This summer was greenest ever for energy, says National Grid

26.09.17

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This summer was greenest ever for energy, says National Grid

The electricity powering the UK’s homes and businesses this summer was the greenest ever, the National Grid has announced. The analysis of power generation showed that a combination of solar, wind and nuclear – and an absence of coal – pushed carbon emissions to their lowest level yet over the season. On average, almost 52% of electricity generation was met by low-carbon sources between June 21 and September 22, up from around 35% four years ago, reports BusinessGreen. Meanwhile, average CO2 emissions for each unit of power fell by 56% between summer 2013 and 2017, the Independent reports. National Grid is also launching a new service which will tell people when electricity is “greenest” and when solar and wind power is plentiful, reports the Times. Duncan Burt, of National Grid, said: “Clear and concise information that can tell you in advance when’s best to turn on the washing machine, load the dishwasher or charge your car for example, is a step in the right direction towards a low-carbon future.” HeraldScotland also has the story.

Clayhill, Britain’s first subsidy-free solar farm, revives fading industry

The Times

Clayhill solar farm, Britain’s first solar farm to operate without a direct subsidy, opens today. The farm contains 31,000 ground-mounted panels and is expected to generate enough power for 2,500 homes. It can generate up to 16 megawatts (MW) from 10 MW of solar panels and five batteries with a total capacity of 6 MW. It is able to operate without a subsidy in part because of a steep fall in the cost of solar panels and due to the giant batteries that store power and release it at times of peak demand. Anesco, the developer of the farm, intends to use the scheme to provide services to National Grid, reports the Financial Times. “It [the Clayhill project] wouldn’t pay with solar by itself at the moment . . . it needs the storage as well,” said Steve Shine, executive chairman of Anesco. Claire Perry will today officially open the Bedfordshire solar farm, and has it as “a significant moment for clean energy in the UK”, reports the Guardian. BusinessGreen also has the story.

German Greens say climate change priority in coalition talks

Reuters

One of the main conditions for Germany’s Green party participating in any future coalition government will be ensuring the country fills its obligations under Paris climate accord, the party said on Monday. Cem Ozdemir, co-leader of the Greens, told a news conference the party would focus on climate change, Europe and social justice in coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel after Sunday’s federal election. The announcement comes as Merkel seeks to keep her options open, saying she would start talks with the Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens as well as the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), a separate Reutersarticle reports. Merkel is likely to have to concentrate her energies on trying to form a Jamaica coalition – so-called because the parties’ colours match those of the Jamaican flag – with the pro-business liberal FDP and the Greens, reports the Guardian, as SOD leader Martin Schulz has ruled out a repeat of their previous alliance in government. RWE, Germany’s largest utility, dropped by 4% on Monday morning after the results of the election suggested the Greens may join the government, reports the Financial Times. The Greens said during the election they would push for the closure of Germany’s 20 dirtiest coal-fire power plants as a condition for joining a coalition. However the FDP, a pro-business party in favour of free-market economics, advocates against detailed central planning to force cuts to carbon dioxide emissions, reports Nature News. Climate Home, BusinessGreen and the Telegraph also run stories looking at what green policies a Jamaica coalition could deliver. Carbon Brief last week published an article comparing the key climate and energy policies of the six parties now with seats in the Bundestag.

ExxonMobil moves to cut its methane emissions

Financial Times

ExxonMobil yesterday launched a plan to curb methane leaks from its shale oil and gas operations. XTO Energy, Exxon’s shale subsidiary, will replace equipment, train staff and research new technologies to curb leaks of methane. The move means Exxon is taking unilateral action on an issue that has been the subject of sustained political and legal battles in the US in recent years. Exxon said it would be putting plan into action no matter what the administration and the courts eventually decide on regulation. According to Ars Technica, “Exxon’s move might be a way to create some goodwill in the face of an increasing number of investors and customers who are concerned about the future of the oil company’s risk profile and its image. This might also safeguard against another sudden regulatory pivot in the US, years or decades down the line.” The Hill, Inside Climate News and the New York Times also carry the story.

Anger at EU climate chief’s suggestion US can backtrack on Paris

Climate Home

A suggestion by EU commissioner for climate action and energy Miguel Arias Cañete that the US might water down its Paris pledge has sparked outrage among veteran negotiators and developing countries, reports Climate Home. Last week, while briefing reporters on a meeting with a senior US official at a summit in Montreal, Cañete said the US administration is willing to re-engage under the Paris Agreement but “they want to check some of the terms under which they agreed to participate previously. We assume that means that the US will revisit at some time the targets put forward by the previous administration.” Cañete has previously said that the Trump presidency might “chart its own path” within the treaty, and Climate Home understands that the White House has received signals from EU officials that Brussels would accept the US diminishing its pledge in order to keep it in the treaty. But leaders from the poor world said that in his efforts to accommodate the US, Cañete might concede a key principle of the Paris accord – that countries must increase, rather than decrease, ambition. The news comes as US energy secretary Rick Perry on Monday asked an oil industry advisory council to study carbon capture and storage for use with coal plants, reports Reuters. Perry also defended fossil fuel industry after hecklers interrupted his speech, arguing that fossil fuels save lives, reports Bloomberg.

Comment

Sun Trap

Editorial, The Times

“In rural Bedfordshire today, Claire Perry, the climate change minister, will open the first solar farm in Britain to sell power to the grid without a direct subsidy,” notes an editorial in the Times today – an event which it calls “landmark achievement”. However there are still obstacles for other new solar farms in Britain, it says, including securing a connection to the grid, a withdrawal of subsidies two years ago, and Britain not being very sunny. However, the Clayhill project “shows that solar power has a future here despite everything”, it adds.

The Mail’s censure shows which media outlets are biased on climate change

Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian

David Rose’s Mail on Sunday story attacking Noaa climate scientists seemed to have “all the climate denial components that biased conservative media outlets crave”, writes Dana Nuccitelli in the Guardian. A complaint to UK press regulator Ipso has been upheld against the story, which was published back in February, ruling that the piece “failed to take care over the accuracy of the article” and the Mail was required to publish the Ipso adjudication. “The errors really aren’t surprising,” argues Nuccitelli. “Rose and the Mail have a long history of climate denial, including error-riddled stories on Arctic sea ice, Antarctic sea ice, human-caused global warming, even the very existence of global warming. And the Mail has such a long history of inaccuracies in general that Wikipedia editors consider it an unreliable source and banned its use.” Carbon Brief published a factcheck of the Mail on Sunday article when it was first published in February.

McDonnell: Labour would ensure UK becomes ‘world leaders in decarbonising our economy’

James Murray, BusinessGreen

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell yesterday reiterated that low carbon infrastructure and clean technologies would provide one of the central pillars of a Labour government’s economic strategy, in his keynote speech to the party’s annual conference in Brighton. McDonnell said the UK needed to respond to the environmental “wake up call” provided by extreme weather and step up investment in clean technologies. Meanwhile, writing in BusinessGreen, Baroness Lynne Featherstone, energy and climate change spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, sets out the results of a report she had commissioned which last week concluded Britain can become zero carbon by 2050 so long as a radical plan of action is undertaken now. And in a post published on the government’s website, climate minister Claire Perry sets out her views on how the UK can lead the way in green finance, ahead of the first meeting of the Green Finance Taskforce today.

Forest diamonds

Fabiano Maisonnave, Climate Home

In a feature for Climate Home, Fabiano Maisonnave tells the story of the Paiter-Suruí tribe in Brazil, who in became the first indigenous population in the world to sell carbon credits under the UN’s major anti-deforestation scheme. “Then, last year, they discovered the earth beneath their forest was rich with diamonds, and all hell broke loose,” he writes. Mining in indigenous territories remains illegal, but this hasn’t stopped diamond hunters from rushing into the area. “As the miners moved in, the carbon credit programme collapsed.”

Science

A typology of loss and damage perspectives

Nature Climate Change

The inevitable consequences of human-caused climate change have collectively come to be known as “loss and damage”. However, the formal mechanisms of loss and damage (L&D) remain unclear, according to a new report. “Here we report on the first in-depth empirical study of actor perspectives, including interviews with 38 key stakeholders in research, practice, and policy,” the researchers write. “We find points of agreement and also important distinctions in terms of: the relationship between L&D and adaptation, the emphasis on avoiding versus addressing L&D, the relevance of anthropogenic climate change, and the role of justice.” Carbon Brief previously published a detailed explaineron loss and damage.

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