Tesla Throne Teetering

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German magazine Focus claims that German car giants are rapidly catching up with Tesla and gives 5 reasons for that development:

• Radical improvement cost structure
• 100% CEO-level acceptance that the ICE car is history
• No more fascination for design, but instead focus on battery production, charging poles, software
• No more obsession with growing and take-over of competitors, but instead becoming agile
• Acceptance of political directives like the Paris Accords and EU renewable energy program

[focus.de] – Der Musk-Thron wackelt
[forbes.com] – Yes, Tesla Stock Really Is Overvalued
[deepresource] – “E-Vehicles 2025 – and the Winner is… Volkswagen!”

Going Green – Power Purchase Agreement

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Energy is the lifeblood of any company. No energy, no company. A company ensuring access to energy sources is ensuring the continuity of said company. And with the Paris Accords in place, it also means a safe bet that a company is seen as being morally on the right side, that is the green side.

A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is a contract between a company and a renewable energy provider that a certain guaranteed amount of renewable energy is going to be bought by the company from the provider. The result is that companies with deep pockets are funding the renewable energy transition and greatly enhance its momentum, without a single public dime involved.

Distinction needs to be made between a physical PPA and a virtual (or financial) PPA. With a physical PPA, renewable energy is pumped directly from the source into the company, without involvement of the grid. With a virtual (or financial) PPA in his pocket, the renewable energy provider can begin to develop his renewable energy project, because he can show to the financier he has a guaranteed source of income.

Listed here are a few companies that are engaged in a power purchase agreement (PPA).

Netherlands

Dutch Rail
Amsterdam Airport
Philips Electronics
Heineken
ASML
AkzoNobel
Air Liquide
Eneco
DSM

Germany

Daimler-Benz
Volkswagen
RWE
E.ON
Deutsche Bahn
Frankfurt Airport

France

Total
Department “Meurthe-et-Moselle”

UK

Nestlé-UK

US

Amazon
Google
Apple

Italy

Eni

Norway

Statkraft

Denmark

Danfoss

[orsted.com] – Power Purchase Agreement
[wikipedia.org] – Power purchase agreement

LAVO – Residential Hydrogen Storage

LAVO Marketing video

The Australian start-up LAVO has introduced an energy storage device, based on hydrogen, that is produced locally in an electrolyzer and stored in metal, like water in a sponge. The energy is retrieved as electricity via a fuel cell. Storage capacity 40 kWh, which is 3 times a Tesla Power Wall, but with the same size and price, perhaps, is $34k. Vague about round-trip efficiency, perhaps lower than 50%, where a battery has 75-90%.

Website comment: it seems to make little sense to replace a battery with a small electrolyzer/fuell cell. Hydrogen brings added value only if it can provide seasonal storage, in the range of several months, not days; we have cheaper, more efficient batteries or pumped hydro for that. Nevertheless, bringing hydrogen storage to private homes is impressive, and we can only wish them success.

[lavo.com.au] – LAVO company site
[newatlas.com] – Home hydrogen battery stores 3x the energy of a Powerwall 2
[groenezaken.com] – Waterstofopslag voor woningen en bedrijven komt op de markt

Review from hell:

[solarquotes.com.au] – LAVO’s Australian Made Hydrogen Battery: Incredible Engineering. Tough Sell.

Battery prices in Europe, ca. $500,-/kWh

[solarwinkel.be] – Batterijen

Construction 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust-Zuid to Begin in June

Jack-up ship: Seaway Strashnov
Depth North Sea: 18-28 m
Turbines: 140 Siemens-Gamesa SG 11.0-200 DD (11 MW)
Installation date monopiles: Summer 2022
Start electricity production: 2022
Commission date: mid-2023

[offshorewind.biz] – Offshore Construction on Dutch Trailblazer to Start in June
[nl.wikipedia.org] – Windpark Hollandse Kust Zuid
[de.wikipedia.org] – Seaway Strashnov

[source]

[source] – Siemens-Gamesa 11 MW

World’s Largest Construction Firm Moving into Renewables

[source]

(Bloomberg) — Vinci SA’s move to buy a core business of Spain’s Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA ​​​for about 4.9 billion euros ($5.8 billion) will turn the French infrastructure giant into a global player in renewable energies. The deal that was more than six months in the making expands Vinci’s reach into Spain and Latin America, according to a statement Thursday… The acquisition includes a pipeline of 15 gigawatts of new renewable power assets, mostly solar and onshore wind, plus a team that can originate more. Vinci is also looking at 8 gigawatts of offshore wind projects. Depending on how much of those actually get built, the assets could turn the company into a significant developer of green power.

[bloombergquint.com] – Vinci Seals $5.8 Billion Deal Marking Push Into Renewables
[wikipedia.org] – Vinci SA

“Scotland Can Provide 25% of EU’s Renewable Energy”

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Most Scottish newspapers are unionist and oppose Scottish independence. But even they have to operate in an environment, rife with secessionism, that thanks to the economic disaster that is Brexit (most of all for the UK), got a new lease of life, after the failed independence bid of 2014. So even “The Scotsman” occasionally has to give voice to those who promote secession and within the current Scottish political context that is the SNP and the Greens.

The English love to express a certain dédain for the economic prospects of an independent Scotland, but the reality is that within the EU, Scotland can be expected to thrive, even more than Ireland has done, and they are currently one of the richest per capita countries in Europe. Not bad for a country, once known for “too much whiskey and too few potatoes”. Why is Ireland so rich and attractive?

1. it is a loyal EU member
2. the population speaks English (sort of)

That makes it attractive to foreign investors from all around the world, not just from the US. The point to make is that the same conditions apply to Scotland as well. There is sufficient reason to assume that Scotland could become another “Celtic Tiger”. Certainly if you realize this:

“Scotland has the potential to provide 25% of Europe’s renewable energy”

Say what?!

According to an op-ed by Lorna Slater, a Scottish politician for the Greens Party, does Scotland have the potential to become for Europe a renewable energy Saudi-Arabia (our words). With 65/km2, Scotland is sparsely populated. In the waters of Scotland there is a lot of potential for tidal energy, the field of Lorna Slater. And then there is on- and offshore wind. Renewable energy could be a major export product into continental European markets and a guarantee for future Scottish wealth.

[scotsman.com] – Renewables can power economy of an independent Scotland

P.S. What Lorna Slater failed to mention is that, apart from renewable energy generation, Scotland also has great potential for renewable energy storage, far greater than required for domestic needs:

[deepresource] – World-Record Pumped-Hydro Storage for Scotland?
[deepresource] – Great Potential for Pumped Hydro in Scotland

Mercedes-Benz EQS

Despite this being a car skeptic site, here the answer Daimler has in store for Tesla: the EQS. By 2022, Mercedes-Benz will have 10 e-models on offer.

[wikipedia.org] – Mercedes-Benz EQS
[spiegel.de] – Mit diesem Auto will Daimler Tesla attackieren

Daimler, Volkswagen & Salzgitter Go Green

One of the most potent boosters of the renewable energy transition are companies, keen on presenting themselves as “green”, in that they purchase green energy sources, with an output that roughly matches the energy consumption of said companies. Examples of that behavior in the recent past are Apple, Google, Dutch Rail, Dutch Infrastructure ministry, Amsterdam Airport and many more.

Now Daimler has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Norwegian utility Statkraft, sourced from wind, solar and hydro-power:

The power for the PPA will come from a fleet of 24 post-subsidy wind farms as well as a portion of the solar production from Schornhof PV complex in the south of Germany, together equal to the electricity consumed by some 65,000 households.

And then there is Volkswagen:

In 2020, Volkswagen Group increased the share of renewables powering its European factories from 80% to 95% (year over year/YoY), and 10 of its factories became 100% renewably powered. The target is for them to reach 100% renewable power by 2023.

And finally German steel giant Salzgitter:

A major green hydrogen facility in Germany has started operations, with those behind the project hoping it will help to decarbonize the energy-intensive steel industry in the years ahead… The development in Germany is centered around seven new wind turbines operated by Avacon and two 1.25 megawatt (MW) electrolyzer units installed by Salzgitter Flachstahl… The turbines, from Vestas, have a hub height of 169 meters and a combined capacity of 30 MW. All are located on premises of the Salzgitter Group, with three situated on the site of a steel mill in the city of Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, northwest Germany. The hydrogen produced using renewables will be utilized in processes connected to the smelting of iron ore.

An interesting aspect of the decentralized renewable energy transition is that it is funded to a large degree by social actors, like companies, households, municipalities, banks, pension funds, investment firms, etc. and not solely by the national governments or EU, who can mostly concentrate on signaling, designing regulations, directives, a little subsidy here and there and that’s it. The renewable energy transition is an effort by all parts of society and that makes it such a unique undertaking.

[rechargenews.com] – Daimler car factories go green 24/7 with hydro-backed Statkraft wind-solar power deal
[daimler.com] – Daimler Sustainability
[cleantechnica.com] – Volkswagen’s European Factories Up To 95% Powered By Renewables
[cnbc.com] – German steel powerhouse turns to ‘green’ hydrogen produced using huge wind turbines
[deepresource] – Dutch Rail Runs 100% on Wind Power

Sand Batteries

In the desert there is no water for pumped storage. There is however lots of sand, as well as heat. Could be used for heat storage, heat that can be transformed into electricity.

[energymatters.com.au] – Sand Batteries For Solar Energy Storage
[irjet.net] – Heat Storing Sand Battery
[wikipedia.org] – Thermal battery
[deepresource] – SandTES – Storing Heat in Sand

Iranian Homegrown Wind Turbine

It’s difficult to find reliable information, but this probably refers to a 2.5 MW machine from MAPNA.

To facilitate cooperation with globally renowned companies in technology transfer, the company succeeded in obtaining licenses and indigenizing technical knowledge of manufacturing wind turbines with 2.5MW capacity from Fuhrländer, a renowned German manufacturer of wind-power plants.

[mapnagroup.com] – CLEAN ENERGY

So it’s not entirely homegrown, but nevertheless produced in Iran.

[erneuerbareenergien.de] – Fuhrländer’s new hope: Iran

Aha, the Iranians apparently saved Fuhrländer from bankruptcy:

Now it is evidently Mapna who will take over. The Iranians are supposed to continue to advance development of the 3 MW turbines and add 80 employees. Mapna is also a customer of a Fuhrländer project in Iran. In 2012, authorities delayed exporting the turbine to Iran due to a European embargo, but problems with the embargo are supposed to be clarified prior to the sale, a spokesperson confirmed.

[de.zxc.wiki] – Fuhrländer

The Fuhrländer AG company was dissolved in December 2012 due to bankruptcy. Fuhrländer AG’s business operations were finally terminated in summer 2013. Around a third of the workforce has been taken over by a new company called FWT Trade.

[wwindea.org] – WWEA welcomes 600th member: FWT energy GmbH

(2014) FWT is active in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, India, USA, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Iran and China. Currently 22 turbines (FWT 2000) are being delivered for the first wind project in Kazachztan, a flagship project of Expo 2017 in Astana.

[https://fwt-energy.com/de] – company site

[mapnagroup.com] – MAPNA Turbine Blade Engineering and Manufacturing
[thewindpower.net] – Mapna 2.5 MW
[evwind.es] – Wind energy in Iran, Wind Power Coming to Sistan-Baluchestan
[Google Maps] – Mile Nader Wind Energy Zone, near Zabol