STATE FUTURE

The slow but steady transition to renewable energy was already underway when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, and since then the global energy market has been turned on its head. 

We’re likely to witness more upheaval as the geopolitical energy landscape sees power shift away from countries rich in oil and gas towards those rich in materials critical for making batteries, electric cars, solar panels, wind turbines, and the like. In fact, the push for clean energy is already contributing to a trend toward protectionism, and this trend is only going to continue as the stakes get higher.

Rather than waiting to be squeezed by tariffs or supply shortages, some organizations are pre-emptively making moves to be as self-sufficient as possible in what will likely be a volatile market. Two such organizations are Nissan and NASA. The carmaker and the space agency may not appear to have a ton in common, but one interest they do share is cheap, scalable, energy-dense batteries. Last week they announced a partnership aimed at developing solid-state batteries.

The lithium-ion batteries used today in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles rely on a liquid electrolyte to move lithium ions between a graphite anode (the negative electrode) and a cathode (the positive electrode), which can be made from various materials.

Solid-state batteries swap the liquid electrolyte out for—you guessed it—a solid one, increasing the energy density two-fold or more. Efforts to develop these batteries have been plagued by complications, including finding an effective replacement for the separator (the component that keeps the anode and cathode apart while allowing lithium ions to pass through), and solving problems like oxidative degradation and dendrite formation (needle-like projections from the lithium anode that can pierce the separator).

The Nissan-NASA initiative is similar to one announced over two years ago by IBM and Mercedes-Benz; the computing powerhouse and the carmaker planned to use both classical and quantum computing to design solid-state batteries, including simulating the properties of molecules for solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries. In late 2019 they unveiled a “heavy-metal-free” battery whose materials could supposedly be extracted from sea water.

Crucially, the Nissan-NASA partnership is also focusing on batteries that don’t rely on rare metals, like cobalt (of which more than half the global supply is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as highlighted in an episode of the New York Times Daily podcast last month), nickel, or manganese.

But getting rid of those metals means finding materials with comparable properties to replace them, which will be no simple task. Here’s where NASA’s computing chops will lend the partnership a much-needed hand. They plan to create an original material informatics platform—that is, a massive database that runs simulations of how various materials interact with one another. 

When the platform narrows countless options and combinations down to a few prime candidates, researchers can then start testing them. Singularity Hub - link - Vanessa Bates Ramirez - link - more like this (solid state) - link - more like this (ev batteries) - link

(GUA) BRISTOL GROUP SECURES TURBINE FUNDING

A post marks the spot on the site in Avonmouth on which the wind turbine will be built. Pictured (centre) is Mark Pepper, David Tudgey (right), Matthew Clayton (far left) and Dr Charles Gamble from Community Power Solutions Ltd (second left). Photograph: Adrian Sherratt

A community group in one of the poorest parts of Bristol has met its funding target to build the tallest wind turbine in England, despite a lack of any central government funding for locally owned wind power generation.

The group of residents from Lawrence Weston, a deprived housing estate on the edge of the West Country city, have secured £4m, and expect to begin groundworks for the turbine, which measures 150 metres from its base to the tip of its blade, in June. The wind turbine, which has a maximum capacity of 4.2MW, will sell energy to the grid. The group estimates it will bring in at least £100,000 a year.

Mark Pepper, who grew up on the estate and helped found the Ambition Lawrence Weston charity to regenerate the area, said the turbine would make hundreds of thousands of pounds for community projects, including a new renewable energy skills training centre and a crisis fund to help local families trapped in fuel poverty.

“The fantastically exciting work begins soon. I feel proud of the residents as there have been a lot of challenges along the way and a lot of barriers put in our way,” he said. “Yet the residents have stayed resolute because they know this could be a gamechanger for Lawrence Weston.”

However, he added that the turbine, which will generate enough power for 3,000 homes, had taken eight years to build because the government had made it so difficult to get planning permission and provided no financial support for communities to generate their own power. “The government’s resistance to more onshore wind has been a problem,” he said. “It’s been a long slog but hopefully soon the residents will be able to reap the rewards of all their hard work.”

Government research shows community-owned energy delivers 12 to 13 times more social and community benefits than equivalent commercial installations. The profits from the Lawrence Weston scheme will be partly used to help families on the estate unable to heat their homes and keep the lights on as energy prices shoot up. “A lot of residents here are on prepaid meters – if they can’t afford to put money on, they are effectively cut off,” said Pepper. “We see a lot of people running out of gas and electricity.” The Guardian - link - Tom Wall - link - more like this (onshore) - link - more like this (Community schemes) - link

(YOU) WHERE THERE'S MUCK, THERE'S BRASS

 ethical recycling - link - more like this - link

(OFF) BELEOLICO UPDATE

photo Renexia - link

Seven wind turbines have been installed at the Beleolico offshore wind farm in Italy, with three more to go to full array.

The turbines are being installed by Van Oord’s jack-up MPI Resolution, which put the first 3 MW unit in place in February and installed four MingYang wind turbines by mid-March.

Located in Italy’s Apulia Region near the Taranto harbour, the 30 MW offshore wind farm, also known as Taranto, will comprise ten MySE3.0-135 wind turbines delivered by MingYang Smart Energy.

Scheduled to be fully commissioned in 2022, Taranto will provide about 55,600 MWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the demand of around 18,500 households.

The owner and developer of the project is Renexia SpA. MPI Resolution is in charge of installing the wind farm’s monopiles, secondary steel, and wind turbines. The ever brilliant offshoreWIND.biz - link - Adnan Durakovic - link - more like this (offshore) - link - more like this (Italy) - link - more like this (Ming Yang) - link

(YOU) VOLOCOPTER PROGRESS

Volocopter VoloCity - link - more like this (eVTOL) - link

(ELE) OPIBUS REBRANDS TO ROAM

Kenyan technology company Opibus announced it has officially changed its name to ROAM. According to Opibus, the rebrand to ROAM is a better fit for the EV manufacturer’s growth and strategic shift to electrify Africa’s transportation sector and beyond.

Under its original monicker founded in 2017, Opibus has been a Swedish-Kenyan technology company headquartered in Kenya that develops, designs, and manufactures electric vehicles to help transition the African continent toward a future of more sustainable transportation.

You may have read our our EV spotlight last year, detailing how Opibus began as a research project at one of Sweden’s top technical universities with a mission to implement electric mobility in emerging markets.

This included EV conversions of mining SUVs, energy storage, and ground-up builds of both electric motorcycles and passenger buses – some of the first to be manufactured in Africa.

Following a round of funding totaling $7.5 million – the largest ever for an African electric mobility company, Opibus partnered with Uber to deploy over 3,000 electric motorcycles on the continent in 2022. This year, the company debuted its first all-electric transit bus for the public.

With financial backing, exciting partnerships, and growing fleets of electric vehicles, the company is gaining a lot of positive momentum. As a result, Opibus announced a rebrand to better match its next set of electrification goals in Africa.

This is more than a name change, it’s a milestone that brings us closer to realizing our ambition as leaders in providing electric mobility solutions and energy systems for the African region. It is exciting to see how far we have come and forging forward, it is even more thrilling seeing there are endless possibilities to what we can achieve in Africa.

Similar to Opibus days before the rebrand, ROAM will develop and manufacture electrified vehicles and infrastructure for multiple segments in Africa. Here’s how the business breaks down:

ROAM Motorcycles – Ground up electrified motorcycles
ROAM Energy – Energy system solutions, renewables
ROAM Charging – EV charging infrastructure for motorcycles, EVs, buses
MUSE – ROAM will continue Opibus’ electrified conversions of Mining, Utility, and Safari vehicles

Much like its preceding namesake, ROAM will remain focused on manufacturing and converting electric vehicles, as well as providing energy system solutions to support them. That being said, the rebirth as ROAM also represents a scaling up of these efforts, especially in segments like road transport, which is currently responsible for a staggering percentage of global emissions.

With its new name, ROAM looks to put an even larger effort toward electrifying the transport sector in Africa. electrek - link - Scooter Doll - link - more like this (Africa) - link - more like this (electric bikes) - link - more like this (Opibus) - link - more like this (Sweden) - link

(N24) TIPPING POINTS - KWAZULU-NATAL

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - APRIL 12: Road Tanker washed up on a Durban beach amid floods and heavy rain on April 12, 2022 in Durban, South Africa. According to media reports, persistent heavy rain in parts of KwaZulu-Natal has resulted in widespread flooding, collapsing roads and death. (Photo by Gallo Images/Darren Stewart)

• At least 341 lives have been lost and 40 723 people affected as a result of the heavy downpours and floods in KwaZulu-Natal.

• KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala says the magnitude of the damage, which is still being quantified, will definitely run into billions of rand.

• Zikalala adds the provincial executive council has announced a provincial day of prayer.

With more than 300 lives lost and 40 723 people affected as a result of the heavy downpours and floods in KwaZulu-Natal, the eThekweni Municipality says it is prepared as more rainfall is expected in the province at the weekend.

"In terms of the readiness for the weekend, we can perhaps say that we are ready, but it also depends on the magnitude of floods that come.

"We will say that we are ready, but equally, we will call on all people, especially those who are residing on the banks of rivers or in areas which are wetlands, to relocate, when the rains start, to upper areas where they will be safe.

"This is perhaps one of the biggest disasters in the living memory of our province. The level of devastation of human life, infrastructure, and service delivery networks in the province is unprecedented," KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said during a media briefing on Thursday night.

Zikalala announced 341 people had died, and 55 injuries had been recorded.

He said they were still tallying the number of missing people.

According to Zikalala, more than 248 schools have been damaged.

He said members of the provincial executive council had joined mayors and councillors in responding and leading interventions in affected districts on Thursday.

Zikalala added roads in the province have taken "a huge battering".

He said significant and strategic routes affected include Bay Head, the N2, and N3 to Durban.

"We have proceeded with emergency work to clear roads and return access to highways such as N2, N3, and other important networks. More and more areas are becoming accessible and enabling the speed of emergency relief supply.

"Priority is also being given to township roads where the entry and exit point have been cut off due to roads and bridges being severely damaged. The road has collapsed at the Umlazi split between [the] M1 Higginson highway and the Umlazi split." news 24 - link - Iavan Pijoos - link - more like this (Africa) - link - more like this (climate) - link

(DEZ) SMELL THE EMISSIONS AND MICROBES

Air Meat is a meat substitute that has the same texture and taste as animal meat (allegedly)

California-based start-up Air Protein has developed a meat alternative called Air Meat, which is made using microbes that turn recycled carbon dioxide into protein.

Described by Air Protein as "the meat of tomorrow", Air Meat was designed to replicate the flavour and texture of real meat products such as steak. "Our vision is to build the first carbon-negative meat company"

While beef generates 70 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions for every kilogram produced, while also causing widespread deforestation, Air Protein founder Lisa Dyson claims that its protein production emits far less carbon and doesn't require land or animals.

"We look at the analysis from cradle to gate, prior to when the product is consumed," she told dezeen. "On this basis, our vision is to build the first carbon-negative meat company."

Air Protein is among a number of companies, including Finland-based Solar Foods, that are making meat and dairy substitutes from captured emissions in a bid to mitigate the climate impact of agriculture.

However, Air Protein's process makes use of CO2 captured from factories rather than from the atmosphere.

In the future, the company is planning to use direct air capture units to remove CO2 directly from the air.

But regardless of where it comes from, the carbon contained in the steak ultimately re-enters the atmosphere after being eaten, as the consumer exhales it as carbon dioxide through the process of respiration.

This means Air Protein's meat alternative doesn't directly reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Instead, Dyson says its climate potential lies in avoiding emissions and resource use elsewhere.

"The amazing thing about our process is that it can be located virtually anywhere in the world, with no arable land required at all," she said.

Fermentation process mimics yoghurt production

Air Meat was developed using research on converting carbon dioxide into food for space travel that was conducted by NASA in the 1960s.

This found that certain microbes could convert carbon dioxide released by astronauts into a protein when combined with water and energy.

Air Protein makes use of this same process in its manufacturing facility, where the microbes are grown in bioreactors powered by solar and wind energy, hydrogen and oxygen and captured industrial emissions. dezeen (much more to this article) - link - Alice Finney - link - more like this (food) - link - more like this (California) - link

(AUC) THE MOST POWERFUL EV IN NORTH AMERICA

The Lucid Air has gained a new Grand Touring Performance model that, the US electric vehicle manufacturer says, is the most powerful EV in North America.

The model is powered by dual electric motors producing a total output of 1035bhp for a 0-62mph sprint of just 2.6sec. The firm claims a range of up to 446 miles.

That’s an improvement over the already powerful, standard Grand Touring model, which has 819bhp and a 0-62mph time of 3.0sec. The Grand Touring also offers a slightly longer range than the Performance version, with a maximum claimed distance between charges of 516 miles.

Peter Rawlinson, CEO and CTO of the Lucid Group, said: “Lucid Air Grand Touring Performance answers the strong demand we continue to see for higher-performance versions of the Lucid Air.

“The remarkable speed with which we are able to conceive and bring this model to market is possible only because of Lucid’s high degree of vertical integration and in-house production of our proprietary EV powertrain and battery pack technology.”

As standard, both the Grand Touring and the Grand Touring Performance are equipped with a glass canopy 'windscreen-roof', a 34.0in cockpit display with 5k resolution, heated front seats, LED headlights and more than 30 driver assistance features.

Each car sits on 21in wheels with bespoke Pirelli tyres, but the Performance model gains an exclusive alloy design. Five exterior colours are available: Stellar White, Cosmos Silver, Zenith Red, Infinite Black and Quantum Grey.

Both variants can charge at speeds of up to 350kW, which, Lucid claims, can add up to 300 miles in 21 minutes.

The Air Grand Touring Performance is priced from $179,000 (£137,000) in the US, where first deliveries are due to begin in June 2022. However, there are no plans to sell it in the UK. Autocar - link - Jack Warrick - link - more like this (electric cars) - link - more like this (USA) - link

(REU) EDF - PLANS TO SELL OFF RENEWABLES

A general view of the Electricite de France (EDF) nuclear power plant in Avoine near Chinon, France, February 18, 2022. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - France is considering restructuring plans for debt-laden power firm EDF (EDF.PA) that include full nationalisation followed by the sale of its renewables business to focus on nuclear energy, BFM Business reported, citing unidentified sources.

The website said the government was working with investment bank Goldman Sachs on several restructuring scenarios.

The sale of the renewables business could fetch 15 billion euros ($16 billion), it cited unidentified bankers as saying, adding that could help finance the building of six next-generation EPR nuclear reactors.

The sale could attract the interest of French energy group Engie (ENGIE.PA), in which the state has a 24% stake, BFM said.

EDF Chief Executive Jean-Bernard levy told a news conference that no sale of the group's renewable assets was planned.

A Finance Ministry official told Reuters there were no plans to sell EDF's renewable energy arm, and denied the government was looking into shifting it to Engie.

The spokesperson also noted ongoing French elections and said no decisions on EDF would be taken until a new government was in place.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Engie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At 0825 GMT, EDF shares were up 2.9% at 8.57 euros, while Engie shares were off 0.06% at 11.44 euros.

"We believe that Engie would clearly be interested as it would accelerate its growth in renewables. However whilst this could make sense, it remains so far a scenario from the press," JP Morgan analysts said in a note.


"Whilst we believe that both (President Emmanuel) Macron and (Marine) Le Pen are supportive of nuclear, what will be decided will ultimately depend on the outcome of the elections," they added, referring to the candidates facing a run-off in the presidential vote.

Macron told journalists on March 17, as he presented his programme for re-election, that the state - which already owns over 80% of EDF - should further strengthen its capital position in the utility. Reuters - link - Reuters muck rack - link - more like this (France) - link - more like this (nuclear) - link

(ENS) OXFORD HUB NEWS

Project name: Energy Superhub Oxford

Location: Oxford, UK

Capacity: 55 MWh (50 MW/50MWh Lithium-ion, 2MW/5MWh Vanadium flow battery)

Energisation date: July 2021 (Lithium-ion), 

December 2021 (Vanadium flow)

Developer/asset owner: Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables

Technology providers: Wärtsilä, Invinity Energy Systems

Optimiser and trader: Habitat Energy

Known globally for its university, Oxford is now making a name for itself as a testing ground for the largest hybrid battery energy storage system (BESS) of its kind anywhere in the world.

Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO), set to fully launch in the next few months, is the result of three years’ work by a consortium of private sector organisations, the local council (local authority) and the University of Oxford, plus government body Innovate UK which funded a quarter of its £41 million (US$55.8 million) cost.

The engine room of the ESO is the largest lithium-vanadium hybrid BESS in the world, which combines the high-power of lithium-ion battery storage with heavy-cycling, non-degrading vanadium redox flow. Also part of the project are the UK’s largest public electric vehicle (EV) charging park and 60 residential ground source heat pump retrofits. Vanadium batteries are at a much earlier stage of commercialisation than lithium, making the ESO fundamentally a demonstrator project with multiple, complementary aims.

Ask the council and it is likely to talk about reducing CO2 emissions by boosting EV take-up, demonstrating the smart heat pumps’ potential for energy and cost-saving, and helping the grid’s efforts to decarbonise.

Project developer Pivot Power’s COO/ CTO Mikey Clark — perhaps unsurprisingly given his engineering background — was keener to talk about the underlying unique hybrid battery technology’s potential to capitalise on developments in the UK grid services market.

“We really want to test how a flow battery could be co-optimised into lithium-ion-type systems,” he tells PV Tech Power about the reasoning behind the project.

The BESS is already live and set to be fully operational and trading in the electricity markets in the coming weeks – the lithium-ion system is already – while the EV park will open to the public in Q2 2022. But even before any of that, the project has already delivered numerous firsts and superlatives.

As well as being the largest lithium-vanadium hybrid installed anywhere in the world, it has the largest vanadium flow battery system in the UK, and largest BESS optimised by an AI-enabled optimisation & trading engine (OTE) in the country to date, provided by optimisation specialist Habitat Energy.

The unique hybrid battery launch is noteworthy amidst a total reshaping of the market for providing services to National Grid, the UK’s electricity grid operator. Increased volatility due to growing renew- able intermittent generation, a saturation of the ancillary services market and new services for power producers and BESSs to bid for, means a myriad of potential ways its effectiveness can be demonstrated.

More locally, Oxford City Council is hoping Energy Superhub Oxford can reduce the city’s annual CO2 emissions by 10,000 tonnes in year one and 25,000 tonnes by 2032 — equivalent to 3-4% of the city’s total scope 1 emissions in 2019 — primarily through energy trading, providing a model for other cities looking to decarbonise their economies.

Timeline

Q2 2019: Planning and preparation begins on BESS, EV network and heat network
Q1 2020: EV procurement by council bodies begins
Q3 2020: Construction begins on heat pump network
Q4 2020: Construction begins on BESS
Q2 2021: Construction begins on EV network; operation & evaluation starts on heat network
Q2 2021: Lithium-ion energised and begins trading in market; operation and evaluation begins on BESS
Q3 2021: Construction complete on vanadium flow battery
Q4 2021: Vanadium flow battery energised

Q1 2022: Vanadium flow battery starts trading in market
Q2 2022: All heat pumps built; EV charging park to open to general public

Q2 2023: ESO fully operational after ramp-up period with evaluation of all three parts complete

Energy Storage - link - Cameron Murray - link - more like this (storage) - link - more like this (Oxford) - link - more like this (Oxford Hub) - link

(PHY) LIGHT, OXYGEN AND POLYSTYRENE

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Chemists at Cornell University have discovered a way to use light and oxygen to upcycle polystyrene — a type of plastic found in many common items — into benzoic acid, a product stocked in undergraduate and high school chemistry labs and also used in fragrances, food preservatives, and other ubiquitous products.

Styrofoam egg cartons, hard plastic compact disc cases, red drinking cups and many other common products are composed of polystyrene, which makes up a third of landfill waste worldwide.

A team led by Erin Stache, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell, found the reaction can even take place in a sunny window.

Their paper, "Chemical Upcycling of Commercial Polystyrene via Catalyst-Controlled Photooxidation" published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

In line with her lab's mission to tackle environmental concerns through chemistry, the new process is mild, climate-friendly and scalable to commercial waste streams, Stache said.

Moreover, the process is tolerant of additives inherent in a flow of consumer waste, including dirt, dyes and other types of plastics.

Last summer, Stache's lab ran some degradation experiments in a sunny window; in a place with strong year-round sunlight, the reaction could be done outdoors.

"The advantage of using light is you can get exquisite control over the chemical process based on some of the catalysts we've developed to harness the white light. If we can use sunlight to drive the process, that's a win-win," Stache said, noting that existing polymer recycling requires heating a polymer for melting and processing, which usually requires fossil fuel.

To test the tolerance of the process to other materials mixed with the PS plastic, the researchers used several products, ranging from packaging materials to coffee cup lids.

They found that three items—a white coffee cup lid, Styrofoam and a clear lid—degraded efficiently. A black coffee cup lid degraded less efficiently, possibly because the black dyes inhibit light penetration, Stache said.

"These results signify that our system could efficiently break down commercial samples of PS, even with additional composite and insoluble material," she said.

To demonstrate scalability and potential commercial application, the researchers created a setup with two syringe pumps and two LED lamps in a 3D-printed photoreactor. The efficiency of the breakdown process at the large scale was similar to that in small batches.

"If we can make the process even more efficient, we can think about how to commercialize it and use it to address waste streams," Stache said. phys.org - link - Kate Blackwood - link - more like this (packaging) - link - more like this (USA) - link

(ENM) PUMPED HYDRO ENERGY STORAGE

A pumped hydro energy storage station in Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains. (Photo by 4H4 Photography via Shutterstock)

In its bid to make the Winter Olympics “green and clean”, China turned on the world’s largest pumped hydro storage plant. 

The $3bn (18.96bn yuan), 3.6GW Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station in Hebei Province will provide 600MW of electricity to the host cities Beijing and Zhangjiakou – avoiding the equivalent of burning 480,000 tonnes of coal a year and reducing CO2 emissions by 1.2 million tonnes.

The Chinese State Grid Corporation opened another five pumped hydro stations last year and plans to increase its pumped storage capacity from the current 26.3GW to 100GW by 2030. All over the world, grid operators are desperately searching for long-duration energy storage solutions to leverage renewable energy as baseload power and address the variable nature of clean resources.

“[Pumped hydro] will play a significant role in supporting the deployment of variable energy sources, as other storage solutions alone cannot provide adequate storage and sufficient grid flexibility,” says François Le Scornet, a senior consultant at Carbonexit Consulting. “The demand for pumped storage can be expected to grow quite significantly over the coming decades.”

Pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) has been in use for more than a century. It involves pumping water from a lower to an upper reservoir when there is spare power generation capacity (on windy or sunny days, for example), and letting it run down to the lower reservoir via a turbine to generate electricity when there is a shortfall – such as at night.

Power grids need to be able to match incoming electricity supply to demand in real time, or they experience shortages or overloads. There are various ways grid operators can do this, including sharing power across large regions via transmission lines and locally via distribution grids, controlling demand (such as providing financial incentives for people to charge their electric vehicles in non-peak hours), and storing energy. For the latter, batteries and PHES have become the options of choice.

“Together, batteries and PHES can completely replace the ancillary services [that help grid operators maintain a reliable electricity system] hitherto provided by fossil and nuclear generators,” says Andrew Blakers, professor of engineering at the Australian National University. Energy Monitor - link - Oliver Gordon - link - more like this (China) - link - more like this ( hydro) - link

(IAN) OXFORD 176

John Radcliffe - link - more like this - link

(PVM) SOUTH AFRICA LAUNCHES PV TENDER

South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has kicked off the sixth round of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP). It aims to procure 1 GW of PV and 1.6 GW of wind power.

In the sixth round of the REIPPPP, the authorities want to allocate 1 GW of utility-scale solar and 1.6 GW of wind to developers. Interested companies have until April 12 to download the relevant documents to participate in the auction.

The procurement exercise is part of a plan to tender almost 12 GW of capacity and follows the recent publication of South Africa’s new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The IRP aims for up to 6 GW of new large-scale solar by 2030, as well as up to 6 GW of distributed-generation PV capacity.

“With South Africa still dealing with load shedding, economic recovery post-Covid-19, and its Just Transition away from coal to meet climate emission reduction goals, there’s a need to procure these projects quickly and connect them to the grid, Blue Horizon Energy Consulting Services’ Chris Ahlfeldt tells pv magazine. “The transmission capacity constraints in the Northern Cape made it difficult for some developers in Round 5, so most will likely target other provinces for Round 6 and has the potential benefit of spreading local socio-economic impacts from the projects to other parts of the country.”

The fifth round of the REIPPPP scheme was launched in March 2021. Overall, the South African authorities allocated 2.6 GW of renewable energy capacity across 25 projects ranging in size from 75 MW to 140 MW.

The procurement exercise's lowest bid of ZAR 0.34425 ($0.02338) was submitted for a 124 MW wind facility to be built in Hantam, in the Northern Cape region. For solar, the lowest price was ZAR 0.37479, which was offered for six 75 MW solar parks set for construction in Tokologo, an administrative area in the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State region. pv magazine - link - the brilliant Emiliano Bellini - link - more like this (pv) - link - picture (Africa Energy Portal ) - link - more like this (Africa) - link

(CAR) VW WANTS TO BE MORE LIKE TESLA

 When it comes to the business of electric cars, Tesla currently has the biggest target on its back.

Manufacturers that have histories spanning close to a century are investing billions of dollars in an attempt to catch up with the relatively young American manufacturer. Among these is Volkswagen with new arrivals like the ID.4 and other electric cars.

Tesla has become even more of a threat to the established European brands now that it has an operational factory in Berlin, Germany. At this facility, it is reported that a single Model Y can be built from start to finish in just 10 hours. At that pace, existing car companies will surely struggle to keep up, but rather than sulk, VW is learning from the innovative company.

Volkswagen doesn't seem too concerned about being left in the dust now that plans for an all-new $2.2 billion factory focused on electric car production are mere weeks away from being finalized. Volkswagen brand production chief Christian Vollmer explains that this new production facility - where a groundbreaking new EV called Project Trinity is to be produced - will help its efforts to cut production times. "Our goal is clear: we want to set the standard with our production," Vollmer told Reuters. "If we can get to 10 hours, we have achieved something big."

Currently, the company is celebrating a 5% improvement in productivity overall compared with last year but this still isn't enough to close the gap with the competition. The new plant is scheduled to be ready for operations by 2026, but in the meantime, Tesla has the production advantage. So how did it get there and what can VW do to catch up?

Part of Tesla's advantage in the sphere is that it only has to focus on electric vehicles. Other companies need to create both internal combustion and electric cars, which can place a significant toll on their finances. "Tesla really ignited the drive for reducing part counts and making simpler products," explains former Tesla engineering boss Evan Horetsky. "Legacy manufacturers have a more difficult time because they have to maintain current orders."

How is Tesla able to put Model Y units together so quickly? A spokesperson of the brand revealed that the secret is in its revolutionary pair of giga-presses that place a staggering 6,000 tonnes of pressure to form the rear section of the car. With this, 17 components can be produced in six minutes, and that's the key for Volkswagen too.

Volkswagen recognizes this technology's benefits and hopes to introduce the giga-casting technique at some of its facilities. Currently, it employs the now old-fashioned method of creating each stamped metal panel individually with crumple zones that adhere to modern safety standards.

Where is Volkswagen right now in terms of production times? The ID.3 benefits from several modern construction techniques but seeing as it is sharing production lines with other cars, each unit takes about 30 hours to assemble. In contrast, the brand can put a Tiguan together in just 18 hours at its German plant. That's still some way off Tesla's 10-hour program, but you can bet that VW will get more efficient with every year that passes. car buzz - link - Nikesh Kooverjee - link - more like this (electric cars) - link - more like this (Germany) - link - more like this (Tesla) - link