www.teitimes.com
November 2019 • Volume 12 • No 9 • Published monthly • ISSN 1757-7365
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES is published by Man in Black Media • www.mibmedia.com • Editor-in-Chief: Junior Isles • For all enquiries email: enquiries@teitimes.com
A work in
progress
What’s in store?
The energy transition still requires
massive investment from the
electricity sector, says Eurelectric.
Page 13
Analysing the trends in battery energy
storage and the key technologies
affecting utilities in their transformation.
Page 14
News In Brief
Tremendous growth in
renewables but still not
enough to halt climate
change
Two recent International Energy
Agency (IEA) reports forecast
strong growth for renewables but the
Paris-based organisation warns that
deployment at the current pace is
insufcient to meet climate goals.
Page 2
Connecticut attracts key
players for 2 GW tender
Connecticut’s offshore wind energy
sector is set for growth after a
2 GW tender attracted bids from
three major developers.
Page 4
Australia poised for clean
energy exports
Australia could soon become
a world-leader in exporting
renewable energy with the recent
announcement of plans to export
solar power and hydrogen.
Page 6
German plan fosters
onshore wind growth
Germany’s government has
presented proposals to boost growth
in the country’s onshore wind energy
sector.
Page 7
South Africa unveils power
plan as blackouts persist
South Africa has been hit by a new
wave of rolling blackouts, as the
government put forward plans for
developing its power sector for the
next decade.
Page 8
Senvion seals SGRE deal
Senvion is starting to wind down
parts of its business after securing
a deal with Siemens for the sale of
its European onshore wind services
unit.
Page 9
Technology: Cloud-based
systems take stock of
energy use
A live-streaming business energy
monitoring and costing platform
that allows real-time, deep analytics,
takes energy management to a new
level.
Page 15
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Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency earmarked 2019 as the year of
unprecedented momentum for hydrogen. Several major announcements last month seem to
be proving that claim. Junior Isles, reports.
Study nds utility industry vulnerabilities to
cyber attacks
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY
TIMES
Final Word
It’s time for joined up
thinking, says Junior Isles.
Page 16
Several signicant announcements in
both Europe and Asia in recent weeks
have highlighted the growing belief
that hydrogen will play a critical role
in achieving global climate change
ambitions.
At the Hydrogen for Climate Con-
ference in Brussels last month, the EU
unveiled a multi-billion initiative to
support the development of hydrogen
projects throughout Europe to decar-
bonise industry, transport and build-
ings. The projects will seek invest-
ment exceeding €60 billion ($66.5
billion) over the next 5-10 years and
once complete are estimated to save
35 million t/y of carbon dioxide.
One notable proposal among the 11
projects is the Silver Frog project pro-
posed for the European Union’s Im-
portant Projects of Common Europe-
an Interest (IPCEI). Four companies
– Belgium-based rm Hydrogenics
Europe, Swiss solar industry supplier
Meyer Burger Technology AG, Hun-
garian solar technology rm Ecoso-
lifer, and renewables developer Euro-
pean Energy of Denmark – are hoping
to build a solar production factory to
produce high-efciency modules. The
factory, with an annual capacity of 2
GW, would provide over 10 GW of
installed PV capacity that will go to-
wards hydrogen production.
The project is estimated to support
the production of 800 000 t of green
hydrogen over an eight-year period,
offsetting 8 million t of CO
2
emissions
per year.
The news came as Germany’s Min-
istry of Education and Research said it
intends to inject at least a further €300
million in funding for green hydrogen
research by 2023, having already al-
located €180 million for the coming
years. This latest pledge brings Ger-
many’s total investment commitment
for hydrogen research to €780 million,
including the Federal Ministry for
Economic Affairs and Energy’s own
€300 million pledge that was an-
nounced in July.
In a sign that companies are prepar-
ing for a potential boom in hydrogen,
industrial gas and engineering group
Linde said last month that it has taken
a stake in a small British business that
manufactures machines to produce
hydrogen. Linde has agreed to invest
£38 million in return for 20 per cent of
Shefeld-based ITM Power, which
has a market capitalisation of about
£140 million and makes electrolysers
that use electricity to produce hydro-
gen from water.
The announcements followed news
at the beginning of the month that a
team of energy experts from Tractebel
Engineering GmbH and offshore en-
gineers from Tractebel Overdick
Continued on Page 2
A report released last month has re-
vealed that the risk of cyber attacks on
the utility industry may be worsening.
The study by Siemens and the
Ponemon Institute says that as utilities
increasingly adopt business models
that connect operational technology
(OT) power generation, transmission,
and distribution assets to information
technology (IT) systems, critical in-
frastructure is more vulnerable to cy-
ber attacks.
The survey of 1726 utility profes-
sionals, responsible for securing or
overseeing cyber risk in OT environ-
ments at electric utilities with gas,
solar, wind assets, and water utilities
throughout North America, Europe,
Middle East, the Asia-Pacic region,
and Latin America, show the risk of
cyber attacks on the utility industry
may be worsening, with 56 per cent
of respondents reporting at least one
shutdown or operational data loss per
year. Further, 25 per cent had been
impacted by mega attacks, which are
frequently aided with expertise de-
veloped by nation-state actors.
The vulnerability of critical infra-
structure to cyber attacks has potential
to cause severe nancial, environ-
mental and infrastructure damage,
and according to all respondents, 64
per cent say sophisticated attacks are
a top challenge and 54 per cent expect
an attack on critical infrastructure in
the next 12 months.
Most of the surveyed global utili-
ties say that cyber threats present a
greater risk to critical infrastructure
– compared to IT systems – and are
concerned with the unique industry
challenges, including ensuring avail-
ability, reliability and safety of elec-
tricity delivery.
Industry-wide, readiness to address
cyber attacks is uneven and has com-
mon blind spots, especially with re-
gards to the unique cyber security
requirements for OT, and the impor-
tance of distinguishing between se-
curity for OT and security for IT.
This remains a major challenge for
many organisations across the indus-
try. Only 42 per cent rated their cyber
readiness as high, and only 31 per
cent rated readiness to respond to or
contain a breach as high.
“The utility industry has woken up
to the industrial cyber threat and is
taking important steps to shore up de-
fenses,” said Leo Simonovich, Sie-
mens VP & Global Head, Industrial
Cyber & Digital Security. “We hope
this report helps utilities benchmark
their readiness and leverage best prac-
tices to stay ahead of attackers.”
The report – ‘Caught in the Cross-
hairs: Are Utilities Keeping Up with
the Industrial Cyber Threat?’ – details
the utility industry’s vulnerability to
cyber risk, readiness to address future
attacks, and provides solutions to help
industry executives and managers
better secure critical infrastructure.
It identies key vulnerabilities in
energy infrastructure that malicious
actors seek to exploit, including
common security gaps that are cre-
ated as utilities rely on digitalisation
to leverage data analytics, articial
intelligence, and balance the grid
with intermittent renewable energy
and distributed power generation.
Hydrogen
economy
gathers pace
Siemens Australia’s Jeff Connolly, says Australia “is a
potential giant” in hydrogen production
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - NOVEMBER 2019
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THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - NOVEMBER 2019
5
Asia News
Syed Ali
Emissions from thermal power plants
have declined signicantly between
2014 and 2017, according to research
carried out by a team of experts from
the UK and China.
The group analysed emissions from
coal, oil, natural gas and biomass
power plants, with a focus on coal red
power plants as the major contributors
to ambient air pollution.
The study, published in Nature En-
ergy, analysed data from 2014, when
China introduced the ambitious Ultra-
Low Emissions (ULE) Standards
Policy for renovating coal red pow-
er stations to limit air pollutant emis-
sions, to 2017.
The team found that between 2014
and 2017, China’s annual power plant
emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitro-
gen oxide and particulate matter
dropped by 65 per cent, 60 per cent
and 72 per cent each year, respec-
tively from 2.21, 3.11 and 0.52 million
tonnes in 2014 to 0.77, 1.26 and 0.14
million tonnes in 2017, which is in
compliance with ULE standards.
This means that China looks to be
on track to further reduce its emissions
if all thermal power plants meet the
ULE standards by 2020. These stan-
dards aim to limit the sulphur dioxide,
nitrogen oxide and particulate matter
emissions to 35, 50 and 10 mg/m
3
,
respectively.
Co-author, Dr Zhifu Mi at Univer-
sity College London (UCL Bartlett
School of Construction and Project
Management), said: “This is encour-
aging news for China, as well as
other countries wishing to reduce their
power emissions. Thermal power
plants combusting coal, oil, natural
gas and biomass are one of the major
contributors to global air pollution.
“These signicant emission reduc-
tions demonstrate the technical and
economic feasibility of controlling
emissions from power plants to reach
ultra-low levels, which is an important
step towards reducing the number of
deaths attributable to air pollution.”
The team constructed a nationwide
emissions data-set – the China Emis-
sions Accounts for Power Plants
(CEAP) – based on data collected
from the CEMS network between
2014 and 2017.
The research is the rst to use data
on emission concentrations collected
by China’s Continuous Emission
Monitoring Systems network
(CEMS), which covers 96-98 per cent
of the country’s thermal power capac-
ity.
China has been making a concerted
effort to reduce pollution and cut
carbon emissions from its power sec-
tor. In late September the State Power
Investment Corp. Ltd. (SPIC) an-
nounced the start of construction on a
wind power project with a power gen-
erating capacity of 6 GW in north
China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region.
Qian Zhimin, SPIC's chairman, said
the project involves an investment of
Yuan40 billion ($5.6 billion) from the
company. After being put into opera-
tion, it is expected to supply nearly 20
TWh of electricity to Beijing, Tianjin
and Hebei every year and provide
green energy for the Beijing Winter
Olympics in 2022.
The project could replace 6 million
tonnes of standard coal and reduce the
emissions of carbon dioxide by 16
million tonnes a year, said Qian.
The news came as the State Council
of China said it will replace the existing
benchmark coal red power tariffs with
a new base price-plus-oating mecha-
nism as of 1 January 2020. This new
market-based price system is expected
to lead to more exible power prices
but also to lower prots for coal red
power generators.
The benchmark price is determined
according to the on-grid electricity
price of the current coal red power
generation.
Under the new system, prices will
be determined by the power genera-
tion company, the electricity sales
company and the power user through
negotiations or bidding. Prices may
be raised by up to 10 per cent and re-
duced by up to 15 per cent.
The upward price revision will be
allowed only as of 2021 to ensure that
the average electricity price of gen-
eral industry and commerce will not
rise in 2020.
The National Council on Climate and
Air Quality has suggested implement-
ing a seasonal dust management sys-
tem that will operate from December
to March next year.
The plan would see a crackdown on
illegal emissions, the shut down of 27
coal power plants and the restriction
of over 1 million diesel vehicles from
cities during the four-month period.
The council, which expects the re-
lated bill to pass before December,
says the policy initiative is aimed at
reducing domestic emissions of PM
2.5 (ultrane particles smaller than
2.5 micrometres in diameter) by 20
per cent.
Among other proposals covering in-
dustry and transport, the council has
suggested that nine to 14 coal power
plants be shut down from December
to February, and 22 to 27 plants be
suspended in March. Coal power
plants generate 12 per cent of the coun-
try’s ultra-ne dust.
The closures could lead to an average
Won1200 ($1) hike in the monthly
electricity bill for a four-member
household over the period, the council
said.
A long-term comprehensive plan to
combat particulate pollution will be
announced in the rst half of next year,
according to the council.
A signicant project was recently an-
nounced that will help curb emissions
from electricity consumed in the in-
dustrial sector.
South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. said it
will spend Won800 billion ($668 mil-
lion) to build a 585 MW liqueed
natural gas (LNG)-based thermal
power plant in Cheongju, North Chun-
gcheong Province, by 2022 for elec-
tricity self-sufciency to run its chip
lines in the region.
SK Hynix recently presented a blue-
print of its plan to construct the LNG-
based thermal power plant, dubbed
Smart Energy Center, in Cheongju, at
its third semiconductor plant in the city
in North Chungcheong Province.
The power plant located on a 54 860
m
2
development area, will supply half
of the power consumed by the semi-
conductor facility.
China on track to meet 2020
ultra-low emissions targets
South Korea
moves to curb
pollution
n Air pollution from power plants falls dramatically n Construction starts on 6 GW wind farm
Syed Ali
Australia could soon become a world-
leader in exporting renewable energy,
with the recent announcement of
plans to export solar power and hy-
drogen to neighbouring countries.
Last month Sun Cable said it aims to
build a solar farm at a 15 000 ha site at
Tennant Creek in the Northern Terri-
tory and transmit the power produced
to Singapore via an underwater cable
from Darwin.
David Grifn, Chief Executive of
Sun Cable, said the market was there
in Singapore and he was condent the
project would be able to deliver clean
energy to the City-State in the near
future, while providing huge benets
to Australia. At present, 95 per cent
of Singapore’s electricity is generated
from liquid natural gas, which is im-
ported mainly from Malaysia and
Indonesia.
The solar export project has already
been granted major project status by
the Northern Territory Government
and environment approvals are pend-
ing. It is hoped construction can begin
in 2023.
Australia has traditionally been a
global exporter of coal and gas but the
project looks to be the start of a trend
to export green energy to countries in
the region.
In late September the South Austra-
lian government unveiled a plan to
become a leading global exporter of
certied green hydrogen. South Aus-
tralian Premier Steven Marshall used
his opening address at the Internation-
al Conference on Hydrogen Safety in
Adelaide to launch its Hydrogen Ac-
tion Plan.
He said while other jurisdictions
were looking at non-renewable hydro-
gen as a stepping-stone to renewable
hydrogen, South Australia was well
placed to move straight to certied
renewable hydrogen. Four key hydro-
gen projects are already underway in
South Australia, utilising $17 million
in government grants and $25 million
in loans.
The state is already a world leader in
wind, solar and battery storage, to the
point where excess renewable energy
is often shed during peak production
periods.
“In this scenario, storage technolo-
gies such as hydrogen are extremely
attractive to our state and as a large
state in an area with remote communi-
ties, prospective mineral regions and
long transport routes, hydrogen is an
exciting, exible fuel for the future,”
said Marshall.
Marshall said South Australia was on
track to reach 90 per cent renewable
energy generation in the mid-2020s
and become a net renewable energy
exporter in the 2030s.
South Australia was the rst Austra-
lian jurisdiction to develop a plan to
accelerate a hydrogen economy with
the release in 2017 of a Hydrogen
Roadmap. Last year, Australia’s na-
tional science research agency CSIRO
released its National Hydrogen Road-
map and several other states have also
since released their own plans.
6
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - NOVEMBER 2019
Asia News
Australia poised for clean
energy exports
Global analytical company CRISIL
says it expects India to miss its goal of
having 175 GW of renewables gen-
eration capacity in 2022 by around 42
per cent amid policy uncertainty and
low interest in tender rounds.
The rm predicts the country’s in-
stalled renewables capacity at the end
of scal 2022 will be just 104 GW,
including 59 GW of solar and 45 GW
of wind.
In its ‘REturn to Uncertainty’ report,
CRISIL said there has been a signi-
cant drop in developer interest as tariff
ceilings are being lowered. This, it
says, is constraining project viability
and causing renegotiation of tenders.
The fact that some local governments
have tried reducing the tariffs in signed
contracts is not helping, it added.
CRISIL’s report shows that around
26 per cent of the 64 GW of projects
auctioned by the central government
and state agencies in the scal year
ended March 2019 attracted no, or
lukewarm, interest, while 31 per cent
faced delays in allocation. As a result,
the ratio of auctioned or awarded proj-
ects to tendered projects fell to 34 per
cent in scal 2019 from 77 per cent
over scals 2015-16 and 2016-2017.
In order to restore developers’ con-
dence, India needs to relax tariff caps
and provide a consistent and stable
policy environment, CRISIL said. Be-
sides, some policies such as renewable
purchase obligations and penalties for
delays in payments should be of-
cially included in the Electricity Act,
it added.
India’s renewable energy pro-
gramme is the world’s most ambitious
and is central to meeting its climate
commitments. The programme, how-
ever, has also faced problems related
to the use of agricultural land for re-
newable projects.
In a move to address the issue, last
month a top government ofcial said
India would set up solar and wind proj-
ects on fallow land along its interna-
tional border with Pakistan. A 30 km
long, 20 km wide plot of land has been
identied along the border in Kutch
district of Gujarat and stretches along
the border in Bikaner, Barmer and Jais-
almer districts of Rajasthan.
The government has proposed that
state-run companies build massive
clean energy parks at a cost of around
$2 billion each with built-in incentives
to ensure states and operators are in-
vested in the success of the parks.
The proposed renewable energy
power parks of 2000 MW each will
help developers achieve economies of
scale and further bring down solar and
wind power tariffs
India set to miss
renewables target
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Connect and manage
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n Solar power exports planned to Singapore
n Hydrogen Action Plan unveiled
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - NOVEMBER 2019
7
Europe News
Siân Crampsie
Germany’s government has presented
proposals to boost growth in the coun-
try’s onshore wind energy sector.
The Federal Ministry of Economy
has devised an 18-point ‘Wind Plan’
aimed at speeding up licensing proce-
dures and overcoming growing levels
of opposition to onshore wind from
citizens groups.
The plan will help to unlock the 11
GW backlog of onshore wind farm
projects caught up in Germany’s plan-
ning process and will be implemented
over the next 12-18 months by various
local, state and federal government
departments.
Wind installations in the rst half of
2019 fell by 82 per cent to 287 MW,
the lowest level in two decades, ac-
cording to the German Wind Energy
Association (BWE). In Germany’s
latest onshore wind energy auction,
just 187 MW of capacity was award-
ed out of 500 MW available.
“The awed auction design and dif-
culties in obtaining licences for tur-
bine construction have discouraged
investors, resulting in a lacklustre
performance of the auction mecha-
nism,” said Mohit Prasad, Project
Manager at GlobalData.
According to GlobalData, Germany
is expected to have onshore wind in-
stallations of 54.6 GW at the end of
2019, an increase of 1.9 GW over
2018, considerably less than the 4 GW
averaged in 2014 and 2015.
The new Wind Plan includes mea-
sures to simplify appeals processes
and species protection regulations as
well as the introduction of regional
plans for wind energy growth.
It also includes a commitment to
introducing a minimum distance rule
for new wind farm developments, as
outlined in the new Climate Package
drawn up by Germany’s coalition gov-
ernment in time for September’s in-
ternational climate meeting in New
York, USA.
BWE welcomed the Wind Plan as a
“major improvement” but expressed
concerns over the minimum distance
rule, which could lead to a large per-
centage of land for wind development
being lost.
It has also expressed concern over
the possibility of Germany’s onshore
wind targets being reduced in the lat-
est draft of the Climate Package.
Early versions of the Package indi-
cated that a 2030 target of 80 GW
would be set for onshore wind, but
this has been reduced to 67-71 GW in
the latest draft.
BWE called the new targets “incom-
prehensible” and said they would af-
fect Germany’s ability to meet its 2030
climate goals.
Germany says that it intends to reach
a 65 per cent share of renewable ener-
gies in electricity consumption by
2030.
n Germany and the Netherlands have
signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on
the energy transition, which includes
cooperation on the development of
cross-border offshore wind projects.
The two countries say that they see
great potential in the development of
offshore wind projects and infrastruc-
ture in the North Seas region to ac-
celerate the deployment of renewable
energy, and have identied a number
of potential cross-border projects that
could benet from cooperation. Last
month Dutch-German offshore grid
operator TenneT TSO issued a tender
for two high voltage direct current
(HVDC) systems, and offshore and
onshore converters for the 4 GW
Ijmuiden Ver offshore wind zone.
TenneT will develop two 2 GW off-
shore HVDC grid connections for
integrating IJmuiden Ver wind farms
into the Dutch power grid from 2024-
2030.
The UK government says that capac-
ity market payments will resume fol-
lowing approval of the capacity market
(CM) scheme by European regulators.
The European Commission has been
assessing the CM scheme, which sup-
ports security of supply objectives in
Great Britain, and ruled last month that
it is compatible with State Aid rules.
The CM scheme has been in opera-
tion since 2014 but was halted in late
2018 when a company operating in the
market appealed against the European
Commission’s original approval of it.
The latest ruling not only means that
the market can resume, but that CM
payments owing to generators operat-
ing in the GB market over the last 12
months can be released.
The government said that the “vast
majority” of the £1.04 billion owed to
generators would be paid in January
2020.
According to Moody’s InterGen NV
will receive £39 million with the res-
toration of the market, while EDF is
owed over £300 million. SSE and
RWE are also owed CM revenues.
Industry trade body Energy UK said
that it was “delighted” with the Euro-
pean Commission’s ruling as the sus-
pension of the market had “threatened
serious consequences”.
“The CM can now continue to do the
job it has done successfully for a num-
ber of years, ensuring security of
supply at the lowest cost to customers
in times of high demand,” said Law-
rence Slade, chief executive at Energy
UK. “The Capacity Market has been
rightly evolving to reect a different
mix of energy generation with newer
technologies gaining a greater share in
recent auctions. With the inclusion of
renewables in future auctions – some-
thing we have long called for – a tech-
nology-neutral CM will continue along
this path and drive progress towards a
net-zero economy bringing benets for
both the environment and the economy,
while reducing costs for customers.”
The Commission’s investigation
conrmed that the CM scheme com-
plies with EU State aid rules, in
particular with the 2014 Guidelines on
State Aid for Environmental Protec-
tion and Energy. “In particular, the
investigation conrmed that the
scheme is necessary to guarantee se-
curity of electricity supply in Great
Britain, is in line with EU energy
policy objectives, and does not distort
competition in the Single Market,” the
Commission said in a statement.
The Commission said it did not nd
any evidence that the scheme would
put demand response operators or any
other capacity providers at a disadvan-
tage with respect to their participation
in the scheme.
Cornwall Insight noted that electric-
ity suppliers in GB are now required
to make payments to the Electricity
Settlements Company to repay gen-
erators, which provided capacity dur-
ing the 2018-19 delivery year. Suppli-
ers were allowed to keep collecting this
money under Ofgem’s price cap regu-
lation and payments. The payments are
likely to be expected by December
2019 and are estimated to be in the
region of £1 billion.
Tom Edwards Senior Modeller at
Cornwall Insight, said: “While this is
undoubtedly good news for generators,
this could potentially cause problems
for suppliers at a time when they are
already facing large payments for
other bills such as their Renewables
Obligation and Feed-in Tariff.”
German plan fosters
onshore wind growth
Stalled CM scheme gets European approval
n Industry concern over distance rules n Climate Package cuts onshore target
TIGER drives tidal
growth
Plans for large-scale deployment of
tidal stream technology in Europe
took a step forward last month with
the approval of a €46.8 million project
to support tidal stream energy devel-
opments in and around the Channel
region.
The EU-funded Interreg VA France
(Channel) England Programme has
approved €28 million of nancing for
the Tidal Stream Industry Energiser
Project (TIGER), which aims to in-
stall up to 8 MW of capacity at sites
in and around the Channel region. The
region has around 4GW of economi-
cally exploitable resource.
TIGER is led by the UK’s Offshore
Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult
and includes a total of 19 partners from
across the UK and France, including
Edinburgh-based Orbital Marine Pow-
er, the European Marine Energy Centre
(EMEC), France’s EDF, Minesto AB
of Sweden, and SIMEC Atlantis En-
ergy Ltd.
Programme Manager Carolyn Reid
stated that the long-term objective is
to help the sector cut generating costs
to about €150 per MWh by 2025 from
the current €300/MWh. There is also
an EU-set target to achieve €100/
MWh by 2030.
SIMEC Atlantis says the programme
will help it develop a tidal energy proj-
ect planned for the Raz Blanchard site
off the coast of Normandy, France.
Enel completes Kareas
Enel Green Power says that the com-
pletion of the largest onshore wind
farm in Greece marks a milestone in
the company’s history.
Enel has completed construction of
the 154 MW Kareas wind farm,
which consists of 67 Enercon wind
turbines installed across seven loca-
tions on the island of Evia.
The €300 million project is signi-
cant because Greece is one of the rst
countries where Enel started its renew-
able journey more than a decade ago.
“Kareas underscores our global com-
mitment to renewable energy and de-
carbonisation, in line with our pursuit
of the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals, as well as our
commitment to a diversied genera-
tion mix at country level,” said Antonio
Cammisecra, Enel Green Power CEO.
Kareas spent almost 14 years in
Greece’s planning system, according
to the country’s wind energy associa-
tion (Eletaen), which has welcomed
recent moves by the government to
speed up planning procedures and cut
red tape for developers.
There is an estimated 20 GW of on-
shore wind energy projects held up in
Greece’s planning system. In Septem-
ber Greece’s Ministry of Environment
and Energy set up a working group to
nd ways of simplifying complex
planning procedures, while the Energy
Regulatory Authority (RAE) held a
consultation to gather views on the
permitting system.
The government’s committee is aim-
ing to introduce new legislation by the
end of the year to update procedures
for wind farm production licences, and
has targeted the spring of 2020 for new
legislation on environmental licences.
RAE has proposed simplied applica-
tion procedures as well as a mechanism
to cancel permit applications for proj-
ects that do not reach key milestones.
Wind farm projects take an average
of eight years to obtain all their permits,
Eletaen says.
are more attractive to nancial inves-
tors in particular. Going forward that
will change and we will be going into
the arbitrage opportunity; so in mar-
kets like California where storage and
solar are co-located, it’s a different
investment proposition.
“Solar and storage are a good thing
to co-locate in California, where
there’s peak sun at midday and peak
demand in the evening; it is the per-
fect application for Li-ion batteries.
But it doesn’t work on a lot of projects
yet. The costs coming down will
change that. We see this accelerating
over the next couple of years as evi-
denced by the 2 GW of solar plus
storage PPAs signed in the recent past
in the US.”
The pace of deployment, however,
varies from country to country, ac-
cording to regulatory development
and market structure.
Ghavi said: “Australia has started
well, as has the US. And we are start-
ing to see more in Europe. It’s also
about open markets versus closed
markets. The value of storage as an
asset can vary signicantly, depend-
ing on whether it’s in an open or
closed market.”
Looking to the future, with the
battery still being the biggest cost in
an energy storage solution, ongoing
cost reduction of the battery along
with performance improvement, will
be key. With regards to the entire
system, Ghavi says that further en-
abling cost reduction through opti-
misation will also be important,
adding that “the next thing will be
how to take the system to the next
level through digitalisation”.
She concluded: “It has been an
amazing journey and there’s so much
more we can do from a digitalisation
and system level perspective, from a
practical deployment perspective
and also in terms of business models.
It’s about how we can help our cus-
tomers manage energy more ef-
ciently, enable new business models
and revenue streams, and really help
them to evolve.”
T
he need to integrate renewables
has been one of the main drivers
behind the transformation of
the energy sector and the technologies
associated with enabling that transfor-
mation – the key among them being
battery energy storage systems
(BESS). Without storage, the effective
use of intermittent renewables will be
severely limited.
“Storage is really a key enabler for
maximising renewables, having a
stronger, greener, grid and maximis-
ing the value of physical assets,” said
Maxine Ghavi, Head of Grid Edge
Solutions within ABB. And com-
menting on what she sees as the key
trends in this critical technology,
Ghavi said: “Probably the biggest
single trend in battery storage has
been the cost reduction.”
According to BloombergNEF
(BNEF) the volume weighted aver-
age of an automotive battery pack fell
85 per cent from 2010-18, reaching
an average of $176/kWh. It notes that
currently, lithium ion batteries are
getting 18 per cent cheaper with ev-
ery doubling of cumulative volume.
BNEF’s ‘Energy Storage Outlook
2019’ predicts a further halving of
lithium-ion battery costs per kilowatt-
hour by 2030, as demand takes off in
both the stationary storage and elec-
tric vehicles markets. Based on this
observation, and its battery demand
forecast, it expects the price of an
average EV battery pack to be around
$94/kWh by 2024 and $62/kWh by
2030.
This dramatic reduction fall is also
being reected in the power sector. In
its ‘2H 2019 LCOE Update’, released
at the BNEF Summit in London in
October, the global levelised cost of
capacity benchmark for short dura-
tion battery sits at $112/kW/yr, down
4 per cent from 1H 2019. It said that
for up to 1 hr storage duration, batter-
ies are already cheaper than new
build gas red open cycle plants ev-
erywhere except in the US.
This is increasing the business cases
where storage can be applied. Ghavi
commented: “The cost reduction is
not as much technology related but
really comes from scale and [manu-
facturing] efciencies. This means
we are starting to see them deployed
in distributed networks as well as for
utility scale.”
Beyond the battery itself, she notes
that there are also some interesting
trends with regards to other compo-
nents such as the power conversion
and overall system integration. “The
next main trend we are seeing,” she
says, “is in system integration – from
the integration of cells into modules
and then into large stationary systems
– together with thermal management
and protection equipment etc.”
System integration is a trend that
has seen ABB bring its expertise from
power grids together into its grid edge
business.
“We are looking at how you can
build the most efcient system,” said
Ghavi. “And how we have evolved,
reects how the industry has evolved.
As a grid edge solution provider, we
see that it is increasingly important to
look at storage from a holistic per-
spective – focusing on system inte-
gration and the entire solution includ-
ing automation and control. We will
see more of this, as customers become
more demanding.”
According to ABB, data driven
concepts and services, aggregation
of distributed energy resources, opti-
misation and energy management,
are all becoming part of the bigger
picture.
Ghavi noted: “These all impact your
overall economics because they allow
you to provide more value-stacking
from your assets and also reduce costs
through energy management and im-
proving operational performance – by
leveraging things like forecasting,
articial intelligence and machine
learning – over the life of the asset.”
Certainly the life and performance
of a battery is a concern in the indus-
try. One of the major challenges fac-
ing batteries is “absolute safety” at an
acceptable cost. “This is really key,
along with how the risks are mitigated.
It’s a key challenge that all the battery
suppliers are looking at today,” said
Ghavi. “From a systems integrator’s
perspective, you want the batteries to
be safe.”
This, adds Ghavi, is where data ana-
lytics, etc., can help in terms of the
safety, operational performance and
lifetime. Here, automation is a huge
enabler. “The more we are able to in-
corporate data analytics, machine
learning and AI into the automation,
the more we are actually able to look
at things related to reliability, lifetime
and safety.”
Cost, performance, density, safety,
etc., will all drive which battery
technology gains greater acceptance.
Deployment will also be impacted by
collaborations with manufacturers of
car batteries, and the potential for us-
ing second-life batteries.
Although separate industries, the
EV and stationary battery storage
markets are closely intertwined.
“You can’t decouple the stationary
battery storage and EV battery mar-
kets. From the battery suppliers’ per-
spective, they try to leverage from the
same technology. In the stationary
storage business, we’re benetting
from growth in the EV sector. We can
benet from the economies of scale as
the EV production capacity continues
to increase.”
In terms of technology, Ghavi notes
that battery suppliers from both sec-
tors also try to leverage from the same
technology. “They would have a por-
tion of their business that goes to EVs
and a portion that goes to the station-
ary market because it also balances
their portfolio.
“From our perspective, clearly
we’re looking at second-life [EV]
batteries – what it takes to integrate
them, what performance we expect,
etc. There is a lot of discussion around
second-life batteries and of course it
all depends on the cost of integration
and how to maximise their remaining
life, as well as how to mitigate the risk
of integrating these second-life
packs.”
Using second life batteries has the
obvious benet of providing a way
of recycling old EV batteries but
there are also risks. “When we get
the batteries for large stationary
systems, the racks are all tested. But
when you get one based on second
life batteries, you might have 50
batteries from an EV and there’s the
question of how do you put them
together and test them. They will all
be at different levels in terms of ca-
pacity, for example. There are a lot
more variables to deal with.”
She added: “It doesn’t mean the
challenges can’t be overcome; it just
means there has to be a lot more col-
laboration between battery suppliers
and system integrators.”
Another challenge is regulation.
This has a big part to play in recognis-
ing and rewarding the value of storage
in the network. For example a battery
can act as a synchronous generator
but respond much faster. It is therefore
useful for applications such as exible
peaking, frequency control, reserve
capacity, etc, or relieving transmis-
sion congestion. Meanwhile, behind
the meter it enables time-of-use bill
management or demand charge re-
duction; increased self-consumption
or act as an uninterruptible power
supply.
Speaking at the recent BNEF Sum-
mit, Donald Joyce, Chief Financial
Ofcer at RES (Renewable Energy
Systems), the world’s largest inde-
pendent renewable energy company,
said: “From an investor’s point of
view, if storage is structured in the
right way, with the right partners that
understand the contractors, etc., it can
be a star performer.
“A lot of the projects we have done
are more around ancillary services,
such as frequency response. Some of
those have longer-term contracts, so
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - NOVEMBER 2019
Energy Outlook
14
The energy industry
is transforming. More
renewables are
coming on to the grid,
electricity consumers
are also generators,
and electric vehicles
will not only consume
energy but will also
feed it back into the
grid. This means
changes in the grid
are needed to allow
electricity to ow both
ways. Junior Isles
speaks to ABB’s
Maxine Ghavi about
battery energy
storage and the key
technologies affecting
utilities in their
transformation.
What’s in store?
Ghavi: the next main trend
we are seeing is in system
integration
Global benchmarks – PV, wind and batteries
Note: The global benchmark is a country-weighted average using the latest
capacity additions. The storage LCOE is reective of a utility-scale Li-ion
battery storage system with four-hour duration running at a daily cycle and
includes charging costs, assumed to be 60 per cent of wholesale average
power price.Source: BNEF Summit in London.
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - NOVEMBER 2019
15
Technology
A live-streaming business energy monitoring and costing platform that allows real-time, deep analytics, takes energy
management to a new level. David Appleyard reports.
N
ew internet-enabled energy
management technology has
been developed by energy
and technology consultancy Global
Procurement Group (GPG), to help
businesses monitor and control their
energy usage more effectively. Ac-
cording to GPG, the ground-break-
ing new technology has emerged on
the back of similar internet-enabled
transformations that have taken
place in other industry verticals such
as retail, gaming and nance. Now,
advances in technologies such as ar-
ticial intelligence (AI) and machine
learning are providing new opportu-
nities for improved future energy
management, reducing waste and
cutting CO
2
emissions.
Indeed, GPG notes that a lack of
innovation in the energy sector has
been costly in both nancial and en-
vironmental terms and aims to ad-
dress this decit with its novel ap-
proach to energy management. As
Fokhrul Islam, Chief Executive Of-
cer and founder of GPG’s Northern
Gas and Power, explains: “We stand
on the edge of a period of signicant
change, heralding ideas and innova-
tions that will transform the way en-
ergy is used for future generations.
We recognise there is a real demand
for change. The energy industry
needs not only a change of attitude;
it needs a change of technology.”
The current generation of energy
management technology and moni-
toring and targeting systems were
largely built on technologies that are
now out-dated. As a result, over time
these technologies have become lim-
iting, inexible, costly and difcult
to use. Recognising that the energy
sector needed new technology that is
agile, powerful, accessible, scalable
and cost-effective, GPG looked to
develop an innovative solution
through its ClearVUE Systems and
Energy Lab technology units, which
are based in Malta and India, respec-
tively. This technology arm compris-
es up to 100 senior developers and
engineers who are rigorously testing
and developing new innovative tech-
nology in a bid to ensure that GPG
remains ahead of the curve. The
cloud-based, low-cost monitoring
and targeting platform which
emerged from this programme is, ac-
cording to GPG, the rst of its kind.
ClearVUE’s Alpha.Lite energy
software as a service (e-SaaS) and
Alpha. PRO platforms provide real-
time data to help companies deter-
mine how much energy their assets
use at any given point in time. Instal-
lation requires no hardware or even
site visits but nonetheless provides
detailed insights into energy con-
sumption. As a result, it enables en-
terprises to identify any inefcien-
cies and thus reduce energy costs,
minimise waste and cut carbon emis-
sions. The IoT hardware devices and
software solutions are cloud-based,
giving users the ability to instantly
run deeper analysis to reduce energy
waste, for example.
Islam explains: “This development
emerged from a combination of our
customers’ desires and our own per-
ception of what the future drivers
were and the way the IoT revolution
could impact on the energy sector.
From talking to our customers, we
understand there’s a real demand for
change. Businesses tell us they want
to become more eco-friendly, but
technology and a lack of useable
data has limited their ability.”
Claimed as the world’s rst live-
streaming business energy monitor-
ing and costing platform, Clear-
VUE’s next generation Internet of
Things (IoT) metering and monitor-
ing devices provide real-time and
deep analytics by measuring up to 35
vital energy fundamentals simultane-
ously and in real-time and by the
second. The data is granular down to
circuit level and can therefore pro-
vide the basis for equipment perfor-
mance improvements potentially
right down to individual machines.
In addition, it is possible to combine
the cloud-based and secure system
with modular loT sensors to get a
full view of other factors such as
how changes in the ambient environ-
ment can affect energy performance.
Scalable from one to up to 50 indi-
vidual business sites, the platforms
all break down bill data including
distribution, transmission and any
government charges, which may
have been levied.
The energy management IoT prod-
ucts allow deep energy analytics
with full consumption data available
from the previous day. Automatic
warnings and alerts can also be ap-
plied at key set points to enable users
to take action within seconds if ener-
gy usage issues are agged. Further-
more, all data may be exported for
further analysis. The systems offer
immediate access to historical data,
so businesses can understand areas
where energy is being wasted within
minutes of sign up. Although there is
no specic requirement for any hard-
ware such as disruptive wiring or
costly server installation, consump-
tion metrics such as kWh, kW, kVA,
reactive power and more are avail-
able from the platforms.
Islam says: “Our platforms and
technology has been developed and
designed from the ground up. They
provide incredible power to custom-
ers and the technology is constantly
evolving and improving with their
needs. Both operational and behav-
ioural attributes impact on cost sav-
ings. We provide dedicated energy
management support and a virtual
energy manager; either one-to-one or
group based. We ensure full staff in-
clusion to aid our customers on their
way to a positive energy future in
terms of reduced cost and environ-
mental impact.”
With simple pricing, which the
company describes as “low-cost”,
signing up for energy software as a
service (eSaaS) takes only a few
minutes on-line and, being cloud-
based, can be accessed from any-
where in the world with an internet
connection.
In addition to new technology, the
company has also launched two en-
ergy price comparison sites – Busi-
ness Energy Quotes and Energie Su-
perMarché, which are targeted at the
UK and French markets, respective-
ly. Requiring just a business name
and a post code, the sites are able to
generate a comprehensive range of
competitive tariffs from a variety of
suppliers. Northern Gas and Power
contracts around 6 TWh of energy
annually and cites growth of some
20 per cent per annum.
According to Islam, the benets of
the platforms in terms of energy
costs and control are expected to at-
tract a strong customer base with
some 5000 customers on its Alpha.
Lite eSaaS platform expected in the
rst year. “The power of the technol-
ogy speaks for itself. We can’t nd
anything matching what ClearVUE’s
technology does for this price point
for the energy-customer,” he says.
Looking further ahead, new break-
throughs based on AI and machine
learning are anticipated to yield ad-
ditional benets for industrial and
commercial energy consumers,
which will translate into environ-
mental and nancial gains.
As Islam says: “ClearVUE Sys-
tems in Malta is developing an AI
and deep learning framework for our
non-intrusive monitoring meter.
These developments will allow us to
deliver analysis of energy data that
could not even be comprehended be-
fore now, and will transform not
only energy monitoring but the ener-
gy market. We knew that if we could
make a meter that could gather that
much data, we could apply the new
technology of machine learning,
deep learning and AI onto that data,
analyse it… and get information
that’s never been available for cus-
tomers before, improving not only
costs, but also the global impact of
carbon emissions.”
He adds: “People want change –
businesses want to become more
eco-friendly and nd better ways to
manage their energy but technology
has been very limiting. There is a
real demand. People want to im-
prove their behaviour with energy.
We must meet this opportunity and
drive it with innovation and technol-
ogy. There is huge potential for new
industries to emerge from the oppor-
tunity technology offers us and we
feel this will drive the future econo-
my to great new heights.”
Since the birth of the internet, the
technology has revolutionised and
vastly improved many industries,
even creating many e-commerce sec-
tors. Companies such as GPG are
now looking to harness those same
breakthroughs to benet the energy
sector. As Islam concludes: “If you
look at other industry verticals such
as medicine and nance, technology
has had a huge impact over the last
decade. Yet there has not been the
same technological impact seen
within the energy sector, and we
have seen very little innovation in
this space. New Technology needs to
be applied in the energy sector that is
agile, powerful, scalable and cost ef-
fective, changing the way we view,
control and use our energy bringing
about positive change.”
Cloud-based systems take
stock of energy use
Islam: People want change –
businesses want to become
more eco-friendly and nd
better ways to manage their
energy
THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - NOVEMBER 2019
16
Final Word
A
lthough electricity is my beat,
so to speak, I nd it increas-
ingly difcult to write solely
about the industry, as the lines between
different sectors continue to blur. And
while most of us like to remain in our
comfort zone, plying our trade in a eld
where we know the boundaries, a little
cross-pollination is no bad thing. After
all, the electricity sector alone cannot
meet the challenge of cutting global
carbon emissions at the required pace
– and we can always learn from other
industries.
Diego Pavia, CEO, EIT InnoEnergy
recently noted the European Commis-
sion’s decision to use “what has been
done around electric-mobility and the
battery value chain, as the blueprint”
for European industrial strategies.
Speaking at The Business Booster in
Paris, an annual gathering aimed at
supporting start-ups and promoting
innovation, Pavia said: “It has been
decided by the Commission to be
taken as the blueprint for any future
industrial strategy in Europe. And then
we will nd PV, we will nd hydrogen,
and many other industrial strategies;
but that will be the blueprint to be
followed.”
Innovation will certainly be key to
the industrial strategies that will sit at
the heart of the individual National
Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs),
which will dene how each country
will contribute to Europe’s 2030 goals.
EU countries are required to develop
integrated NECPs that cover the ve
dimensions of the energy union for the
period 2021 to 2030 (and every sub-
sequent ten-year period) based on a
common template. These will be ap-
proved in December. Pavia noted:
“They provide a perfect roadmap of
where innovation will t.”
In 2017 the EU’s primary energy
demand was 1621 Mtoe, according to
the International Energy Agency
(IEA). This will fall to 1274 Mtoe by
2040 under its New Policies Scenario.
Notably, however, the share of elec-
tricity in meeting overall energy de-
mand is predicted to increase signi-
cantly due to the electrication of
transport, heat, industry, and increas-
ing digitalisation.
As electricity spreads its tentacles,
so too do energy companies, car and
battery manufacturers and those in-
volved in building the charging infra-
structure, players in the building
sector, fuel suppliers such as oil and
gas majors, heating specialists, not to
mention us as journalists.
Keeping an eye on what is happening
in those other sectors traditionally
outside of electricity is becoming
increasingly important as we move
forward. Avoiding irreversible cli-
mate change not only requires joined
up thinking but calls for keeping your
nger on the pulse of what is happen-
ing outside of your patch.
Clearly the energy sector is leading
the way in combatting climate
change. In the IEA’s Sustainable
Development Scenario, energy-relat-
ed CO
2
emissions are reduced by
more than 45 per cent to 17.6 Gt by
2040. The power sector witnesses the
most dramatic change, with the share
of low-carbon technologies reaching
85 per cent in 2040 (up from 35 per
cent today). Emissions from the
power sector comprise nearly 20 per
cent of total CO
2
emissions in 2040
(down from 42 per cent today). Al-
though emissions from passenger
cars halve, despite the number of cars
nearly doubling, transport is the larg-
est emitting sector in 2040 in this
scenario, followed by industry, where
emissions rise to nearly 30 per cent
(up from 19 per cent today).
Clearly transport, industry, buildings
and others need to do more. An idea
of what is needed at the country level
to meet net zero emission ambitions
was highlighted in a recent report.
The London-based consultancy Capi-
tal Economics said the UK will have
to spend £240 billion installing an
average of 4000 electric vehicle charg-
ing points and heat pumps a day if the
government is to meet its target of
cutting greenhouse gas emissions to
net zero by 2050.
This may sound like mission impos-
sible but technology companies often
have a way of making the impossible
possible.
Last month US-based EV Connect
announced that it had closed a $12
million Series B round of funding to
support the global expansion of its
exible, open, cloud-based solutions.
The EV Connect Network, and the
EV Cloud platform on which it runs,
delivers an innovative cloud-based
software platform for managing net-
works of EV charging stations, their
interaction with utilities, and the
overall driver experience. As part of a
collaboration with General Motors,
EV Connect will help GM improve
Chevrolet Bolt EV drivers’ charging
experience with dynamic charge sta-
tion data, including insights on station
status.
Real-time charge station data re-
ceived from EV Connect will enhance
future versions of the myChevrolet
app. As the charging network pro-
vides new information, real-time data
on charge station health will indicate
if a charging station is working, avail-
able, and compatible with the Chev-
rolet Bolt EV, offering a one-stop
shop for all range and charging data
before or during a trip.
Doug Parks, General Motors Vice
President of Autonomous and Electric
Vehicle Programs, said: “By collabo-
rating with EV Connect, we are con-
tinuing our efforts to remove obstacles
for drivers looking to charge their EV
on the go.”
Jordan Ramer, founder and CEO of
EV Connect, added: “The only thing
more powerful than having many EV
charging stations available is having
them networked together. For society
to fully realise all the benets of EVs,
we have to reduce range and charg-
ing anxiety by giving drivers access
to charging and information about
chargers, no matter where they travel.”
With range anxiety and charging
speed probably being the main drag
on the uptake of EVs, another impor-
tant recent announcement was news
that StoreDot and its strategic partner
BP had demonstrated a live full-
charge of a two-wheel electric vehicle
(EV) in just ve minutes. The dem-
onstration with its “rst generation”
fast charging battery is the precursor
to tests with a second generation
battery that will be used in electric
cars.
Erez Lorber, StoreDot’s Chief Oper-
ating Ofcer said: “The second gen-
eration battery, which we have been
developing for the last two years, will
be more suitable for EVs, since it will
be lower cost.” With more than 18 000
fuelling stations worldwide that could
site fast charging stations, the tie-up
with BP is signicant.
“It eliminates the range anxiety over
whether you can reach the next charg-
ing station, and wait for 40 minutes,
or not, and [the need for] all sorts of
apps. If you know you can charge fast,
you won’t worry about it like you do
today,” said Lorber.
The technology is based on the use
of nano-particles in materials, such as
the coating on electrodes, and unique
processes that enable faster movement
of lithium ions in the battery. This fast
movement of ions, he says, is achieved
while maintaining very low internal
resistance – something that is critical
in reducing heat in EV battery pack
congurations.
“This means you don’t need a vast
amount of energy to remove the heat
that’s generated. Cooling is the major
headache that the automotive industry
is facing,” said Lorber. He adds that
such batteries could be on the road by
around 2024. To this end, StoreDot has
already started working with Daimler
on how to incorporate the battery into
one of its future full-electric models.
It is also in close contact with 10-15
other leading car manufacturers such
as VW to understand their specica-
tions and needs, says Lorber.
Certainly there is plenty going on in
the EV battery space. Two start-ups,
NanoOne and Innolith, both pitched
battery developments at the recent
BloombergNEF Summit in London
outlining technologies that improve
cycling and reduce the risk of re. Such
developments will not only eventually
see applications in the stationary bat-
tery storage space but will also increase
the uptake of EVs thus cutting carbon
emissions in transport.
Progress in decarbonising industries
such as steel and cement, however, is
painfully slow. Options are limited and
carbon capture and storage, although
seen as essential, continues to be a
white elephant.
Here, hydrogen and power-to-X
could be the answer. And having been
forced to broaden my journalistic beat,
I feel tempted to extend myself still
further to a bit of marketing copywrit-
ing. Here’s a slogan for hydrogen
proponents, inspired by Heineken:
“Hydrogen refreshes the parts that
electricity cannot reach”.
Time for joined up
thinking
Junior Isles
Cartoon: jemsoar.com
