night

diurnal solar surpluses, night spikes … and increasingly cheaper batteries

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For years, conversation about the future of Spanish electricity has been reduced to fear of two words: “China photovoltaic”. Panels cheap and reasonably efficient. But the final weapon is not arriving in containers from Shanghai, but increasingly frequently in the van of a neighborhood installer: lithium batteries packs that allow reducing the dependence of the conventional electricity grid. Cut the cable. Or, at least, loosen it. The cheaper that changes the rules Past, present and future of the storage price: 2015: Storing a kilowatt-Hora cost more than 1,100 dollars/kWh. 2024: according to Bloombergnefthe average price of the pack was at 115 dollars/kWh (about 105 euros/kWh), after a 20% drop in the last year. 2026-2027: By then, the same consultant estimates that the psychological bar of the 100 dollars/kWh will be broken. With these prices, Storing domestic energy costs less than the term valley of the PVPC ratewhich now ranges between 0.11 and approximately 0.13 euros/kWh. That makes the battery the natural complement of any roof with panels and a direct enemy of the demand managed by the distributors. To understand the impact of this cheaper on the accounts of the companies in the sector, you have to understand how they earn money. Iberdrola. Its 2024 ebitda, According to its annual resultsit was almost 17,000 million euros, broken down like this: Networks: 6,423 million euros. 38% of the total. Generation and customers: 10,425 million euros. 62%. 52% of Iberdrola’s investment goes to networks, its most stable and regulated segment. Endesa. Its 2024 Ebitda reached 5,300 million euros, with a similar distribution: Electric distribution: 1,750 million (approximately 33%). The rest comes mainly from generation and marketing. Naturgy. With an Ebitda of 5,400 million in 2024: ELECTRIC NETWORKS AND GAS: They represent approximately 45% of the business. The company has increased its investment in this segment by 15% compared to the previous year. For all these companies, Each kilowatt-hora that does not circulate through its networks directly impacts its profitability. Today, the threat is hypothetical, but tomorrow it will be arithmetic. Battery and panel: the combo that takes off According to data from Auto: In 2021, only 2% of residential facilities included battery. In 2024 that figure reached 71%. And they are not just coastal chalets, hybrid kits reach peripheral single -family and even communities of pioneering neighbors. With subsidies and 2.0TD rateamortization drops between 6 and 8 years, and energy self -sufficiency touches 80% in optimal conditions. Electric grid as electron pipe begins to stagger. And not only because of the fall in the demand managed, but because the flow is reversed. In the moments of sun and low demand, thousands of homes are beginning to return energy to the network or simply not need it. For a company that invests billions in transport and distribution infrastructures, that is a problem. But the regulatory framework is starting to move. And your address is not clear. The CNMC has on the table The new toll methodology for the period 2026–2031. Among the Options in consultation: Move part of the fixed costs of the network at the end of power, and begin to remunerate flexibility services, such as storage or coordinated discharge of domestic batteries. They are two changes with opposite consequences: The first penalizes the self -consumer with drums, although he barely consumes. The second rewards it, if your battery helps to balance the network at critical moments. Everything will depend on how normative design is related. And who is heard more. But for now, the government Last the arrival of aid for energy storage through 700 million Feder funds. This transformation is not an isolated case. Several European and American electricity have understood the message before the Spanish. And they have begun to move. Nextera has already hired 81 GW from Solar With storage for 2027, with a good part behind the accountant. That is, in homes. Enel x He has launched virtual power plants pilots (VPPS) In Italy and agreements to display regulated batteries. EDF He is exploring flexibility markets in the United Kingdom and France. In Spain, Endesa has timidly begun to explore this land with its project FlexiCy In Malaga. The background logic is clear: The network will remain necessary, but less as a unidirectional route and more as a smart platform for exchange and balance. And the interesting thing It is not so much the exact point in which we are, but the slope of the curve. According to The International Energy Agencyto meet the objectives set in COP28, world storage capacity It must be multiplied by six before 2030. Of which 1,200 GW must come from batteries. Spain, with its diurnal solar surpluses and nocturnal peaks of consumption, is one of the most fertile land in Europe for that transition. Despite the fear of these years to the threat that came by boat – Chinese plates – the real threat is the one that arrives in a van. In lithium, phosphate and iron packages that allow each home to keep their own energy. In that context, The network business is focused on a transformation: to bill kilowatts to offer guarantees of energy continuity. And there is the key: whoever adapts to the new model will not only resist better. You can also lead it. In Xataka | We have second to second the data on the great blackout in Spain. They complicate everything even more Outstanding image | EcoFlow

A huge blue spiral appeared in the sky of Europe at 9 at night. It was the wake of a spacex rocket

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It is hard to believe, but the last night were not aliens either. If you were looking at the sky at 20:55, European central time, you could see a bright blue spiral illuminating the night. It was a Spacex rocket. A strange show. In United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland either Ukraine. From The clean skies of Sierra Nevadain Granada. Virtually all of Europe has managed to capture the spiral light that crossed the sky last night. They soon appeared photos on social networks. People asked what that strange phenomenon was. It is not a usual show, although it has already been seen in Hawaii, Alaska either Iceland. A Falcon 9 of Spacex. Neither a missile, nor a satellite, nor a galaxy about to swallow us. Nor a UFO. The object had a name and surname because it was a Falcon 9 rocket of Spacex by recentrating in the earth’s atmosphere. He had taken off from Cabo Cañaveral, east of the United States, two hours before. The Spy Nrol-69 satellite of the American National Recognition Office (NRO) had put in orbit. And he was returning to the earth to disintegrate in the atmosphere in a controlled way. What caused the spiral. Before a controlled reentry, the 13.8 -meter length rocket rotates to get rid of the fuel that is still in its deposits; A process called passivity. The low temperatures instantly froze the propellants released by the rocket, which added to the turn movement and the position of the sun caused the light show over Europe. The turn is what made it look like a spiral, and the sunlight was what illuminated the frozen wake. Nothing to do with the incident of Poland. In February, the second stage of a Falcon 9 rented without control over Europe. Several pieces of the rocket fell into populated areas of Poland, without causing damage (except the dismissal of the president of the Polish Space Agencyfor its management of the incident). In this case, and as is usually the case, the second stage of Falcon 9 successfully turned on its engine to fall controlled in the atmosphere, far from populated areas. They were the light conditions and the flight profile that made its wake visible in the European night sky, without further consequences than the scare of some European spectators. Images | Jay in Kyiv, High Calar Observatory In Xataka | Elon Musk has revealed the plan after Starship explosions: v3 earlier than expected, but with half a capacity

More than a decade ago, Seville created a system to defend against Guadalquivir waiting for not having to use it. Last night he had to activate it

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Anyone who was yesterday at the entrance to the Pava Charco, could see how the city’s firefighters They moved the huge gates of defense that shield the city of Seville of the floods of the Guadalquivir River. And it is likely not to know, but I was attending a historical moment: it is the first time since it was built that these steel plates (more than four of meters high and five tons of weight) have to close. Phase 1. Yesterday afternoon, the Hispanic City Council activated the emergency plan in phase 1 and brought together all emergency services (including Local Police, Civil Protection, National Police and 112) to coordinate the necessary measures. 30 people were evicted from a “chabolist settlement” that was in flood zone, control points were installed and It was decided to close The connection that connects La Vega de Triana with the city. That’s where the doors that have just closed are. He has also put the neighbors of Tablada, Valdezorras and El Gordillo on alert. But hadn’t it stopped raining? Yes, weather forecasts They do not show abundant rains In the area and in fact (although the red alert is maintained) the river flow has already begun to decrease in Córdoba. However, when we talk about Seville, the river is just one of the things to take into account. The tide. Although it is often difficult to imagine, the truth is that when the Guadalquivir arrives in Alcalá del Río (that is, 15 kilometers before reaching the municipality of the city of Seville) It is already at sea level. That makes that point more or less, the entire riverbed is subjected to the influence of the tides. And that is what worries the authorities: if the river flood coincides with the pleamar, the chances that the Guadalquivir will overflow begin to be huge. How historical is this really? Indeed, to say that the doors have closed for the first time is not saying too much: they settled in 2012 and the last time the city was on the edge of the debacle It was in 1996. However, the challenge is more than considerable. Because, like Díaz del Olmo explained years agoProfessor of Geography of the University of Seville, the reduction of the alluvial plain of the Guadalquivir (which has gone from 4 kilometers to 500 meters) adds risks to the situation. “It is worth that with the swamps that retain the water, so much alluvial plain is needed, but the current one is not much less sufficient,” he said. And not only for the plain itself, but because “If the river is wide and with meanders, the energy that the water carries is blurred; but if it is narrow and straight, the water acquires a great speed … like the flow of the river rises of the 4,000 cubic meters per second … we have a problem for which they do not serve neither the storm tanks or anything.” A monster called Guadalquivir. Luckily, we are not yet in that situation. However, this is a warning for navigators: taught by tons of concrete, rivers are sleeping monsters, but monsters after all. Just yesterday we talked about The great paradox of our time: Have to prepare for long periods of drought while we have to have infrastructure to contain torrential rains. Today we see that it is not something punctual, it is the true “new normality.” Image | Toni Pomar | ECMWF In Xataka | With the reservoirs to be overflowed with the rains of March, there is a reason for hope on the horizon: the light of the light

The iPhone is seen in its greatest filtration to date. It is a crazy night between iPhone 14 and iPhone 8

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The fourth generation of iPhone se It will launch this week, According to the most recent leaks. It is not unreasonable to think that it will be, since the design of this phone has just been known practically. The filtration shows that, supposedly, will be the iPhone stops this 2025, a phone that would inherit components of the iPhone 14betting on his classic strategy of just one camera. Hi, iPhone 14 … or iPhone 12. Notch, you again here. It seemed to have disappeared with the arrival of the iPhone 15 Basethat hugged the Dynamic island of the iPhone 14 Probut I was just Parranda. According to the leaks, the iPhone will be inherited a frontal front of previous models, with notch but a good screen use. This would be 6.1 inches, OLED and with Full HD+resolution, the same one we have seen on the iPhone of previous years and with less than the 2,000 nits implemented from the iphone 15L. What does not appear anywhere is the action button, Apple’s last idea for its generation iPhone 16. The rear … to the iPhone style. How strange it is seen a mobile phone with a single camera. This iPhone would arrive with a single sensor, predictably 48 megapixels, which would allow it to make “optical” (sensor cut) of up to two increases without loss of quality. The resignation of the ultra wide angle may seem more serious than it really is. This is the camera less uses (and of lower quality) in general terms, so sacrificing it to adjust the price of the phone to the maximum it is not a bad idea. The rest of the hardware. Apple would not want to give up Apple Intelligence with its se, which would force the company to implement the Apple A18 Bionic and a minimum of 8 GB of RAM. As a curious fact, it is rumored that this phone would arrive with its own modem for 5G, to save costs compared to Qualcomm. In short, a 2025 hardware device and airs a few years ago, at a price that is expected below 600 euros. An access alternative for those who want a new iPhone without spending too much. Image | Spigen In Xataka | iPhone SE (2022), Analysis: A processor to look in a format to forget

Malaysia came up with the idea of ​​painting its roads fluorescent to illuminate them at night. The problem was the price

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In February 2024 we saw that the continuous line of a good part of the A-355, one of the roads with more accidents of Spanish territory, dawned with a thick continuous red line. It was a pilot measure by the DGT to highlight the prohibition of overtaking on that road. A few weeks earlier, a similar program was developed in Malaysia: repainting the road markings of certain roads with a photoluminescent paint. Not even a year has passed and it seems that they will not continue painting. The reason? It is too expensive, which has raised the question of… and they hadn’t thought of that before? The pilot. In mid-November 2023, the Government of Malaysia advertisement the launch of a pilot program that aimed to highlight the lines of certain roads. Using photoluminescent paint with the ability to glow at night. The authorities commented that these initiatives were suitable for dark areas that lacked public lighting. The lines shine for 10 hours and, in case of heavy rain, they also give off a certain shine that helps make them more visible, allowing drivers to stay in their lane. The images leave no room for doubt: it looks much better than the traditional white line, also better than reflective indicators. The project attracted attention. Initially, only 245 meters of road were painted at one intersection, representing about 490 meters of road markings, but other states began to carry out their own tests. Almost 20 times more expensive. The problems came practically from the beginning. The Malaysian Ministry of Works already warned that they were going to be very attentive to the results of the pilot program and the ability to paint on other roads, since the price of the new paint could be a problem. And so much so that it has ended up being an inconvenience. From the Ministry of Works reported that conventional paint costs about 40 ringgit per square meter, about 8.65 euros. Photoluminescent paint costs 749 ringgit per square meter, more than 160 euros. It costs 19 times more per square meter. Putting on the brake. Despite the enthusiasm with which the population received the measure, Malaysia’s deputy labor minister, Ahmad Maslan, commented a few weeks ago that it was not likely that they would continue painting. “The cost is too high, so we probably won’t continue with glow-in-the-dark lanes,” stated. It is curious when, months before, 31 roads had been identified that could have received this type of paint. Maslan stated that the tests did not meet the expectations of the ministry’s experts, without giving further explanations. Questions and suspicions. This is part of the eternal debate about priorities, budget and security, since we must remember that the areas that were going to receive this type of paintings are wooded and lack lighting, making it dangerous to travel through them due to interactions between humans. as by the action of animals crossing each other. And, evidently, the news has raised suspicions of corruption in local mediawith users who wondered if they didn’t know all this before starting the pilot project, what are those expectations that the painting has failed to meet… and that someone will have filled their pockets with the initial contract. Images | Alexander Nanta Linggi, Bernama (Azlim Mansor) In Xataka | The Tour de France has a team dedicated exclusively to something crucial: erasing penises painted on the roads

Firefighters struggle to control large fire north of Los Angeles

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CASTAIC, California, USA — Firefighters were trying to stay ahead of a huge, fast-moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and left more than 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings. The Hughes Fire began late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had burned nearly 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreational area about 40 miles (64 kilometers) away. of the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that have been burning for three weeks. Although the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk, winds were not as strong as when those fires started, allowing firefighting aircraft to drop tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant on the new fire. By Wednesday night, approximately 14% of the Hughes Fire had been contained. “The situation we are in today is very different from the situation we were in 16 days ago,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday night. (John Locher/Associated Press) (Café de Leche / Matthew Schodorf) Red flag warnings were extended until 10 a.m. Friday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Officials remained concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines as firefighters continue to monitor hot spots. More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the Hughes Fire, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. No houses or other structures burned were reported. Parts of Interstate 5 near the Hughes Fire that had been closed reopened Wednesday night. County police officers return to their vehicle after observing flames caused by the Hughes Fire along a road in Castaic, Calif.ornia, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP) A 48-kilometer (30-mile) stretch of the main north-south artery had been reserved for emergency vehicles, to move equipment and to prevent accidents due to smoke crossing the highway. Crews on the ground and in water-dropping aircraft attempted to prevent the wind-driven fire from crossing the interstate and heading toward Castaic. Marrone said since the winds were not as strong as they were two weeks ago, aerial crews were able to drop fire retardant on the south side of the fire, where the flames were moving. More than 4,000 firefighters were assigned to the fire, he said. Winds in the area were blowing at 67 kilometers per hour (42 miles per hour) in the afternoon. They had reached 65 mph (105 km/h) in some mountain spots by Wednesday night, according to David Roth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Kayla Amara drove to the Stonegate neighborhood in Castaic to pick up items from the house of a friend who had run out to pick up her daughter from preschool. While Amara was packing up the car, she learned that the fire had dramatically increased in size and decided to spray the property with a hose. “Other people are also spraying their houses with hoses. I hope there is a house to return to,” Amara said as police cars raced through the streets and flames engulfed trees on a hill in the distance. Amara, a nurse who lives in nearby Valencia, said she has been on edge for weeks as massive fires devastated Southern California. “It’s been stressful with those other fires, but now that this one is close to home it’s just super stressful,” he said. To the south, Los Angeles officials began preparing for possible rain as some residents were allowed to return to the charred areas of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The windy weather was expected to last through Thursday and rain could begin as early as Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. “Rain is forecast and the threat of mud and debris flows in our fire-affected communities is real,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger said during a news conference Wednesday morning. Firefighters spray water on the Hughes Fire in Castaic, California, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP) Fire crews filled sandbags for communities while county workers installed barriers and cleaned drainage pipes and basins. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned that winds could carry ash and advised Angelenos to visit the city’s website to learn how to protect themselves from toxic air during the latest Santa Ana wind event. Health Director Los Angeles County Public Prosecutor Barbara Ferrer warned that the ash could contain heavy metals, arsenic and other harmful materials. “Even brief exposure can potentially cause skin irritation and lead to more serious problems,” Ferrer said Wednesday, asking people to wear protective gear while cleaning. Low humidity, bone-dry vegetation and high winds came as firefighters continued to battle the Palisades and Eaton fires, which have killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 14,000 structures since they began Jan. 7. The fence on the Palisades fire reached 70%, and the Eaton fire was at 95%. Luna said Wednesday that his department was still investigating 22 missing person reports from both fire zones. All of the people reported missing are adults, he said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the causes of the fires but has not released any findings. Several lawsuits have been filed by people who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire, alleging that Southern California Edison equipment caused the fire. On Tuesday, a judge overseeing one of the lawsuits ordered the utility to produce data from circuits in the area where the fire started.

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