A Green Degree Blog: New Angles On Sustainability

July 30th 2012

Why Germany Should Show Off It’s Dominant Renewable Economy

Germany’s renewable share for the first half of 2012 has recently been released, and guess what, they’re thrashing the majority of EU nations comfortably, reaching 26% overall, a staggering increase from 20.5% during the same period last year. That means that over a quarter of the energy filling the German grid was produced purely by renewable means, and that is something they should be seriously proud of, and rubbing in our faces, as I’ll explain below.

What is even more interesting about this event, is the specific mix of renewables used in accomplishing this task. Wind sits in gold medal position with 9.2%, with biomass (surprisingly) taking second with 5.7%, whilst solar PV follows closely behind with 5.3%, expanding by over 40% in comparison to last year. That alone is an impressive stat to contend with, and was no doubt bolstered by Germany’s generous FiT, which although was recently slashed to save on funding, has been highly successful in generating consumer interest in solar as a viable energy alternative.

Hydropower boosted 25%, up to 4% in the overall mix, with all other renewables completing the lineup.

It’s no surprise that wind energy takes pole on the list given how perfectly flat, large and windy Germany as a landscape is, and their heavy involvement with the cheapest of all renewable technologies. Many have attributed the extra-impressive results to the weather this region of Europe has been experiencing over the past 6 months, with abnormally high winds spinning up the turbines country-wide, torrential rains over-powering the hydroelectric dams, and in the later parts of the year, intense solar radiations and clear skies bathing the abundant solar panels in beaming energy.

Then again, attempting to diminish the feats achieved by the German renewable grid by stating it ‘was the weather which made it so damn good’ is a tad cheeky, considering the very point of many clean energy sources is that the sun and weather itself drives the production. If we have optimal weather, then they’re working exactly as planned.

What was surprising is the biomass share, which was much more than I thought had been invested in, with this form of energy generally not so high on a country’s energy list. I’m assuming that good recycling programs and clever biomass burning policies mean that Germany’s energy production is relatively high here, although actual year-on-year growth has been the smallest in this sector, just 7.5%.

A Pan-European/Continental Electricity Grid Could Monetise Surplus Renewable Energy

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This is simply a great idea, I just want to start by saying that. I love and am in awe of the vision and prospects this plan could bring to fruition, and it seems so ingenious to boot.

A future in which continent-spanning electricity grids feed the many hungry nations of Europe, Iceland and N. Africa has recently been plotted out by multiple energy ventures and renewable project giants such as DESERTEC and the EU. As you can see in the map above, the grid would stretch from the Saharan Desert, through all of Europe, up into Scandinavia and across the ocean to Iceland, connecting the entire region into one ‘energy-continent’.

This plan was initially suggested when people began noticing that energy projects in the UK, Europe and Iceland, as well as those in the deserts of Africa, were actually doing things thought irrational, uneconomic and plain stupid (think DESERTEC). Once this realisation set in, the idea of a pan-European/Saharan grid quickly formed.

With lines already laid connecting Ireland to the UK, France, the Netherlands, and now a record-breaking 950 mile long cable between Iceland and the UK, with plenty more in the works, this initially crazy daydream is rapidly becoming reality.

What is the real beauty of this project however is the renewable side of things; the whole grid will be supplied by low-carbon tech alone, none of that fossil fuel nonsense. As each country associated with the super-grid generates their renewable energy through different means, such as geothermal in Iceland, wind in the UK, or hydro in the Scandinavians, it plays to each and every country’s specialities. Rather than laying new lines and sticking wind turbines somewhere that ain’t windy, the grid will transport wind energy to the required regions from those nations which can easily provide.

With peak times being met by green energy flying in from abroad, for the states that have proven their worth in one or two particular renewable energy sources and produce surpluses at a consistent level, the monetary rewards are tantalising to say the least. Think of a scenario thus - France fears it can’t supply the energy needed to run its nation at full pelt, so it calls on the super-grid to supply some wind energy from us Brits, supplemented by some Swiss hydroelectric. Meanwhile, the Sahara (pumping out silly amounts of solar energy) is sending sunlight to Norway and Spain, and receiving a tasty return on their energy investment. It’s a complete win-win situation.

Will A Warming World Screw With Our Hydroecletric Capacity?

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Whilst fooling around yesterday trying to avoid doing work and reading up on the world’s news via Twitter etc, a question popped into my head and sat there like an itch I needed to scratch, an itch to do with climate change and a very widespread, but often neglected form of green energy - hydropower.

As my mind wandered, I began thinking about what effect a globally warming world, with its extreme weather events, climate weirding and melting ice, would have on the frankly massive industry of hydroelectric generation. Would it act to reduce the effectiveness of dams, or actually aid in powering them up; after all, climate change has done some pretty unexpected things in its time, and we are only just scratching the surface of weather system interactions and seasonal skewing.

I decided the best course of action would be to check out a few published papers/journals (of which links are available to at the end of this post) and garner a simple answer to the question, in turn informing anyone who reads this of the conclusions I came to.

I went into this with two polarising thoughts. One, was that climate change, in this instance the global increase of temperatures over the next century or so, would act to reduce the effectiveness of hydropower through the evaporation of reservoirs, rivers and water sources, as well as a reduction in flow of the rivers/system feeding the dams. On the other hand, it may actually increase the power of HE, or at least cause no change at all, by increasing snow-melt, thawing seasons and rainfall, all of which would lead to higher river discharges and a larger water source for energy. So these were my two hypotheses so to speak.

From the three top-cited papers I checked out, there arises a conclusion common in the scientific world, one that I have seen many times over; it’s variable. Now I know this is not enough for a rigorous answer to be put forward, but these papers are at least some of the top in the field of study, and if anything I am attempting to urge further study into it by readers and myself alike, so a future post may probe further, but for now, I’m taking these as a starting point.

Iceland Is 100% Renewable - That Was Kept On The Lowdown?

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Well here’s a little fact I didn’t know, and how I didn’t know of this is almost shaming on my part, but I simply have to share it. That little ice-bound island sitting astride the mid-Atlantic ridge, which occasionally spews out a handful of ash big enough to shutdown our air-space, is touting a fully green energy mix; that’s right, Iceland is 100% renewable, and has been for a fair amount of time.

At this moment, Iceland generates its entire electricity needs via hydro and geothermal sources, with not a fossil fuel powered plant to speak of or point angrily at. Not only this, but their electricity prices are amongst the most competitive in Europe, with many of their price guarantees and policies locking in enticing costs for both the customer and the provider. It’s practically the perfect environment for judging how well an entirely renewable mix can work.

Not only that, it gets better and better. Iceland’s freezing climate may put many off from visiting the eclectic nation, but for power hungry energy companies, it’s the golden setting. With cold winds and temperatures abundant all year round, huge hosting and data centres can be efficiently cooled purely through the action of wall vents and the odd open window. Because of this, electricity slurping climate controls don’t need to be employed, enticing big names such as Verne Global to the little country.

Now many of the reasons for renewables dominating the Icelandic mix are down to its Goldilocks geographical location, and relatively small population of just 320,000. With abundant volcano-fuelled thermal energy year-round, with glacial meltwater streams, rivers and lakes, they simply don’t need anything else; combine this with a small population and you’re onto a winner.

The only real issue to us wannabe green-nations, is that it still doesn’t really offer us a viable look into the renewable world available that we want. Geothermal is relatively limited worldwide, especially to Europe and Asia, and a large majority of the current hydro energy is already tapped, with a strong social stigma attached to further damming. Our focus is on solar, wind and marine energies, of which Iceland employs none of, so in that respect, we can’t begin basing our own future policies on the Icelandics; but that’s a minor niggle, they’re sorted.

In coming years, Iceland desperately hopes that their intense slant towards green energy and smart low-carbon techniques will draw in an ever-growing number of multi-national companies and professionals craving renewable energies to power up it’s economy and quell the 6% unemployment rate hanging over their heads.

It looks like it’s already began, so from now on I will most certainly be keeping an eye on this silently forward-looking island of the Atlantic.

http://www.ecomagination.com/iceland-attracts-new-business-with-clean-energy

Posted at 12:02pm and tagged with: Iceland, Renewable, Energy, Hydroelectric, Geothermal, Economy, Jobs, Europe, Asia, Electricity, Unemployment,.