Funding for short-term forecasting
Seven research projects have received funding to trial short-term generation forecasts at Australian wind farms. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency awarded $A6.1 million (US$4.4 million) out of A$9.41 million to the seven wind farms across the country.
It is hoped the projects will more accurately forecast weather to help the Australian Energy Market Operator better anticipate supply from renewables and improve system stability.
This in turn could help project operators reduce financial penalties for inaccurate supply predictions and reduce curtailment resulting from overly conservative forecasts.
The success of this project will depend on collaboration between wind-farm owners, grid operators and technology developers. The results should help to prepare the grid for increased renewables penetration.
But are those in power prepared to work together to enact these and other solutions that can help decarbonise the energy sector?
Critics of the Australian government’s energy policy — who described the latest spending plan as "incoherent", and ignoring the need for a clean-energy transition — might argue "not yet".
Global market figures and facts
-26% Year-on-year drop in annual wind installations in northern Europe as subsidies are phased out
-36% Year-on-year fall in annual wind installations in western Europe as subsidies are phased out
48% Percentage of US ten-year outlook (69GW in total) expected to come online between 2019 and 2021, as the country’s production tax credit support scheme is phased out
12.2% Ten-year compound annual growth rate for offshore installations in Asia Pacific, excluding China
Source: Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, Global Wind Power Market Outlook Update: Q1 2019 report
Trump loses court case
Donald Trump’s golf resort company must pay the Scottish government’s legal fees after a failed court battle against Vattenfall’s 93.2MW European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) off Scotland’s east coast.
Trump International Golf Club Scotland argued the wind farm would ruin the views at Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire and launched a legal challenge against the Scottish government’s decision to permit the 11-turbine site, delaying construction.
But the UK Supreme Court backed the Scottish government, and the project was fully commissioned in September. Judges in Edinburgh ordered Trump’s company to pay the legal bills but did not specify a precise sum.
Quote of the month
"We can no longer only focus on individual issues like electrical cars, nuclear power, meat and aviation... We urgently need a holistic view to address the full sustainability crisis and the ongoing ecological disaster"
Greta Thunberg, 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden
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