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CEOs in U.N. Survey Seek Clarity From Paris Climate Talks
Nov 13, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By John Herzfeld
Business leaders have signaled that they are looking to the Paris climate change negotiations that open Nov. 30 for clarity and certainty to help them plan for a low-carbon future, according to survey results released Nov. 12. The survey from the United Nations Global Compact business coalition and Accenture consultants, timed... -
Here's What the G-20 Nations Are Pledging on Climate Change
Nov 13, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alex Morales
Saudi Arabia's pledge Nov. 10 to curb its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 means all of the Group of 20 major economies are promising to take action to fight climate change as part of a United Nations deal they aim to seal in Paris in December. As of Nov. 12, the UN had received 134 submissions... -
COP21: Why world leaders need to wake up to the solar revolution going on under their noses
Nov 12, 2015 | PV Tech
By Ben Willis
When you’ve watched solar transform from a costly sideshow into a multi-billion dollar industry, the lack of awareness among politicians of its potential to help ease some of the world’s most pressing problems must be somewhat frustrating. Neville Williams, one of the industry’s early pioneers... -
UK Public Support For Renewable Energy Continues To Grow
Nov 12, 2015 | Clean Technica
By Joshua S Hill
A new survey conducted by the UK Government has found that public support for renewable energy is at an all time high. The recent Public Attitudes Tracking Survey published this week by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change shows that public support for renewable energy stands at an all time high of 76%.. -
How Electricity Storage Will Help Drive South Australia’s Transition
Nov 12, 2015 | Triple Pundit
By Tim King
South Australia stands at the forefront of the renewable energy transition, as we reported a few weeks ago and that we’re back with an update on today. For evidence of the change, look no further than how the state’s installed capacity of renewable generation consistently exceeds electricity demand. -
Clean electricity generation key to pollution-free traffic
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Lightsource signs deal for 3 GW of solar in India
Nov 13, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Ian Clover
Lightsource Renewable Energy, one of the U.K.’s leading developers of solar power projects, has today signed a landmark £2 billion ($3 billion) deal to develop 3 GW of solar PV projects in India over the next five years. The agreement was signed yesterday during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.K...
Industry News
Full Text of Stories Below
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CEOs in U.N. Survey Seek Clarity From Paris Climate Talks
Nov 13, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By John Herzfeld
Business leaders have signaled that they are looking to the Paris climate change negotiations that open Nov. 30 for clarity and certainty to help them plan for a low-carbon future, according to survey results released Nov. 12.
The survey from the United Nations Global Compact business coalition and Accenture consultants, timed to coincide with the lead-up to the international climate talks, found that 74 percent of the leaders of the world's largest companies see reaching a long-term agreement in Paris as “critical to unlocking private sector investment in climate solutions.”
The business leaders “are unequivocal in their call to action to policy makers, governments and negotiators at the Paris climate negotiations that they want a clear policy framework for the future on carbon,” said survey co-author Peter Lacy, global managing director for sustainability services at Accenture Strategy, speaking at a Bloomberg BNA Sustainable Business Summit.
Lacy, who released the survey results with UN Global Compact Executive Director Lise Kingo at the summit, said the findings should “offset some of the disinformation on whether or not businesses want clear signals” from governments on the future of carbon.
The 2015 results are the latest in a 10-year continuing survey, Lacy said, and were gathered as a special edition to “take the pulse of the global business community” leading up to the Paris talks, known formally as the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Underscoring the need for “bold action” at the talks, 91 percent of the 750 business leaders surveyed said they believe that addressing climate change is an urgent priority for business, the survey report said.
Challenges, Opportunities Seen
Only 34 percent said they believe progress is on track to restrict global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in this century, however, and 66 percent said they believe “business isn't doing enough to tackle climate change,” the report said. Authors said the findings reflect the remaining challenges ahead.
Of the executives representing companies with annual revenues of more than $1 billion, the survey found, 70 percent said they see climate change presenting opportunities for growth and innovation for their company within the next five years.
The participating business leaders are members of the UN Global Compact, which musters private sector support behind corporate responsibility goals. The chief executive officers represent companies across 41 industry sectors and 121 countries, according to the report.
“The international community has a unique opportunity in Paris to advance action on climate change through a bold, ambitious and universal agreement,” Kingo said. “Our research clearly shows that business leaders are committed to leading the way.”
Business “can play a central role in galvanizing momentum to meet the first test” of the world community's ability to actively work together to achieve one of the recently adopted U.N. sustainable development goals, she said.
Policy Measures Backed
The survey identified five policy measures sought by business leaders to help unlock more private investment in addressing climate change.
The measures included legislative and fiscal mechanisms to increase investment (backed by 70 percent of respondents) and financial instruments to stimulate innovation and research and development (50 percent).
Also supported were: performance standards for reducing emissions and building resilience (47 percent); a “global, robust and predictable” carbon pricing mechanism (42 percent); and removal or phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies (41 percent).
In one of several open letters from CEOs included with the report, Eldar Saetre, head of Norway's Statoil ASA, said: “The transition to a low-carbon economy is a bigger task than any single company alone can achieve.
“For us to contribute more and faster, we need urgent action from policymakers to enable clear, stable and long-term regulatory frameworks to channel investments and technological advancement in the right direction.”
The survey results will be formally presented at a COP-21 business forum Dec. 7-8 in Paris.
Link (subscription needed): http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=79017792&vname=dennotallissues&fn=79017792&jd=79017792
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Here's What the G-20 Nations Are Pledging on Climate Change
Nov 13, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alex Morales
Saudi Arabia's pledge Nov. 10 to curb its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 means all of the Group of 20 major economies are promising to take action to fight climate change as part of a United Nations deal they aim to seal in Paris in December.
As of Nov. 12, the UN had received 134 submissions, representing the actions 161 nations are prepared to take as part of a new agreement, which would be the first to bind all nations to limit their emissions. The 10 biggest emitters have all submitted pledges, with Iran, the 11th biggest, the largest yet to do so. Iranian envoy Majid Shafie-Pour said in October the plan is to do so by mid-November.
The UN on Oct. 30 said that the pledges by 146 countries it had received through Oct. 1 would slash emissions in 2030 by 3.6 billion tons. That's roughly equivalent to eliminating the annual emissions of Russia, Germany and the U.K. The calculation excluded Saudi Arabia's promise, which came in after the cut-off date for the analysis (218 DEN A-10, 11/12/15).
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres says the promised action would limit warming this century to 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit). That's short of the global target of 2 degrees, but an advance on the 4 degrees of warming the World Bank said three years ago that the planet was on track for.
Here's what the G20 nations have promised:
•Argentina: An unconditional pledge for a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 relative to a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. With international assistance, the cut could rise to 30 percent. Business-as-usual refers to where emissions would be in any given year assuming the country took no action to limit them.
•Australia: An absolute reduction in emissions of 26 percent to 28 percent in 2030 from 2005.
•Brazil: An absolute reduction in emissions of 37 percent in 2025 from 2005. The country has indicated “for reference purposes only” that the reduction would be 43 percent by 2030. The country also aims to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2030.
•Canada: A 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 2005 and 2030.
•China: A pledge for its emissions to reach a peak “around” 2030, making “best efforts” to do so early. The world's biggest emitter also promises to cut carbon dioxide emitted per dollar of economic output by 60 percent to 65 percent from 2005 and to increase the share of energy from renewables and nuclear power to 20 percent by 2030.
•European Union: The 28-nation bloc pledged a 40 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2030 from 1990.
•France: See European Union.
•Germany: See European Union.
•India: A goal to cut the emissions per unit of economic output by 33 percent to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005. The world's third-biggest emitter also aims to get 40 percent of its electricity capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030.
•Indonesia: A pledge to cut emissions by 29 percent from a business-as-usual scenario in 2030. Given international assistance, it would raise the pledge to a 41 percent reduction.
•Italy: See European Union.
•Japan: A 26 percent reduction in greenhouse gases in 2030 from 2013 levels. Renewables in 2030 will provide 22 percent to 24 percent of power in 2030, and nuclear will generate another 20 percent to 22 percent.
•Mexico: An unconditional 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas and short-lived pollutant emissions in 2030 versus a business-as-usual scenario. The pledge includes a peak for absolute emissions in 2026, and subject to international assistance, could be raised to a 40 percent reduction.
•Russia: A 25 percent to 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gases in 2030 from 1990 levels.
•Saudi Arabia: The Gulf kingdom aims to slash annual emissions in 2030 by 130 million tons of carbon dioxide through measures including the deployment of solar, wind and geothermal energy plants, and a pilot carbon capture and storage program. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter said its actions are “premised on the fact that the economic and social consequences of international climate change policies and measures do not pose disproportionate or abnormal burden on the kingdom's economy.”
•South Africa: The country pledged to “peak, plateau and decline” its emissions, with the peak occurring between 2020 and 2025, followed by a decade-long plateau, and then absolute declines. It gave an indicative range for pollution levels of 398 megatons to 614 megatons of CO2 between 2025 and 2030.
•South Korea: A 37 percent reduction from business-as-usual projections in 2030. The BAU projection is for 850.6 megatons of carbon dioxide in 2030.
•Turkey: A reduction of as much as 21 percent from business-as-usual levels in 2030.
•United Kingdom: See European Union.
•United States: The biggest historical emitter said it will cut emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent in 2025 from 2005 levels.
Link (subscription needed): http://news.bna.com/deln/DELNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=79017766&vname=dennotallissues&fn=79017766&jd=79017766
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COP21: Why world leaders need to wake up to the solar revolution going on under their noses
Nov 12, 2015 | PV Tech
By Ben Willis
When you’ve watched solar transform from a costly sideshow into a multi-billion dollar industry, the lack of awareness among politicians of its potential to help ease some of the world’s most pressing problems must be somewhat frustrating.
Neville Williams, one of the industry’s early pioneers, has seen solar take this very journey. He cut his teeth as a solar advisor to former US president Jimmy Carter, when solar was still largely a tool for electrifying the developing world. He went on to found the non-profit Solar Electric Light Fund, and later the Solar Electric Light Company, both focused on deploying solar in poor countries. His last major venture was to found Standard Solar, now one of the leading solar installation firms in the US.
Over this time he’s seen the cost of solar plummet from over US$10 a watt to around a dollar. He’s watched it evolve from the preserve of “dreamers and ex-hippies”, as he describes it, to a huge global industry that’s currently installing a gigawatt a month in the US alone.
Yet still the ability of that industry to offer something different to the energy status quo, by virtue of the astonishing progress it has made, is something Williams says is hardly recognised by those in positions of influence. “People don't know this stuff, they don't know how cheap solar is, how huge the industry is,” he says.
Speaking to PV Tech as part of our series of themed articles in the run-up to the COP21 climate talks in Paris later this year, Williams singles out the lack of awareness of how far solar has come as the biggest factor preventing it from gaining greater traction as a major part of the solution to the world’s climate problem.
Solar isn’t ready to go, it’s going – it’s exploding worldwide
The difference between this year’s COP talks and previous efforts to agree a new global climate agreement Williams says is that now there are some real technological solutions on the table. Before, the absence of any real answers to a problem of such magnitude was an additional hindrance in what was already an uphill struggle to reach a global deal.
That has now changed. “You're now referencing, instead of dreaming 10 or 20 years ago, a technology that's there – it's mature and it's ready to go. It's not ready to go, it’s going – it's exploding worldwide!” Williams says of solar. “America's putting a gigawatt a month in. That's half a nuclear plant every month!” Getting the message out
Williams says his hope is that out of Paris will come the idea that governments can do more because the technology is there now. “Maybe five years ago in some of these COP meetings it wasn't there,” he says.
But still there is the small matter of awareness, and here the solar industry itself has a part to play.
“The industry doesn't spend a great deal of time promoting itself; it just does its business,” Williams says. “And I think the lack of education is to the potential that is right under our noses for clean energy. So that has to be emphasised as something that we really must and can – not just dreaming – can exploit. And if governments know that, and realise a) they have to meet some targets and b) the technology is under their nose to do it, to help do it – not completely of course – you can displace a nuclear plant worldwide every couple of weeks, if you can displace a coal plant every week worldwide, you've achieved something.”
Williams contrasts the solar industry’s public affairs efforts with those of the fossil fuel industry. “The fact is the fossil fuel industry worldwide has a lot of money. It wants to protect what it's got. They're not the smartest people in the world, but they can hire very smart PR firms to fight their battle for them. And I don't think the solar industry has done that,” he says. “So maybe the message of Paris is that the industry has got to start lobbying for a combination of public policy and private gain.”
This latter point is crucial, for as Williams believes, the overriding objective of today’s solar industry is to make money rather than save the world, as perhaps had once been the case. Whatever deal comes out of Paris will amount to a “mission”, and “industry doesn’t give a damn about missions, they just want to make money”, Williams says.
“So maybe that's the key – here's an opportunity for this technology to become as big and wealthy [as fossil fuels] by whatever means and whatever form it takes – distributed, centralised, off-grid – for this industry to make a colossal amount of money. Now that's really serious.”
However that debate plays out, Williams says solar has already reached a level he had “never dreamed” would happen: “It's now accepted by utilities and by Wall Street and by the Warren Buffetts and the Googles and Microsofts of the world. The players understand that solar is the cheapest form of energy you can buy – cheaper than gas, half the price of coal, cheaper than most wind. If you're building 50MW or 100MW and above, it's cheaper than anything. So we're now into interesting battles about what does this mean for global power – I think it's disrupting the established systems and monopolies of energy distribution and generation."
And with solar having come this far, who knows what is possible next. “Shell did a report that in 50 years PV will be the number one energy source on the planet,” Williams says. “That's a Shell report.”
Link: http://www.pv-tech.org/interviews/cop21-why-world-leaders-need-to-wake-up-to-the-solar-revolution-going-on-un
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UK Public Support For Renewable Energy Continues To Grow
Nov 12, 2015 | Clean Technica
By Joshua S Hill
A new survey conducted by the UK Government has found that public support for renewable energy is at an all time high.
The recent Public Attitudes Tracking Survey published this week by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change shows that public support for renewable energy stands at an all time high of 76%, up from last quarter’s 75%. Almost more important, active opposition to renewable energy stands at a measly 5%, with only 1% considering themselves “strongly opposed.”
“The message from this latest poll is clear – ordinary people see renewables as a British success story and want to see us increasing their use further,” said Maf Smith, RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive. “We hope that Ministers will look at these figures carefully and listen to what the thousands of voters who took part in this official Government poll are telling them.
“The costs of onshore and offshore wind are falling rapidly,” Smith continued. “Onshore wind is one of the cheapest of all sources of electricity, so we need it kept in the energy mix to drive our fuel bills down. Support for offshore wind remains sky-high too, and backing for renewables overall is also increasing.”
“If the Government is worried about meeting its renewable energy targets, wind can help make up the shortfall. It makes sense to reduce our dependence on imports and to tackle climate change using our superb home-grown resources.” The report is timely for supporters of the UK’s renewable energy industry, especially in the wake of recent controversy surrounding the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd, who found herself embroiled in a massive backlash due to a leaked letter confirming the UK renewable energy industry’s worst fears — that the country was not on track to meet its renewable energy targets, despite widespread governmental praise to the contrary.
Link: http://cleantechnica.com/2015/11/12/uk-public-support-renewable-energy-continues-grow/
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How Electricity Storage Will Help Drive South Australia’s Transition
Nov 12, 2015 | Triple Pundit
By Tim King
South Australia stands at the forefront of the renewable energy transition, as we reported a few weeks ago and that we’re back with an update on today.
For evidence of the change, look no further than how the state’s installed capacity of renewable generation consistently exceeds electricity demand. Residential rooftop solar will soon reach 28 percent penetration, which is to say that more than a quarter of all households will have it. And South Australia already has the most installed wind generation in the country, with 1,473 megawatts of onshore capacity representing 25 percent of the state’s total generation capacity (an additional 2,963 megawatts in wind projects are planned).
The state’s coal industry in the meantime is shrinking fast. In June, Alinta Energy announced that its sub-critical brown coal Flinders Operations (the Northern 554-megawatts and Playford B 240-megawatt power stations) and its Leigh Creek coal mine would cease operations beyond March 2018. And then just this month Alinta moved the date up, saying Leigh Creek would close this November and that it would shutter Flinders by the end of March 2016.
South Australia will transition abruptly at that moment from sub-critical brown coal making up 13 percent of its coal-generation capacity to zero. While gas remains the dominant electricity-generation fuel source in the state (despite recent announcements that 719 megawatts of gas-fired generation are being withdrawn from the market), the state’s combined share of wind and solar photovoltaic energy will increase from 35 percent of generation capacity to 48 percent by April.
Given that solar and wind generation are expected to continue to grow significantly in South Australia (residential plus commercial solar installations in the state are forecast to almost triple over the next 10 years), there may soon come a time when synchronous generators will not operate during certain period of the year, or will be mothballed or even permanently decommissioned. That’s when South Australia’s electricity will be supplied primarily by renewable energy sources.
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has concluded that it can work — that South Australia’s power system can operate securely and reliably with a high percentage of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation as long as either the Heywood Interconnector to the state of Victoria is operational, and/or sufficient synchronous generation is connected and operating on the South Australian power system.
The advent of storage technology will further ease reliability and security concerns that have been raised. Indeed, such technology is already developing apace along three fronts in Australia:Integrated Solar Plus Battery Storage Systems (IPSS)
Demand for IPSS will increase, driven by the retrofitting of existing solar PV installations and by the explosive growth of new installations.
SA Power Networks (operator of a distribution network across South Australia) is already experiencing a “duck-curve” pattern in which midday power demand drops significantly because of all the electricity generated by rooftop solar and by material annual declines in demand. IPSS will help flatten the duck curve, moderating spikes in peak demand, and potentially eliminating many of them altogether.Large-scale battery storage
Network owner Powercor announced in August that next year it will install the largest battery in Australia — a 2-megawatt lithium-ion unit to be deployed on its regional grid near Ballarat in the state of Victoria. The battery will be used to reduce stress on the network on peak days, improve reliability, and reduce capital expenditures.
We see this as the first of many large-scale battery storage installations that will be deployed across the grid.Utility-scale solar power projects
U.S. company SolarReserve, which has considerable experience building solar facilities to scale, has shown interest in building a facility in South Australia.
SolarReserve has a track record of note: It is about to complete construction of the world’s largest solar tower and storage plant, the110-megawatt Crescent Dunes solar tower power project in Tonopah, Nevada. And this past August the company received environmental approval from the Chilean government to develop the 260-megawatt Copiapó Solar Project. The project scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2019, is designed for “firm baseload power,” according to SolarReserve, and will operate “at a capacity factor and availability percentage equal to that of a coal-fired power plant.”
Change is coming fast to South Australia, a real-time laboratory for the transformation from a fossil fuel-dominated electricity supply system to one based on renewables.
There is much to be seen — and much to learn — in this remarkably rapid transition.
Link: http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/11/how-electricity-storage-will-help-drive-south-australias-transition/
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Clean electricity generation key to pollution-free traffic
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Lightsource signs deal for 3 GW of solar in India
Nov 13, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Ian Clover
Lightsource Renewable Energy, one of the U.K.’s leading developers of solar power projects, has today signed a landmark £2 billion ($3 billion) deal to develop 3 GW of solar PV projects in India over the next five years.
The agreement was signed yesterday during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.K., during which some £10 billion ($15.2 billion) in trade deals was signed between the two nations.
The Solar Trade Association (STA) – of which Lightsource is a member – said that the deal is a timely reminder to the U.K. government of the "booming international opportunities" available provided a strong domestic solar industry is nurtured and retained.
The government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) recently made the decision to slash solar subsidies via the FIT by as much as 87%, having earlier brought forward the closure of the Renewable Obligation (RO) scheme for larger-scale solar farms.
These cuts are expected to lead to the loss of around 27,000 jobs within the solar industry over the next few years, the STA argues. Lightsource, meanwhile, has calculated that this deal with the Indian government will generate around 300 jobs in the U.K. alone, bringing in some £42 million in revenue.
"We are delighted to be announcing this investment in India," said Lightsource Renewable Energy CEO Nick Boyle. "The government in India has ambitious plans to electrify India and Lightsource will contribute significantly to that goal. India will be a key market for Lightsource in the future."
India's ambitions
The Indian National Solar Mission is targeting the installation of more than 100 GW of solar PV capacity domestically by 2022, and Narendra Modi has personally put his mark on the nation’s solar aims. In Paris at the UN talks on climate change later this month, Modi will launch his International Agency for Solar Policy and Application Initiative, which invites 110 countries to lobby for investment in their solar sectors. The aim is to attract $100 billion in funding by 2020.Very few solar companies in the U.K. will be in a position to get involved with such opportunities following the government’s cuts, and Giles Frampton, business development direct at British Solar Renewables – which has already expanded its solar portfolio into India and Pakistan – has called it "a great shame" that the U.K. government has turned its back on solar PV.
"Modi’s visionary work on renewables as a state governor and now as PM is to be applauded," Frampton said. "We are now able to export British goods and know-how that have been developed in the turbulent U.K. market. It is a great shame that the U.K. government has turned its back on renewable energy in general and solar PV in particular while most other governments around the world recognize the huge contribution that solar PV can make as a rapidly deployable and cost-effective solution to the world’s growing energy needs."
Leonie Greene, head of external affairs at the STA, added that the visit of Modi to the U.K. should make British politicians "stop and think about what is at stake economically and technologically".
"While Modi is lining up an anticipated $100 billion of global solar business, the U.K. is pushing most of its solar industry backwards, leaving us at an international disadvantage," Greene said. "It is not too late for our government to get fully behind the British solar industry and ensure we take full advantage of global solar markets estimates to be worth trillions of pounds over the coming decades."
Link: http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/lightsource-signs-deal-for-3-gw-of-solar-in-india_100021952/#axzz3rMkuD13N
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