Grids & Integration

With cumulative capacity reaching 9.43 GW at the end of December, France saw electricity generation from solar increase 7.8% last year.

Dutch transmission system operator Enexis is deploying 11 “e-house” substations in the northern Netherlands, where grid capacity for large scale clean energy projects is limited. The company said it will invest €43 million in the plan “to speed up the energy transition”.

Under Tennet’s most optimistic outlook, solar generation capacity could more than double the volume of wind farms by the end of the decade, provided the Netherlands goes above and beyond Paris Agreement climate change requirements.

The world’s largest utility has looked outside the energy industry for its new head for the first time in its history, apparently signalling a lack of patience in Beijing with the slow pace of implementing a lower electricity price and of guaranteeing purchase of all clean power generated in the nation.

Germany’s Fraunhofer IEE uses weather data relevant for transmission line limits. Two new algorithms have been developed to identify local hotspots and better benefit from over-network use.

Several large utility-scale storage projects have already been developed under Ireland’s DS3 program. Innogy says that it now plans to look for more storage project possibilities in the country.

Under the umbrella of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 initiative, the research platform ERA has initiated a new batch of future energy projects. Looking at the list of winning projects, it is easy to tell that hydrogen, virtual power plant, and blockchain projects are really at the center of what Europe thinks will be important for its net-zero carbon plans by 2050.

A report from Dutch grid operator TenneT and gas business Gasunie suggests the companies should jointly develop infrastructure after 2030. With hydrogen and synthetic methane in demand, electricity and gas will become increasingly inter-linked. Only seamless integration of the two networks would enable the EU to achieve its net-zero-carbon 2050 plan.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has accepted Daybreak Energy’s application to develop a 2,230 MW pumped-hydro facility on the banks of Lake Powell in Utah.

A list compiled by a British price comparison website draws upon data from German company Statista which shows clean energy – including hydro – made up 12.74% of the nation’s power mix at the end of September.