![]() Vattenfall has said it is investing €1.5 billion in wind power through 2018, part of a strategic plan to further its presence in the renewable energy market. Associated Press |
Vattenfall AB won the Netherlands
The Sweden
The levelized cost of electricity from offshore wind has declined steadily, particularly in more established European markets where the first projects were built more than 20 years ago. According to industry group WindEurope, zero subsidy means the wind farms will sell the electricity wholesale rather than relying on a government-supported revenue-stabilization scheme that guarantees a certain level of return for the project. As part of the tender, the Dutch government will underwrite the transmission lines bringing power from the wind farms to shore, minimizing some of the project risk.
"This news shows zero-subsidy bids are possible for some developers in some markets not least where governments take on and manage a share of the project risk," WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said. "In this instance the Dutch government taking care of the grid connection is a significant factor."
However, the news drew pushback from some renewable energy executives over the feasibility of subsidy-free tenders. During a March 20 panel at the Aurora Spring Forum at Oxford University, Scottish Power chief executive Keith Anderson said the industry "has become obsessed with talking about becoming 'subsidy-free.'"
"Everything has some form of support," he said, according to The Energyst. "If you think we are going build a £2.5 billion offshore wind farm in the U.K. at market risk, you're bonkers."
A British
Gupta and his company's battery system would surpass Tesla Inc.'s 100-MW battery system at French developer Neoen S.A.S.'s Hornsdale Wind Farm in Australia, which Tesla completed in November 2017. The cost of lithium-ion batteries is expected to fall from $200/KWh to about $100/KWh sometime in the early 2020s, according to a report on battery storage financing from Moody's.
The United Kingdom
National Grid PLC confirmed on Twitter that wind generation reached 13.9 GW at 10 a.m. GMT, before hitting 14 GW later that day. According to The Independent, the previous record was 13.6 GW, recorded in January. Iain Staffell, a sustainable energy lecturer at Imperial College London, told The Independent that the increase came from higher wind speeds and a jump in installed capacity.
More than half of the U.K.'s electricity came from low-carbon energy sources for the first time in 2017, according to Carbon Brief.
Elsewhere
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As of March 21, an Australian dollar equaled 77 U.S. cents, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence country economic data.
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