Renewable energy sources, at least wind and solar, are variable ? the wind isn’t always blowing, the sun isn’t always shining. This is something every glib(軽薄な) pundit(批評家) on the internet cites as a reason(as a reason:というのも，位？) we’ll need fossil-fuel(fossil[fasl]化石) or nuclear “baseload” power plants for the foreseeable(予見出来る) future. It’s a frustrating topic, since people who actually study the subject (like NREL[米・再生可能エネルギー研究所]) have shown that there are all sorts of ways to handle variability(可変性→変動性) without disrupting(distupt:混乱した・崩壊した) the grid.
One of those ways is transmission(送信→送電？): building power lines to take renewable energy from where it is abundant (often remote areas) to where it is needed (mainly big cities). More specifically, the idea is to build high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) lines that would carry energy over long distances from remote sites and feed it into the alternating-current (AC) lines that serve urban areas. (The DC vs. AC question is interesting, but not particularly essential for understanding the bigger questions.)
Transmission is a somewhat vexed(苛々した・盛んに論じられる→話題の？要討論の？) subject in the energy world. It brings land/wildlife-focused enviros(熱心な環境活動家・enbironは取り囲む) and local-energy enthusiasts in tension with mainstream enviros and lots of large corporate interests(bring A in tenshon with B:AをBと対立させる？). I’m a local-energy guy myself and have, in the past, pushed back against the kneejerk(knee-jerk：膝蓋腱反射・お決まりの行動) resort(リゾート→皆が良く訪れる場所) to more transmission.
Still(それでもhttps://www.eibunpou.net/13/chapter32/32_2.html). Even stipulating(〜を契約の条件として要求する) that we can and should do much, much more to encourage local energy ownership and management; even stipulating that local energy is capable of much more than most forecasts give it credit for; even then, I think new transmission infrastructure is to be welcomed.
Here’s my logic. There are lots of ways other than transmission to handle variable renewable energy and help stabilize its presence on the grid: energy storage, sophisticated distribution grids, demand response, more energy efficiency, etc. Eventually (hopefully?), those other means will allow local, variable, renewable sources of energy to provide smoother, more constant service. And they’ll ensure that every bit of renewable capacity is used to the fullest. But it looks to me like renewables are scaling up much more quickly than those complementary technologies(結局，これら補完的な技術よりも送電罔がより速く規模拡大できるように私には見える). Until we have more robust local energy systems, I think we’re going to need the brute-force method, i.e., transmission. (I’m open to hearing arguments to the contrary.)
…
The $10 billion plan just approved by parliament will involve three high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) lines running north to south, through Corridors A, C, and D respectively. (I don’t know what happened to poor Corridor B.) Here’s their nifty illustration:
Like much else in the clean-energy world, HVDC lines have been the target of considerable innovation recently. It’s now possible to route them through existing AC corridors(回廊地帯・重要な交通ルート・廊下), using existing towers, thus minimizing the need for disruptive(破壊的な＞disrupt：混乱した) siting battles. Work is underway on high-tech converters that can also act as breakers, allowing power to be cut off in an instant in the case of fault or accident on the AC grid ? at least in that sense, HVDC lines are getting “smarter” than existing AC lines.
In approving these lines, Germany is taking the first step toward a much-discussed “supergrid” that will interconnect all of Europe:
同研究所の太陽光関連の部署（フラウンホーファーISE）は、カイロに立地するドイツ大使館の委託を受け、太陽光発電関連のEPC事業者であるエジプトSolarizEgyptと共同で発電コストを調査、「Electricity cost from renewable energy technologies in Egypt」として公開した。
WoodMac: Global Energy Storage Installations to Hit 15GW by 2024
The 2020s are the decade when the energy storage market comes of age, with potentially profound implications for the global energy system.
greentechmedia.com
午後10:53 ・ 2020年3月1日
WoodMac: Global Energy Storage Installations to Hit 15GW by 2024
The 2020s are the decade when the energy storage market comes of age?with potentially profound implications for the global energy system.
The 2020s will be a new chapter for the wind industry, according to Wood Mackenzie research, as offshore wind’s share of the annual global wind market reaches 25 percent by 2028, up from 10 percent last year.
Onshore wind matured as an industry over the past 10 years. This maturation will continue in the new decade, as onshore wind increasingly competes with solar and suppliers undergo further consolidation.
Meanwhile, WoodMac finds that installed offshore wind capacity is expected to grow 7x by 2028. More than 80 percent of the capacity expected to be installed between 2019-2025 has already been awarded.
While the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for onshore wind will continue falling in the 2020s, none of the sector’s advances in turbine tower design, blade materials or controls will be true game-changers, according to Wood Mackenzie’s Dan Shreve.
Groundbreaking technology advancements now generally fall within the offshore wind sector as opposed to onshore.
LCOE had already dropped significantly for offshore wind in recent years as companies invested in purpose-built equipment and designs targeting offshore wind. That trend will continue in the 2020s as technology costs continue to fall.
① 本発電所には、塩害対応高効率多結晶太陽電池モジュール285Wを55,104枚 （15.7MW）採用し、積雪対応の三次元アルミ架台に取付、アレイフィール ドを構成します。
② その出力は１MWPCS13台により直流から交流に電力変換されます。その電 力は北海道電力が要求する変動率1%/分をクリアする必要がある為、次世 代高容量リチウム蓄電池（40FTコンテナに2MWh）と双方向PCS・充放電制 御システムによって、安定化した電力として系統に連系されます。
③ 敷地内に北海道電力の送電鉄塔がある為、敷地内に受変電所を設け66ｋV に昇圧し連系しています。
2018年06月21日、ソネディックス・ジャパン株式会社（以下、「ソネディックス・ジャパン」）は同社とソネディックス・グループが投資するSPC「Sun Station Hikari V GK」が株式会社三菱UFJ銀行との間で約139億円のノン・リコース融資契約を締結し、建設工事を開始したことを発表した
対象となる事業は、レノバが中国の太陽光発電事業会社Sky Solar Holdings Ltd.（以下、「Sky Solar社」）とNECキャピタルソリューション株式会社（以下、「NECキャピタルソリューション」）と共同で開発を進める『軽米尊坊ソーラー事業』だ。当該事業は出力規模約40.8MW、年間の想定発電量は約4,714万kWhになる予定。一般家庭の使用電力量に換算すると約15,800世帯相当の発電量となる。2018年4月より着工開始し、計画通りに進めば2021年10月に商業運転開始となる。
株式会社IHI、株式会社JERA、丸紅株式会社およびWoodside Energy Ltd.（以下「４社」）は、このたび、国立研究開発法人新エネルギー・産業技術総合開発機構（NEDO）の委託事業「アンモニア混焼火力発電技術の先導研究」について、実施内容として追加された事業用火力発電所におけるアンモニア混焼に向けたフィージビリティスタディに係る事業に共同で参加することといたしました。
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review
Originally published on May 28, but a clear highlight of the year.
In 2019, U.S. annual energy consumption from renewable sources exceeded coal consumption for the first time since before 1885, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Energy Review. This outcome mainly reflects the continued decline in the amount of coal used for electricity generation over the past decade as well as growth in renewable energy, mostly from wind and solar. Compared with 2018, coal consumption in the United States decreased nearly 15%, and total renewable energy consumption grew by 1%.
Historically, wood was the main source of U.S. energy until the mid-1800s and was the only commercial-scale renewable source of energy in the United States until the first hydropower plants began producing electricity in the 1880s. Coal was used in the early 1800s as fuel for steam-powered boats and trains and making steel, and it was later used to generate electricity in the 1880s. EIA’s earliest energy estimates began in 1635.
EIA converts sources of energy to common units of heat, called British thermal units (Btu), to compare different types of energy that are reported in different physical units (barrels, cubic feet, tons, kilowatthours, etc.). EIA uses a fossil fuel equivalence to calculate electricity consumption of noncombustible renewables such as wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal.
Rooftop solar installations skyrocketed in Vietnam last year prior to a hard installation deadline for feed-in tariffs, with more than 9GWp of rooftop solar installed in the country.
Throughout 2020 rooftop solar installations in Vietnam grew by a major 2,435%, rising from a 2019 base of 378MWp to 9.583GWp, spread across almost 102,000 systems.
The growth figures are confirmed by state-owned Vietnam Electricity (EVN), though the numbers have been further revised upward in the past day.
Vietnam rooftop solar installations grew steadily in H1 2020 despite the pandemic and a nationwide lockdown period imposed in the country. Rooftop solar growth continued to accelerate throughout Q3 2020, before skyrocketing in December 2020.
Vietnam’s tremendous rooftop solar market was driven by a second iteration, FIT2 (feed-in tariff) policy paying USD $0.0838 per kWh over a period of 20 years for systems with a Commercial Operation Date of 31 December 2020 at the latest.
The FIT2 was only finalised in early April 2020 after initial expectations were for an extension of the original USD $0.0935 per kWh rooftop solar FIT.
この夏には、2050年の脱炭素社会に向けて、将来の電源構成を決める「エネルギー基本計画」の改定が控えています。3月11日夜、「原発ゼロ・自然エネルギー推進連盟」と「Choose Life Project」のコラボ企画「原発事故から10年 エネルギーの未来を決めるのは誰なのか？」に山崎さんと出演した秋本さんは、一緒に議論した大学生たちにこう誓いました。
電源開発（Jパワー）の米国現地法人J-POWER USA Development（JPUSA）と米投資会社Fortress Investment Groupは3月31日、2021年月3月に閉鎖した米バージニア州のバーチウッド石炭火力発電所の跡地を、蓄電設備付きの太陽光発電所に転換するプロジェクトで合意したと発表した。
同発電所は、JPUSAが2007年に出資し、JPUSAと米GEが権益の50%ずつを保有する石炭火力発電所だった。設備容量は258MW。運営主体のBirchwood Power Partnersは3月初旬に発電所の廃止を公表していた。
株式会社大林組（本社：東京都港区、社長：蓮輪賢治）は、ニュージーランド・タウポ（※1）においてTuaropaki Trust（トゥアロパキ・トラスト）（※2）と共に建設を進めてきた、同国初のメガワット級グリーン水素製造プラントの開所式を開催し、製造されるグリーン水素の試験販売を開始します。
左から、Tuaropaki Trust CEO Steve Murray（トゥアロパキ・トラスト スティーブ・マリー CEO）、NZ Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods（ニュージーランド ミーガン・ウッズ エネルギー・資源大臣、Tuaropaki Trust Chair Gina Ranqi（トゥアロパキ・トラスト ジーナ・ランギ 議長）、在ニュージーランド日本国大使館 伊藤康一 大使
論文のタイトルは「Biocrude Oil Production by Integrating Microalgae Polyculture and Wastewater Treatment：Novel Proposal on the Use of Deep Water-Depth Polyculture of Mixotrophic Microalgae」（微細藻類ポリカルチャーと廃水処理を融合したバイオ原油生産：混合栄養藻類の高深度ポリカルチャーの新規提案）。論文では「混合栄養藻類」が下水処理場でどれだけ育ち、それを原油化した場合、どうなるかを試算しました。
中部電力は去年、100%子会社Chubu Electric Power Company Netherlands B.V.を通じて、カナダの地熱技術開発企業であるEavor Technologies Inc.（エバー・テクノロジーズ社以下、「エバー社」）に出資した。中部電力が海外で地熱エネルギー関連企業に出資するのは初めてだ。
中部電力は去年、100%子会社Chubu Electric Power Company Netherlands B.V.を通じて、カナダの地熱技術開発企業であるEavor Technologies Inc.（エバー・テクノロジーズ社以下、「エバー社」）に出資した。中部電力が海外で地熱エネルギー関連企業に出資するのは初めてだ。
デザーテック（DESERTEC）は、DESERTEC Foundation が提唱している地球規模で砂漠の太陽エネルギーや風力エネルギーを利用しようというコンセプトである。デゼルテックとも。そのコンセプトを DESERTEC Foundation とヨーロッパの企業群で結成したコンソーシアム DII GmbH が北アフリカと中東で実現しようとしている。デザーテックは、ローマクラブとドイツのTREC (Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation) の後援の下で生まれた[1]。
