I sat through another Zayed Future Energy Prize awards ceremony yesterday, and it again moved me to tears. No, it’s not normal for me to be moved to tears, but the deep, powerful, inspirational change that certain finalists communicated was too much for the emotional sensors behind my eyes.
Statoil has chosen Younicos to supply a 1 MW smart battery to complement the Hywind Scotland floating offshore wind farm installation.
Abu Dhabi has begun a two year training program for Pacific island nations to help them transition to renewable energy. Meanwhile, the US government is sending thoughts and prayers to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands
Co-developers Statoil, Masdar, and Statkraft this week officially opened the 402 MW Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Norfolk in eastern England, after construction costs fell by 15% since the original investment decision.
The Norwegian oil firm Statoil has confirmed its final investment decision to develop what will be the “world’s first” floating wind energy project — the Hywind wind farm pilot park offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire (Scotland).
It’s very easy to slam oil & gas giants for their role in global emissions and their hesitance to give up luxurious lifestyles and steady revenue streams — not to mention conspiratorial tricks and scams when those are at play, which they sometimes are. But there are also a couple of things to consider:
The cost of solar PV has hit a stunning new low – with a bid for a 300MW solar project in Saudi Arabia pitched at just $US1.79c/kWh – or $US17.9/MWh ($A22.7/MWh) – with no subsidies. This offer represents a significant fall of 75 per cent in costs below those considered “not credible” less than two years ago.
I thought the Zayed Future Energy Prize was cool when I first attended one of its awards ceremonies during the annual World Future Energy Summit and Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. I thought it was cooler after working with the Zayed Future Energy Prize (ZFEP) crew loosely for a couple of years to highlight prize winners and finalists. This year, I was added to the ZFEP Review Committee, which meant that I was in Abu Dhabi last week for a couple of days to help narrow 82 shortlisted candidates down to 40.
Years ago, I wrote that many people don’t realize solar energy and wind energy are so cheap because they have a price or talking point stuck in their head from 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or even just 3 years ago. As much as we at CleanTechnica repeat the fact that wind and solar are often the cheapest option for new electricity capacity, people in the general public and even in highly related fields don’t realize that renewable energy costs have fallen so much so fast. They don’t realize that cleaner electricity options are often the cheapest options.
Marubeni and JinkoSolar have initiated construction at the largest solar project in the Middle East. The 1.17 gigawatt solar power project will be located in Abu Dhabi and is one of the cheapest solar power projects in the world.
