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sfce 12/9
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China Pollution Alert Curtails Steel Plants, Closes Schools
Dec 8, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Severe smog blanketing Beijing has prompted the nearby Tangshan government to shut down all steel rolling plants during the daytime as air quality in the capital continued to deteriorate to hazardous levels. -
IEA Calls for End to Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rick Mitchell
A carbon price is a good idea on paper for promoting innovation of low-carbon energy technologies, but eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies worldwide is a much more realistic way to lower energy-related emissions, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said Dec. 8 at the Paris climate summit. -
Paris Climate Talks Focus on Issue of Degrees
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Eric J. Lyman
Debate on the formal temperature goal of the Paris climate summit is heating up, with countries split Dec. 8 between the 2 degrees Celsius goal written into the process six years ago and a more ambitious 1.5 degrees Celsius target. -
Mexico's Congress Mulls New Renewable Energy Requirements
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Emily Pickrell
After a year of delays, Mexico's Congress is again considering legislation designed to boost renewable energy, measures that officials say could pass before the end of the year. -
India Crosses 5 GW Solar Power Installed Capacity Milestone
Dec 9, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Saurabh Mahapatra
India marked yet another milestone in its quest to become one of the largest solar power markets in the world. -
Duke Energy, Green Charge to Offer Storage for Solar
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Christopher Martin
Duke Energy Corp. and Green Charge Networks LLC plan to jointly offer solar energy and battery storage to businesses in California and Hawaii. -
GTM Research: The U.S. to install more than 3 GW of solar PV during Q4
Dec 9, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Christian Roselund
GTM Research and SEIA's latest report finds that the U.S. solar market dipped slightly last quarter to 1.36 GW, but the organizations are predicting that massive levels of solar will come online during the next five quarters.
Industry News
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China Pollution Alert Curtails Steel Plants, Closes Schools
Dec 8, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Severe smog blanketing Beijing has prompted the nearby Tangshan government to shut down all steel rolling plants during the daytime as air quality in the capital continued to deteriorate to hazardous levels.
The Tangshan Municipal Government issued a level-3 emergency response, effective from 3 p.m. local time on Dec. 8, while the Hebei provincial government released an orange alert for smog within its jurisdiction, requesting frequent checks on emissions from all coal-fired furnaces and key industrial sites, according to Mysteel Research, an independent steel industry watcher. Two calls Dec. 8 to the Tangshan government weren't immediately answered.
The measures come after Beijing for the first time raised its air pollution alert to red, the highest level in a four-tier system. The alert is effective from 7 a.m. Dec. 8 until noon Dec. 10.
Beijing has suspended schools, restricted car travel and banned fireworks and outdoor barbecuing as the Chinese capital copes with the thick blanket of gray smog that's enveloped the city and is expected to remain in place for much of the week.
The local environmental protection bureau raised the red alert to warn of the dangers associated with extreme pollution levels, the first time the alarm has been raised to its highest level since introduction of an emergency air-pollution response system in 2013. The state-run Xinhua News Agency carried a picture of the iconic Bird's Nest stadium used in the 2008 Summer Olympics enshrouded in a curtain of gray smog.
PM2.5 Concentrations
Near Tiananmen Square in the capital's center, concentrations of PM2.5— particulate considered the most danger to health—stood at 249 micrograms per cubic meter as of 4 p.m., according to data on the website of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center. The World Health Organization cautions against 24-hour exposure to PM2.5 at concentrations higher than 25.
China has increasingly relied on production cuts in nearby provinces to ensure blue skies and clean air in Beijing. The nation is the world's largest steelmaker and Hebei is its largest producing region. The move follows similar cuts made ahead of a military parade in September and last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing.
The steel rolling plants are free to resume works during the night, according to Mysteel.
It's not known why a red alert wasn't issued at the end of last month when pollution levels soared. City officials have been criticized for not acting sooner, with much of the comment directed toward the question of why the government earlier issued only an orange alert, the second highest.
According to Xinhua, the rules establishing the four-tier emergency response system dictate that the highest alert should be issued when an Air Quality Index reading is expected to surpass 200 for three consecutive days.
Air Quality
Beijing's AQI was 343 as of 4 p.m. local time on Dec. 8, according to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. A reading above 200 is expected to remain in place until Dec. 10 morning at the earliest, according to the U.S. Embassy's forecast. The U.S. Embassy's website classifies the current AQI as “hazardous.”
Under the red alert, some industrial companies must stop or limit production, outdoor construction work is banned and primary schools and kindergartens are advised to cancel classes. Even healthy people should try to avoid outdoor activity and choose public transportation, according to the center. Only cars with either even or odd numbered license plates will be allowed on the road on certain days under the travel restrictions, according to the protection bureau.
The state of pollution in China's capital city has reignited the debate over whether the government has the ability to tackle air quality problems despite repeated statements from leaders that cleaning up the environment is a top priority.
The smog enveloping Beijing and northern China also serves as a reminder of the urgency facing negotiators in Paris meeting at the moment in the hopes of hammering out a binding deal to limit global warming. Chinese officials have promised to limit coal use and have set a deadline of 2030 for greenhouse gas emissions to stop rising.
Limits to Coal
Earlier this month, China repeated plans to upgrade coal power plants in the next five years.
The nation plans to cap average coal consumption at existing plants at 310 grams per kilowatt-hour by 2020 and 300 grams per kilowatt-hour at newly built plants, according to a Dec. 2 statement posted on the website of the government following a regular State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.
The measures would mean a reduction in raw coal consumption of 100 million metric tons annually, the statement said.
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IEA Calls for End to Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rick Mitchell
A carbon price is a good idea on paper for promoting innovation of low-carbon energy technologies, but eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies worldwide is a much more realistic way to lower energy-related emissions, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said Dec. 8 at the Paris climate summit.
Some $500 billion in fossil fuel subsidies worldwide “translates into a $110 per ton incentive to emit carbon,” said Birol.
The economist spoke at a press conference with U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz; French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Segolene Royal; and Ajay Mathur, director-general of India's bureau of energy efficiency, ahead of announcements by 20 countries and business representatives of commitments and partnerships to increase research and development for low-carbon technologies.
The initiative, including all major economies, aims to accelerate public and private global clean energy innovation, and double research and development investments in the sector. It is coupled with a private sector effort led by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to invest large levels of private capital in clean energy.
Carbon Price Difficulties
At the Paris climate talks, several leaders have argued that carbon pricing is essential to tackling climate change. But French President Francois Hollande and others have said a specific price mechanism is unlikely to be included in a Paris agreement.
While Birol called a carbon price “the best way to address the climate change problem from an economic theory perspective,” phasing out fossil fuel subsidies would be much easier than implementing a global carbon price and also would be highly effective.
Public policies, including regulation, will determine how energy innovation happens in India, according to Mathur. “I think the market will have to decide” on specific technology and innovation needs, he said.
Moniz agreed that there is no single answer. “There are going to be different low-carbon solutions in different places, depending upon circumstances, natural resources and policy,” he said.
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Paris Climate Talks Focus on Issue of Degrees
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Eric J. Lyman
Debate on the formal temperature goal of the Paris climate summit is heating up, with countries split Dec. 8 between the 2 degrees Celsius goal written into the process six years ago and a more ambitious 1.5 degrees Celsius target.
The figures are for the limit on worldwide global warming that would be considered allowable this century compared to pre-industrial levels: 2 degrees Celsius translates to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit; 1.5 degrees Celsius equals 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
So far, 106 countries—mostly least developed countries and island nations—have formally called for a shift to the 1.5 degrees target. That is more than half the 195 nations represented at the talks. Meanwhile, the main plenary reported on Dec. 8 a “growing convergence” around the 1.5 degrees goal.
Those views echo a call from French President Francois Hollande last week, saying the summit agreement should strive for the more ambitious goal.
‘Clean' Draft
The options for both goals could become clearer after what summit president Laurent Fabius said Dec. 8 would be a “clean” draft text to be released Dec. 9 by midday local time. By “clean,” Fabius was referring to a text relatively free of brackets indicating unresolved language. The previous version of the text, released Dec. 5, had some 950 sets of brackets in a 42-page document .
The debate also is coming into focus as Climate Action Tracker, an umbrella group that monitors and evaluates national climate pledges, said Dec. 8 that if all countries meet the most ambitious version of their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) pledges, warming would be limited to 2.7 degrees Celsius, or 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Paris pact could include a system for INDCs, which countries submitted to the United Nations during the past year in the lead up to Paris, could be strengthened in the years after 2020, when the agreement would enter into force.
Scientists have said limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius would “probably” avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But they say many impacts would be far less severe at 1.5 degrees.
According to Sven Harmeling, climate change advocacy coordinator for CARE International, sea-level rise from melting glaciers would be limited to less than 1 meter (3.3 feet) at 1.5 degrees Celsius, while at 2 degrees Celsius the Greenland ice sheet starts to be a risk.
“If the Greenland ice sheets melts completely, that would result in 5 to 7 meters (16 to 23 feet) in sea-level rise, something that would inundate islands and coastal areas,” Harmeling said in an interview. He added that at 2 degrees , agricultural yields would be 50 percent lower than at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
By some estimates extreme weather events would be almost twice as frequent at the higher temperature.
‘Locked In' Temperature Rise
The trouble, according to Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists, is the world—already approaching 1 degree Celsius (1.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in warming compared to pre-industrial levels—is probably “locked in” to nearly 1.5 degrees in warming by 2100 no matter what happens.
“Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, worldwide temperatures would still probably rise to 1.3 or 1.4 degrees,” Meyer said.
Environmentalists say a 1.5 degree target would be effectively meaningless without measures in place to achieve that goal. And most estimates say in order to keep warming to within 1.5 degrees, fossil fuels would have to be phased out globally by around 2030.
Even a 2 degrees scenario would require that they be phased out by midcentury.
“Many leaders say they support a 1.5 degrees temperature limit and we're heartened to hear that,” said Greenpeace campaigner Ruth Davis. “But we need a long-term goal that shows us where to go, and we need an ambition mechanism that accelerates action over time.”
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Mexico's Congress Mulls New Renewable Energy Requirements
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Emily Pickrell
After a year of delays, Mexico's Congress is again considering legislation designed to boost renewable energy, measures that officials say could pass before the end of the year.
The legislation, called the Energy Transition Law, provides specific requirements for clean energy in the coming years—a needed step to ensure that the country moves toward the ambitious climate change targets it established under the previous administration.
“This law is generating incentives to achieve the goals that we already had in the 2009 Climate Change Law, that 35 percent of our energy generation will be clean and renewable by 2024,” said Sen. Jorge Luis Lavalle, a member of the right-leaning National Action Party and one of the chief architects of the energy overhaul legislation. “With this new law, we have the opportunity to diversify our electrical energy, taking advantage of the huge potential of resources such as solar and wind.”
Companion to Oil & Gas Measures
Environmentalists say the proposed laws would be a much-needed counterbalance to the huge push that natural gas got from a 2013 overhaul of the sector. These laws opened the oil and gas sector to the private sector, which in turn has helped encourage a simultaneous build-up of thousands of miles of natural gas pipelines to link Mexico with Texas.
In some aspects, the legislation seems to repeat the spirit of the 2013, which already established clean energy portfolio requirements and a system of clean energy certificates. The difference, officials say, is that the energy transition laws set up immediate clean energy goals—25 percent by 2018 and 30 percent by 2021.
“The Energy Transition Law includes all these renewable energy requirements in one single act,” said Leonardo Beltran, the undersecretary for energy planning and transition at the Ministry of Energy, in an interview with Bloomberg BNA. “The 2024 targets of 35 percent renewable energy are the same, but now it adds shorter-term targets and intermediate targets. If you add that into the law, of course it has a wider effect.”
Clearer for Green Investors
The new legislation would establish a smart grid system and create an Energy Transition Board, which would ensure that community and environmental concerns are taken into account in energy project evaluations.
The new legislation also would make it easier for international investors to understand how the 2013 opening of the power sector will be harmonized with the earlier climate change legislation.
“The Energy Transition Law sets out clear emission targets and is much clearer than what exists today—it is much more specific,” said Andrea Calo, a senior consultant for market intelligence in Mexico for Customized Energy Solutions. “The prior law was outdated and was not adapted to the energy reform.”
One of the biggest points of contention in the proposed law is what constitutes clean energy. The current version of the legislation defines it broadly enough to include nuclear energy, all hydroelectric projects and efficient co-generation, a potential low-emissions byproduct of natural gas generation. An earlier version had included natural gas—one of the controversies that delayed the law throughout 2015. Natural gas has now been removed in the Senate version, apart from co-generation.
Environmentalists have voiced concern that any inclusion of natural gas defeats the purpose of encouraging renewable energy.
“If we complete our climate change goals with natural gas, this would push us in the opposite direction,” said Ana Mendivil, a policy analyst with the Mexican Center for Environmental Law. “At the climate change talks, we have promised a reduction through [an increase in] our renewable energy production. The U.S. and China have promised to meet their goals through renewable energy; we should not even be talking about completing our goals with natural gas.”
The issue is important to potential investors, who will be watching for how much wiggle room the final definition of clean energy provides for other fuels, according to Calo.
“I am anxious to see what the final version of this document looks like,” Calo said, noting that vague language has been added that would give the energy secretary latitude to approve future technologies “meeting emissions requirements” as clean.
Industry Opposition
The legislation initially passed the House of Deputies in December 2014 and went to the Senate, where it slowed amid questions over the structure of the wholesale market and the targets that were established. The Senate passed it at the end of November and it has now gone back to be reviewed by the House of Deputies. The June 2015 elections complicated the approval process, requiring the newly elected deputies to again vote on the legislation, which could happen sometime this month, according to Lavalle, who is optimistic about its adoption.
“I have spoken with several different deputies and I believe that this legislation will pass,” Lavalle said.
Others are more circumspect, noting the pushback from the manufacturing sector over its impact on competitiveness.
“The Energy Transition Law faces a very tough challenge because large industrial groups have some doubts about whether the targets contemplated in the law are too ambitious and could raise the cost of electricity,” Cesar Hernandez, the undersecretary for electricity at the Energy Ministry, told Bloomberg BNA. “Whether it passes will very much depend on how the political actors align themselves in the coming week.”
While the requirements could raise Mexico's short-term power prices, they could also provide benefits such as long-term fuel security by expanding the diversity of power fuel sources, according to Rodrigo Gallegos, the director of climate change research at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, or IMCO, which has studied the proposed law's economic impact.
“Historically, Mexico has bought natural gas from markets around the world and has paid on average up to five times as much as it is currently paying,” Gallegos said. “It becomes not only a question of the cost but also of national security.”
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India Crosses 5 GW Solar Power Installed Capacity Milestone
Dec 9, 2015 | CleanTechnica
By Saurabh Mahapatra
India marked yet another milestone in its quest to become one of the largest solar power markets in the world.
According to a report by consultancy firm Bridge To India, the total solar power installed capacity in India has now crossed 5 GW; including 4.7 GW of utility-scale solar and 525 MW of rooftop solar power capacity. According to the report, around 2 GW worth of capacity has been added this year.
According to the latest figures released by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, solar power has overtaken biomass-based power generation technology as India’s second largest renewable energy technology, in terms of installed capacity.
Solar power capacity in India is expected to shoot up rapidly over the next few years as the central government and several state governments have lined up large tenders. In a document released in early October, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy noted that around 4.8 GW capacity will be up for grabs over the next 6 months.
In the current financial year (April 2015-March 2016) the Indian government expects to add 4.3 GW solar power capacity. In the next financial year, around 10.8 GW capacity is expected to be added. If these estimates hold true, India will have around 19 GW of operational solar power capacity by March 2017. India plans to have an installed solar power power capacity of 100 GW by March 2022.
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Duke Energy, Green Charge to Offer Storage for Solar
Dec 9, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Christopher Martin
Duke Energy Corp. and Green Charge Networks LLC plan to jointly offer solar energy and battery storage to businesses in California and Hawaii.
The lithium-ion battery systems will allow Duke's REC Solar customers in the two states to reduce utility bills by decreasing demand from the grid during the highest-priced hours of the day, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based utility owner said in a statement Dec. 8.
The offering shows the growing use of storage technology as battery prices fall. Though batteries account for a tiny fraction of the world's energy supply, wider use of systems that retain power is seen as critical for the wider deployment of wind and solar farms, which can't produce electricity all the time.
“Energy storage adds to the list of compelling reasons why businesses should go solar,” Al BucknamREC Solar's chief executive officer, said in the statement.
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GTM Research: The U.S. to install more than 3 GW of solar PV during Q4
Dec 9, 2015 | PV Magazine
By Christian Roselund
GTM Research and SEIA's latest report finds that the U.S. solar market dipped slightly last quarter to 1.36 GW, but the organizations are predicting that massive levels of solar will come online during the next five quarters.
The rush to complete solar projects before the drop-down of the federal Investment Tax Credit at the beginning of 2017 is creating a boom in the U.S. solar market, as shown by the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight Report.
The report, co-authored by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), predicts that the U.S. will install 3 GW during Q4 2015 alone, and 15 GW over the course of 2016.
The organizations are reporting that developers have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 18.7 GW of utility-scale solar PV projects which have yet to come online. Among these, 5.7 GW are already under construction.
These dazzling numbers stand in contrast to a relatively slow quarter during Q3. While this was the eighth consecutive quarter with more than 1 GW installed, total market volume was slightly below the previous quarter and the third quarter of 2014.
This was due to a dip in utility-scale project completions during Q3 2015. Such fluctuations from quarter to quarter say little about market conditions and are far from unusual. This phenomenon also impacts the quarterly results of utility-scale solar project developers.
Regardless, GTM Research and SEIA have slightly lowered their overall market forecast for 2015 from 7.7 GW to 7.4 GW.
The non-residential segment, which includes commercial, industrial and government installations, showed slight growth but remains the smallest of the three with under 240 MW installed.
Residential installations continued their path of steady growth, with 558 MW coming online during the quarter. This is despite the much higher per-watt cost of residential PV compared to other market segments.
During Q3 GTM Research put the average installed cost of residential systems at above US$3.50 per watt, compared to $2.07 per watt for non-residential systems, and $1.38-1.59 per watt for utility-scale systems, depending on whether or not they incorporate tracking.
Additionally, residential system prices are not showing the steady declines seen in other system types. This may be because nearly half the cost of residential systems is not hardware or installation labor related, and includes finance, selling and administrative costs, as well as profit, for residential solar providers.
"While installation costs for residential solar are relatively higher than commercial and utility scale, it's worth keeping in mind that the value proposition of residential solar remains extremely attractive given retail rate design and net metering policies," notes GTM Research Solar Analyst Cory Honeyman, the report's lead author.
"The roles played by national residential solar companies with high velocity salesforce and installation crews, plus favorable rate design and net metering policies have been a recipe for consistently strong growth."
During Q3 California again represented nearly half the total U.S. solar market, however the next two states by volume are facing challenges to their solar markets due to policy changes.
North Carolina has remained the nation's second largest solar market, but this is unlikely to be the case in 2016 as the state's lucrative solar tax credit is set to expire at the end of this year.
During Q3 Massachusetts was the third-largest solar market, an increase from its fourth-place position during 2014. However, Massachusetts' legislature recently failed to lift caps to net metering, which have already been hit in the service areas of some utilities.
PV projects smaller than 25 kW that use three-phase inverters are exempted from Massachusetts' net metering caps, as are projects under 10 kW with single-phase inverters. However, as the state allows “virtual” net metering and the policy applies to systems up to 2 MW the state's booming market for community solar may be impacted, as well as the mid-sized and large commercial segment.
As a result, the ranking of leading PV markets could see a shake-up in the coming quarters, however this is unlikely to have too much of an impact on nationwide market volumes given the dominance of California's market and the enormous amount of utility-scale solar already under contract.
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