Britain has hit a 34-day coal-burning streak, using the polluting fossil fuel to top-up its electricity supply every day from June 25th to July 28th.

The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) warns of the danger of falling into a “fossil fuel trap” where there is not enough low carbon nuclear power to rely on in periods of low renewable generation, resulting in gas and coal being used instead.

The NIA warns this will create more greenhouse gas emissions and higher energy prices, highlighting that the grid’s carbon intensity so far in 2021 is already higher than in 2020, marking the first year-on-year increase of this kind since 2012.

Coal has already been burned on a total of 150 days this year, compared to 93 days by the same point last year.

Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: “Britain is caught in a fossil fuel trap, and the only way to escape is to build new nuclear power stations alongside renewable capacity.

“Our existing fleet have produced more zero-carbon power than any other assets in Britain, but if they retire without replacement, we will burn more gas and emissions will go up. Our path to net zero starts with replacing the existing nuclear fleet and investing in a strong and balanced zero carbon mix.”

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• The leading analyst estimates that by 2025, 200 utilities providers, with 400m meter points, will recontract off legacy systems
• New g2.0 solution is underpinned by Gentrack’s 30+ year transformation track record
• Combining with Salesforce and AWS creates a transformation powerhouse with composable architecture serving B2B, B2C, water & utilities providers

Gentrack (NZX/ASX: GTK), a next generation solution provider for utilities, has today announced the launch of g2.0. This solution brings together three technology leaders; Gentrack, Salesforce and AWS, to create a modern next generation platform to recharge, reshape and renew the industry.

Globally, utilities are facing a perfect storm: rising wholesale prices, political pressures, sustainability targets, regulatory change and demands for better customer experience. Together these can diminish profitability. At the same time however, there are exciting opportunities to deliver innovative new services, better digital engagement and develop new revenue streams required by utilities today.

For more than 30 years, Gentrack has been partnering with many of the world’s leading utilities, providing meter-to-cash solutions.  g2.0 combines this wealth of experience with Salesforce’s unbeatable CRM to offer extensive capabilities, a rich ecosystem, and out of the box customer journeys; all integrated with the Gentrack core platform. Running with composable architecture on AWS ensures high performance, security, and scalability enabling rapid prototyping and innovation with minimal system change.

Gary Miles, Gentrack CEO, said: “Utilities are operating in real volatility. g2.0 offers a viable alternative to the legacy end-to-end CRM and billing systems that dominate the global utilities market.  These legacy systems are supported by too many Excel spreadsheets, manual processes and embedded running costs.  The water and energy verticals face an existential need to transform as worldwide we tackle the sustainability challenge of a generation.”

Miles continued, “Leading utilities are spearheading this change and it is picking up momentum globally.    g2.0 is provided by three global leaders – Salesforce, the world’s leading CRM, AWS, the number one cloud platform, and Gentrack, with over 5000 person years of utilities knowhow.   g2.0 will accelerate the industry’s pace of change and allow utilities to transform with confidence.”

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The Committee on Climate Change’s annual reports to Parliament might not sound like the most exciting reading, but this year’s report is more than usually important. It is the first such report since the General Election a little over six months ago, and its recommendations are likely to have profound impacts on energy users for decades to come.

Progress against targets – a mixed picture

The report sets out in detail how the UK has performed against its recent targets reducing carbon emissions – pretty well, as it turns out – and more importantly whether we are on track to meet our longer-term targets. The CCC had already flagged up concerns that the target for 2028-32 is likely to be missed unless the government takes further measures to reduce emissions from heat, transport, industry and agriculture. This report highlights the risk that the long-term target of net zero emissions by 2050 will also be at risk unless significant policy changes are made within the lifetime of the current Parliament.

Difficult decisions – especially on heat

The CCC acknowledges the tremendous progress that has been made on reducing emissions from power generation. Remarkably, the UK has reduced power emissions faster than any other developed economy. A system that no so long ago had the lowest proportion of renewable power in Europe has been transformed – wind, solar and biomass are producing record amounts of power – and the UK now has the largest offshore wind fleet in the world. Coal use has fallen to the lowest level since the end of the 19^th century and will shortly be phased out altogether, and gas is increasingly being used as a backup for intermittent renewables rather than for baseload generation. This has come at a considerable cost to consumers (currently around £10b pa in levies and subsidy costs) but the environmental benefits have been substantial too.

The question is how to do the same for transport – and for heat. Electrification might seem the easy answer, and indeed in many circumstances it will probably be the best solution. Hybrid and battery vehicles are coming down in price and charging infrastructure is starting to become more available across the country, and the government has already announced its intention to phase out sales of new combustion engine cars by 2035 at the latest, possibly somewhat earlier. Heat pumps offer a way of decarbonising heat in commercial and domestic buildings, although there are likely to be practical and economic problems installing them satisfactorily in certain locations.

The CCC recommend that by 2030-35 all new cars and heating systems should be low carbon.

Unfortunately heat electrification is still relatively expensive compared with gas, even when coupled with energy efficiency improvements to reduce consumption – and electric vehicles are still relatively expensive to buy, if not to run. The CCC believe strong policy levers will need to be used to kick start this transformation, including legislation to phase out sales of new gas boilers and conventionally fuelled vehicles. Tax on gas use may also need to be increased to reflect its carbon footprint, which could prove controversial.

Hydrogen economy?

Electrification is not be the only option for transport. Hydrogen may be a more practical fuel for heavy goods vehicles and some forms of long-distance transportation.   It is also an option for decarbonising high temperature industrial processes that currently rely on gas and indeed as a possible means of heating commercial and domestic buildings. Hydrogen produces no carbon emissions when burned but currently the cheapest means of producing it is carbon intensive – so-called ‘blue’ hydrogen from steam reformation of methane from natural gas – so carbon capture and storage would be required. Ultimately the goal will be to produce ‘green’ hydrogen from electrolysis of water using renewable of other low carbon power. Sensibly the CCC recognises both approaches will need to be pursued, at least initially, until hydrolysis costs (including power) fall sufficiently to make this an economically sustainable option.

As an interim measure, hydrogen might also be blended with natural gas to lower carbon emissions. This could reduce the near-term costs of heat decarbonisation by extending the use of existing boilers (in some cases with minor modification) and the gas distribution network until a pure hydrogen or viable electrical alternatives are developed. Trials are already underway, but it is too early to know whether hydrogen blending will prove to be a practical proposition.

Network investment is vital

The CCC rightly identify network investment as key to delivery of the UK’s carbon targets. This will include extending and reinforcing the electricity grid to accommodate much more offshore wind, new nuclear power stations, distributed renewable generation and storage, interconnectors to neighbouring markets, and infrastructure to accommodate widespread vehicle charging. Changes may also be required to re-purpose the gas grid for more extensive use of hydrogen, and the development of local heat networks. All this will take time – hence the importance of starting this process as soon as possible.

Green recovery?

The CCC argue public spending to aid economic recovery as the country emerges from the coronavirus crisis should be conditional on contributing to the net zero goal. Doing this in practice may not be straightforward. Some government assistance to businesses is already committed, and it will be difficult for to ignore pleas from assistance from industries in danger of going bust where this could have a detrimental short-term effect on consumers and/or local communities.

Nevertheless, the idea is logical – why wouldn’t government target recovery funds in areas of the economy that contribute to its environmental objectives? It is not as if there is a lack of investment required. Hundreds of billions will eventually have to be invested in energy networks, low carbon power generation, carbon capture, vehicle charging, heat pumps, energy efficiency in buildings, hydrogen infrastructure, and so on if the long term decarbonisation of the economy is to be achieved. If government can finance some of this more cheaply than private industry, under the current circumstances at least, it would make sense to do so.

Over to Parliament ….

The CCC’s report is to Parliament – and it is to Parliament that the government will have to respond. There is no doubt their actions will be subject to intense scrutiny. The cross-party consensus on the need to deliver net zero is strong and appears undented by the current economic crisis. As the CCC points out, it will be especially important for the UK to show leadership in the run up to hosting the COP26 climate talks next year.

It is anyone’s guess how many of the CCC’s recommendations will be accepted, or when firm policy proposals will eventually emerge – but it is clear that the government has much work to do in the next few months.

Jeremy Nicholson – Corporate Affairs Officer, Alfa Energy Group

Need to know more? Listen to Alfa Energy’s Podcast Episode, The heat is on here!

Jeremy Nicholson, Corporate Affairs Officer, discusses some of the factors in the CCC report and what they mean for energy and sustainability professionals with Nikki Wilson, Carbon Compliance Manager at Alfa Energy.

To learn more about the UK net zero target and how to develop and deliver a net zero strategy for your business here.

In this episode, you will learn about:

• What might drive economic recovery following the Corona crisis
• How legislation and technology will be directed to support the delivery of net zero
• The challenges faced with reducing emissions in heat and transport
• Hydrogen’s role as a potentially more wide-spread fuel and the need for CCS
• The role of offshore (and onshore) renewables
• The timeline for implementation of legislation
• Further network action needed
• Instructure investment with environmental goals front and centre
• The next steps in government

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The Hold, a flagship heritage facility for Suffolk which is due to open later this year on the University of Suffolk’s Ipswich Campus, will house the Council’s archive collection and feature a low carbon energy system of which Connected Energy’s E-STOR energy storage system will be a key part. The E-STOR will help optimise energy use and peak loads across a system including PV, EV chargers and critical HVAC, designed to create a controlled climate for the archived materials.

The new 300kW/360kWh E-STOR system includes a range of enhancements building on learning from the systems Connected Energy has installed over the last five years. “’Leading the charge’ on the use of second life batteries meant we had to start developing systems based on a relatively small data set”, commented Connected Energy CEO, Matthew Lumsden. ”But having run several systems though various duty cycles over the last few years we are now able to further optimise how the batteries are operated,” he continued.

The new 300kW/360kWh containerised systems, which include 24 second life Renault Kangoo batteries, have benefitted from collaborative support from Renault and ABB to increase efficiencies on both the power and capacity sides of the system.

By bringing together a combination of Renault’s battery performance modelling, system performance data and extensive CFD analysis, Connected Energy has been able to significantly reduce the cost of cooling the system whilst at the same time increasing the efficiency and control. This has also resulted in new packaging which provides additional space to facilitate maintenance and house some of Connected Energy’s niche functionality like EV charger integration.

“Second life systems can have different objectives,” commented Lumsden, “the cost of the batteries is lower than for new lithium ion systems, so the degradation and overall cycle cost is lower. This means that duty cycles that are uneconomic for new systems can be viable for second life systems. The data-based design that has now been undertaken means we can more accurately optimise how the batteries are used within any duty cycle and better manage efficiencies and degradation.”

Connected Energy’s recently announced large 14.4MWh system included in the SmartHubs project will enable it to accumulate more data from around 1000 batteries and enable further system optimisation across its portfolio.

I&C customers are Connected Energy’s target market for the new 300kW/360kWh system and The Hold project is a good example of how continuing changes in the regulatory and market environments are causing I&C customers’ requirements to vary. With this in mind the new generation of E-STOR is also designed to facilitate easier integration with on-site systems.

Suffolk County Council is a strategic partner in the Suffolk Sustainability Institute and will work with both the University of Suffolk and Connected Energy to help deliver common objectives in clean technology, energy efficiency, technology innovation and decarbonisation.

Cllr Paul West, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Heritage at Suffolk County Council, said: “This work builds on Suffolk County Council’s own knowledge base on the operation of energy storage systems across its estate. It is also a significant move in driving down our carbon emissions, as the council aims to lead by example and be a net zero organisation by 2030, following our climate emergency declaration in 2019.”

As part of The Hold project Connected Energy will be working with the University of Suffolk on a knowledge exchange partnership which will support research and innovation activities across both organisations. The collaboration will allow access to the battery storage system for teaching and research purposes as well as projects to translate University science into practice.

Justine Oakes, the University of Suffolk Sustainability Manager and Research and Business Lead for the Suffolk Sustainability Institute (SSI) stated, “this on-going partnership will provide compelling research and curriculum engagement opportunities; supporting pragmatic academic study in smart tech renewables and a deeper understanding of the role innovative technologies have to play in addressing the energy transition pathway to zero carbon through energy storage infrastructure. We are delighted to be collaborating with Connected Energy and Suffolk County Council in this living laboratory research space.”

The Hold is expected to attract thousands of visitors each year, seeking to research local history, find out about their families, or to take part in events and activities. The £20m project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Suffolk County Council, and the University of Suffolk, with the generous support of a number of other organisations and charities. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, The Hold will now have a phased opening later this year.

Connected Energy is leading the recently announced SmartHubs consortium in West Sussex. SmartHubs will create and demonstrate an innovative low-carbon energy system of the future in. It will introduce new ways of generating and storing low-carbon heat, electricity and energy for transport and demonstrate how these can be integrated to balance energy supply and demand and deliver cost and carbon benefits for project partners, including businesses and residents.

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The UK’s energy system has seen an unprecedented period of reduced energy demand, with weekday consumption down by 13% on average. Thanks to this, and the ideal weather conditions – lots of sun and wind – the UK’s clocked up its longest ever coal-free period, just over two months long.

Businesses can support the growth of renewable energy, and reduce their environmental impact, through directly investing in renewable generation.

This typically means installing solar panels, though wind turbines, bio-mass boilers and other technologies are also options. Haven Power have installed solar panels on the roof of their Ipswich headquarters, as well as trialling battery storage. Where businesses have appropriate land or space, a wind turbine may also be an option.

For many larger businesses, investing in generation technologies constitutes more than a sustainability measure; it’s a commercial decision with a revenue impact.

Find out more on generating your own electricity.

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The UK’s nuclear industry says the costs of building new power plants could be slashed by as much as 30% by 2030.

A cross-industry team working as part of the government-backed Nuclear Sector Deal has set out the key factors it says are necessary to reduce risk and expenditure.

The group has reaffirmed that new-build nuclear power is vital to achieving net zero by 2050, as well as creating thousands of high-quality jobs and economic opportunities across the country.

It highlights the importance of “vigorous pre-construction planning”, stressing designs should be as mature as possible and emphasising that all key stakeholders must be aligned on the scope and scheduling of a project ahead of construction being started.

The report also calls for successful designs to be repeated – it predicts constructing a number of the same reactors will be able to dramatically reduce design costs, allow the application of best practice from previous projects and facilitate continuous investment in the supply chain and workforce training.

It says Hinkley Point C has already borne the ‘first-generation costs’ for new nuclear in the UK and has had the effect of setting up the supply chain, skilling workers and building capabilities for future projects.

Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson CBE, Chair of the Cost Reduction Working Group of the Nuclear Sector Deal, said: “I am very pleased to say that the nuclear new build cost reduction workstream has made great progress, and our report clearly shows it’s possible to deliver a cost-effective programme of new nuclear power stations in the UK.

“But promises of cost reduction are not enough – in making this case, the developers of new nuclear plants are showing that we recognise the delivery risks we face, and how to manage them.”

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Czech utility EPH is to shut down its 600MW Provence coal power plant in France only a year after buying it.

The firm has announced it will close the facility at the end of 2020, two years earlier than initially planned.

The announcement of its early closure follows Vattenfall recently revealing it would be shutting down its five-year-old Moorburg coal power plant early.

EPH says it plans to “extend industrial activity at the site”, with one option being to convert the facility to biomass.

France has set a 2022 coal phase-out legislated through the country’s energy and climate laws.

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Morocco’s renewable sector will make up 52% of the country’s capacity mix by 2030.

GlobalData predicts that by the end of the decade, the north-African nation will have installed more than 11GW of new electrical generation capacity, around 68% of which is expected to be made up of green technologies such as solar power and wind energy.

Last year, renewables, including hydropower capacity, made up roughly 34% of Morocco’s overall capacity mix while thermal generation represented the other 66%.

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, said: “With a constant decline in the cost of generation, renewables have been gaining grid-parity with other conventional fuels.

“Morocco’s ambitious plan for implementing 52% of the renewables in the capacity mix, coupled with local governments attitude and favourable policies, has established the country as an attractive market with ample opportunities for global companies to invest and expand in the renewables sector.”

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In this episode of the Resonance podcast, you will learn:

• Oil prices remain rangebound, but what do demand forecasts for next year tell us?
• With LNG stocks low, what does that mean for short term gas prices?
• Are producers setting the price and when will imports into Europe come?
• Is the power market broken?
• There is value in the market looking forward, but where should I look?
• Is generation coming back from maintenance and what does this mean for winter prices?
• We need more gas, storage technology and a more resilient baseload to support use of more intermittent power generation, but at what cost to consumers?

For the details of the discussion, listen to the podcast episode.

Go here for further information about Alfa Energy Group briefings, podcast episodes and market reports.

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Nearly 30 US states have seen renewable energy resources generate more electricity than either coal or nuclear during the first two-thirds of this year.

These figures have been revealed in a SUN DAY Campaign analysis of newly-released data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which shows utility-scale biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind plants provided more electricity than coal in 27 states and Washington, DC.

The data shows the gap between renewable generation and coal power is very narrow in three other states.

Of the 27 states where clean power is leading in terms of generation, four states and Washington DC have generated no electricity from coal at all this year, while another four produced less than 100GWh from coal in the first two-thirds of 2020.

Renewable power also exceeded nuclear generation in 29 states plus Washington DC, of which 21 produced no nuclear electricity over the time period.

California, New York, and Texas, three of the biggest states in the US, saw renewable resources produce more electricity than either coal or nuclear during the first eight months of the year.

Nationwide, renewables accounted for 20.8% of US electrical generation, ahead of 19.4% from nuclear and 18.4% from coal.

The SUN DAY Campaign’s Executive Director Ken Bossong said: “Falling wind and solar costs, renewable portfolio standards, and ever-greater concerns about climate change, are driving a transition away from coal and nuclear power in a majority of the states.

“If current patterns continue – or even accelerate – it will not be many years more before coal and nuclear are relegated to niche markets by the mix of renewable energy sources.”

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