Home: Renewable Energy News: Thursday 17 April, 2008

Renewable Energy News

THURSDAY 17 APRIL, 2008 |

Australian and China strengthen cooperation on climate change

Australia and China have stressed the importance they attach to the issue of climate change and their willingness to strengthen cooperation to jointly meet the challenge of climate change. During a meeting between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. “Both sides reiterated, in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and consistent with the Bali Roadmap, the need for developed countries to continue to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2012 and the necessity to assist developing countries in enhancing their capability to address climate change,” said Rudd. According to Rudd, both sides reiterated their support for the work of the Australia-China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology. “Both countries believe that actions to reduce emissions from deforestation should be one of the aspects of future action on addressing climate change and reaffirmed their support for the China-initiated Asia Pacific Network on Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation, established during APEC in Sydney in September 2007,” he said. There were three items listed under Identified Initial Areas for Closer Australia-China Cooperation, including Closer Policy Dialogue, focussing on the UNFCCC; expanding the Australia-China Climate Change Partnership, focusing on drawing together resources and expertise from Australia and Chinese industry, science and government sectors; and developing clean energy, with attention toward the two countries’ cooperation on developing low emission technologies. China welcomed Australia’s reaffirmation of the commitment to invest A$20 million in the Australia-China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology.

Australia to aid feasibility study for worlds largest solar city

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced that China and Australia have agreed to conduct a feasibility study into building the largest solar city in the world in north-east China. Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong toured a coal-fired power station in China, and discussed the implications of climate change. Rudd said the development of carbon capture and storage technology is important for both nations. “Australia is the largest coal-exporting country, China is the largest coal-consuming country. We have a particular responsibility to ensure that we advance the overall technical and commercial challenge of clean coal,” Rudd said. Wong welcomed China’s support for a series of climate change initiatives to be funded by the Australian Government. The projects include work on solar power technology in north-east China and water quality monitoring in the Yellow River. Wong said she is pleased that China is willing to enter into ongoing talks on climate change. “One of the things we do know very clearly – and anyone who was in Bali and anyone who has followed the international negotiations subsequently will know this – we know that there is no comprehensive global agreement to tackle climate change, unless China is closely engaged in the climate change issue,” she said.

£700m offshore wind farm to be built in UK waters

UK generator E.ON UK has submitted a planning application for a £700m offshore wind farm located over eight kilometres off the East Yorkshire coast. If built, the 300 MW Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in UK waters. The application is the first for an offshore wind farm since Business Secretary John Hutton’s call for more than 33 GW of offshore wind to be installed by 2020. “The next generation of large-scale offshore wind farms like Humber Gateway have a vital role to play in the UK’s future energy mix,” said E.ON UK Chief Executive Paul Golby. “This scheme will displace the emission of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 every year and will make a significant contribution to helping the Government meet its tough renewable energy targets,” said Dr Golby. E.ON UK is submitting the planning application despite recent objections by the Ministry of Defence to the wind farm. The MoD did not raise an objection when it was initially consulted about the project in 2004. “We’re speaking to both the MoD and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and we’re confident that we can find a way forward that is acceptable to all stakeholders,” said Golby. “We’re currently in a race to replace up to a third of the UK’s generation, which will be phased out over the next 15 years and so it’s vitally important that the Government deliver a clear framework that will allow us to develop projects like Humber Gateway,” he said. E.ON UK said it is committed to reducing the carbon intensity of its emissions across Europe by 50% by 2030. This builds on the existing achievement of reducing carbon intensity by 20% since 1990, according to E.ON UK.

CSIRO investigates injecting coal with bacteria to make methane

CSIRO scientists are investigating whether injecting coal seams with certain kinds of bacteria and CO2 can produce commercially viable quantities of methane gas. CSIRO’s Mohinudeen Faiz said research performed in the Sydney Basin shows that microbial activity can significantly increase the levels of methane in coal seam “sweet spots”. “We are discovering ways to culture micro-organisms that produce methane and pin point the nutrients and environmental conditions that encourage their activity,” Dr Faiz said. “Increasing methane production from coal seam reservoirs would provide a cleaner way to generate power through the use of methane and will mean significant benefits for Australians and the environment,” added Dr Faiz. “Once we can establish the type of environment that encourages growth of the microbes, we plan to stimulate the natural micro-organisms by injecting nutrients that the organisms thrive on, into coal reservoirs,” he said. The project, which is being delivered through the Energy Transformed National Research Flagship in collaboration with industry, is the first of its kind in Australia, according to the CSIRO. “Increasing methane production from coal seam reservoirs would provide a cleaner way to generate power through the use of methane and will mean significant benefits for Australians and the environment,” Dr Faiz said. It is anticipated that the CSIRO technology may ultimately allow microbial conversion of CO2 to methane after injecting CO2 into reservoirs. “This would reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions whilst providing an energy source,” Dr Faiz said. Australia is the second largest CSM producer in the world behind the US and it accounts for 40% of Queensland’s natural gas consumption.

The world’s largest steel company seeks to annul parts of ETS

The world’s largest steel company ArcelorMittal has sought to annul key parts of EU ETS (emission trading scheme) at a Court of First Instance hearing in Luxembourg. However, CFI judges obtained the parties’ agreement to suspend the case following the hearing, pending the outcome of a European Court of Justice case which will rule on one of ArcelorMittal’s main arguments – whether the steel industry is being treated unequally by being subjected to the emissions trading scheme when competitors are not. ArcelorMittal’s predecessor, Arcelor, SA filed a case in 2004 seeking to annul portions of the 2003 Emissions Trading Directive “to the extent that these provisions apply to the installations of pig iron or steel including continuous casting, with a capacity in excess of 2.5 tonnes per hour”. ArcelorMittal is also claiming for damages it blames on the directive, including “significant” compliance and verification costs and a decline in the reputation of its product. ArcelorMittal lawyer Wolfgang Deselaers told the judges that recent EC moves to amend the EU ETS by including the aluminium and chemical sectors point to the unfairness of the current directive as passed in 2003. “The creation of this inconsistency by the legislator in the first place, and the nonapplication of its own selection criteria constitute a manifest error, and thus a violation of the equality principle,” Deselaers argued. Deselaers discussed evidence, available to community legislators at the time the directive was passed, that undermined any rationale for excluding aluminium and chemical sectors. European Parliament lawyer Ioanna Anagnostopoulou argued that there was no “direct causal link between the directive and the alleged damages” ArcelorMittal was claiming. EC lawyer Ulrich Wölker conceded that the “directive is far from being perfect”. The directive had been set up in a “learn by doing approach”. “The directive is not perfect, but an imperfect directive is not illegal,” he said.

Cost of European Carbon

The price of European carbon closed on Tuesday at €25.05, up only €0.05 from Monday’s closing price of €25.00 for the benchmark December 2008 contract. Traders said that with carbon prices at their highest for almost 11 months many market participants opted to take some profits on long positions. The December 2008 contract opened strongly on Monday at €25.20, but dipped below €25.00 as coal prices rose. The secondary CER market remained stable and with little trading interest. The December 2008 contract traded at €16.40 on Tuesday, slightly higher than the traded price of €16.35 a day earlier. 9.2 million allowances were traded on Tuesday.

Energy efficiency project to reduce CO2 by 34,000 tonnes/year

An energy efficiency project in Andhra Pradesh, India is the 1000th project to be registered by the CDM. The project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 34,000 tonnes annually. “The CDM has passed another milestone, time to reflect on our success and redouble our efforts to improve and expand the mechanism,” said CDM Executive Board Chair Rajesh Kumar Sethi, who signed off on the project at a joint coordination workshop in Germany. CDM projects have so far generated more than 135 million CERS. The mechanism is anticipated to generate more than 2.7 billion CERs in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. “With 1000 projects in 49 countries in just two and half years, the ‘infant’ CDM has shown its potential, and is maturing into a ‘junior’. It’s clear that there is still much greater potential that can be realised, while respecting the imperative of ensuring environmental integrity and making the mechanism as simple as possible,” said Sethi.

News for Sunday 13 April, 2008