Wärtsilä Report Urges 100% Renewables Sooner, Uruguay Proves It Can Happen Now
With the COP26 conference in Glasgow coming up soon, many climate and environmental groups are urging nations to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. A new report from Wärtsilä entitled Front Loading New Zero argues that nations can adopt 100% renewable systems faster than currently planned.
It says significant cost reductions can be achieved by front loading the deployment of renewables — mostly wind and solar — and by utilizing the technologies needed to balance their inherent intermittency with energy storage and thermal generating stations. The report reveals that by accelerating 100% renewable power systems, substantial benefits are unlocked:
- Accelerating renewables so they become the main source of electricity drives down fossil fuel usage significantly reduces the levelized cost of electricity by 50% in India by 2050, while California and Germany can cut costs by 17% and 8% by 2040 respectively.
- Coal-fired power — currently 70% of generation in India and 33% in Germany — can be securely replaced by renewables coupled with energy storage and thermal power as early as 2040.
- Colossal carbon savings can be made in the short term, enabling national climate targets to be achieved. Germany can avoid 422 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2040 by accelerating its coal phase-out, helping it achieve a 65% reduction target compared to 1990 levels by 2030. In addition, renewables would allow Germany to avoid the need to import 550 TWh of power by accelerating the phase-out of coal.
Wärtsilä CEO Håkan Agnevall explains, “As we approach COP26, our Front-Loading Net Zero report should act as a wake-up call for leaders, as this is our last and best chance to get countries on pathways to carbon neutrality. Our modelling shows that it is viable for energy systems to be fully decarbonized before 2050 and that accelerating the shift to renewable power coupled with flexibility will help economies to thrive.
“We have all the technologies that we need to rapidly shift to net zero energy. The benefits of renewable-led systems are cumulative and self-reinforcing — the more we have, the greater the benefits — so it is vital that leaders and power producers come together now to front load net zero this decade.”
Sushil Purohit, president of Wärtsilä Energy adds, “There is no single solution that fits all markets, and this report highlights the different paths and technologies that can be utilized. The ultimate aim, however, is common to all and that is to decarbonize energy production and take the fullest advantage of our natural energy sources.”
Uruguay Shows The Way
In 2007, Uruguay had to rely on electricity imported from neighbors like Brazil and Argentina. That’s when it decided to invest heavily in wind turbines. Within 10 years, it had 4,000 MW of installed capacity. Today, 98% of the electricity for its 3.4 million inhabitants comes from renewables, including hydro. This is a nation that a recent former president of the United States liked to referred to as a “shithole country.”
Since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, Uruguay has surprised its South American neighbors with its growing list of environmental successes, including conserving native forests, protecting bio-diverse areas, and showing remarkable progress toward a promise to be carbon neutral by 2030.
To transform its energy landscape, the Frente Amplio, or FA, Uruguay’s governing party from 2005 to 2020, recognized the reality of a country dependent on importing fossil fuels while living in an ideal location for solar, wind, and hydraulic power generation. To date, the FA’s vision for an inclusive, people-oriented strategy for energy transformation has shown not only remarkable promise, but results. Throughout Uruguay, there is a strong emphasis on local energy production, particularly solar energy in rural areas that focuses on rural schools and churches far from the grid, as well as hospitals, hotels, sports clubs, and new public buildings.
With its gently rolling landscape, higher than average year-round sunshine, and hundreds of miles of ocean and river coastline, Uruguay has prime space for deploying energy alternatives. In addition, the country has identified significant opportunities for generating energy from biomass produced by the agriculture industry.
Other progressive energy projects include the country’s push toward a network of “electric highways” beginning with the coastal highway that links Colonia and Punta Este, two popular tourist cities. A network of EV charges will eventually be available throughout the entire country. While these projects are impressive, it is the country’s creation of larger energy infrastructure changes that have made the most impact.
According to Earth Island Journal, in the decade leading up to 2017, forward-looking policies and projects made Uruguay a world leader in wind power — along with Denmark, Ireland, and Germany — with more than a third of its electricity coming from wind farms. Adding hydropower generation to the mix, emissions levels in the country have fallen roughly 20 percent from their peak in 2012.
How this happened is worth noting. The country’s determination to use solar as an alternative is reflected in the country’s solar thermal mandate established in 2009 by the Solar Thermal Law, with additional provisions enacted in 2011. The law states that after 2014, all new construction and refurbishments of public buildings, hotels, health, and sports facilities in which hot water is expected to account for over 20 percent of the building’s energy consumption must obtain at least 50 percent of water heating energy from solar thermal energy. After 2012, heated pools had to use solar heating unless they used a different renewable energy source.
“The energy policy of Uruguay has focused highly on renewable energies, with the ambitious goal of incorporating them in the short term and providing attractive tax benefits for that purpose,” says Fernanda Panizza, Biz Latin Hub’s country coordinator and corporate lawyer, who counsels both foreign and national business stakeholders in the country. “Uruguay offers not only an advantageous business environment,” she notes, “but also great social stability, and considerable fiscal incentives for investments.”
A New Political Order
While Uruguay has made remarkable progress in expanding its renewable energy infrastructure, the country’s groundbreaking energy initiatives now face a new challenge from a governing party with more conservative views and a new president, Luis Lacalle Pou.
World affairs analyst Frida Ghitis, who has covered political and social issues in the region for over a decade, believes that there is good reason to look for the continuing positive trajectory of Uruguay’s progressive energy policies. “My sense is that Uruguay’s commitment to renewable energy is so deep that it transcends the left/right divide,” she says. “I don’t foresee that the center-right administration in Uruguay will backtrack on progress toward green energy.”
For more perspective on how renewable energy has become embedded in the culture of Uruguay, please take the time to review the DW video below, particularly with regard to concerns that wind turbines would disturb cows and interfere with their milk production. The result? The cows paid no attention to the turbines at all. It would be wonderful if more humans could do the same.
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![The new Momentum Cito E+ dares you to leave the car at home [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/04/momentum-cito-e.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
All the cool suburbanites are already taking their kids to school, loading up at the farmers’ market, and making deliveries on clever and capable cargo e-bikes, but the new Momentum Cito E+ from Giant raises the cargo bike bar even higher — and makes leaving the car at home easier than ever.
Momentum is a new brand of “lifestyle” e-bikes from Giant Group designed to deliver premium features to customers while still hitting that $3,000-4,000 market “sweet spot.” Their latest bike, the all-new for 2024 Cito E+ utility bike, does just that, coming to market with a premium battery, Bluetooth technology, a suite of high-end safety features, and a $3,200 starting price.
Premium battery
Getting the most out of your e-bike often means getting the most out of your battery — and Momentum absolutely gets that. The Cito E+ ships with a 780 Watt-hour Panasonic battery pack with 22700 cells that have been optimized for e-bike use.
Compared to other ebike batteries with similar power ratings, the Momentum’s Panasonic battery promises to be lighter and more durable, with superior IPX7 weather protection, thermal regulation, and other safety features built-in (in fact, Panasonic was the first e-bike supplier to score a UL safety rating for its batteries).
The battery is easily removable for charging at home or in an office, but it can be charged while it’s in the bike, too. Either way, charging won’t take long — from 0 to 80% of charge (approx. 60 miles) of range is available in 3.5 hours, while a full (75 mile) charge takes less than 5 hours.
Connected cargo bike
As our test rider highlights in the video (above), the Momentum Cito E+ uses a proprietary battery management system, or BMS, to monitor the battery pack for maximum efficiency and reliability down to the individual cell level.
The BMS uses Bluetooth connectivity to transfer battery health data, state of charge, and other important information straight to the RideControl app, which enables the bike’s owner to get an in-depth look at the overall state of their e-bike and provides valuable diagnostic data to both the technicians tasked with servicing the bike and Giant themselves, to help develop even better e-bikes in the future.
That connection to Giant Group is a huge potential benefit to Momentum Cito E+ buyers, by the way, as it gives them access to support from more than 1,200 brick and mortar Giant dealers across the US alone (above).
That’s a serious advantage that online-only bike brands simply can’t match.
Safety first … and maybe second, too
Momentum’s commitment to safety doesn’t stop at the battery. The Cito E+ features confidence-inspiring 4 piston hydraulic disc brakes and a heavy duty suspension for predictable handling even under heavy loads — important if you have to suddenly haul the bike down from its electronically assisted 28 mph top speed with precious kids and cargo on the back.
LED head and taillights with a lever-activated taillight ensure Cito E+ riders will be seen, too, helping you stay safer after hours.
Accessories and add-ons
Momentum’s Cito E+ offers a comprehensive selection of accessories to help optimize it for each rider’s unique use case — whether that’s hauling up to 132 lbs. of cargo on the rear rack and 33 lbs. on the optional front basket (shown, above), or adding 2 Thule Yepp Maxi seats and getting the little ones to school five times a week.
You can find out more about the Momentum Cito E+ and the brand’s available accessories by clicking here.
Momentum Cito E+ gallery
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Environment
‘This is a unique time’: ARK Invest’s chief futurist tackles tech innovation from AI to robotics
ARK Invest’s chief futurist lists five groups that should give tech investors an edge.
According to Brett Winton, robotics, artificial intelligence, multi-omics sequencing, public blockchain and energy storage are key areas because they’re all entering the marketplace at the same time.
“We believe that this is a unique time in technological economic history,” he told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.
Winton collaborates with ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood to maintain the ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), which allows investors to buy into the private technology space.
According to the firm’s website, the goal of the fund is to make venture capital offerings of innovative spaces in the market accessible to individual investors. As of April 10, it shows the fund’s top holdings include Epic Games, known for online video game Fortnite, and biotech companies Freenome and Relation Therapeutics.
“Our emphasis is that we are investing in innovation over the long term and going to support management teams,” said Winton.
He contends it’s a strategy that’s often not prioritized.
“That’s a real challenge a lot of public market investors don’t have that long-term view,” Winton added.
The ARK Venture Fund is down more than 7% so far this year. However, it’s up almost 39% percent over the past 52-weeks.
FirstElement Fuels has opened the world’s first large-scale hydrogen fueling station for heavy-duty commercial trucks just outside the Port of Oakland.
FirstElement is calling their new filling station, which opened to the public this week for tours and demonstrations, the first of its kind. Located near the Port of Oakland, the company claims its hydrogen pumps can “fill” a truck’s hydrogen tanks in as little as ten minutes, which works out (in their math) to as many as 200 trucks per day.
As for customers, the company says there are 30 Hyundai Xcient semi trucks using the fueling station currently, as well as a number of Nikola hydrogen fuel-cell-powered trucks.
A ceremony to mark the station’s opening was held Tuesday, and was attended by state officials including Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Tyson Eckerle, clean transportation advisor for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s business development office. Primary funding for the Oakland station was provided by CARB and the California Energy Commission.
Eckerle notes that the US federal government is handing out $8 billion to jump-start what it calls the “hydrogen economy,” and expects sufficient funding to build up to 60 more hydrogen truck stations like this one in California – which would, theoretically, be enough to serve 5,000 trucks and 1,000 buses.
All well and good, but …
What if it’s already too late for hydrogen?
MAN Trucks CEO, Alexander Vlaskamp, said it best when he said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to effectively compete with BEVs.
He’s right – on a level playing field, there is absolutely no reason to believe hydrogen has any kind of future. But we don’t operate on a level playing field, and comments like Eckerle’s, along with an $8 billion federal budget and a number of supposedly genuine industry experts touting its usefulness as a fuel, mean we have to take hydrogen seriously (at least, for now).
Even so, it seems like the tide of public opinion is already starting to turn against hydrogen. Outlets that may never have questioned a manufacturer’s claims about a hydrogen-fueled vehicle a few years ago now seem more than willing to call those claims out. Here’s just one example:
Producing hydrogen itself can be very dirty. Most hydrogen produced today requires methane, which is a fossil fuel and a strong greenhouse gas contributor. The industry is working on production alternatives, including carbon capture and storage from the burning of methane, or quitting methane altogether to make green hydrogen, using an electrolyzer to split water’s hydrogen and oxygen.
Both alternatives are prohibitively expensive without government subsidies.
RUSS MITCHELL, AOL/Los Angeles TIMES.
So far, it’s not clear that FirstElement’s claims about either the sustainability of its hydrogen or the practicality of its filling station will convince many battery electric absolutists.
Take the company’s hydrogen production process as an example. FirstElement says that its supplier, Air Liquide in Las Vegas, uses natural gas as “feedstock” for its hydrogen. It buys biogas to blend with natural gas in order to create hydrogen – and that, because the gas used is more than 60% renewable, the hydrogen qualifies as “green.”
FirstElement hydrogen production
Additionally, the claim of 10 minute fast fills should come with an asterisk or two. That’s because FirstGreen is using new “cryopump” technology from Bosch Rexroth to allow for filling at 900 bar (15,000 psi). While that seems like more enough to push 100 kg into a tank in about ten minutes, cryogenically cooling hydrogen is an energy intensive technology that requires a lot of electricity to function properly. Electricity that it says will come from the stored hydrogen.
In fairness, however, Bosch has some ideas here to help station owners maximize the usefulness of all that electricity.
“Cold is like gold,” says Dave Hull, regional vice-president, Bosch Rexroth. “You’ve got all this cold energy. All my career I worked to get rid of heat. You can take that energy and run a whole station’s refrigerators for Rock Star energy drinks, or air conditioning. Bosh has a whole division of heat pumps and building technologies.”
Whether or not that added efficiency adds up to actual energy and cost savings, rather than a lifeline for the gas industry and tier 1 auto suppliers like Bosch however, remains to be seen. Meanwhile, hydrogen costs continue to rise.
Platts last assessed California’s retail hydrogen price at $33.48/kg Jan. 4, 2023, which is the weighted average hydrogen price offered at retail fueling stations across the state. The price has risen 112% from when Platts began the assessment in September 2021, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.
Despite the high cost of hydrogen (“green” hydrogen is more expensive, still), Shane Stephens, one of FirstElement’s founders and its chief development officer, remains undeterred.
“We, at FirstElement Fuels, have a lot of confidence the market is coming,” says Stephens. “We see the regulations on the horizon, the OEMs and fleet owners are going to have to respond to that, especially when it comes to goods movement, and hydrogen and fuel cells are the best – if not only – solution that will work for many of those use cases.”
Electrek’s Take
As a light vehicle fuel – despite the efforts of Hyundai, Toyota, and (more recently) Honda – things aren’t going well for hydrogen. As a fuel for massive semi trucks and even bigger heavy equipment, however, it might stand a chance against current battery technology.
But battery tech isn’t stagnant, and lighter, better, faster charging battery news that used to come every year, and then every month, now seems to be coming every week – and I’d argue that you’d be foolish to assume batteries that are twice as energy dense at half the weight won’t be here well ahead of California’s 2035 ICE ban.
But that’s just me. You guys are smart. Head on down to the comments and let us know what you think.
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