Whats been happening in the world of renewable energy this week

Desert solar takes leap forward
Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the concept of harnessing huge amounts of power in the Sahara and connecting it to Europe’s electricity grid. Now the idea is taking its first step towards reality. A consortium of German investors led by Siemens AG (also turbine manufacturers) is looking to raise €400 billion to invest in the infrastructure that could provide 15% of Europe’s electricity by 2050. A Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) farm that would cover 50 square miles of Sahara desert could provide a constant source of clean energy and be transported to Europe through the new technology of highly efficient power lines.

"We want to start an initiative that would present concrete plans in two to three years time," said Torsten Jeworrek, the head of the consortium. They’re anticipating  that 2 Gigawatts of electricity could be generated from Tunisia within five years, with the right political support.

It’s an exciting step forward for a project that could revolutionise our energy grid and might alter the balance of the world economy. No doubt there’ll be many obstacles to overcome, but it’s great to see the idea being taken seriously.

Planning consent granted for 37MW wind farm in Wales
Welsh ministers have given the thumbs up to an independent wind farm builder, Eco2, to build a new 15 turbine wind farm near Swansea. Due to be completed in 2010 the farm should produce enough energy to power 23,000 homes. This is good news as reports of new wind developments have been a bit thin on the ground in the UK of late, and it supports recent claims by the Welsh Assembly to be taking climate issues seriously.

Government launches carbon capture consultation
Last week the UK government announced the opening of a three-month Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) consultation. The document will investigate the role of CSS in our energy industry in terms of both emission reductions and socio-economic impact.

This follows the announcement by Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband that no new coal power stations would be built in the UK unless they could demonstrate that they can capture at least 25% of the carbon they emit, thwarting EON’s plans to re-build a power station at Kingsnorth.

We’re pleased the consultation is happening -- the UK is the first country in the world to force these limitations on the coal industry. But environmentalists have advised the government to be wary. The technology is very much unproven and in cases where the theory works, the costs are so high that they could prohibit commercially viable electricity generation. The worry is that the conditions for building new coal power have enough loopholes for energy companies to make token efforts to capture carbon, and when they don’t work there may be no retribution.

Green Energy Republic will be following developments on the consultation closely. AEA group, an environmental consultancy, claims that CSS exploration could bring £4 billion a year into the UK economy and create thousands of jobs. If it does work, there’s a chance that clean coal could buy us some time. If the UK were to lead engineering in this field, it would benefit our whole energy industry.

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/open/open.aspx

Russia’s plans to “decrease” carbon emissions will actually increase them
Last week Russia made public its “commitment” to carbon reductions by setting itself a target of 10-15% cuts from 1990 levels by 2020. “Fairly ambitious” we all thought. Until some clever people at WWF worked out that a 15% reduction on 1990 levels would be a 30% increase on 2007 levels!

The Russian stats refer back to the Soviet era when the USSR was heavily industrialised. So making this “cut” would actually be increasing their emissions from 2.2 billion tonnes a year to 3 billion.

It’s disappointing to hear such audacious moves from the Russian Government when we’ve just started making progress with the US and Chinese administrations. This statement from the Kremlin can only be read as two fingers up ahead of climate talks in December. As the world’s third largest polluter, Russia needs to be on side at these talks, and willing to make brave decisions. Not a good start.

SITA waste company discuss the idea of building a 32MW waste to energy plant near Bristol
Waste company SITA picks up a lot of rubbish from Bristol households and businesses, and wants to use it more efficiently. They reckon a facility in Severnside could convert 400,000 tonnes of landfill waste a year into electricity.

The plans are just at discussion level and no architectural drawings or council permissions have yet been applied for. We get the sense that SITA are putting the feelers out to gauge public reaction – they are holding some public exhibitions in the coming weeks, so if you live nearby, go down and show your support:

http://www.sita.co.uk/about-us/news/press-releases/new-proposal-for-energy-recovery-centre-at

Green Energy Republic

 Subscribe in a reader