renewable

Scotland has a plan to overcome one of the great challenges of renewable energy: a storage megaplant

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Thanks to strong winds, Scotland has become an ideal place to install wind turbines. The data speak for themselves With an exponential increase In these almost 15 years. However, as a bagpipe, energy also goes like that air, so they have designed what will be the largest storage megabatism in Europe. And there is even more. European megabattery. The British company, Zenobē, has announced That the energy storage plant (Bess) has begun to operate in Blackhillock, Scotland. In addition, it is the first in the world that provides complete services of active and reactive energy. With a capacity of 300MW/600MWh at the moment it is placed as the largest in Europe. However, in the Scottish territory a struggle has opened to see who leads it. It is not there. In its ambition, Scotland will house the three energy storage systems in largest batteries in Europe After an investment of £ 800 million by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). The projects are Coalburn 2 in South Lanarkshire and Devilla in FIFE, which will be added to Coalburn 1. Currently, the latter is under construction and with an operating date planned for October. Each battery will have a capacity of 500 megawatts, allowing total storage of 3 GW/h to supply 4.5 million homes. Coalburn 2 is expected to enter into operation between 2027 and 2028. The current largest on the continent. The Blackhillock plant has been launched in two phases: 200 MW of initial capacity began operating in March 2025, and phase 2 of 100 MW will be completed in 2026. This installation seeks to improve the reliability of the electrical system, taking advantage of wind energy and storing excess electricity in batteries for use at high demand. The first in the world. As a little above, the central in operation provides complete services of active and reactive energy. In other words, since the United Kingdom He said goodbye to his gas plants They have had to find another way to generate these services. This BlackHillock Bess plant provides them and you will ask what it is. On the one hand, active energy is what is used directly for electricity consumption, while reactive energy helps keep the network tension and guarantee its stability. In summary, it helps to balance the network, especially in times of fluctuations in the supply and demand of electricity. For this reason, they have also found their light bill will benefit. They already noticed that, independent of coal, They had to pay a high pricebut with the new storage system, they expect this to generate a positive impact. Let’s not forget this controversy. More than a year ago, It was discovered that several wind turbines were working with diesel generators for days. This happened because network infrastructure is not always ready to handle fluctuations in renewable energy generation and distribution. For this reason, having a storage system helps prevent this situation from being repeated. The challenge for Europe. The intermission of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, remains one of the biggest challenges globally. The phenomenon of “Dunkelflaute” Because of this situation and an aged network It positions the storage system in one of the first objectives of the European agenda. In addition, in these types of situations we must look for a solution that allows the integration of stable and accessible renewable generation. There are some European countries that have already begun to invest in energy storage such as the case of Finland or Spain. In the latter, it has been used by a more unique system as They are the reservoirs. Forecasts Scotland, with its renewable wind excess and its limited network infrastructure, has become a strategic point for energy storage. By 2030, it is estimated that 60% of the United Kingdom’s energy will be generated by the wind, with 31% from Scotland. However, these projects have generated some opposition in local communities, concerned about safety, noise pollution and landscape industrialization. Despite this, the Scottish government highlights the importance of these systems to reach zero net, according to collect the Financial Times. Image | Zenobē Xataka | A United Kingdom project has found the easiest way to maintain offshore wind farms: AI and submarine robots

Investing in carbon capture instead of renewable energy is to throw money

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The fight against climate change is fundamentally based on reducing the amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. One of the most direct solutions is carbon capture: extract the co₂ from industrial fireplaces or ambient air. So why don’t you finish taking off in front of renewables? Short. Carbon capture technologies are equipment that is placed in industries or outdoors to eliminate pollution without modifying the source. Although it sounds promising, A recent Stanford study It shows that carbon capture is in the long run much more expensive and less effective than direct transition to renewable energy. In addition to improving air quality and stopping climate change, for most countries of the world, electrifying the industry and obtain Energy, compared to a total bet for carbon capture that maintained the consumption of fossil fuels. The study. The researchers compared two extreme scenarios: a world that bets 100% for renewable energies and electrification; and a world that continues to burn fossil fuels, but tries to reduce its impact with carbon capture and improvements in energy efficiency. In contrast to intuition, the most profitable option is by far completely replacing fossil fuels by sources such as wind, sun, geothermia and hydroelectric energy. Because They directly eliminate the use of fuelswhich is the main source of pollutants in the air, and because they reduce energy demand instead of continuing to increase it. More profitable. Clean sources and electrification would not only directly reduce carbon dioxide, avoiding five million deaths a year caused by pollution. Since carbon capture consumes energy, the first scenario would also involve economic savings compared to the other scenario, reducing energy consumption by 54% and energy costs by 60%. The key is the opportunity cost. Using renewable energy to feed carbon capture systems prevents those same energies from being used to replace polluting sources. “If you spend a dollar in carbon capture instead of renewables, you are increasing carbon dioxide, air pollution, energy requirements, energy costs, pipelines and total social costs,” Explains the main author of the studyMark Jacobson. Conclusion. What the study points out is that, although carbon capture may seem an attractive technical solution, in practice it maintains the inefficient and polluting infrastructure of combustion. How to try to empty a bathtub without closing the tap. The substantive problem is not solved: the use of fossil fuels. The researchers conclude that, to face the climatic crisis effectively, it is much more beneficial to abandon the idea of ​​cleaning the air after polluting and betting on a total transformation towards renewable energies. The evidence says that investing in clean energy is not only cheaper, but also the safest option for the environment and global health. Image | Pixabay In Xataka | The big business in which CO2 is becoming captured and burying it underground

Australia has to decide whether it approves a larger renewable power plant than El Salvador

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Yesterday The public consultation deadline ended For the environmental approval of Western Green Energy Hub, a project that aspires to become The world’s largest renewable energy center. Projected on an area of ​​22,700 square kilometers on the southern coast of Western Australia, would occupy more surface than whole countries, such as Slovenia or El Salvador. The megaproject. A renewable energy hybrid center with a monstrous wind and solar capacity: up to 60 million photovoltaic panels distributed in 35 different parks and 3,000 marine and land wind turbines from 7 to 20 MW. With an investment of 100,000 million Australian dollars (60,000 million US dollars) and a combined 70 GW power, the center would not only generate clean electricity, but would take advantage of it to feed a series of electrolyzers capable of converting desalinized seawater into 3.5 million tons of hydrogen Green a year, which would be exported to other countries in the form of ammonia. More electricity than whole countries. Western Green Energy Hub would not only generate more than 200 teravatios-hora of clean energy per year, a figure that exceeds the annual electrical production of most countries, but would leave at the height of a toy the largest renewable energy projects of The news, like Karapinar in Türkiye (with an area of ​​20 km²), Urumqi in China (with 133 km²) or Khavda in India (with 600 km²). Australia, which has an annual consumption of 273 twh, does not need so much energy, hence the need to produce green hydrogen to store it ammoniawhich has multiple uses in industry and agriculture. The concerns. Although Australia is one of the countries that has been betting on renewable energy and green hydrogen, the environmental protection authority mentions A fan of possible impacts in marine and coastal habitats. Winding can reduce the quality of marine fauna, specifically benthic communities, and affect coastal processes. Also for the dredging and movements of the ships in charge of installing them. On the other hand, dehydration prior to the construction of a desalination plant and the felling of 27,188 hectares of vegetation could reduce terrestrial fauna. Built in aboriginal lands. If approved, the project will go to history not only for its size, but as one of the first in which A consortium of energy companies Led by Intercontinental Energy and CWP Global, it is associated with owners of aboriginal land, represented by Traditional Mirning Lands Aboriginal Corporation. The center would be built in seven phases over 30 years, with the aim of installing 35 nodes between 2 and 3 GW from here to 2050. The chosen place is the mirning lands in the great Australian bay, among the towns of EUCLA and KALGOORLIE-BOULDER, to take advantage of the immense potential of wind and solar energy in the area, with an estimated use factor of 70%. Image | WGEH In Xataka | The largest fiasco of solar energy is in the Nevada desert: it does not work and its promoter blames a Spanish company

If the question is “can a country sustain itself with renewable energy alone”, the answer is right here: Portugal

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Two years ago, Portugal reached 75% renewable electricity thanks to the expansion of hydroelectric, wind and solar energy. However, this new year seems to be closer to that goal on an annual basis. In short. In a recent report from Ember, Portugal has achieved a milestone by becoming a pioneer in the global energy transition. Before closing this last year, because only 10% of its electricity consumption came from fossil fuels. This represents a record low, with electricity production from gas and other “dirty” sources falling to 5.1 TWh, the lowest figure since 1979. Additionally, locally generated renewables met 71% of the country’s energy needs, while an additional 20% came from mostly low-carbon imports from Spain. Reducing emissions. Spain’s neighbor has shown that it is possible to drastically reduce dependence on fossil fuels without compromising energy supply. This achievement has placed the Portuguese country as a pioneer, aligned with other leading countries like Denmark and Chileand projects a future where more than 90% of its energy will be renewable by 2030. In addition, the definitive closure of its last coal plant in 2021 underlines its commitment to this agenda. Regarding the consumption of gas to generate electricity, it has decreased by almost half from one year to the next, demonstrating the change in the Portuguese energy system. Ultimately, total gas consumption has fallen by 17%, marking its lowest level since 2003. In data. The International Energy Agency has shown that Portugal has achieved this boom in renewables, thanks to public policies, strategic investments and a focus on the development of clean infrastructure. In 2024, Portugal’s electricity mix was made up of 28% hydroelectric, closely followed by 27% wind energy, 10% solar, 6% biomass and 20% imports from Spain, which complement each other. . Imports from Spain. A part of the electricity consumption in Portugal comes from the Spanish electricity networks. This exchange has reinforced the collaboration between both countries in the Iberian Peninsula, where the energy of both nations totals 82% coming from clean sources. By sharing a well-interconnected electricity grid and prioritizing decarbonization, our neighboring country benefits from a mostly low-carbon import, which reinforces its commitment to a sustainable energy matrix. This cooperation model demonstrates how regional alliances can accelerate the energy transition and guarantee supply stability in a context of high renewable penetration. Image | Pexels Xataka | The overtake of renewables is a reality: solar and wind energy are elbowing their way into Europe

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