Tag Archives: renewables
BlueFire Renewables Adds Pellet Production To Miss. Facility
By BlueFire Renewables Inc. | October 03, 2013 BlueFire Renewables Inc., a company focused on changing the world’s transportation fuel paradigm, has integrated a synergistic wood pellet production plant to its facility in Fulton, Miss. The reconfigured design will be a 9 million gallon per year ethanol plant integrated with a 400,000 ton per year wood pellet plant. The pellets will be sold under long term contracts into the European mandated renewable energy market. “This restructure provides a more robust economic model for the Fulton facility with a significant increase in projected revenues. It has become apparent in our attempts to obtain financing for the project that the right synergies and revenue model would be needed to build this first of a kind facility,” said Arnold Klann, president and CEO of BlueFire. “The optimum use of biomass in the integrated facility strikes a much better balance of revenue with costs and a better utilization of resources. The more profitable use of capital and the enhanced security of projected revenue streams more closely match what the banks have been requiring in the very conservative and restricted credit markets.” Traditionally wood pellets are used for electricity generation and can be sold under long-term, fixed-price contracts to credit worthy utilities thereby adding financial stability to the project. Blended with lignin from BlueFire’s process, the wood pellets create a market advantage under the international mandates for renewable energy, especially for power in the European Union. BlueFire has previously announced start of construction and has completed the preliminary site work for the ethanol facility. The engineering and other development activities needed are already under way to add the pellet plant. Synergistic partners will be announced once the definitive agreements are signed. Continue reading
Renewables Industry Calls For 2030 EU Renewable Target
19th September 2013 Representatives of over 60 British and European renewable energy companies and associations, have written to the European Parliament President Martin Schulz, EU Energy Ministers and the EU Energy and Climate Commissioners to call for a legally binding 2030 target for renewable energy as part of what they describe as a “a strong and ambitious regulatory framework for the years to come. The letter, organised by the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) and signed by the UK’s Renewable Energy Association and more than 60 others, notes the success of the existing 20-20-20 framework in setting “a clear direction” for industry, together with what it claims is the urgent need for a 2030 framework “given the long investment cycles in the energy sector”. The letter claims that “Such a framework bears the opportunity to reduce the current costs of uncertainty, mobilise the needed funding, help to protect the environment, decrease the costs of decarbonisation, facilitate the creation of new jobs and enhance the EU’s technology leadership.” The 20-20-20 framework requires a 20% increase in energy efficiency, 20% reduction of CO2 emissions, and 20% renewables by 2020. It is claimed it has been the fundamental driver of national level policies to expand the renewables industry, especially the 2020 renewable energy targets which are devolved to member states. The REA claims that jobs in the UK renewables’ sector could grow from 110,000 in 2012 to 400,000 in 2020 as the industry expands to reach the 2020 UK’s targets of 15% renewable energy and 10% renewable transport. EREC also manages the ‘Keep on Track!’ project, which monitors member states’ progress towards their targets and seeks to identify and overcome barriers to expansion. The REA is the official UK partner for the project, which published its first EU Tracking Roadmap in June, alongside a report on barriers to expansion and a set of policy recommendations. The UK was the only country in the project to miss its interim 2011/12 renewables target – albeit by a narrow margin. REA Chief Executive Dr Nina Skorupska says, “The UK remains in the bottom three of the EU renewables league table with only 4% renewables while Sweden tops the table with almost 50%. The UK has only scratched the surface so far in terms of the opportunities for growth, innovation, jobs and exports that renewables can bring to UK plc. “But Government has learned a lot from working within this 20-20-20 framework, and it makes sense to go for a similar framework for 2030, including a binding renewables target. This will enable Government to build on those lessons, reassure investors, scale up the industry, boost our energy security, reduce our emissions and grow our budding green economy.” Continue reading
Energy costs: Business-As-Usual No Cheaper Than 100% Renewables?
By Giles Parkinson on 5 August 2013 The Australian government quietly released the final version of the 100% renewables scenario prepared by the Australian Energy Market Operator on Friday – a report commissioned by The Greens but which has been shrouded in controversy over the way it was managed. The Greens wanted two questions to be addressed by the AEMO report: firstly, is it possible to achieve a 100% renewables scenario by 2030 or 2050. And secondly, how much will it cost, and how much that compares to business as usual. The answer to the first question was – yes, it can be achieved. And that is a crucial development. Even through the report is, as it admits, very hypothetical, it is an important first step . The difficulties with transforming to a low carbon future are mostly economic, rather than technical. The answer to the first part of the second question is between $219 billion and $332 billion over 20 or 40 years, according to the AEMO figures. But it is an unsatisfactory answer because it does not include elements that could make it more expensive (grid upgrades, land acquisition, closure of incumbents), some whacky technology cost estimates (the predicted 2050 cost of solar exceeds what most other countries are already achieving in 2013), and because it includes no comparison with business as usual. Just to add a little context, network upgrades in the last five years have totalled around $45 billion) The comparison with business as usual is the crucial element, because between 2030 and 2050, all current generation will need to be replaced. If the likes of Bloomberg New Energy Finance are right, then solar and wind are already cheaper than new coal and gas, and could account for 46 per cent of generation by 2030. As the ANU’s Andrew Blakers pointed, a simple cost substitution could see fossil fuels replaced by renewables by 2040. The fact that the AEMO was instructed not to consider cost comparisons with fossil fuels suggests the government was uncomfortable with such conclusions. But we know the answer anyway. AEMO tells us that the wholesale price of electricity will range from $111 to $133/MWh depending on the scenario – getting to the target by 2030 or 2050, and depending on the rate of economic growth and energy consumption. That figure is twice the current wholesale price of electricity, which sounds scary. But what is not considered is the price of new fossil fuels, and the impact of a carbon price – which between 2030 and 2050 could be significant if the world is serious about tackling climate change. AEMO says new transmission network infrastructure would add another $6-$10/MWh. The Greens note that the wholesale price of electricity by 2030 is expected to be around $110/MWh anyway, according to Treasury estimates, on a largely business-as-usual government policy scenario. The impact on consumer electricity prices would be an increase of between 6.6c/kWh and 8.5c/kWh, AEMO says. That’s about a 25 per cent increase, less than the increase experienced by most Australian consumers as a result mainly of grid upgrades in recent years. Missing from the AEMO equation is the extent to which network business models may change with the proliferation of rooftop solar and storage, and the migration to a predominantly distributed rather than a centralised model. That’s not surprising as no-one knows how that will pan out, although various studies point out that distributed generation will save billions in avoided transmission costs. As for what mix is envisaged in the AEMO document, it suggests that no single technology will dominate the fuel mix, and it suspects that it will rely on a significant amount of biomass that could drive open cycle turbines to fill in the “weather gaps”. It notes that biomass will not compete with food crops, but could compete with other industries such as timber. And here is a rough guide as where some of these technologies might be sited. AEMO says between 2,400 to 5,000 square kilometres of land will be needed, although some of that will be dual-use, as wind farms operate happily with existing farming activities. In practice, RenewEconomy would assume there would be more “distributed” generation closer to demand than is indicated here. Finally, here are the cost estimates. Again, solar seems to get a raw deal from AEMO estimates, as the solar thermal estimates seem way ahead of expectations, and the solar PV estimates for 2050 – for rooftop PV and utility scale PV – is what is already being achieved in many European countries, according to a recent report by Deutsche Bank. The cost of utility scale solar in Australia is likely to fall dramatically once the plants actually get built, and the costs of maintenance, construction and finance fall. Continue reading
