Wind and solar technologies are the most mature renewables after Hydropower. Wind and solar provide a GHG reduction solution, but also allow countries to grow domestic energy sources. Technology advances aim at improving wind or sun conversion rates to electricity, developing offshore wind or floating solar farms equipped surfaces, and decreasing their environmental footprint.
Progress is continuing in wind power due to offshore wind turbines’ capacity increases, improved blade design, noise reduction, and an increased number of sensors coupled to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to better monitor equipment and improve output.
Wind and solar provide a GHG reduction solution, but also allow countries to grow domestic energy sources
Floating offshore wind technology is currently in a precommercial phase, with approximately 84 MW installed worldwide at the end of 2019. Globally in 2019, there were over 7,000 MW in the planning and permitting phases of development, with the first commercial-scale projects expected to be operational in 2024. Floating wind will become competitive (LCOE) and is predicted to grow worldwide to more than 264 GW in 2050.
On the PV solar technology side, research and development is focusing on semiconducting material to increase the solar-to-electricity conversion rate.
In 2021, the energy sector emitted 36 billion tonnes of energy-related GHG, worldwide. The development of CCUS has been disappointing in the past, however it is picking up. The past decade saw high-profile project cancellations and government funding programs that failed to deliver. On average, capture capacity of less than 3 MtCO2 has been added worldwide each year since 2010, with annual capture capacity reaching over 40 MtCO2 in 2021, thanks to 27 operating plants. This needs to increase to 1.6 billion tonnes (GtCO2) in 2030 to align with a pathway to net zero by 2050. Significant growth of the number of projects since 2021 and the U.S. is the most supportive region. Other countries are now supporting CCUS.
There has been significant growth of the number of projects since 2021 and the U.S. is the most supportive region. Other countries are now supporting CCUS.
Norway has committed $1.8 billion to the Longship project, which includes the Northern Lights offshore storage hub; the Netherlands has committed up to €2 billion through its sustainable energy and climate fund to the Porthos CCUS hub at the Port of Rotterdam; the United Kingdom has established a £1 billion CCUS Infrastructure Fund with a target of building four CCUS hubs by 2030; and four CCUS projects have been selected in the first funding call for the European Commission’s €10 billion “Innovation Fund”. Support for CCUS is also growing in Canada and in Australia.
Direct Air Capture: (DAC): CO2 represents 0.04% of ambient air. It is therefore a challenge to capture it.
Two technologies exist that capture CO2 through a liquid, which is regenerated at the end of the process, or in a solid with subsequent degassing. However, DAC costs in 2022 are extremely high and the process consumes a lot of energy.
Flexibility and storage are key, with a higher share of Renewables in the electric mix, to balance the grid. Demand – Response, Smarter (Smart Grids) and interconnections are available if slowly growing solutions.
Storage - batteries and hydrogen - being the two complementary solutions (30% CAGR till 2030 predicted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance).
Batteries for mobility. With optimized production methods (Gigafactories), Li-ion batteries will reach a cost of $100/kWh at the cell level and an energy density of 300Wh/kg before 2030. Metals availability (Lithium, Cobalt), recycling and technology progress should improve Li-ion batteries, until solid-state batteries costs competitiveness with research combined to markets expansion. Stationary batteries (Sodium-ion), Batteries used for grid storage and Vehicle to Grid are also progressing, without being commercially viable today.
Hydrogen is an important energy vector for energy transition because it makes it possible to decarbonize around 15% of the economy that is not suitable for the direct use of electricity. Hydrogen also allows inter-seasonal storage of electricity. Hydrogen production must be carbon-free, which is not the case currently (less than 1%).
80 countries support Hydrogen development, out of which European countries are the most ambitious.
To meet the Paris agreement goals, Hydrogen should cover 15% of world energy demand by 2050, and 70% of Hydrogen has to be green by 2030, 30% blue (with Carbon Capture). More technology development and large investments infrastructure are expected to make Hydrogen an industrial reality. The question is should green Hydrogen be reserved for industries where CO2 is difficult to abate with other technologies.
Heat pumps are an important technology in the transition to clean energy as they enable space heating applications (often fossil-fueled today) to be electrified. On a global net zero pathway, heat pumps will account for more than 1 billion tons per year of avoided CO2 emissions by 2030 (savings in average 2t CO2/heat pump/year).
Hybrid heat pumps combined with a boiler can save up to 60% of fuel. Heat pumps are developed in households and buildings. Heat pump technology can be deployed in industry to capture and re-use waste heat, especially where there are drying, sterilization, evaporation, or steam generation processes.
Governments should invest more in these low carbon technologies, from basic research to technologies’ deployment, but also in education and scientific training, which are the pillars of success.
Pump up the use of heat pumps, here’s why! Heat pumps enable space heating applications (often fossil-fueled today) to be electrified.
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