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Rooftop wind energy invention is 16 times more efficient than solar panels

Posted on October 25, 2022 by dishanth

A new rooftop wind harvesting device is capable of generating 50 per cent more electricity than solar panels for the same cost, according to its inventors.

A much smaller footprint means a single unit can also provide the same amount of power as up to 16 solar panels.

The motionless design, created by Texas-based startup Aeromine Technologies, replaces the blades found in traditional wind turbines with an aerodynamic system that harvests energy from the airflow above a building.

This makes them virtually noiseless and safe for birds and other wildlife.

“This is a game-changer adding new value to the fast-growing rooftop power generation market, helping corporations meet their resilience and sustainability goals with an untapped distributed renewable energy source,” said Aeromine CEO David Asarnow.

“Aeromine’s proprietary technology brings the performance of wind energy to the onsite generation market, mitigating legacy constraints posed by spinning wind turbines and less efficient solar panels.”

Aeromine’s units require 10 per cent of the space needed for solar panels, while also being capable of producing electricity 24 hours a day throughout the year.

The firm said the technology will reduce a building’s need for energy storage capacity and could potentially even make the building energy independent, depending on the building’s design and location.

“The technology is a major leap forward from legacy distributed wind turbines that are ill-suited for most rooftop applications,” the site states.

“Aeromine’s founders have created a much more effective way to harness even moderate wind to create energy for large, flat rooftop buildings such as warehouses, data centers, office, and apartment buildings.”

The device is currently being tested at a manufacturing facility in Michigan, while future applications could include large residential buildings and electric car charging stations.

Source The Independent

Use offshore wind expansions to drive nature restoration, report urges

Posted on September 1, 2022September 1, 2022 by dishanth

The new RSPB report, published on 31 August finds that the UK can continue to generate renewables at sea while also strengthening efforts to protect nature, creating mutual benefits that help tackle the climate and ecological crises.

The report finds that as the UK moves to scale up wind farm expansions from 15GW currently, policymakers and project developers will need to consider the “substantial footprint” this will have around UK coasts.

The report calls for policymakers to introduce “robust” evidence based on ecological grounds to outline the environmental costs of setting new offshore windfarms into the seabed. It also calls for Impact assessments that identify cumulative impacts based on location and for country-level marine plans to be introduced to provide better clarity for project development.

Pictured: The 400MW Rampion Offshore Wind Farm

Recommendations also include introducing adaptive management techniques that would provide project flexibility if new research were to surface and, where necessary, strategic compensation based on ecological impacts.

An overarching theme of the report is the need for a “marine net-gain” system to ensure that renewables development contributes to environmental restoration.

RenewableUK’s Environmental Policy Analyst Juliette Webb said: ”Not only are new offshore wind farms lowering our energy bills, but they also remain critical to tackling climate change, which poses the greatest threat to bird populations and our natural environment. It’s vitally important that we build well-sited clean energy projects to reach net zero as fast as possible.

“We’re working with the RSPB to ensure that we develop offshore wind farms in an environmentally sensitive way that protects birds and support marine ecosystems. This includes adapting the location of our wind farms and providing specially-designed safe places for birds to nest at sea.”

It was recently revealed that more than a fifth of capacity additions to the global offshore wind market came from the UK in 2021, with the industry creating enough green energy to power one-third of UK homes.

The Crown Estate’s tenth annual Offshore Wind Report found that global offshore wind capacity reached more than 48.2GW, of which more than 20% came from the UK. The report adds that, by the end of 2021, the capacity of fully commissioned sites in the UK had reached 11.3GW – an 8% increase compared to 2020.

Offshore wind energy generation in 2021 was enough to cover the needs of 33% of UK homes. In 2011, this figure was just 4%. The UK Government notably has a commitment for the nation to host 40GW of offshore wind by 2030.

While the UK is surging towards its ambitious targets for offshore wind, much more is needed from policymakers to support nature. A preliminary report from the GFI last October highlighted how planned public spending on nature conservation and restoration in the UK for 2022-2032 is up to £97bn short of the levels needed to deliver commitments made by the UK Government and devolved governments.

While there are legally binding targets to halting species decline, the report urges that a joined up approach be introduced to help embed this into the wider net-zero target.

RSPB’s Katie-jo Luxton sadi: “We have a clear vision of what we want to achieve; thriving seabird colonies and sustainable energy. However, the current system is not working. Energy companies are being locked into development sites that are problematic for wildlife and the Secretary of State is regularly being asked to make impossible decisions that may achieve our energy targets but only at the expense of our seabirds and marine habitats.

“We need to change this, as the decisions we make today will have long lasting and potentially irreversible effects on seabird colonies that are already struggling. This report clearly states what we need to do at a time when decision-makers are beginning to plan new developments. With the right planning and a cross sector approach, we can achieve world leading ocean recovery and secure renewable energy, but only if we take transformative Nature Positive action, now.”

Source Edie

Offshore wind jobs set to more than treble by 2030 in boost to Boris Johnson’s levelling-up agenda

Posted on June 17, 2022June 15, 2022 by dishanth

The UK’s offshore wind workforce is set to more than treble over the next eight years to reach 100,000 employees by the end of the decade, according to industry predictions seen.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants the UK’s offshore wind capacity to jump five-fold by 2030 in a push to wean the UK grid off gas. The target will see dozens of huge new wind farms erected around the British coast over the coming years.

However, there are concerns that recruiting enough skilled workers will be difficult to achieve. Already there are shortages in some key areas such as consenting, data analysis, and electrical connections.

Such a massive expansion in capacity will require a huge increase in the industry’s workforce, with the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) predicting headcounts will grow from 31,000 employees today to more than 97,000 by 2030.

The figures are based on assessments of the current workforce and analysis of projects in planning and under development. Investment in new projects is expected to total £155bn over the next eight years, according to OWIC, delivering 47GW of new offshore wind capacity by 2030.

With the UK economy in turmoil, the predictions will be a major boost for the government’s levelling up agenda – particularly as most jobs are expected to be concentrated in regional manufacturing hotspots such as the Humber Estuary and Teesside.

“This report demonstrates the extraordinary potential of renewable energy to create jobs, drive investment and secure cheaper clean electricity,” said energy minister Greg Hands.

“We have ambitious plans to go even further as the UK becomes a global renewable energy powerhouse”.

The Government wants industry to build dozens of new wind farms around the UK coastline to help wean the British power grid off gas (Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty)

The offshore wind industry insists it is prepared for the recruitment challenge. Siemens-Gamesa, one of the world’s largest turbine manufacturers, is currently doubling the size of its factory in Hull, creating 200 new jobs over the next 12 months.

“There’s a real head of steam and momentum building, and there’s going to be a lot more jobs for the future, that’s for sure,” said Andy Sykes, director of the Siemens-Gamesa Hull plant.

But the growth in jobs depends on a steady supply of new wind farms winning approval and government contracts.

Ministers have promised to speed up the planning process and to hold annual offshore wind auctions to ensure new wind farms are rolled out quickly, however, the 50GW target is still seen by developers as hugely ambitious.

“These [job] numbers will only work if all of those projects go ahead, and go ahead in a timely fashion,” warned Melanie Onn, deputy chief executive of trade body RenewableUK.

Diversity is another major challenge. The offshore wind industry prides itself on being ethical and progressive, but currently, almost 80 percent of the workforce is male and 96 percent is white.

It has a target for women to women to make up at least one-third of the workforce by 2030, and for black, Asian and ethnic minority people to account for at least nine percent of the workforce by the same date.

“Now it’s an absolute concerted effort to try to encourage as many women and people from ethnic minorities… to come into the sector,” Ms Onn told i. “It’s a challenge, there’s no denying it”.

Source iNews

UK Government launches first licensing round for carbon storage projects

Posted on June 15, 2022 by dishanth

Operated by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the licensing round is inviting bids for projects in 13 areas within the North Sea and will be open rob ifs until 13 September. Plots of land are being offered off the coast in Aberdeen, Teesside, Liverpool and Lincolnshire.

The chosen 13 areas are “a mixture of saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas field storage opportunities”, the NSTA said in a statement, adding that it has “fully considered issues including co-location with offshore wind… environmental issues and potential overlaps with existing or future [oil and gas] licences”.

It is expected that the new licences will be awarded in early 2023. Applicants will also need to secure a lease from The Crown Estate or Crown Estate Scotland, as they would if they were applying to host offshore wind. The timelines for commencing the injection of carbon dioxide will depend on the project sizes and the approaches of the bidding companies, but the NSTA expects some projects to come online within six years of being granted a license and lease.

To date, the UK Government has only issued six licences to carbon storage projects in the North Sea. It first began issuing licenses in 2010, under the Energy Act of 2008.

The launch of the new licencing round, which is set to be the first of many through to 2030 and beyond, has been taken “in response to unprecedented levels of interest from companies eager to enter the market”, the NSTA has stated. These companies include existing oil and gas firms and new firms created to develop CCS technologies, often working in partnership.

NSTA boss Andy Samuel said: “This is an important day on the path to net-zero emissions. In addition to the huge environmental benefits of significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, the facilities will provide opportunities for many thousands of highly-skilled jobs.

“Carbon storage is going to be needed across the world. There is growing investor appetite and we are keen to accelerate the development of the carbon storage sector so that the UK is well-positioned to be a global leader.”

The NSTA was known as the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) prior to this March. Oil and gas activities are still its primary remit.

Policy vision, market stimulation

The UK’s decision to legislate for net-zero by 2050, made under Theresa May’s Government in 2019, provided the foundation for a new groundswell of interest in carbon capture and storage (CCS). Efforts to scale the sector had been made in the 2010s, but the Government’s decision to axe a £1bn fund to commercialise CCS technologies in 2015 was a major spanner in the works.

On the policy piece, the UK Government’s Ten-Point Plan, published in November 2020, envisions the creation of four industrial clusters utilizing CCS – the first of which should come online fully this decade. Policymakers have emphasised the importance of public-private collaboration in commercialising CCS technologies and scaling them up rapidly. The Ten-Point Plan’s specific target is for the UK to capture at least 20 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030, but some believe that a capacity of just 10 million tonnes will be likely within this timeframe.

The Carbon Capture and Storage Association has pointed out that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has recommended that the UK aims to bring 22-30 million tonnes of annual CCS capacity online by 2030. Achieving this aim will require at least £1.2bn of funding by the Association’s estimates.

CCS has been described by the CCC as a “non-optional” component of the UK’s net-zero transition.

However, significant concerns remain around whether it will truly be used to address emissions from hard-to-abate sectors. MPs and researchers have questioned whether sectors that are easier to abate could simply purchase up credits, leaving none for heavy emitting sectors like steel. There are also concerns that the use of CCS could be used as an excuse to de-prioritise emissions reductions, which could be risky in terms of climate impact, as CCS technologies are in their relative infancy at a commercial scale.

Source edie

Australia has huge potential to develop offshore windfarms near existing substations

Posted on July 26, 2021 by dishanth

Australia has the potential to develop a substantial offshore wind energy industry from scratch, with abundant resources available near existing electricity substations across the continent, according to a new report.

The Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre said Australia was yet to capitalise on significant offshore wind capacity despite the International Energy Agency nominating it as one of the “big three” likely sources of renewable energy globally alongside solar and onshore wind.

It found more than 2,000GW of offshore wind turbines – far more than Australia’s existing generation capacity – could be installed in areas within 100km of substations. Environmentally restricted and low-wind areas were excluded from the assessment.

Sites that have traditionally been electricity generation hubs, such as the Hunter and Latrobe valleys and Gladstone, were found to be particularly suitable as they were close to transmission grids and had strong offshore winds at times when solar and onshore wind output was limited.

Dr Chris Briggs, research director at the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures and a contributor to the report, said there had been a view in the energy industry that offshore wind energy would not play as significant a role in Australia as some other countries due to the availability of much cheaper solar and onshore wind energy.

He said that was starting to change as people recognised the scale of the clean energy transition required and what offshore wind could deliver. “The combination of the scale, falling cost and the development of floating wind turbines means it has come into focus,” he said.

Briggs said offshore wind could be built on a much larger scale than solar or onshore wind – up to 2GW for a project – and could generate more electricity per megawatt of capacity. “This could be very valuable in the late 2020s and 2030s as we see coal plants retiring,” he said.

The project’s leader, Dr Mark Hemer of the CSIRO, said offshore wind could be particularly important under “energy superpower” scenarios that involved mass electrification of industry and transport and hydrogen production for domestic use and export.

The report said there were 10 offshore wind projects with a combined capacity of 25GW in development in Australia, all at an early stage. The most advanced is the $10bn Star of the South – a 2.2GW windfarm planned for between 7km and 25km offshore in South Gippsland.

The federal government is yet to finalise the regulatory framework necessary for an offshore wind industry to develop. The report said it could help develop an industry by supporting the technology through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, incorporating it into planning for the national hydrogen strategy, and considering allocation of marine space in commonwealth waters.

The work was partly funded by the maritime, electrical and manufacturing unions. They called on federal and state governments to take immediate steps to support the development of an industry, saying it had the potential to create jobs for workers in fossil fuel industries.

Paddy Crumlin, the national secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, said the development of an offshore wind industry would give seafarers and offshore oil and gas workers an opportunity “to transition into the important work of delivering Australia’s clean energy future”.

Offshore wind is more advanced in countries with limited capacity to develop renewable energy on land. The report said 2030 targets for offshore wind energy totalled about 200GW, including 60GW in the European Union, 40GW in Britain and 12 GW in South Korea. Japan plans to reach 45GW by 2040.

Solar and onshore wind have grown substantially in recent years, leading to renewable energy providing nearly 30% of generation in the national electricity market. But the Morrison government also continues to support fossil fuels.

A report by BloombergNEF and Bloomberg Philanthropies this week found Australia increased support for fossil fuel by 48% between 2015 and 2019, the largest rise in the G20.

It said most of the support had been delivered in the form of tax breaks to oil and gas projects. They included tax capex deductions for mining and petroleum operations, fuel-tax credits and reductions in fuel-excise rates and offset schemes. Australia “lost out on nearly US$6bn in foregone taxes” over the five years, it said.

The Bloomberg report did not include the Morrison government’s support for a “gas-fired recovery” from the pandemic. The government dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars to gas projects in the May budget, including up to $600m for a new power plant in the Hunter Valley that experts say is not needed.

By Adam Morton Climate and environment editor

Source The Guardian