⚡Construction start for Iceland’s CO2 Direct-Air-Capture, UK mulls 69% GHG cuts by 2030, and a new material can store + release Solar Energy on-demand
By: Jakub Rzeplinski
Tags: Solar, Climate Change, Climeworks, Solar Energy, Hydrogen

⚡Construction start for Iceland’s CO2 Direct-Air-Capture, UK mulls 69% GHG cuts by 2030, and a new material can store + release Solar Energy on-demand Jakub Rzeplinski Follow Dec 3, 2020 · 12 min read

Good evening The Carbon Cut Readers! Today’s highlights include:

Direct air carbon capture company Climeworks has started construction of a plant in Iceland that will trap and bury 4,000 mt/year of CO2

Boris Johnson is mulling stricter U.K. greenhouse-gas cuts of as much as 69% by 2030, which would make it one of the most ambitious developed nations in the world when it comes to fighting climate change

A new three-year project allowing residential solar and batteries to trade electricity and grid services in Victoria, Australia has been launched

Germany scraps renewable fee on hydrogen to encourage new technology

Living algae facades cover buildings, sucking in CO2 and sun to produce renewable energy

and a crystalline material has been discovered which has properties that allow it to capture energy from the sun. The energy can be stored for several months at room temperature, and it can be released on demand — as heat.

⛽ NEW FUELS

💧 Hydrogen

1️⃣ Will Green Hydrogen Save the Planet or Become a Costly Detour? — That’s why there’s both excitement and trepidation around the run of dramatic hydrogen announcements from Europe, Australia and Chile in recent months. The European Union alone envisages spending as much as 470 billion euros ($558 billion) on green hydrogen by 2050. To shift the whole world in the same direction would cost at least twice as much.

2️⃣ Work begins on German-Australian ‘hydrogen bridge’ — Australia and Germany have officially started a joint-feasibility study on green hydrogen production and trade, or what the German Federal Minister of Research has described as a “hydrogen bridge.”

3️⃣ Enel, Eni partner on green hydrogen pilots in Italy — Italian energy giants Enel and Eni are to work together to develop two green hydrogen projects. The partners plan to produce the hydrogen through electrolysers powered by renewable energy near two Eni refineries in Italy. They said that green hydrogen appears to be the best decarbonisation option at the refineries. Each pilot project will feature electrolysers of around 10MW which are expected to start generating green hydrogen by 2022–2023.

4️⃣ Hydrogen boost from North German, Danish plans for 850 MW electrolyzers by 2025 — Five north German states have joined forces to establish a green hydrogen cluster with an interim, 500-MW electrolyzer target set for 2025, the HY-5 initiative said at the Hamburg wind fair Dec. 1. At the same event, the Green Hydrogen Hub Denmark (GHH) project unveiled plans for a 350-MW electrolyzer project in Northern Jytland by 2025.

5️⃣ Scottish Offshore Wind-to-Hydrogen Project Takes Off — UK energy regulator Ofgem and the Scottish government have set aside up to nearly GBP 25 million to finance a project that will use offshore wind power to produce green hydrogen energy for heating homes in Fife, Scotland.

6️⃣ Germany makes near $10 million contribution to Siemens hydrogen plant in Chile — Germany’s economy ministry made an 8.2 million euro ($9.9 million) contribution on Wednesday to Siemens Energy’s planned hydrogen plant in Chile, part of its broader national strategy to support hydrogen technology. The project, which requires total early-stage investments of 35 million euros, entails building and operating a wind power plant, Haru Oni, in southern Chile.

7️⃣ Trafigura to invest $62 mil in hydrogen ecosystem around Europe, partner with H2 Energy — The Geneva-based logistics and trading company will invest $20 million of that fund into H2 Energy, which has a 45% stake in the project known as Hydrospider.

8️⃣ Researchers convert wheat straw into hydrogen fuel — The new approach called photobiorefinery uses solar energy to break down wheat straw and make green hydrogen, a high-value biochemical.

9️⃣ Is Green Hydrogen Viable? With Government Support, It Can Be — Green hydrogen, produced by using renewable energy to split water, can cost several times the standard hydrocarbon version. Even carbon capture and storage — which turns hydrogen made with natural gas into cleaner, so-called blue hydrogen by trapping noxious emissions — is only nascent. The same is true of transport networks, storage, regulation and even demand beyond traditional industrial applications, like oil refining or fertilizer production. Without policy support, there’s a risk countries will miss out on this global energy realignment.

❄️ LNG & Natural Gas

1️⃣ No clear public mandate for multibillion-dollar Saguenay gas project — The controversial liquid natural gas (LNG) project in Saguenay is dividing Quebecers, according to a Léger poll released Wednesday. GNL Quebec, a Quebec-based project development, construction, and operations company, wants to build a natural gas liquefaction terminal on the Saguenay River. Tankers would then transport LNG to European and Asian markets. The project requires the construction of a 780-kilometre natural gas pipeline from Northern Ontario to the Saguenay terminal site.

2️⃣ Use of LNG as marine fuel faces challenges — High construction cost and low oil prices have made LNG-fuelled vessels commercially unviable, while the effect of their reduction in greenhouse gas emissions remains questionable, said a senior shipping executive.

🚘 Mobility — EVs, Batteries & Fuel Cells

1️⃣ Hyundai says it hasn’t given up on hydrogen fuel cells as it unveils new electric car platform — The Hyundai-Kia Group’s dedicated EV platform might be predictable, but 23 new electric models in five years isn’t to be sniffed at.

2️⃣ Northern Ireland set to get 100 zero-emission buses — Twenty of them will be hydrogen powered and the other 80 will be battery operated. These new buses are due to go into service in Belfast and Londonderry when they are ready and will be built by Ballymena-based company Wrightbus.

3️⃣ Free Now teams up with Ohme EV to support smart EV charging — A new partnership between Ohme EV and Free Now aims to slash the cost of smart electric vehicle EV charging technology, enabling London’s black cabs and private hire operators to move forward towards a goal of zero emission, all-electric transport.