Green Energy Revolution Megathread

[CountDeMoney]

Nuclear power is no longer economic because we choose not to make it economic.  Funny how the French have no problem doing that.

They are not expanding their nuclear power base either. The one new reactor they've been building since 2007 is way over budget and over schedule because of safety issues, and the one they had planned got shelved after Fukushima. It's sensible to keep the existing plants up and running, but nuclear power is not going to expand.

Not expanding their nuclear generation is a political decision and partly based on emergent technologies—not because it hasn't been a successful model, or exists in a politically hostile environment.

[The Minsky Moment]

Nuclear power is no longer economic because we choose not to make it economic.  Funny how the French have no problem doing that.

The French are having very serious problems with that.  The Areva reactor business is being dumped into EDF as a part of a massive restructuring; EDF in turn had a hugely discounted rights offering, mostly subscribed by the state.   The core problem is a complete inability to contain cost on EPR projects.

[jimmy olsen]

India's going all in on Solar! 

https://qz.com/1134798/solar-power-accounts-for-nearly-40-of-indias-new-power-generation-capacity/

It has contributed around 39%—over 7,100 megawatts (MW)—to the overall capacity additions, according to data from Mercom Capital Group, a US-based research and consulting firm. For comparison, solar energy capacity additions stood at only around 4,313 MW in all of 2016.

[Eddie Teach]

So when you play poker, do you consider betting 39% of your cash "going all in"? 

[jimmy olsen]

So when you play poker, do you consider betting 39% of your cash "going all in"? 

It's the acceleration in installation that I'm emphasizing here.

The Chinese are likewise crushing expectations
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-20/china-on-pace-for-record-solar-installations-as-forecasts-jump

China on Pace for Record Solar-Power Installations
Bloomberg News

November 20, 2017, 5:57 PM GMT+9
Updated on  November 21, 2017, 1:01 AM GMT+9
BNEF boosts estimate to 54 gigawatts from about 30 gigawatts

Rooftop plants and projects for the poor were a surprise
China, the world's biggest carbon emitter, is poised to install a record amount of solar-power capacity this year, prompting researchers to boost forecasts as much as 80 percent.

About 54 gigawatts will be put in place this year, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said Monday, raising a forecast of more than 30 gigawatts made in July. That amount of additional capacity would likely surpass all the solar energy generated in Japan in 2017.

"The amount of rooftop solar plants and projects aimed at easing poverty were more than expected and developers rushed to build some ground-mounted solar projects before they have been allocated subsidies," said Yvonne Liu, a BNEF analyst in Beijing.

The growth of the market has benefited top panel producers, including JinkoSolar Holding Co. and Trina Solar Ltd. China installed 43 gigawatts of solar power in the first nine months of 2017, already above the 34.5 gigawatts for all of last year.

China has been the world's biggest solar market since 2013. It surpassed Germany as the country with the most installed photovoltaic power capacity two years ago.

CCB International Securities Ltd. raised its forecast for China's solar power capacity to 55 gigawatts from 40 gigawatts for 2018, according to a Nov. 17 note.

"We have a bright outlook for the entire supply chain of China's solar sector as new policies are introduced to liberalize direct power sales for distributed power generation and based on our assumption of tariff hikes and a higher renewable surcharge in 2018," CCB said.


Half of all additions to China's electricity generating capacity since 2013 have been renewables or nuclear, according to the International Energy Agency. By 2040, the IEA sees renewables accounting for 40 percent of total power generation. Coal, which contributes about 67 percent of generation now, will fall to 40 percent over that period.

[mongers]

....

Tim, good luck with that solar powered plane on your next stateside trip home.

[CountDeMoney]

Nuclear power is no longer economic because we choose not to make it economic.  Funny how the French have no problem doing that.

The French are having very serious problems with that.  The Areva reactor business is being dumped into EDF as a part of a massive restructuring; EDF in turn had a hugely discounted rights offering, mostly subscribed by the state.   The core problem is a complete inability to contain cost on EPR projects.

That is all about Areva mismanagement, not EDF's.  It shouldn't have been spun off in the first place.

[jimmy olsen]

Germany's war on coal is over and Germany won

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/12/germanys-war-on-coal-is-over-coal-lost/#

[11B4V]

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles

[crazy canuck]

Some good news on the development of battery technology and role it will play in remaking the electrical grid.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/batteries-canada-technology-1.4455998

[jimmy olsen]

Wow! Pretty impressive

http://nordic.businessinsider.com/tesla-is-the-most-popular-carmaker-in-norway-this-month--/

Tesla just became the most popular carmaker in Norway – where 32% of all cars are electric

Tom Turula     

Tesla breaks a new quarterly sales record in Norway, with more than 1,800 cars registered with a week left in the quarter.

Tesla became the overall most popular automaker in Norway in December. It also broke its own daily record with 266 cars registered in a single day.

Norway now has more than 10 percent of the global all-electric car fleet. But the government's generous subsidies will not last forever.

Norway is by far the world leader in electric cars, and that's fantastic news for Tesla: It's on track to become the bestselling carmaker in Norway in December, reports industry news outlet Electrek.

A record 1,861 Tesla vehicles have been registered in Norway this month – nearly triple the amount of 690 vehicles sold in December 2016, according to Teslastats.no, an informal but widely cited site that collects Norwegian electric vehicle data.

Tesla's Model X was the most popular car model in December, followed by Model S and the VW Golf, Electrek says. With a slowdown in sales expected during the holidays, the rankings are unlikely to change during the last days of 2017.

"Solid range, practical solutions and high security make more and more choose Model S and Model X," said Even Sandvold Roland, head of communications at Tesla Norway, to Dagens Naeringsliv.

The Norwegian business noted that on December 18, Tesla delivered more cars (266) than Jaguar did in the past year.

Last time Tesla was Norway's bestselling carmaker on a monthly basis was September 2013, when the Model S launched - just months after the government introduced new subsidies for electric vehicles.

The promised land of electric vehicles
Norway, with a population of 5,3 million, is in a class by itself in terms of electric vehicle adoption.

Since 2013, the country has gone from a few thousand to more than 135,000 plug-in or electric vehicles (PEV) registered; it sells one in ten of the world's all-electric vehicles; and more than half of all new cars are now PEVs (globally, that share is still under 1%). In absolute terms, Norway's PEV fleet trails only giants like US, China and Japan.

Although the rate of adoption has stunned most everybody, Norway's PEV boom has been part of the government's –costly  – plan to phase out petrol powered cars by 2025. "EVs are exempt from car-purchase taxes and the 25 percent sales tax levied on just about everything else, and they get a break on annual fees," said Sture Portvik, an Oslo city official to Cleantechnica.

Moreover, electric vehicle drivers enjoy almost a godlike status on Norwegian roads, with perks including free charging at Tesla supercharger stations, bus lane access, and exemption from fees on toll roads and ferries.


Almost a third of the Norwegian car fleet consists of electric or plug-in hybrids.
EVvolumes.com
The PEV incentives play an outsize part in why Norwegians prefer to go electric: According to NEVA, a national electric car association, about 72 per cent of buyers are choosing an electric car for economic reasons and just 26 per cent for environmental ones. This dynamic was on show recently in Denmark, where "Tesla tax" proposal fell through last month, policymakers are set to rein in the subsidies that helped Tesla become a best-seller in Norway – starting with a revision of tax incentives from January 2018.

Indeed, with almost 60 percent of Tesla's fourth quarter sales concentrated in the first three weeks of December, it is not entirely unfeasible that Norwegians are taking full advantage ahead of January.

Until the phase-outs take effect however, Tesla – with Model 3 in the pipeline – can look forward to new records in Norway.

Norway's electric car boom, a timeline:
Summer 2013: Government introduces financial incentives, including weight tax deduction for plug-in hybrids

September 2013: The launch of Tesla Model S makes Norway the first country in the world to have electric a car topping the new car sales monthly ranking

March 2014: 1% of Norway's cars are plug-in electric

December 2016: 100,000th all-electric vehicle registered

April 2017: Half of all new cars sold are either electric or plug-in

December 2017: Tesla becomes the most popular carmaker on a monthly basis in Norway

December 2017: 32% of Norway's cars are plug-in electric

[Valmy]

Sounds good. The more people around the world buy them the cheaper they will get for me.

[Valmy]

Some good news on the development of battery technology and role it will play in remaking the electrical grid.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/batteries-canada-technology-1.4455998

Yeah this is the big break through just a few years away.

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like Tesla is getting over their initial production problems

Click to look at the video, pics and embedded links
https://electrek.co/2017/12/21/tesla-factory-drone-flyover-shows-growing-model-3-inventory/

A new drone flyover of the Tesla Factory in Fremont gives one of the best looks at the manufacturing facility to date and a rare look at the growing Model 3 inventory at the plant.


Over the past two weeks, we have seen a lot of anecdotal evidence that Model 3 production has increased.

From hundreds of Model 3 vehicles spotted at delivery centers to suppliers said that weekly production is increasing to 5,000 units and more recently accelerating the pace at which they send out invites to configure and now delivering those vehicles.

But it doesn't beat seeing hundreds of cars coming out of the factory.

Redditor darksoldier360 on /r/teslamotors took his DJI Mavic Pro to Fremont yesterday in order to capture a stunning video (embedded below) of the factory.

But what caught most people's interest is the parking lots full of Model 3 vehicles:

It's hard to estimate the total number of Model 3s since it looked like one parking lot exclusively held Tesla's newest model (about 300 units), but other parking lots seemed to have a mix of Model 3 and Model S and X vehicles.

I'd estimate as many as 500 Model 3s around the factory, but here's the video if you want to make your own estimation (let us know what you came up with in the comment section below):

Interestingly, we also get a good look at the new buildings that have recently come up at the factory site.

The biggest one is believed to be a giant automated storage & retrieval systems:

In preparation for expansion of the production capacity at the plant due to Model 3, Tesla launched a major expansion plan last year. It includes the addition of several new buildings to almost double the size of the already giant electric vehicle factory – 5.3 million square feet to 9.9 million square feet.

Those new buildings are being built to help Tesla increase the production capacity of the plant to over 10,000 units per week by the end of 2018.

[Ed Anger]

Elon Musk molests dogs