Renewables are cheap. So why isn’t your power bill falling?

Steve Tritton/Shutterstock Tony Wood, Grattan InstitutePower prices are set to go up again even though renewables now account for 40% of the electricity in Australia’s main grid – close to quadruple the clean power we had just 15 years ago. How can that be, given renewables are the cheapest form of newly built power generation? This is a fair question. As Australia heads for a federal election campaign likely to focus on the rising cost of living, many of us are wondering when, exactly, cheap renewables will bring cheap power. The simple answer is – not yet. While solar and wind farms produce power at remarkably low cost, they need to be built where it’s sunny or windy. Our existing transmission lines link gas and coal power stations to cities. Connecting renewables to the grid requires expensive new transmission lines, as well as storage for when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. Notably, Victoria’s mooted price increase of 0.7% was much lower than other states, which would be as high as 8.9% in parts of New South Wales. This is due to Victoria’s influx of renewables – and good connections to other states. Because Victoria can draw cheap wind from South Australia, hydroelectricity from Tasmania or coal power from New South Wales through a good transmission line network, it has kept wholesale prices...
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Jet Engine Exhaust is Turned into Electricity to Power Dallas International Airport

An example of the pods at Dallas Love Field Airport – credit: JetWind CorporationAn intuitive piece of hardware is collecting days’ worth of renewable energy from airplane engine exhaust before take-off from a Dallas airport.“Boarding is completed” is a common refrain heard over the intercom system in the moments before taxiing to the runway.At that moment, the pilot will begin a series of engine tests and pre-flight checks during which time the turbine engines are idling with their ferocious noise and exhaust fumes.A company called JetWind has realized that all that idling force is like the strong winds needed to power a wind turbine, and has built a series of pods that can capture it during the 5-10 minutes the aircraft is sitting at the gate waiting for clearance to taxi.“The main goal of our project is to harness the consistent wind created by jets and convert it into an eco-friendly energy source,” JetWind’s founder and president Dr. T. O. Souryal told Interesting Engineering.“What was once considered wasted energy can now benefit energy grids, ultimately promoting smarter and more sustainable infrastructure across the globe.”Three years of testing between 2021 and 2024 have informed the official deployment of JetWind’s flagship product at Dallas Love Field airport. 13 sets of pods will sit beneath the gate hooked up to external...
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How farmers can install solar panels in fields without damaging the rest of their operation

Snapshot freddy/Shutterstock Austin Kay, Swansea UniversityAs the world races to meet net-zero targets, emissions from all industrial sectors must be reduced more urgently than ever. Agriculture is an important area of focus as it contributes up to 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions. One approach to decarbonising agriculture involves integrating solar panels – or photovoltaics (PVs) – into fields of crops, greenhouses and livestock areas. Often known as agrivoltaics, this can help farmers reduce their carbon footprint while continuing to produce food. Agrivoltaics can also mitigate one of the main criticisms often made of solar power – that solar farms “waste” vast tracts of agricultural land that could otherwise be used for food production. In reality, solar farms currently occupy only 0.15% of the UK’s total land – not much compared to the 70% of land devoted to agriculture. The simplest example of an agrivoltaic system would be conventional, crystalline silicon PVs (the market-leading type of solar panels), installed in fields alongside livestock. This method of farm diversification has become increasingly popular in recent years for three main reasons. First, it enhances biodiversity as it means the fields are not being used for just one crop (monoculture), undergoing regular crop rotation, or being harvested...
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Scientists Turn Industrial Waste into Batteries for Storing Renewable Energy

Emily Mahoney, the new paper’s first author, in the lab – courtesy Malapit LabA team at Northwestern University has transformed an industrial waste product into a battery for storing sustainable energy.While many iterations of these batteries are in production or being researched for grid-scale applications, using a waste molecule, in this case, triphenylphosphine oxide, (TPPO) has never been done before.The batteries used in our phones, devices, and even cars rely on metals like lithium and cobalt, sourced through intensive and sometimes exploitative mining operations. Demand for these critical minerals is expected to skyrocket over the next few decades.At the same time, thousands of tons of the well-known chemical byproduct TPPO are produced each year by many organic industrial synthesis processes, including the production of vitamin supplements, but it is rendered useless and must be carefully discarded following production.In a paper published last week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a ‘one-pot’ reaction allows chemists to turn TPPO into a usable product with the powerful potential to store energy, opening the door for the future viability of a long-imagined battery type called “redox flow” batteries.“Battery research has traditionally been dominated by engineers and materials scientists,” said Northwestern...
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South Korea develops novel nuclide separation technology

(Image: KAERI)The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute says it has developed a new concept for the world's first nuclide separation device that employs robots and sensors.In order to safely manage radioactive waste, radionuclide analysis must be conducted to determine what radionuclides are present within it. This analysis is generally divided into three processes: preprocessing, separation, and measurement.Nuclide separation is the process of adding a reagent that reacts with a specific nuclide to a sample of melted radioactive waste to separate each nuclide. There is currently a manual method of adding the reagent to a separation container by gravity and an automatic method using a pump.The manual method cannot control the speed of the reagent, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) notes, and the automatic method has the disadvantage of having complex components such as pumps, valves, and numerous tubes connected to the valves, and that the valves must be controlled according to a predetermined time. In particular, the automatic method requires cleaning each time to ensure that no radioactive samples remain in the valves that control the injection of the reagent and the tubes through which the reagent moves.KAERI says the separation device it has developed uses an automatic method, but a liquid handling robot that...
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If our hot water heaters ran off daytime solar, we would slash emissions and soak up cheap energy

nikkytok/Shutterstock Baran Yildiz, UNSW Sydney and Hossein Saberi, UNSW SydneyYour hot shower or bath uses 15-30% of your household’s total energy, second only to the heating and cooling of air. More than half of all Australian households rely on electric water heaters with a storage tank. These act like thermal batteries and often store more energy than a home battery. Traditionally, these heaters operated during off-peak hours overnight when power demand was low. This practice also helps maintain stability for coal power stations. But there’s a better option: cheap heating at daytime. More than 40% of freestanding Australian houses now have solar. Switching water heaters to charge during the day can soak up solar power going to waste – known as curtailment – and make sure electricity supply and demand match. In our new real world trial, we put this technique to the test and found it works. The smart meter rollout is complete in Victoria, while other states are following suit. ARVD73/ShutterstockFrom propping up coal to soaking up solar Electric water heaters have traditionally be set to operate off-peak. On your electricity bill, it would be listed as a “controlled load” item. Switching from night to day isn’t as easy as flicking a switch. It’s often hardwired. The solution: use smart meters. Almost all Victorian...
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China building more wind, solar capacity than rest of world combined: report

BEIJING - China is building almost twice as much wind and solar energy capacity as every other country combined, research published on Thursday showed.The world's second-largest economy is the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change.China has committed to bring carbon emissions to a peak by 2030 and to net zero by 2060.It has endured several waves of extreme weather in recent months that scientists say are rendered more severe by climate change.China currently has a total of 339 gigawatts (GW) of capacity under construction, including 159 GW of wind and 180 GW of solar.That is "nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined", according to the study by Global Energy Monitor, a US-based NGO.The figure far exceeds the second-ranked nation, the United States, which is building a total of just 40 GW, the report said.It said China has broken ground on a third of new wind and solar capacity it has announced to date, compared to a global average of just seven percent."The stark contrast in construction rates illustrates the active nature of China's commitment to building renewables projects," the study said.China's national grid still relies on heavily polluting coal plants to deal with surges in power demandAFP/File | HECTOR RETAMALBeijing's vast renewable energy buildout does have some drawbacks.The national...
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US leads call to triple nuclear power at COP28

DUBAI - More than 20 nations including the United States called for a tripling of nuclear energy to drive down emissions on Saturday as world leaders assembled for a second day at UN climate talks in Dubai.With smoggy skies in Dubai highlighting the challenges facing the world, other pledges are expected at the COP28 conference, including stepping up the deployment of renewable energy and cutting methane emissions.The use of nuclear power as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels is highly controversial as environmental groups are concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste.But more than 20 nations ranging from the US to Ghana, Japan and several European countries said in a declaration that it plays a "key role" in the global goal of achieving carbon neutrality by mid-century.They called for the tripling of nuclear energy capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels."We are not making the argument to anybody that this is absolutely going to be a sweeping alternative to every other energy source," US climate envoy John Kerry said at the COP28 conference in Dubai."But we know because the science and the reality of facts and evidence tell us that you can't get to net zero 2050 without some nuclear," he said.The other signatories include Britain, France, South Korea, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates, but nuclear powers Russia and...
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What is 3-phase power? And how do I know if my house needs it?

Asma Aziz, Edith Cowan UniversityIf you’re building, renovating or planning to install a solar battery, your builder or installer might ask whether you’ve considered upgrading from single-phase to three-phase power. This upgrade often comes with a hefty price tag. So what’s the difference between single-phase and three-phase power, and which one will you need? Understanding your electricity needs Each house service connection has a maximum amount of electricity that can be drawn from the grid at any one time before the main fuse blows. The limit varies, according to whether you have single- or three-phase power. The amount is calculated by multiplying a house’s “amps” and “voltage”. An “amp” is a unit of electric current. Most houses in Australia with single-phase connections have a standard capacity of 63 amps. In New South Wales, the standard is 100 amps. However, some older or rural homes in Australia may still have connections of 32 or 40 amps. Then there’s voltage, which is the pressure that pushes the current through your wiring to power your house. Current and voltage values are determined by the local distribution network service provider, the company that owns and operates the poles and wires. Since 2000, the standard voltage in most areas of Australia has been 230 volts. In Western Australia, it’s 240 volts....
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US study examines feasibility of coal-to-nuclear conversion

A study by researchers at the University of Michigan ranks the feasibility of converting 245 operational coal power plants in the USA into advanced nuclear reactors, providing valuable insights for policymakers and utilities to meet decarbonisation goals.The Petersburg coal plant in Indiana was found to be the most feasible large plant to convert to nuclear (Image: AES Indiana)In 2022, coal-fired power plants accounted for nearly 20% of total energy generation in the USA, resulting in the emission of 847 million metric tonnes of CO2, equivalent to 55% of the country's total CO2 emissions from the power sector.Coal power plants (CPPs) are being phased out in many countries, including the USA. Utilities across the nation have incorporated the transition from coal-fired generation to cleaner energy resources into their Integrated Resource Plans. Furthermore, several utilities have set a goal to retire all CPPs within the next 15 years.As part of this transition, there is a need to repurpose retired CPPs to alternative clean sources - one possibility is nuclear energy, which can generate the same stable base load of energy as coal but with zero carbon emissions, the study says.Rather than establishing new sites, transitioning operational CPPs to nuclear plants can save time and money by using existing equipment like transmission lines...
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Study highlights benefits of nuclear district heating : Energy & Environment

Nuclear is much cleaner and has less environmental impacts over the life cycle of the production than other energy sources for the Finnish and European district heating markets, a study by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has concluded.In Europe, the homes of 60 million people are currently kept warm during winter by 3500 local district heating networks, VTT notes. Heating is also a major source of CO2 emissions, which is why the deep decarbonisation of the energy system requires a wide range of alternatives to fossil fuels.The VTT study evaluated the carbon footprint of heat produced using the LDR-50 small modular reactor (SMR) technology - being developed by VTT spin-off company Steady Energy for district heat production and low-temperature industrial applications - together with other adverse environmental impacts over the life cycle of the production.The study relied on standard Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology, which takes into account the energy and material streams of the different phases of the life cycle, together with the associated emissions. LDR-50 specific parameters were used as input data for evaluating the contributions from the fuel cycle. Since the technology is still under development, estimates for plant construction and the different stages of operation were based on conventional nuclear power plant...
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Oklo demonstrates fuel recycling process

Engineers in Argonne’s Chemical and Fuel Cycle Technologies division (Image: Argonne National Laboratory)California-based liquid metal fast reactor developer Oklo Inc, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory, has successfully completed the first end-to-end demonstration of the key stages of its advanced fuel recycling process.Oklo said the completion of the demonstration "marks a significant step forward in Oklo's efforts to scale up its fuel recycling capabilities and deploy a commercial-scale recycling facility to increase advanced reactor fuel supplies, and enhance fuel cost effectiveness".Supported by a USD5 million cost-share award from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) under the Optimizing Nuclear Waste and Advanced Reactor Disposal Systems (ONWARDS) Program, this project aims to facilitate the deployment of a commercial-scale advanced fuel recycling facility.Oklo's fuel recycling technology is engineered to extract more than 90% of the remaining potential energy from used fuel, which is expected to be utilised in Oklo powerhouses to generate clean energy. It incorporates unique proliferation-resistant features, including maintaining the consolidation of transuranic materials.The company said the introduction of commercial fuel recycling...
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University secures Saskatchewan funding for nuclear research

(Image: University of Regina)Three nuclear research projects at the University of Regina have been awarded funding totalling CAD580,000 (USD424,000) by Innovation Saskatchewan through the Innovation and Science Fund (ISF).ISF matches federal innovation funding dollars for projects from Saskatchewan universities, colleges and research institutes to promote research excellence and competitiveness in the province. Innovation Saskatchewan has provided more than CAD18 million in ISF funding for innovative projects at Saskatchewan institutions since 2018.The University of Regina (U of R) projects receiving the latest funding are in nuclear energy, subatomic physics and high-performance computing in nuclear science.The first project - receiving CAD200,000 - will study ways of preventing rust and damage in materials used to protect fuel in small modular reactors (SMRs) and provide advanced training opportunities in SMRs technology.The second - receiving CAD83,109 - will be used to upgrade simulation laboratory equipment for studying nuclear matter under extreme conditions.The third project - receiving CAD300,000 - will be used to help construct and test components of the Heavy Gas Cherenkov (HGC) detector, a critical piece of the Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID), one of the world's most powerful microscopes.Innovation Saskatchewan...
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US company claims nuclear battery breakthrough : Corporate

A metal-encased coin-cell packaging is developed to guarantee sufficient shielding and no leakage (Image: Infinity Power)California-based Infinity Power says it has successfully developed a very powerful and long-lasting nuclear battery that uses electrochemical energy conversion.It says its nuclear battery - developed with support from the US Department of Defense - has been demonstrated to attain an overall efficiency of more than 60%."Compared to other radioisotope energy conversion methods with low efficiency (<10%), it marks the highest level of overall efficiency ever achieved," according to the company. "This shows that the upcoming commercial release of next-generation radioisotope power sources holds out huge hope."Nuclear batteries - also known as radioisotope batteries - work on the principle of utilising the energy released by the decay of nuclear isotopes and converting it into electrical energy through semiconductor converters. Unlike typical other converters, Infinity Power says its battery uses novel electrochemical energy conversion.The company claims its "tiny coin-cell-style device can provide tens of milliwatts of power for over 100 years".Infinity Power says its technology is scalable, enabling a wide range of power generation, from nanowatts to kilowatts or more."Because of its higher efficiency, it requires...
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Extract energy from used nuclear fuel, says environmental group : Waste & Recycling - World Nuclear News

Report author Mark Lynas and RePlanet's Campaigns Coordinator Joel Scott-Halkes hug a canister of nuclear used fuel at the UK's Sizewell nuclear power plant (Image: RePlanet)If existing inventories of used nuclear fuel were recycled and repurposed as fuel for advanced fast reactors, it could generate zero-carbon electricity for Europe for up to 1000 years, according to international environmental campaign group RePlanet.In its new report - What a waste: How fast-fission power can provide clean energy from nuclear waste - RePlanet says Europe's nuclear power reactors "have a long history of safe use, and have provided prodigious quantities of clean electricity for decades". However, it notes that they use less than 1% of the actual energy potential in the natural uranium used to make their fuel and irradiated fuel assemblies removed from reactors are considered 'nuclear waste'."While this nuclear 'waste' is not a serious environmental or health threat - it occupies trivial volumes compared to waste produced by other industries, and does not harm anyone if properly shielded and safeguarded - it does provide a political challenge, and is among the most oft-cited reasons for continued opposition to carbon-free nuclear power," the report says.RePlanet says using this used fuel in a new generation of fast-neutron reactors would "eliminate...
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