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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Construction has begun at Sweden’s largest solar project. Masdar has inaugurated a new solar plant in Azerbaijan. And a new report says we’ve crossed a ‘tipping point’ that will inevitably make solar the world’s main source of energy.
Jointly developed and owned by Neoen (the majority shareholder) and Alight, the 100 MW Hultsfred solar farm in Småland, south-east Sweden, will be built using low-carbon photovoltaic (PV) panels installed around the runway of Hultsfred airport, and be connected to the E.ON local grid distribution system.
The plant is expected to generate enough electricity to cover the consumption of over 18,000 homes and is scheduled to be fully operational by 2025.
The project is underpinned by a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) signed last year with H&M Group, under which the solar farm will provide the Swedish fashion chain with 95% of the renewable energy generated by the project.
Masdar signs 1 GW clean energy agreement
Masdar has announced the inauguration of the 230 MW Garadagh Solar Park in Azerbaijan, thought to be the region’s largest operational solar plant.
Masdar’s first project in the country, Garadagh will generate 500mn kWh/y – enough to power more than 110,000 homes and reduce carbon emissions by over 200,000 t/y.
The project is co-financed by Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Following the successful development of Garadagh, clean energy agreements totalling 1 GW were signed by Masdar Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Azerbaijan Minister of Energy, HE Parviz Shahbazov and Azerbaijan Minister of the Economy, HE Mikayil Jabbarov. The strategic agreements cover the progression of the first phase of a 10 GW pipeline of renewable energy projects in Azerbaijan signed in June 2022.
For an in-depth look at renewable energy in the Middle East, see next week’s New Energy World (8 November).
World may have crossed solar power ‘tipping point’
The world may have crossed a ‘tipping point’ that will inevitably make solar power our main source of energy, according to new research. The study finds that solar PV is likely to become the dominant power source before 2050 – even without support from more ambitious climate policies.
However, it warns four ‘barriers’ could hamper this: the creation of stable power grids, financing solar in developing economies, capacity of supply chains, and political resistance from regions that lose jobs. The researchers say policies resolving these barriers may be more effective than price instruments such as carbon taxes in accelerating the clean energy transition.
The study, led by the University of Exeter and University College London, is part of the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition (EEIST) project, funded by the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF).
Dr Femke Nijsse, from Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, comments: ‘The recent progress of renewables means that fossil fuel-dominated projections are no longer realistic. In other words, we have avoided the “business as usual” scenario for the power sector. However, older projections often rely on models that see innovation as something happening outside of the economy. In reality, there is a virtuous cycle between technologies being deployed and companies learning to do so more cheaply. When you include this cycle in projections, you can represent the rapid growth of solar in the past decade and into the future.’
She continues: ‘Traditional models also tend to assume the “end of learning” at some point in the near future – when in fact we are still seeing very rapid innovation in solar technology. Using three models that track positive feedbacks, we project that solar PV will dominate the global energy mix by the middle of this century.’
However, the researchers warn that solar-dominated electricity systems could become ‘locked into configurations that are neither resilient nor sustainable, with a reliance on fossil fuel for dispatchable power’. Instead of trying to bring about the solar transition in itself, governments should focus policies on overcoming the four barriers, the report says.
