Talking Climate Tech 030
💧 Pumped Hydro Start-up | 🇨🇦 Rogue State | 🌳 Trump v Trees | 🥜 AI Peanuts | ⚡ Pylon of the Month
I was making some prep notes on Pumped Hydro Energy Storage this week for a future video podcast interview.
I thought, why not include it as this week's 🔦 Startup Spotlight. Also quite relevant as they are on an investment raise in Canada, and have a location there, because it's Pumped Hydro Central.
And I love Canada, so why not, the place I would most like to live in the world if I shipped out of the UK - assuming it doesn't get invaded and become the 51st State.
Later on, you can see why places like Alberta might want to refocus their energies into renewables and away from oil & gas.
Oh Canada. 🍁
🔦 Startup Spotlight
This week, a UK-based innovator in the Pumped Hydro Energy Storage sector. You might ask, what's to innovate? PHES has been around for a long time and is very well established. See further info below.
PHES projects are dependent on geographical locations, a large amount of land use, large infrastructure capital and a long project development period, e.g. 10-15 years.
What if innovation could cut that cycle down, deliver more projects of smaller scale, in more geographical locations, opening up grid-scale energy storage?
LDES 🔋
Yes, we need Long Duration Energy Storage, lots of it, globally. Managing variable renewable generation, curtailment, and taking over from where BESS times out, just in the UK, according to Gov.
Deploying 20 GW of LDES could save the electricity system £24 billion between 2025 and 2050
Plenty of it globally, and good summary page here from IHA:
Pumped storage hydropower is the world's largest battery technology, with a global installed capacity of nearly 200 GW – this accounts for over 94% of the world’s long duration energy storage capacity, well ahead of lithium-ion and other battery types
The other good news is we know where else we can develop it - GIS data in studies such as that from Australian National University can give us global analysis on suitable sites for more indepth consideration - there are thousand's to go at!
Innovation 💡
A couple of areas of innovation here. They use a working fluid, R19, instead of water. This is low viscosity, non-toxic and high-density at x2.5 that of water, which means they can reduce the head height and operate on sites of smaller differential, while generating the same power.
There is further IP in the development of new turbines, components and systems to accommodate the R19.
Which all means as this comes together, even wider scope of the GIS search, into > 1million sites globally.
Pilot Project ⚙️
They are currently building the 500kW demonstrator down in Devon, UK, right now. Here is a layout of the scheme, read further in New Civil Engineer.
You can have a bit of a walk about to get the scale of this small [sic] site with Stephen Crosher, CEO:
You can see what's happening with their Canadian raise here. Note, this is not investment advice, merely interesting information!
🔎 Deeper Dive
🇨🇦 Alberta Goes Rogue
Despite its huge amounts of clean power, from hydro and nuclear, Canada has struggled to get its clean power agenda delivered:
Canada has set an ambitious target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45% from 2005 levels by 2030 and to reach net zero emissions by 2050
Per Capita emissions are down, -18% between 2000-2022, but overall emissions are still up:
But not much has changed in the Total Energy Mix since 2000, apart from more Gas, although thankfully, they have phased Coal down:
Electricity generation has been off to a clean energy-flyer because of the hydro resources, but additional traction in renewables to displace the balance of Gas generation, has been attritional rather than truly progressive:
Alberta's role in all this is curious, the rogue state - setting policy and lesgilation to hold onto its legacy fossil fuel industry, holding back progression.
An in-depth review from DeSmog on this - new legislation makes it even harder for renewable projects to get off the ground.
New clean energy requirements demand the highest percentage of security upfront of any province, state or country....Alberta government takes exactly the opposite approach to oil, gas and bitumen liabilities...
Meanwhile, Oil & Gas gets a free ride:
The official estimate of outstanding liabilities for bitumen mines alone stands at $57.3 billion. Only 3 per cent of this amount is currently covered by the Mine Financial Security Program (MFSP) meant to protect Albertans from footing the bill for mine clean-up costs that have doubled from an estimated $28 billion in 2018.
Because they get to make up their own numbers, and pay on the never never:
...allowed to estimate their own liabilities so the actual amounts of unsecured risks are likely much higher.... Alberta Energy Regulator in 2018 suggested the true amount may exceed $260 billion, or about $160,000 per Alberta household.
What's the outcome - they have managed to drive out renewable generation:
Alberta went from attracting three-quarters of renewable investments in Canada in 2022, to seeing the cancellation of 53 wind and solar projects totaling 8.6 gigawatts of lost generating capacity just two years later
Let's hope the Mark Carney can wrestle this under control and tame Danielle Smith, Alberta's Premiere, who wants another new pipeline as well. More on that here. The existing Trans-Mountain post-expansion isn't going great anyway, here.
Private investment isn't scrambling to dive in, with the risk of stranded assets and a shrinking market opportunity for heavy oils. Insurance is a challenge also, more here.
A lot of the same challenges and budget issues will remain from TMX, here, not to mention shipping issues when it gets to the coast.
Another wrinkle to be addressed for any proposed pipeline from Alberta to B.C.'s North Coast is the federal government's ban on large oil tankers filling up in the area.
From this report. It's not going to end well - there isn't really a project, and nor should there be. Alberta needs to realign its thinking, for everyone's sake.
💥 Trump Watch
It's all got rather serious for Don lately. Actual serious 'leader of the free world' type stuff, which is a massively concerning thing to say out loud in itself. 🤔 🤯
It's been mainly about Wars for the 'most peaceful president ever' and self-nominated Nobel Peace Prize hero. 🙄
Let's check in on what his minions have been doing on climate, behind the scenes.
Louisiana Goes Rogue 🐊
All part of the big FF row back, palm greasing and science denial profiteering we have come to expect from the Trump Regime. Report here on the policy:
a bill passed by the Louisiana Legislature last week redefines natural gas, a fossil fuel, as “green energy” and instructs state utilities to use energy generated by hydrocarbons.
More data on Louisiana here, its FF state revenue has declined from 60% to 4.5%, it faces huge challenges with FF pollution and global warming impacts.
Best to throw out the rogue policy lifeline again...I'm sensing a theme here. 🛟
Can't see the Wood for the Trees 🌳
There are a lot of trees, and wilderness in the US, it's vast. Great opportunity to cash-in. Open it up - build, cut, strip, burn!
The Trump administration's move to end protections for 58 million acres of national forests will open up the federal lands to immense destruction.
That's about the same size as the whole UK. More legislation is in play to destroy habitats and make some money, further reading here.
Keep on Grifting 💰
The family grift keeps on running of course, while Don is busy shouting at people that 'don't know what the fuck they are doing'.
Great recap on the filthy money here. It's quite a long read.
Golf Watch ⛳
He's only managed to get 4 rounds in through the whole of June, something big must have been going on 🤔
🏡 Konfab News
I had an interesting call with the President of Cambridge University Energy Technology Society, CUETS, recently. We are working on some content together, more on that later.
One of the key areas I would like Konfab to have an impact, is helping highlight positive sectors, opportunities and pathways for STEM students to contribute to the energy transition.
That's one of the reasons why the Climate Tech Impact_South 02 event will be kindly hosted and supported by the University of Southampton in September.
What was interesting in this conversation, alongside many other things, was the anticipated drain away of talent from expected industries and roles, to the likes of finance, investment and other sectors.
This would be a terrible shame and a major issue for the UK, and no doubt replicated in other countries.
Imperial, Oxford, and Cambridge produce world-class engineers. Yet post-graduation, their trajectory is an economic tragedy...
An interesting read - why we are failing our talent and ourselves.
Installer Show 2025 🔧
That was this week. I couldn't attend, but friend of Konfab, Amrit Chandan, who you might recall from EP01, was launching a scale pilot of his new AI technology for the show. Attendees, about 30,000!
More in this to follow - I will be posting an article with the analytics and learnings of what the Lorefully AI tool discovered from its crowd-sourcing adventure, and why it matters for the energy transition.
AI and Peanuts 🥜
EP03 is edited, ready to go - I released a short clip a couple of days ago on LinkedIn.
Start here, full episode video next week!
Kane Watkinson
😃 Good Stuff
Turn the Gas off ⚡
Another positive step on the journey here in the UK:
NESO will attempt to keep the country’s lights on without burning gas for the first time ever this summer.
A key milestone and something to celebrate, more here.
Opportunity Knocks 🌬️
More positive indicators here on Offshore wind for the UK;
UK regions could secure up to 10,000 more jobs and £25bn in extra revenue by investing in offshore wind supply chains, a new study has claimed.
Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC) and The Crown Estate joint report, more insights on the cluster growth analysis here.
Floating Wind Traction 🇫🇷
EDF has commissioned its new Provence Grand Large FOW farm, featuring 3 turbines for 25MW with tension leg platforms. More here.
All eyes are watching how this pans out as we work towards the Celtic Sea FOW project in the UK.
⚡ Pylon of the Month
The eagle-eyed of you will notice...this is no Pylon! 😱
Heresy indeed. As we wait for Pylon HQ to come through, and instead of dipping into the archives, I thought let's take a look at this big boy, a Static Compensator Transformer (SCT).
This, my friends, is a 195-tonne transformer, slipping gently into place as part of the SSEN substation development in Perthshire, Scotland. You can go and get your energy geek-on over here on the project site.
The grid is an incredible piece of engineering.
Thanks as always, let's keep pushing forward - remember, the momentum is unstoppable despite everything you might see and hear! 🌍
Stay warm, cool, dry, wet and safe wherever you are 🙏
Kane
Talking Climate Tech is free to its subscribers, but it does take a lot of time, energy and a fair bit of coffee to make it happen! 🥺
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