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Nuclear ‘should have extended role’ in clean energy mix

 1024 682 Stuart O'Brien
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With the world looking to consolidate ventures in cleaner and greener electricity sources post-COVID-19, electricity from nuclear sources offer a key option.

The World Nuclear Association in a recent study states the opportunity for governments to invest in nuclear energy, which addresses the COVID-19 crisis and manages issues such as climate change, air pollution and energy crisis.

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Nuclear power plants can maintain grid stability with the ability to regulate plant yield to follow demand and help constrain the impacts of seasonal variances in renewable energy yield. In the current situation, investment in nuclear energy is anticipated to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, increased energy resilience and creation of huge numbers of long-term, high-skilled domestic employment that pay premium compensation.” 

The share of nuclear-based generation in South Korea rose amid the pandemic, whereas in the UK, nuclear played a key role in providing the support to make up the lost production from crippled coal generation during the COVID-19.

In China, electricity production diminished during January-February 2020 by more than 8% year-on-year. Compared to the significant reduction in generation from coal and hydropower, nuclear was more resilient with a mere 2% reduction in China. Even with the pandemic this year, the share of nuclear in electricity generation in the generation mix is anticipated to remain steady in the country as last year. 

The Nuclear Energy Agency in its policy briefs mentioned the COVID-19 recuperation phase as an opportunity for appropriate policy and market frameworks to incentivize investment in fundamental infrastructure that bolsters low-carbon electricity security and economic development. The 108 new planned nuclear reactors and the long-term operation of existing 290 reactors globally can play a key role within the post-COVID-19 economic recovery efforts by boosting economic development and provide stability to the generation mix. 

Das concluded: “The global power industry and governments need to consider and provide a level playing field to the nuclear generation that values reliability and energy security. A harmonized nuclear regulatory environment and a holistic safety paradigm along with RE development will act as a catalyst towards global decarbonization.” 

Image by Markus Distelrath from Pixabay 

COVID to accelerate transition to renewable energy

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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It’s being predicted that the energy transition will be accelerated by several years by the COVID pandemic, with trillions of dollars expected to flow through economic relief packages into the deployment of low- and zero-carbon infrastructure, as well as research and development into technologies that enable it.

That’s the conclusion of Lux in its new report Owning The Energy Transition: 2020 COVID-19 Update, which outlines these changes and predicts the impact of the disruptive global energy transition going forward.

“The aftermath of COVID-19 will shake the economic fabric of the energy sector,” said Yuan-Sheng Yu, Senior Analyst at Lux Research. “We witnessed many historical firsts, such as oil futures trading in the negatives, U.S. renewable energy in the electricity mix surpassing coal, and the largest year-over-year drop in global CO2 emissions.”

Yu explains that while the sudden effects may be a flash in the pan as the world returns to normalcy, 2020 provided a preview of the more permanent challenges the industry will face in the next decade. This “white swan” event will force companies to learn how to be more resilient, while countries planning their post-COVID recovery will capitalize on the opportunity and accelerate the energy transition through improved resiliency and greater agility and by insulating themselves from the macroeconomic impacts of the volatile conventional energy sector.

“The pandemic highlighted the risks of disruptions to our current energy infrastructure and supply chain,” added Lux Research Analyst Tim Grejtak. “In response, we will see aggressive diversification of business portfolios to avoid the risk of underutilized and, eventually, stranded assets in order to capitalize on opportunities provided by increasing renewable energies.”

Grejtak cites long-duration energy storage investments and project developments in the first half of 2020 by the likes of Highview Power, Form Energy, and AES Distributed Energy as just the beginning of the added urgency of companies preparing for the energy transition.

Analyst Runeel Daliah added: “While COVID-19 momentarily pushed aside climate change from the political discourse, companies and countries that deprioritize climate change mitigation efforts in favor of near-term financial recovery would be making a mistake – decarbonization is an unavoidable megatrend that will continue to loom well after COVID-19.”

Daliah points to countries forging ahead with decarbonization strategies centered around hydrogen, such as Portugal, South Korea, Australia, and Germany, which recently unveiled a $10.2 billion National Hydrogen Strategy.

Meanwhile, Lux Research Senior Analyst Christopher Robison emphasized that the most noticeable effect of COVID-19 on modern life was the drastic reduction in mobility – As the world sheltered in place, there was an immediate reduction in emissions and improvement in air quality, with residents in some cities notorious for pollution seeing blue skies for the first time.

“The magnitude of the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on mobility remains unclear as more people work from home and replace work travel with virtual meetings, but the push to reduce and eliminate emissions from the transportation sector has only increased, with many post-COVID stimulus plans focused on low- and zero-emission vehicles,” said Robinson.

Brits want country to focus on renewables before space travel

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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43% of British consumers care more about technology that can reduce carbon emissions and remove plastics from the oceans, than space travel or house robots.

The findings, from research conducted by Expleo, come as the UK government is under pressure to embrace a ‘green’ recovery post-COVID.

The report, which surveyed 2,000 UK adults, suggested that people prefer “powerful, but boring” tech that solves real-world problems over flashy gadgets or novelties such as home robotics, virtual reality or home entertainment.

In tandem with the desire to reduce ocean plastics and carbon emissions, 41% of people specified that they would like to see an advance in renewable energies over the next decade. Smart meters, – which by law, will be in every home come 2024 – were praised by over 80% of people for adding value to their lives, due to their long-term potential to reduce energy use and CO2 emissions through better energy management.

On the other hand, interest in ‘headline grabbing’ technology was low. Just 15% of people surveyed expressed an interest in space tourism, and even fewer (11%) said that they want to see robotics carrying out domestic chores in their homes in the next decade. Only 19% of respondents are optimistic about the prospect of self-driving vehicles, but slightly more (22%) said they’d be open to introducing more smart technologies, such as voice assistants, into their homes.

Stephen Magennis, UK Quality MD at Expleo said: “The results of our research suggest that consumers are keen to see technology being used to improve society as a whole and not just bring comfort in our life. This topic is not new, but I think that the coronavirus pandemic has opened many people’s eyes to the transformative role technology can play in solving real-world problems, whether that’s streamlining the transition to remote working or accelerating innovation in the medical sector. ​

“Today’s businesses should not ignore this or they could face serious backlash from their consumers. More than ever, they need to focus on green technology and innovation to positively influence the planet. It is particularly true for businesses in the energy and mobility sectors: reducing carbon emissions and energy consumption, or driving electric vehicles, are top of consumers’ minds.”

Transition to renewables ‘to fuel post-COVID recovery’

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Investment in renewable energy expansion will be an important cog in the wheel towards the post-COVID-19 economic recovery journey.

Expanding the renewables will not only help countries deliver stronger climate action under the Paris Agreement, but also fuel the economic activities across the value chain forming a powerful recovery mechanism to recuperate from the COVID-19 crisis.

That’s according to research from GlobalData, which says due to technological advancements, economies of scale and competitive auctions, the Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE) for renewables has seen steep decline. For example, the LCOE of solar PV had witnessed a drop of 86% to reach 0.05USD/kWh in 2019 when compared with 2010. Likewise, for onshore wind the drop was 50.0% to 0.05USD/kWh.  

The declining LCOE has brought the renewable at par with fossils and in some countries even cheaper. This trend of cost competitiveness and innovation is likely to continue and could attract countries and investors to increase their renewable appetite. For instance, 2019 saw the highest solar power capacity additions and also the highest investment in the offshore wind segment. 

However, the planned investments in this sector until 2030 is lesser than the investments made in the last decade. The COVID-19 pandemic recovery stimulus provides an excellent window of opportunity for governments to channelize their investments in the renewables to offset the silos in the future investment schedule. These were earlier unable to reach the desired  2030 installations target decarbonizing the economy and putting forward a strong step towards climate sustainability. 

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, said: “ During the COVID-19 pandemic, renewable energy took the center stage. With declining electricity demand, utilities focussed on generating electricity from cost-effective renewable sources. By the end of 2030, the cumulative renewable installed capacity is estimated to be 3,600GW, about 1,900GW more than that of 2020, which is substantially lower than the required built-up of about 2,800-3,000GW for limiting the global temperature rise by 2c.  

“Incorporating higher investments in renewable energy might provide an opportunity to increase the investments and make up for the shortfall in the required installed power capacity by 2030. 

“Hence, increased investments in renewable energy in the recovery packages would benefit greatly and usher in a multitude of economic benefits. Not only it will provide a better opportunity in addressing climate change goals and global warming issues but also creates new jobs and stimulate economic activities.”  

Lowering carbon emissions ‘will help boost business post-COVID-19’

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Companies globally have been forced to take extreme measures to change the way they operate during the global COVID-19 outbreak, and this has been estimated to have reduced carbon emissions by up to a quarter by some instances.

However, a new report from Emitwise claims it is possible to maintain these lower carbon emissions while also boosting economic activity once social distancing ends, and regular business activities begin. The key, it argues, is to better analyse and report on carbon emissions – and it gives clear business benefits of doing so. 

‘The business benefits of carbon accounting: creating organisational value from carbon accounting in a post-Coronavirus world’ discusses how to use carbon reporting as a competitive differentiator for your business. It offers 11 reasons why businesses can benefit from carbon reporting including:

  • Cost saving
  • Legislation
  • Point of difference
  • Access to new markets
  • PR opportunity
  • Talent recruitment and retention tool
  • Business benchmark
  • Futureproofing
  • Carbon taxes
  • Access to green funding and capital
  • Contributing to carbon reduction

The report is free to download here and also includes information on how organisations can continue to maintain lower emissions and start their carbon reporting journey in line with the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR), which came into force earlier this month.

Caroline Bartlett, Head of Carbon Accounting at Emitwise, and author of the report, said: “We’ve launched this report now as many businesses have already significantly reduced their emissions as an indirect result of Covid-19 and this is something that they should continue to progress once the outbreak is over. By better analysing – and reporting on – carbon emissions, organisations can generate huge business benefits at a challenging economic time while also maintain lower levels of emissions. It’s a win-win situation for business.” 

Half of businesses in the energy sector believe Brexit will have ‘a long-term positive impact’

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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A state-of-the-nation study into how businesses in the energy sector are prepared for Brexit has revealed 62% believe the process of exiting the EU is currently having a positive impact on their business, while just 15% feel it hasn’t had any impact at all.

Commissioned by Huthwaite International, the report shows that post-Brexit business prospects remain positive, with 52% of businesses believing their growth potential will prosper post-Brexit, regardless of the outcome.

When looking at what worries businesses most about the UK leaving the European Union, international trade, uncertainty around trade agreements and changes to laws and legislation ranked as the highest concerns.

Improving negotiation skills also ranked as the biggest priority amongst businesses before the Brexit deadline, with many sighting it to be a key priority when it came to safeguarding profits and reducing overheads.

Tony Hughes, CEO at Huthwaite International, said: “Gaining the skillset and knowledge to survive this economic uncertainty is vital for business success. The UK is packed with ambitious and prosperous companies that in theory should flourish regardless of economic uncertainty, however the importance of obtaining the core skillsets to flourish shouldn’t be underestimated.

“One of the few certainties the UK faces is that, for selling organisations, things are getting tougher. As buying organisations entrench, delaying or even cancelling purchasing decisions, sales teams across all sectors and markets are having to up their game. This means sophisticated negotiation skills aren’t just important to ensure the UK secures a quality deal with the EU, but also form the fundamentals for ensuring business success across the UK too.”

Huthwaite International has published a white paper looking at five key elements businesses can implement to increase sales success in times of economy uncertainty. These include:

  • Confidence through coaching
  • Aligning capabilities
  • Utilising your service resources
  • Negotiation skills
  • Effective qualification

To access the full research white paper, visit: https://info.huthwaiteinternational.com/improving-corporate-negotiations.

Big business seeks to assert clean energy needs

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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A group described as featuring the world’s most influential companies says it’s actively engaging with policy makers and utilities to accelerate the transition to renewable energy – but it is calling on governments to remove the remaining barriers.

Going 100% renewable: how companies are demanding a faster market response is the 2019 RE100 Progress and Insights Annual Report from international non-profit The Climate Group in partnership with CDP. It tracks the progress of more than 200 member companies toward 100% renewable electricity.

The report reveals that although members are increasingly opting for cost-effective sourcing methods that directly bring additional renewable energy capacity online, unfavourable policy and market structures are inflating prices and making it harder to switch in places such as China and Russia.

The good news is that half of members (49%) are planning to partner with and influence stakeholders (such as governments and energy companies) by the end of next year, to help create markets for renewables. Such efforts are already bringing about policy changes in the Republic of Korea and the Taiwanese market, where to date access has been difficult.

This week policy makers are gathering at the UN Climate Change conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, to discuss how to bring ambition in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. Analysis released last week by the UN Environment Programme showed on current unconditional pledges, the world is heading for a dangerous temperature rise of 3.2˚C.

Helen Clarkson, CEO, The Climate Group, said: “At a time when UN research has said countries are underdelivering on climate action, leading businesses are stepping into the void left by national governments and accelerating the clean energy transition.

“With ten years left to halve greenhouse gas emissions, it is vital that governments respond faster to rising demand for renewable energy. Without decisive action, countries and the energy sector risk losing out on billions of US dollars in investment from RE100 companies.”

Paul Simpson, CEO, CDP, said: “Corporate demand for renewable power is rapidly growing as the world moves to address the climate emergency. Encouragingly, we see renewable energy increasingly becoming a matter of business competitiveness in numerous markets around the world.

“Many companies are now making the shift because it makes business sense – in part due to changing expectations from their key stakeholders – be that investors, customers or employees. Now is the time to meet the demand and speed up the clean energy transition”.

Seven critical areas for energy sector transformation revealed

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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A new report has mapped seven critical areas for energy sector transformation and outlines a path that world leaders and companies involved in the energy sector should consider to mitigate the looming climate crisis in the next decade.

The by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) report, ‘Seven Challenges for Energy Transformation,’ was launched during three connected international events in Delhi, Beijing and New York entitled ‘EMERGE’ that brought together senior energy stakeholders to discuss issues faced within the energy sector.

The report frames RMI’s view on the most critical areas for collective action in the next three to five years that will keep global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

It identifies tipping points for rapid change that can be leveraged across investment, breakthrough policies, cross-sectoral partnerships and more. It calls for decisive actions on the part of citizens, corporations, philanthropic institutions, subnational leaders, regulators and policymakers to work together in new ways that leapfrog outdated boundaries and scale new and existing technologies.

“Working together, public and private institutions can harness market forces to dramatically accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies,” said Richard Kauffman, chair of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. “I’m proud New York is showing how these partnerships are making good progress towards our climate goals.”

The events serve as a starting point for leading energy sector thinkers and catalysts across India, China and the U.S. to explore the seven challenges and develop innovative, market-led ideas that will transform global energy use. Guided by the framework of the report, senior leaders from the public, private and philanthropic sectors will identify the highest leverage points to massively scale zero-carbon solutions together.

This ongoing work — part of a multiyear effort spearheaded by RMI — is being undertaken via a series of global labs for stakeholders to forge powerful, cross-sector connections and drive exponential impact.

“The time for action is now,” said Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of RMI. “The window of opportunity to avoid the most severe consequences is closing quickly. This report, and our efforts to mobilise the world’s top leaders to solve it together, is a critical first step to bring about urgently needed change.”

To download the report, visit https://rmi.org/seven-challenges-report.

UK power market hits consolidation as Brexit looms

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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A major change is underway in the UK power market, with increasing competition, regulatory headwinds, growth in renewables and investors’ uncertainty in Brexit all playing a part.

That’s according to research by GlobalData, which says a significant number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within the UK power sector has signalled a period of consolidation, along with over 10 electricity and natural gas suppliers folding their businesses within the last year.

GlobalData says the smaller scale suppliers are most at risk, with some exiting the market after they failed to hedge the risks properly, and others falling prey to big players through M&A.

“It is evident that companies will only be able to survive in this competitive market if they are able to achieve economies of scale,” said Ankit Mathur, Practice Head of Power at GlobalData. “The small players have provided an opening for large energy companies to diversify and enter the UK energy retail business.

“For example, Shell Energy debuted into the UK energy market after acquiring First Utility in 2017 and recently proposed to acquire Green Star Energy. This proposed transaction along with announcements of Octopus Energy acquiring Co-op Energy, and Ovo Energy slated to acquire SSE Energy’s retail business, marks the third such announcement in the last three months that indicates the UK retail market is under a consolidation phase.”

GlobalData says the UK’s Big Six energy suppliers (British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON SE, npower, Scottish Power and SSE) have been badly bruised by the fierce competition from more than 60 smaller competitors offering cheaper and affordable prices.

According to Ofgem, the Big Six companies have lost around 1.3 million customers and are serving just above 70 per cent of the domestic customers. Their cumulative profits tanked by 10 per cent and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell by 35 per cent in 2018 as compared to 2017.

Mathur added: “The smaller companies in the next tier are boosting share; however, they are more prone to the risk, with some exiting the market. The new stringent entry requirements for new suppliers including tighter funding requirements, providing a customer service plan and passing a ‘fit and proper’ test may restrict new entry into the market.”

Businesses ‘waste billions’ stockpiling rubbish

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
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Homes and businesses across the UK are storing rubbish and old junk that is wasting space, energy, rent and rates.

That’s according to research by Censuswide for Skoup, a ‘pay-as-you-throw’ service for surplus clutter and waste.

The research indicates that homes and business are wasting space and money on storage for bulky items that they’ll never use, such as sofas, filing cabinets, old equipment and general junk that can’t be recycled at the kerbside.

The data also found that the average home is wasting six square feet of living space, storing rubbish because the items are too large or too difficult to recycle or dispose of.

The scale of this waste at national level is eye-opening: Collectively, the national “waste of space” in UK homes amounts to 3,444 acres of living space, equivalent to the entire floor space of 164,000 average sized UK houses, 1,722 football pitches or ten Hyde Parks.

The worst part of the country for storing rubbish is Norwich, where the biggest hoarders store a colossal 7.36 square feet on average in their homes.

In the South East a staggering one in 50 homes have more than 20 square foot dedicated to junk storage. Age was also a factor in hoarding – the baby boomer generation (age 55+) store more than twice as much junk as Gen Z (age 16-24).

“Many of us wish that we had more space in our homes and businesses, and often we overlook the rubbish that has literally become part of the furniture,” said George Pearce, Commercial Development Manager, who is leading the national launch of Skoup.

To gauge pent-up demand, Skoup placed a skip in a street in Solihull and filmed what happened next. The skip was filled within just three hours.

“If you replicate what we did with this experiment nationally, it’s clear that there are thousands of skips’ worth of rubbish that UK homes are desperate to get rid of, not counting the extra waste that they tolerate,” Pearce added.

Businesses are also housing unwanted desks, chairs, old equipment and more, according to Skoup polling. The average office of a small business has enough space taken up with rubbish to seat an additional two employees and most say they have been hoarding for a matter of years rather than weeks or months.

Office floor space equivalent to just one employee’s work area can cost around £6,000 per annum, based on a per square foot rental fee of £4 per month.

“When you consider the cost of business rent and rates for storing rubbish, clutter and junk, the total national bill for SMEs alone stretches into the tens of billions of pounds per annum, which is simply staggering,” Pearce added.

Censuswide surveyed 2,000 respondents across the UK between 20th and 23rd September 2019.

Image by Thomas B. from Pixabay