PUERTOLLANO H2 FACILITY

Iberdrola and chemical manufacturer Fertiberia have joined forces to turn Spain into an industrial leader of in green hydrogen technology.

The partnership could see the installation of 800MW of green hydrogen production capacity with an €1.8bn investment over seven years.

In the next year the partners will commission their first plant in Puertollano, which is expected to become Europe’s largest green hydrogen complex for industrial use - Link

GERMANY HITS 52.2% FROM RENEWABLES

In Germany, one of the world’s economic and industrial powerhouses, renewable energy production increased appreciably in 2020, both in absolute terms and relative to the country’s overall power generation capacity. 

But as the “Energiewende” (energy transition) progresses, when will consumers see a significant decline in prices? And when will Germany become fully climate-neutral? 

News reports at the end of October indicated that Germany was on track to generate significantly more solar energy than in the previous year. So far in 2020, solar energy has accounted for 43 terawatt-hours (TWh) as net solar electricity production surpassed the total amount for 2019. This is the equivalent of 12.4 percent of Germany’s overall energy mix, and enough to power all private households twice over.

Total renewable power generation as of the end of October 2020 was 195 TWh, a figure that includes all forms of renewable energy, ranging from solar and wind power to hydropower, biomass, etc. When industrial energy consumption is factored in, electricity from all renewables accounted for 52.2 per cent of total net public production, compared to 46 per cent in 2019 - Link

Renewables accounted for record 47% of UK generation in first quarter of 2020 - link

UK'S LARGEST FLEET OF H2 REFUSE VEHICLES

Glasgow is embracing green hydrogen as the UK takes another big step forward towards its net-zero future with the world’s largest number of hydrogen-powered refuse vehicles to take to the city’s streets.

Through the Government’s £23m Hydrogen for Transport Programme, the plans announced on 2nd October include £6.3m funding for a green hydrogen refueling station and 19 refuse trucks. 

These will be amongst the first zero emission hydrogen refuse collection lorries developed in the UK and will give a post-Covid boost through the creation of green jobs while also de-carbonizing transport.

The hydrogen refueling station will be the first of its kind in Glasgow, producing green hydrogen in a safe, reliable and cost-effective way - link

HESSEN

GERMANY: Industrial park operator Infraserv Höchst began construction of a hydrogen train refuelling point at its site in Hessen with a groundbreaking ceremony on October 26.

The facility in Höchst will support the fleet of 27 Alstom Coradia iLint multiple-units ordered by the Fahma rolling stock subsidiary of Rhein-Main transport authority RMV in May 2019.

‘With Alstom’s fuel cell trains, we are opening up a new chapter of emission-free mobility’, said RMV Managing Director Prof Knut Ringat at the ceremony. ‘With the 27 vehicles, we are setting a world record: nowhere else is there such a large fuel cell fleet for local public transport.' - Link - more like this - link

ISLANDS JOIN FOR TIDAL CFD BIDDING

Positive market signals from the UK Government are said to have ignited a partnership between Scottish and English islands to get the infrastructure ready for commercial scale tidal energy roll out.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Orkney, has joined forces with Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre (PTEC) to develop a large-scale tidal energy site off the Isle of Wight.

This site will be eligible to bid into future UK Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation rounds enabling tidal energy technologies developed in the UK to deliver predictable low carbon energy - Link - more like this - link

CARBONLITE - NEW READING PLANT

In Reading, Pennsylvania, PET bottle recycler, CarbonLITE Holdings LLC, has begun production at its new plant, claimed to be the largest standalone bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in the world.

The state-of-the-art operation, the company’s third plant, will eventually process 140 million pounds (63,500 tonnes) of post-consumer PET annually, or around 2.5 billion rPET bottles.

The $80 million, 270,000 square-foot Reading plant, about 30 miles from Allentown in Eastern Pennsylvania, is outfitted with advanced robotic systems. It will ultimately generate 90 million pounds (40,800 tonnes) of food-grade rPET pellets each year.

"Even with the pandemic and this spring's constraints on recycling and industrial supply chains, we pushed forward so that we can help our customers expeditiously fulfill their growing commitments to recycled-plastic use," said CarbonLITE CEO Leon Farahnik. "We are proud to continue to help advance closed-loop, bottle-to-bottle recycling and a circular economy in a significant way." - link

HALIADE-X

GE Renewable Energy has begun the operation of its Haliade-X turbine prototype optimised with a 13MW power output.

In the coming months the prototype will undergo a series of tests to perform different types of measurements and obtain its type certificate in the coming months.

The Haliade-X 13MW is an up-rated version of the prototype that has been successfully operating in Rotterdam since November 2019.

The turbine recently secured its provisional type certificates and set a new world record by generating 288 megawatt-hours in one single day.

This uprated 13 MW Haliade-X version will continue to feature 107-metre long blades and a 220-metre rotor and will be able to generate 4% more annual energy production (AEP) than the previous 12MW version of the prototype.

GE Renewable Energy chief technology officer Vincent Schellings said: “With three years in the making, the Haliade-X platform has proven to be a successful story - Link

ORGANIC REDOX FLOW BATTERY

As a storage solution for renewable energy, scientists see great potential in what are known as redox flow batteries, which hold energy in large tanks rather than compact electrode materials. 

A new design from Sweden’s Linköping University is a decidedly green version of this technology, swapping out scarce metals and synthetic polymers for all-natural materials.

The reason redox flow batteries are such a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries when it comes to the intermittent nature of renewable energy is because they can store vast amounts of energy at relatively low cost. While lithium-ion batteries store energy in their electrodes and the capacity is therefore limited by the size of the device, redox flow batteries can store energy in liquid electrolytes housed in huge external tanks for months at a time - Link

CAMPUS DEPOSIT RETURN SCHEMES

Portuguese University Kicks Off Campus Recycling with TOMRA Deposit Return System.

TOMRA and the Nova School of Business & Economics (SBE) in Cascais, outside Lisbon, have partnered to launch a deposit return scheme for greater on-campus recycling and sustainability.

The initiative seeks to raise awareness of container deposit schemes and reverse vending both on campus and across Portugal, which has adopted a law to introduce a national deposit return system in 2022. Many European Union member states are also exploring deposit return systems to meet by 2029 the 90% collection target for single-use plastic beverage containers.

The deposit return system encourages all on campus to "get in the loop" by recycling their drink containers. It aims to reduce litter and landfill, reuse materials in a closed loop, and reduce reliance on raw materials to produce new containers. It also contributes to Nova SBE's sustainability initiatives as an environmentally-conscious campus, and brings an opportunity to teach students the value of waste and importance of a circular economy.

Students, faculty and staff simply pay a €0.15 deposit when they purchase an eligible drink container at participating campus stores and restaurants, including the campus store Pingo Doce, one of the largest supermarket chains in Portugal. They get their deposit refunded back to them when they return their empty container for recycling to the two TOMRA reverse vending machines located in the campus food court. Eligible containers include glass and plastic bottles, as well as cans - LINK

(IAN) OXFORD 129

St Giles - link - Lamb and Flag - link - more like this - link

(IAN) OXFORD 128

 University Sports - link - more ike this - link

BLUEMULL SOUND

A FOURTH 100-kilowatt turbine has now been installed at the tidal energy array in Bluemull Sound.

The new direct-drive turbine, called Eunice, is already supplying electricity into the local grid, developer Nova Innovation has said.

It also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Edinburgh-based tidal energy company.

The new turbine is the first of three that will be installed in the array as part of the EU-funded EnFAIT project, which is led by Nova and includes a number of industry and academic partners.

The project aims to demonstrate the economic viability of tidal power – and Nova claims that the next generation of direct-drive turbine, which have no gearbox, cuts the cost of tidal energy by a third, making it cost competitive with fossil fuels - Link

SSE OFFLOADS MEL1 & MEL2

 

Utility firm SSE plc has entered into an agreement to sell its 50% share in waste to energy ventures Multifuel Energy Limited (MEL1) and Multifuel Energy 2 Limited (MEL2) to European Diversified Infrastructure Fund III, an infrastructure fund managed by First Sentier Investors, for a total cash consideration of £995 million.

The company said that the transaction is expected to complete by late 2020 subject to antitrust approval by the European Commission.

MEL1 and MEL2 are 50-50 joint ventures between SSE and Wheelabrator Technologies Inc., consisting of the operational Ferrybridge Multifuel 1 and Ferrybridge Multifuel 2 facilities (MEL1), as well as the Skelton Grange Multifuel development project (MEL2), all in West Yorkshire - link

WASTE TO HYDROGEN

 

As more U.S. states pursue aggressive greenhouse gas and waste reduction goals these problems should be looked at as interconnected systems. 

Using promising next-generation technologies that haven’t yet been scaled up and utilized to their full potential can help address climate change, waste issues and air quality.

The growth of unrecyclable plastics, and an increase in the use of face masks and other personal protective gear amid the COVID-19 crisis, calls for new, sustainable disposal strategies. Sustainable disposal of medical waste – as doctors’ and dentists’ offices reopen, and elective medical procedures come back – should also be a priority.

Converting solid waste into hydrogen is a key technology that can greatly reduce emissions, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory concluded in a recent report. If carbon capture and storage is added, according to that report, advanced waste-to-hydrogen technology can produce negative emissions.

Carbon negative strategies like these are critical for governments to reach their emissions reduction goals and for the world to transition to net zero-carbon and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - link

LUCID MOTORS

Lucid Motors is releasing a “more attainable” version of its recently revealed luxury electric sedan, the Lucid Air.

At an unveiling event in September, Lucid said the base model would start at “around $80,000” — without revealing the actual price. Now the company says it has settled on a base model price of $77,400 — or $69,900 after applying the US federal tax credit of $7,500.

This version of the Lucid Air will have less horsepower than higher trim levels: 480 hp versus over 1,000 hp for the top-spec Dream Edition version. It will also have less range: 406 miles (EPA projected) as compared to 517 miles for the Dream Edition. And it is available for reservation with a refundable fee of $300. (In September, Lucid said reservations for the base model were initially $1,000.) - Link