| EWG Newsletter - January
2018 |
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War
on Oil Industry |
Renewables Beat Records |
Europe Divided on Coal
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Dear
Colleagues and Friends,
| |
 Energy
Watch Group (EWG) is an
international network of scientists
and parliamentarians. We commission
research projects and publish independent
studies on global energy developments. Our
mission is to provide energy policy - and you
via this newsletter - with objective information
on global energy
developments! | |
 A new study by
the International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA) shows that all
renewable energy technologies will be
competitive from 2020. Solar PV costs are
expected to halve by 2020 and the best onshore
wind and solar PV projects could be delivering
electricity for an equivalent of USD 3 cents
per kWh, or less within the next two years,
according to the study. It also highlights
that other forms of renewable power generation,
such as bioenergy, geothermal and hydropower
projects in the last 12 months have competed
head-to-head on costs, with power from fossil
fuels. Record low prices for solar
PV in Abu Dhabi, Chile, Dubai, Mexico, Peru and
Saudi Arabia have made USD 3 cents kWh (and
below) the new benchmark. The study was
presented at the IRENA General Assembly on
January
13. | |
On January 10, the officials
of the New York City have sent shocks across the
international fossil fuel industry. The home of
Wall Street and the world’s financial centre is
set to divest its
massive pension funds from fossil fuels within
five years.
Even more important signal
of a “war on oil
industry” comes with the announcement that
the New York City will sue the world’s most
powerful oil companies, including
Exxon, BP, Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips
over their contribution to the global climate
change. The lawsuit will further expose the
US-American oil giant Exxon Mobile, which comes
under international pressure due to the “Exxon
knew” campaign, led by among others the Rockefellers
clan.The
pressure grows on other big cities and capitals,
e.g. London to
join the divestment campaign. The list
of major cities, which committed to divest
their funds from fossil fuels include Berlin,
Copenhagen, Paris, San Fransico, Seattle,
Stockholm, Sydney and
Melbourne. | |
The UK has achieved another
milestone on its decarbonisation path, as 2017
marked the greenest year of the country’s
electricity generation, BBC reports.
Last year, British wind farms produced more
electricity than coal plants on more than 75% of
days. In April, the UK had its first 24-hour
period without using any coal power since the
Industrial Revolution. Carbon emissions in
Britain have halved since 2012, making it the
fourth cleanest power system in Europe. Now it
is time to do homework on the UK’s reliance on
gas and nuclear.
 On
January 1, 2018, renewables also broke records
in Germany by covering almost 100% of the
electricity demand, Clean Energy
Wire reports. This was due to a
combination of strong winds and low demand after
New Year's Eve celebrations. In 2017, Germany
produced a record 36.1% of its total power needs
with renewables. But the country’s progress in
emissions reductions stagnated for the third
year in a row. Wind energy broke records
in Denmark, covering
nearly half of its electricity consumption in
2017. | |
The end of year brought some
discouraging news on coal industry in Europe. In
December, the host of the coming international
climate change conference COP24, Poland,
opened Europe’s largest
coal-fired power plant. The state controlled
energy company Enea opened a 1,075 MW capacity
unit, which adds up the total plant
capacity to 4,000 MW, burning some three million
tons of coal annually. Coal and lignite still
make up 90% of Polish energy
production. (Source:
EnergyWorld) Poland’s neighbour Germany
put another nail in the coffin of its former
reputation as a climate frontrunner, as
energy giant RWE demolished a historical
church in order to expand its highly
controversial lignite mine in the Immerath
village. RWE is allowed to exploit lignite (with
extremely high emission levels) until 2045 in
the Ruhr-Area, Sueddeutsche
Zeitung reports.
In the meantime, the UK has
announced in January its plan on coal phase-out,
according to which its one of the eight
remaining coal power stations to cease
generating electricity in 2018, The
Guardian reports. Three plants were
closed in 2016 and most of the remaining seven
are expected to close operations by 2022 with
the last ones standing till 2025 and than forced
to cease operations because of new pollution
standards and the UK’s commitment in the
Powering Past Coal
Alliance. | |
China is by far leading the
world’s clean energy investment and its
dominance keeps growing, a new
report by the US-based Institute for
Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
shows. Although China is still investing in some
coal projects around the world, it has become
clear that renewables will be the dominant
energy technology in the coming decades, the
report authors say. The world’s largest emitter
has pledged to generate 20% of its energy from
low-carbon sources by 2030. It accounted for
almost half of the world’s solar expansion in
2016, Carbon
Brief reports. In December, China has
launched its national Emission Trading Scheme
(ETS). The city of
Shenzhen with a population of around 12
million people has replaced all city busses with
electric models, which will save 135,000 tonnes
of CO2 annually and the city of
Taiyuan replaced its entire 8.000
petrol-powered taxi fleet with electric vehicles
within one year.
 Meanwhile,
a new
research by Greenpeace shows that India
could save about $ 8.3bn annually by replacing
the most expensive coal plants with solar PV.
India’s reliance on coal is also being
challenged by concerns over air pollution as
a new
research has found that the country
surpassed China as world’s biggest emitter of
sulphur dioxide (SO2). (Source: Yale
Environment
360) | |
 EWG
President Hans-Josef Fell attended
the International Renewable Energy Agency’s
8thGeneral
Assembly in Abu Dhabi to talk about the global
need to switch to 100% renewable energy and
presented the key-findings of our new study together
with the Lappeenranta University of Technology
on 100% renewable electricity worldwide. The
“Public-Private Dialogue” with parliamentarians
and investors from all over the world discussed
how to unlock renewable energy investments to
accelerate the energy transition. The event
closed with the conclusion that renewables need
a strong, favorable political framework and
sufficient investment.
EWG President Hans-Josef
Fell has also presented our new policy brief,
which outlines most successful policy frameworks
as well as financial and political
instruments to achieve a transition to 100%
renewable energy. Stefan Gsänger, Secretary
General of the World Wind Energy Association,
presented a new paper "Community
Energy", which cites some of the findings of
the earlier EWG study on
auctions and feed-in
tariffs. | |
EWG Relaunches Its Website
to Keep You
Up-to-Date  As
developments on a global shift to renewable
energy become even more dynamic and fast, the Energy
Watch Group has relaunched its website to
keep you up-to-date with the latest news. Make
sure to check our latest studies, our
divestment live-ticker and subscribe
to our newsletter. In 2018, we wish you and
ourselves many more great
moments and milestones on the way to a
decarbonized and prosperous
world! | | |
A new
study by NASA study is one final
nail in the coffin of the myth that natural gas
is a climate solution, or a “bridge” in the
energy transition from the dirtiest fossil fuels
to renewables, ThinkProgress writes.
Natural gas is mostly methane, a potent
greenhouse gas. And methane emissions are
responsible for about a quarter of the
human-caused global warming.
Several earlier
studies already found that natural gas,
for example from fracking, speeds up effects of
climate change.
 (Source:
NOAA) | |
Another important
study by Lappeenranta
University of Technology elaborates on the past,
present and future of seawater reverse osmosis
(SWRO) desalination plants, a technology that is
expected to play a pivotal role in securing our
future global water supply. This study found
that SWRO capital expenditures (capex) will fall
to a range from 1580 USD/(m3/day) to 1340
USD/(m3/day) by 2030, based on SWRO capacity
annual growth rates of 10% and 20% respectively.
4237 plants that went online from 1977 to 2015
were included in the learning curve analysis and
highlight the potential for a decrease in SWRO
capex with an increase in installation of
plants. The learning rate is found to be around
15%, which indicates a cost reduction by this
percentage for doubling the historic cumulative
capacity. The found learning rate
is comparable to photovoltaic and
battery systems, whereas the growth rate is
expected to be lower, so that respective cost
reductions take longer in time to become
realized. | |
Two
new studies by Lappeenranta University of
Technology in Finland show that Saudi Arabia
would profit from switching to a 100% renewable energy
system and examine its potential
benefits for the desalination sector in the
country. Levelised cost of energy (LCOE) in a
fully renewable system is set to decrease to 49
€/MWh in 2040 and to 41 €/MWh in 2050.
The second
study elaborates more on the seawater
reserve osmosis (SWRO) desalination with
corresponding levelised cost of water (LCOW)
also found to decrease to
0 .8
€/m3 and 0.6 €/m3 by 2040 and 2050 respectively.
Integrating SWRO plants allows also for more
flexibility, as there is a reduced demand for
battery storage and power-to-gas (PtG) plans as
well as a reduction in
curtailment.
(Source:
LUT)
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