Solar power due to overtake oil production investment for first time, IEA says

[furrowtickler]

Hmmm, telling.
Please explain imports.
And the admission of intermittent.
I will give you that the next century is 77 years away and anything is possible.
See you then.

Even Harper admitted that , chuck said as well but then says the same b/s lines touted by the Liberals and the UN about 2030
Very confused people at the microphone 🎤

Deliberate circus act continuously

[chuckChuck]

You gotta love that a bunch of climate change denier farmers who dont think science is credible are now telling us renewables will never work and the utilities and the AESO don't know what they are doing in Alberta or anywhere else? LOL

Renewable output is largely predictable from day to day based on the sun and weather forecasts. They have many years of data to work with.

And utilities and system operators are designing systems to incorporate more renewables.

Farmers should stick to running their farm and let the utilities run the electrical system.

Or do you think electrical engineers and system operators should tell you how to run your farm?

[chuckChuck]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-global-renewable-energy-capacity-growth/

Worldwide additions to renewable energy capacity set to surge in 2023
Jeffrey Jones
ESG and Sustainable Finance Reporter
Calgary

Global additions to renewable energy capacity are on track to surge to a record this year as growing energy-security worries and improving costs drive investments in green power.

The International Energy Agency said on Thursday that the world will add more than 440 gigawatts of renewable electricity in 2023, which is more than the entire installed power capacity of Germany and Spain combined. That addition is 107 GW above that of 2022, and is driven mostly by solar projects.

Solar is also expected to account for two-thirds of additions next year, pushing renewable additions to yet another record.

The forecast follows the Paris-based IEA’s projection last week that well over half of energy investments this year will be directed at clean technologies, including renewables, electric vehicles, nuclear power, energy storage, low-emission fuels and efficiency improvements. It predicted such spending will top US$1.7-trillion, as the race to decarbonize economies in the fight to limit climate change picks up steam.

“This unprecedented growth is being driven by expanding policy support, growing energy security concerns and improving competitiveness against fossil fuel alternatives,” the IEA said in its renewable energy market update. “These factors are outweighing rising interest rates, higher investment costs and persistent supply chain challenges.”

The IEA published its prediction as one of Greece’s top industrial and power companies, Mytilineos SA, said it planned to spend $1.7-billion on solar projects in Alberta, adding to an investment boom in renewables in the province. It aims to have five projects fully operational by 2026.

At the end of 2022, installed renewable electricity capacity worldwide was 3,372 GW, representing about 30 per cent of the total. The IEA has said that share could top 60 per cent by 2030 under a scenario where countries achieve their targets to get to net zero. Additions to capacity in the forms of solar, wind, hydro and bioenergy will have to climb 12 per cent annually to hit that number.

Fears of an energy supply crunch as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roils oil and gas markets have prompted European Union member states to accelerate deployment of residential and commercial solar systems. The IEA said Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Sweden account for more than four-fifths of the additions in the EU.

However, China is set to again lead the globe in spending this year and next. Last year, the country accounted for nearly half of the world’s additions to renewable capacity, the IEA said. In 2023 and 2024, that focus is expected to shift to megaprojects located far from demand centres where power can be delivered at prices at or below coal-fired generation. China will also push to develop solar projects along with capacity targets for public institutions and large state-owned enterprises.

The activity is being driven by several factors, including China’s target to get to net-zero emissions by 2060, continuous policy support for renewables and the large scale of its manufacturing industry for green technology.

In North America, the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which includes US$360-billion in incentives for renewables and other clean technology, is not expected to start bolstering capacity additions there until 2025.

“While federal tax credits under the IRA provide unprecedented investment certainty for renewable energy projects up to 2032, installations due to come online within the next two years have already qualified for previous tax incentive schemes,” the agency said. “Thus, pre-IRA policies as well as developments concerning supply chain constraints and trade measures affect our short-term capacity forecast.”

Globally, the success of solar comes down to its competitiveness. As the war in Europe has driven up wholesale and retail electricity prices, European policy makers have latched onto distributed solar systems, which can be installed relatively quickly, to diversify away from imported fossil fuels.

After two years of declines, onshore wind-power additions are expected to surge 70 per cent this year to break a record set in 2020. Some of the increase is driven by the commissioning of developments in China that were hit by COVID-related delays last year. Large expansions will also be recorded this year in the U.S. and Europe as projects that had been delayed because of supply chain problems go online.

Meanwhile, gains to offshore wind capacity are expected this year after a large decline last year, the IEA said.

[chuckChuck]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/article-canada-alberta-solar-farm-mytilineos/

Greek company Mytilineos to launch Canada’s largest solar farm in Alberta
Eric Reguly
European bureau chief
Athens

One of Greece’s top industrial and power companies is launching a $1.7-billion solar-energy project in Alberta that it says will be the largest of its kind in Canada.

Mytilineos SA says the investment actually consists of five projects, two of which are nearing the “ready to build” stage and should receive regulatory approvals shortly, allowing construction to begin by the end of this year. All five projects should be fully operational by the end of 2026.

Once finished, the entire project will have 1.4 gigawatts of capacity, enough to power 200,000 homes.

“This is our first investment in Canada,” Evangelos Mytilineos, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in an interview in Athens. “Business conditions in Canada in general are good, and we feel more comfortable there than in the United States. Canada feels more like Europe to us.”

The project will be built on separate plots in Southern Alberta, one of the sunniest areas in Canada and home to many of the country’s biggest solar farms, including Greengate Power’s enormous Travers Solar Project, whose commercial operations began last November.

Mytilineos was established in 1990 and evolved from a family-owned metallurgy business that opened in 1908. The company is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange and operates in two main businesses – metallurgy and power generation. It has about 5,500 employees.

It owns one of Europe’s biggest aluminum refineries, which it purchased from Canada’s Alcan (now Rio Tinto Alcan) in 2004. On the energy side, it operates natural gas-powered plants in Greece, trades gas and constructs renewable energy projects, with operations in more than 30 countries.

Mytilineos is backed by Toronto’s Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., led by Prem Watsa, which first bought into the Greek company in 2012 and has since increased its ownership to 4.7 per cent, making it the second-biggest shareholder, after Mr. Mytilineos, who owns 27 per cent. Fairfax has an option to take its ownership to 6.4 per cent.

Mytilineos has a market value of €4.2-billion after a one-year price rise of almost 75 per cent. In the first quarter, the company reported that net profit had doubled to €143-million on sales of almost €1.4-billion.

Mr. Mytilineos, 69, said North America is attracting global energy investments because the United States and Canada have made the green transition a priority. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law last year by President Joe Biden, will make hundreds of billions of dollars available for energy security and to address climate change.

Canada has responded with measures to expedite the transition to net-zero emissions. Last fall, the federal government announced the Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit. Alberta has passed its own incentives, such as the Renewable Electricity Program, which offers long-term government contracts to renewable energy generators.

In Alberta, fossil fuels account for almost 90 per cent of power generation, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. The province is under pressure to bring that share down as Ottawa strives to meet the net-zero emissions goal it passed into law by 2050.

Mr. Mytilineos said the Alberta solar project can choose between five years of deferred taxes or a subsidy that will cover 30 per cent of capital expenditures.

The company’s Alberta solar farms will be located near the towns and hamlets of Georgetown, Sunnynook, Dolcy, Eastervale and Red Willow. The Sunnynook farm, with a capacity of 332 megawatts, will be the largest; the others will have capacities ranging from 246 to 280 megawatts.

The company may add battery storage to the projects at some point, though Mr. Mytilineos said the technology is not advanced enough yet to make a commitment to the idea (one of its projects, in Britain, features battery storage technology).

He also said the company is considering building an aluminum plant somewhere in Canada or the U.S., where industrial energy is far cheaper than in Europe. Aluminum smelters use enormous amounts of energy and can become uneconomic when power prices surge, as they have in Europe since the war in Ukraine started 15 months ago.

The investment by Mytilineos represents a new phase in Greek industry. A decade ago, the country was effectively bankrupt and on the verge of leaving the euro zone. The austerity programs demanded in exchange for bailouts overseen by the Troika – the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund – plunged Greece into economic depression, crippling many employers and killing their investment plans.

Today, Greece is one of the fastest-growing economies in the European Union, and some Greek companies are expanding abroad. Mr. Mytilineos said he is “proud” to be making a substantial Greek investment in Canada.

[cropgrower]

who do you think will read all that proaganda ?

[blackpowder]

You gotta love that a bunch of climate change denier farmers who dont think science is credible are now telling us renewables will never work and the utilities and the AESO don't know what they are doing in Alberta or anywhere else? LOL

Renewable output is largely predictable from day to day based on the sun and weather forecasts. They have many years of data to work with.

And utilities and system operators are designing systems to incorporate more renewables.

Farmers should stick to running their farm and let the utilities run the electrical system.

Or do you think electrical engineers and system operators should tell you how to run your farm?

That was pure condescending socialist manure from a horses arse. Why all the hate?

[chuckChuck]

Propaganda and horse manure? You guys running out of better comebacks again?

I guess the IEA, NASA, NOAA and all the other expert organizations are just wrong? Nothing but propaganda machines? You might as well join Little lentils flat earth crusade if that's the best counter arguments you can muster. LOL

And who said gas plants aren't very flexible generation sources?

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Dispatchable_source_of_electricity

A dispatchable source of electricity refers to an electrical power system, such as a power plant, that can be turned on or off; in other words they can adjust their power output supplied to the electrical grid on demand.[2] Most conventional power sources such as coal or nuclear power plants are dispatchable in order to meet the always changing electricity demands of the population. In contrast, many renewable energy sources are intermittent and non-dispatchable, such as wind power or solar power which can only generate electricity while their primary energy flow is input on them.
Dispatch times

Dispatchable sources must be able to ramp up or shut down relatively quickly in time intervals within a few seconds even up to a couple of hours, depending on the need for electricity. Different types of power plants have different dispatch times:[3]

Fast (seconds)

Capacitors are able to dispatch within milliseconds if they need to, due to the energy stored in them already being electrical, whereas in other types of power storage such as chemical batteries the power must be converted into electrical energy.

Hydroelectric facilities are also able to dispatch extremely quickly; for instance the Dinorwig hydro power station can reach its maximum generation in less than 16 seconds.[4]

Medium (minutes)

Natural gas turbines are a very common dispatchable source, and they can generally be ramped up in minutes.

Solar thermal power plants can utilize systems of efficient thermal energy storage. It is possible to design these systems to be dispatchable on roughly equivalent timeframes to natural gas turbines.

Slow (hours)

While these systems are typically regarded as only providing baseload power, they often have some flexibility.

Biomass
Nuclear
Coal

Many coal and biomass plants can be fired up from cold within a few hours. Although nuclear power plants may take a while to get going, they must be able to shut down in seconds to ensure safety in the case of a meltdown.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

That was pure condescending socialist manure from a horses arse. Why all the hate?

What else is he going to come back with?
If he acknowledges that the propaganda piece he posted is correct, then he has to acknowledge that solar power will be drastically more expensive than fossil fuels. If he acknowledges that it is fake news, and he has to acknowledge that he was duped into repeating the fake news. He can't acknowledge that he didn't actually read the article, or that he didn't understand what it says. or that the headline he repeated had nothing to do with the article itself.
Socialist horseshit and hatred is the only acceptable comeback.

[furrowtickler]

You gotta love that a bunch of climate change denier farmers who dont think science is credible are now telling us renewables will never work and the utilities and the AESO don't know what they are doing in Alberta or anywhere else? LOL

Renewable output is largely predictable from day to day based on the sun and weather forecasts. They have many years of data to work with.

And utilities and system operators are designing systems to incorporate more renewables.

Farmers should stick to running their farm and let the utilities run the electrical system.

Or do you think electrical engineers and system operators should tell you how to run your farm?

Well we have some NFU hobby farmers , some organic and an Ag minister that has a garden trying to rule Ag policy for all farmers even though most don’t have a single clue what it takes to run a modern farm …… even remotely

[blackpowder]

Sadly he believes what he wrote and sadder still is that others do.
He writes everything as if fact when you can see it's all a stretch.
Where in Canada can you turn a coal facility on and off and who would pay for that? Anyone here ever work in one?
Why would you throttle a nuke plant or can you? Who pays for that?
Does no one see that our windfarms have zero or negative days?
What would your basis be on grain if your terminal shut down 20% or even 10% of the time? Railroads?
But no, electric infrastructure different?
Who is really this stupid?
Guess I answered my own question and could write a book of examples.