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Newsletter (copy 26)
California’s clean streak; Britain's flexibility scheme ⚡
Happy Tuesday, dear reader.
Some good news to get things started:
In the first half of April, battery- and hydrogen-powered models accounted for 50.4% of car sales in China.
Taking inspiration from Paris, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has pledged to make the River Thames clean enough to swim in within the next decade.
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Thanks for reading.
Nick Hedley
Editor, The Progress Playbook
California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, now regularly generates more renewable energy than it needs, data from the system operator shows.
On 38 of the 46 days to April 22, the US state saw periods where wind, solar and hydro output exceeded total electricity demand, according to Stanford University Professor Mark Z. Jacobson, who has been tracking California’s hot streak.
Standout stats: On April 20, renewable energy generation — mainly from solar panels — eclipsed electricity demand for over nine straight hours and exceeded consumption by 56% at one point. Surplus generation is exported to other states, stored in big batteries for use during peak periods, or curtailed (wasted).
Then, during the evening peak on April 21, another milestone was hit when big batteries discharged 6.5GW of instantaneous power into the grid. Batteries were the single-largest source of supply at the time, covering a fifth of the state’s electricity supply.
- Read the full story here.
The UK government says new measures aimed at creating a “smart”, flexible electricity system will help households to reduce their energy bills, strengthen the national grid, and rein in planet-heating emissions.
Among other things, the programme calls for minimum product standards that promote the adoption of smart appliances – which can be programmed to draw power mainly during off-peak hours, when electricity tariffs are lowest.
As an example, a smart charging point will wait for a period of low demand and prices – typically during the middle of the day or late at night – to charge an electric car. Similarly, a smart heat pump will pre-heat a home when prices are low, and curb its power consumption during costly peak hours.
- Read the full story here.
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In a city that often feels stitched together by scaffolding, the development known as the Alloy Block — on a bustling street in downtown Brooklyn, across from the red-and-silver sign of the Brooklyn Academy of Music — long seemed like just another construction site.
But there’s something unique about the project’s first phase, a 44-story tower that opened this spring. Surrounded by buildings that rely heavily on gas and oil for energy, 505 State Street is New York’s first all-electric skyscraper.
More than one in five cars sold worldwide this year will be electric, according to the International Energy Agency, which says that surging demand over the next decade will significantly reduce oil consumption for road transport.
In its annual Global EV Outlook report, the IEA projects that 17 million EVs will be sold in 2024, up from 14 million last year.
In the first quarter, sales were up 25% from the same period in 2023 – similar to the growth rate seen a year ago, but from a larger base. The number of electric cars sold globally in the first three months of the year is roughly the same as the number sold in all of 2020.
Electric cars sales in China are projected to reach 10 million this year, accounting for about 45% of all car sales in the world’s largest automotive market.
A hit to oil: Under today’s policy settings, one in two cars sold globally will be electric by 2035. Together with the gradual electrification of buses, trucks and other vehicles, this’ll avoid the need for more than 10 million barrels of oil per day in 2035. That’s equivalent to all the oil demand from road transport in the US today.
- Read the full story here.
The US government has allocated $25 million for solar installations over irrigation canals in California, Oregon, Utah and Arizona in an effort to reduce evaporation losses and accelerate clean energy deployments.
While it’s not the first country to do so — India was an early pioneer of the concept — the US is eyeing a much larger scale roll out after it draws lessons from these first projects.
Funded via the Inflation Reduction Act, the projects will “advance our clean energy goals and make Western communities more resilient to drought and climate change,” said Michael Brain of the Department of the Interior.
The department said placing solar panels over water will keep them cool and therefore boost their electrical output, while also conserving water by slowing evaporation rates. These set-ups also conserve land and reduce canals’ maintenance requirements by limiting algae and aquatic plant growth.
- Read the full story here.
The US government has allocated $7 billion in grant funding towards solar installations for more than 900,000 low-income households across the country.
The “solar for all” programme, funded via the Inflation Reduction Act, will be implemented in partnership with states, tribal governments, municipalities, and non-profits.
It will save low-income households $350 million in electricity costs a year, create 200,000 jobs in communities that need them, and tackle climate change and air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement.
The agency added that an estimated 4GW of solar capacity will be installed through the programme, which will help the government achieve its goal of having a zero-emissions power system by 2035.
- Read the full story here.
Other articles you might find interesting:
Seville’s cycling revolution offers a blueprint for other cities to follow
Surge in renewables output slashes power prices in Spain and Portugal
These cities are building solar plants on trash to save space
How Australia turned a third of its homes into mini solar plants
What the world can learn from Copenhagen’s cycling revolution
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