The London-based International Petroleum Exchange is looking at launching weather derivatives and greenhouse gas emissions trading contracts as well as reviving its UK electricity futures market, chief executive Richard Ward said.
"We are in discussions with a partner about how we can develop a weather business on the IPE," Ward said.
"We are actively looking into the emissions market again and electricity's back on the agenda. We are seeing whether the market is ripe for a relaunch of the electricity contract."
The IPE, which trades Brent crude, gas oil and natural gas, suspended its electricity futures contract in March 2002 after it attracted little interest amid tough competition from over-the-counter brokers.
The exchange also faces competition from the recently merged UKPX and APX power bourses.
While these exchanges have attracted reasonable volumes in short-term trading, they have struggled to establish liquid markets in longer-term forward contracts.
The UKPX said recently that its volumes had improved after the launch last year of revamped futures contracts.
Carbon dioxide emissions trade is set to take off with the launch early next year of the European Union emissions trading scheme, the centrepiece in the bloc's efforts to meet its obligation to curb pollution under the Kyoto protocol on climate change.
Few trades have been done so far, all through brokers, but last month Austria's EXAA power exchange said it wanted to start trading carbon dioxide emission certificates. Weather derivatives trading has also been thin. London's Euronext.
Liffe financial market launched European weather derivatives contracts in late 2001 but suspended them last summer after just a single deal was done.
Quebec Churchill Falls power deal renewal spotlights Hydro-Qu e9bec's Labrador hydroelectricity, Churchill River contract extension, Gull Island prospects, and Innu Nation rights, as demand from EV battery manufacturing and the green economy outpaces provincial supply.
Key Points
Extending Quebec's low-price Churchill Falls contract to secure Labrador hydro and address Innu Nation rights.
✅ 1969 contract delivers ~30 TWh at very low fixed price.
✅ Newfoundland seeks higher rates, equity, and consultation.
✅ Innu Nation demands benefits, consent, and land remediation.
As Quebec prepares to ramp up electricity production to meet its ambitious economic goals, the government is trying to extend a power deal that has caused decades of resentment in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Around 15 per cent of Quebec's electricity comes from the Churchill Falls dam in Labrador, through a deal set to expire in 2041 that is widely seen as unfair. Quebec Premier François Legault not only wants to extend the agreement, he wants another dam on the Churchill River and, for now, has closed the door on nuclear power as an option to help make his province what he has called a "world leader for the green economy."
But renewing that contract "won't be easy," Normand Mousseau, scientific director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montréal, said in a recent interview. Extending the Churchill Falls deal is not essential to meet Quebec's energy plans, but without it, Mousseau said, "we would have some problems."
The Legault government is enticing global companies, such as manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries, to set up shop in the province and access its hydroelectricity. But demand for Quebec's power has exceeded its supply, and Ontario has chosen not to renew a power-purchase deal with Quebec, limiting the government's vision.
Last month, Quebec's hydro utility released its strategic plan calling for a production increase of 60 terawatt hours by 2035, which represents the installed capacity of three of Hydro-Québec's largest facilities. Churchill Falls produces roughly 30 terawatt hours, and Quebec would need to replace that power if it can't strike a deal to extend the contract, Mousseau said.
If Quebec wants to keep buying power from Churchill Falls, the government is going to have to pay more, said Mousseau, who is also a physics professor at Université de Montréal. "We're paying one-fifth of a cent a kilowatt hour — that's not much," he said.
Under the 1969 contract, Quebec assumed most of the financial risk of building the Churchill Falls dam in exchange for the right to buy power at a fixed price. The deal has generated more than $28 billion for Hydro-Québec; it has returned $2 billion to Newfoundland and Labrador.
That lopsided deal has stoked anti-Quebec sentiment in Newfoundland and Labrador and contributed to nationalist politics, including threats of separation from Canada around a decade and a half ago, when Danny Williams was premier, said Jerry Bannister, a history professor at Dalhousie University.
"We tend to forget what it was like during the Williams era — he hauled down the Canadian flag," Bannister said. "There was a type of angry, combative nationalism which defined energy development. And particularly Muskrat Falls, it was payback, it was revenge."
Power from the Muskrat Falls generating station, also on the Churchill River, would be sold to Nova Scotia instead of Quebec. But that project has suffered technical problems and cost overruns since, and as of June 29, the price of Muskrat Falls had reached $13.5 billion; the province had estimated the total cost would be $7.4 billion when it sanctioned the project in 2012.
Anti-Quebec feelings may have subsided, but Bannister said the Churchill Falls deal continues to influence Newfoundland politics.
In September, Premier Andrew Furey said Legault would have to show him the money(opens in a new tab) to extend th Legault's office said Tuesday that discussions are ongoing, while the Newfoundland and Labrador government said in an emailed statement Thursday that it wants to maximize the value of its "assets and future opportunities" along the Churchill River.
Whatever negotiations are happening, Grand Chief Simon Pokue of the Innu Nation of Labrador(opens in a new tab) said he has been left out of them.
Churchill Falls flooded 6,500 square kilometres of traditional Innu land, Pokue said, adding that in response, the Innu Nation filed a $4 billion lawsuit against Hydro-Québec in 2020, which is ongoing.
"A lot of damage has been done to our lands, our land is flooded and we'll never see it again," Pokue said in a recent interview. "Nobody will ever repair that."
As well, a portion of Muskrat Falls profits was supposed to go to the Innu Nation, but the cost overruns and a refinancing deal between the federal government and Newfoundland and Labrador have limited whatever money they will see.
If Legault wants another dam on the Churchill River, at Gull Island, the Innu Nation needs to be paid the kind of money it was expecting from Muskrat Falls, he said.
"You did it once, but you're not going to do it again," Pokue said. "It's not going to start until we are consulted and involved."
Meanwhile, Quebec may face competition for Churchill Falls power, Mousseau said, with at least one Labrador mining company expressing interest in buying a significant portion of its output — though he added that the dam's capacity could be increased. The low price paid by Quebec has meant there has been little incentive to upgrade the plant's turbines.
As demand for electricity rises across the country, Mousseau said he thinks it would be better for provinces to work together, sharing expertise and costs, for example through NB Power deals to import more Quebec electricity as they look across provincial borders to find the best locations for projects, rather than acting as rivals.
"We need to talk and work with other provinces, and some propose an independent planning body to guide this, but for this you need to build confidence, and there's no confidence from the Newfoundland side with respect to Quebec," he said. "So that's a challenge: how do you work on this relationship that has been broken for 50 years?"e contract, but the two premiers have said little since.
Carbon Nanotube Solvent Electricity enables wire-free electrochemistry as organic solvents like acetonitrile pull electrons, powering alcohol oxidation and packed bed reactors, energy harvesting, and micro- and nanoscale robots via redox-driven current.
Key Points
Solvent-driven electron extraction from carbon nanotube particles generates current for electrochemistry.
✅ 0.7 V per particle via solvent-induced electron flow
✅ Packed bed reactors drive alcohol oxidation without wires
✅ Scalable for micro- and nanoscale robots; energy harvesting
MIT engineers have discovered a new way of generating electricity, alongside advances in renewable power at night that broaden what's possible, using tiny carbon particles that can create a current simply by interacting with liquid surrounding them.
The liquid, an organic solvent, draws electrons out of the particles, generating a current, unlike devices based on a cheap thermoelectric material that rely on heat, that could be used to drive chemical reactions or to power micro- or nanoscale robots, the researchers say.
"This mechanism is new, and this way of generating energy is completely new," says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. "This technology is intriguing because all you have to do is flow a solvent through a bed of these particles. This allows you to do electrochemistry, but with no wires."
In a new study describing this phenomenon, the researchers showed that they could use this electric current to drive a reaction known as alcohol oxidation—an organic chemical reaction that is important in the chemical industry.
Strano is the senior author of the paper, which appears today in Nature Communications. The lead authors of the study are MIT graduate student Albert Tianxiang Liu and former MIT researcher Yuichiro Kunai. Other authors include former graduate student Anton Cottrill, postdocs Amir Kaplan and Hyunah Kim, graduate student Ge Zhang, and recent MIT graduates Rafid Mollah and Yannick Eatmon.
Unique properties The new discovery grew out of Strano's research on carbon nanotubes—hollow tubes made of a lattice of carbon atoms, which have unique electrical properties. In 2010, Strano demonstrated, for the first time, that carbon nanotubes can generate "thermopower waves." When a carbon nanotube is coated with layer of fuel, moving pulses of heat, or thermopower waves, travel along the tube, creating an electrical current that exemplifies turning thermal energy into electricity in nanoscale systems.
That work led Strano and his students to uncover a related feature of carbon nanotubes. They found that when part of a nanotube is coated with a Teflon-like polymer, it creates an asymmetry, distinct from conventional thermoelectric materials approaches, that makes it possible for electrons to flow from the coated to the uncoated part of the tube, generating an electrical current. Those electrons can be drawn out by submerging the particles in a solvent that is hungry for electrons.
To harness this special capability, the researchers created electricity-generating particles by grinding up carbon nanotubes and forming them into a sheet of paper-like material. One side of each sheet was coated with a Teflon-like polymer, and the researchers then cut out small particles, which can be any shape or size. For this study, they made particles that were 250 microns by 250 microns.
When these particles are submerged in an organic solvent such as acetonitrile, the solvent adheres to the uncoated surface of the particles and begins pulling electrons out of them.
"The solvent takes electrons away, and the system tries to equilibrate by moving electrons," Strano says. "There's no sophisticated battery chemistry inside. It's just a particle and you put it into solvent and it starts generating an electric field."
Particle power The current version of the particles can generate about 0.7 volts of electricity per particle. In this study, the researchers also showed that they can form arrays of hundreds of particles in a small test tube. This "packed bed" reactor, unlike thin-film waste-heat harvesters for electronics, generates enough energy to power a chemical reaction called an alcohol oxidation, in which an alcohol is converted to an aldehyde or a ketone. Usually, this reaction is not performed using electrochemistry because it would require too much external current.
"Because the packed bed reactor is compact, it has more flexibility in terms of applications than a large electrochemical reactor," Zhang says. "The particles can be made very small, and they don't require any external wires in order to drive the electrochemical reaction."
In future work, Strano hopes to use this kind of energy generation to build polymers using only carbon dioxide as a starting material. In a related project, he has already created polymers that can regenerate themselves using carbon dioxide as a building material, in a process powered by solar energy and informed by devices that generate electricity at night as a complement. This work is inspired by carbon fixation, the set of chemical reactions that plants use to build sugars from carbon dioxide, using energy from the sun.
In the longer term, this approach could also be used to power micro- or nanoscale robots. Strano's lab has already begun building robots at that scale, which could one day be used as diagnostic or environmental sensors. The idea of being able to scavenge energy from the environment, including approaches that produce electricity 'out of thin air' in ambient conditions, to power these kinds of robots is appealing, he says.
"It means you don't have to put the energy storage on board," he says. "What we like about this mechanism is that you can take the energy, at least in part, from the environment."
Boeing 787 More-Electric Architecture replaces pneumatics with bleedless pressurization, VFSG starter-generators, electric brakes, and heated wing anti-ice, leveraging APU, RAT, batteries, and airport ground power for efficient, redundant electrical power distribution.
Key Points
An integrated, bleedless electrical system powering start, pressurization, brakes, and anti-ice via VFSGs, APU and RAT.
✅ VFSGs start engines, then generate 235Vac variable-frequency power
✅ Bleedless pressurization, electric anti-ice improve fuel efficiency
✅ Electric brakes cut hydraulic weight and simplify maintenance
The 787 Dreamliner is different to most commercial aircraft flying the skies today. On the surface it may seem pretty similar to the likes of the 777 and A350, but get under the skin and it’s a whole different aircraft.
When Boeing designed the 787, in order to make it as fuel efficient as possible, it had to completely shake up the way some of the normal aircraft systems operated. Traditionally, systems such as the pressurization, engine start and wing anti-ice were powered by pneumatics. The wheel brakes were powered by the hydraulics. These essential systems required a lot of physical architecture and with that comes weight and maintenance. This got engineers thinking.
What if the brakes didn’t need the hydraulics? What if the engines could be started without the pneumatic system? What if the pressurisation system didn’t need bleed air from the engines? Imagine if all these systems could be powered electrically… so that’s what they did.
Power sources
The 787 uses a lot of electricity. Therefore, to keep up with the demand, it has a number of sources of power, much as grid operators track supply on the GB energy dashboard to balance loads. Depending on whether the aircraft is on the ground with its engines off or in the air with both engines running, different combinations of the power sources are used.
Engine starter/generators
The main source of power comes from four 235Vac variable frequency engine starter/generators (VFSGs). There are two of these in each engine. These function as electrically powered starter motors for the engine start, and once the engine is running, then act as engine driven generators.
The generators in the left engine are designated as L1 and L2, the two in the right engine are R1 and R2. They are connected to their respective engine gearbox to generate electrical power directly proportional to the engine speed. With the engines running, the generators provide electrical power to all the aircraft systems.
APU starter/generators
In the tail of most commercial aircraft sits a small engine, the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). While this does not provide any power for aircraft propulsion, it does provide electrics for when the engines are not running.
The APU of the 787 has the same generators as each of the engines — two 235Vac VFSGs, designated L and R. They act as starter motors to get the APU going and once running, then act as generators. The power generated is once again directly proportional to the APU speed.
The APU not only provides power to the aircraft on the ground when the engines are switched off, but it can also provide power in flight should there be a problem with one of the engine generators.
Battery power
The aircraft has one main battery and one APU battery. The latter is quite basic, providing power to start the APU and for some of the external aircraft lighting.
The main battery is there to power the aircraft up when everything has been switched off and also in cases of extreme electrical failure in flight, and in the grid context, alternatives such as gravity power storage are being explored for long-duration resilience. It provides power to start the APU, acts as a back-up for the brakes and also feeds the captain’s flight instruments until the Ram Air Turbine deploys.
Ram air turbine (RAT) generator
When you need this, you’re really not having a great day. The RAT is a small propeller which automatically drops out of the underside of the aircraft in the event of a double engine failure (or when all three hydraulics system pressures are low). It can also be deployed manually by pressing a switch in the flight deck.
Once deployed into the airflow, the RAT spins up and turns the RAT generator. This provides enough electrical power to operate the captain’s flight instruments and other essentials items for communication, navigation and flight controls.
External power
Using the APU on the ground for electrics is fine, but they do tend to be quite noisy. Not great for airports wishing to keep their noise footprint down. To enable aircraft to be powered without the APU, most big airports will have a ground power system drawing from national grids, including output from facilities such as Barakah Unit 1 as part of the mix. Large cables from the airport power supply connect 115Vac to the aircraft and allow pilots to shut down the APU. This not only keeps the noise down but also saves on the fuel which the APU would use.
The 787 has three external power inputs — two at the front and one at the rear. The forward system is used to power systems required for ground operations such as lighting, cargo door operation and some cabin systems. If only one forward power source is connected, only very limited functions will be available.
The aft external power is only used when the ground power is required for engine start.
Circuit breakers
Most flight decks you visit will have the back wall covered in circuit breakers — CBs. If there is a problem with a system, the circuit breaker may “pop” to preserve the aircraft electrical system. If a particular system is not working, part of the engineers procedure may require them to pull and “collar” a CB — placing a small ring around the CB to stop it from being pushed back in. However, on the 787 there are no physical circuit breakers. You’ve guessed it, they’re electric.
Within the Multi Function Display screen is the Circuit Breaker Indication and Control (CBIC). From here, engineers and pilots are able to access all the “CBs” which would normally be on the back wall of the flight deck. If an operational procedure requires it, engineers are able to electrically pull and collar a CB giving the same result as a conventional CB.
Not only does this mean that the there are no physical CBs which may need replacing, it also creates space behind the flight deck which can be utilised for the galley area and cabin.
A normal flight
While it’s useful to have all these systems, they are never all used at the same time, and, as the power sector’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies showed, resilience planning matters across operations. Depending on the stage of the flight, different power sources will be used, sometimes in conjunction with others, to supply the required power.
On the ground
When we arrive at the aircraft, more often than not the aircraft is plugged into the external power with the APU off. Electricity is the blood of the 787 and it doesn’t like to be without a good supply constantly pumping through its system, and, as seen in NYC electric rhythms during COVID-19, demand patterns can shift quickly. Ground staff will connect two forward external power sources, as this enables us to operate the maximum number of systems as we prepare the aircraft for departure.
Whilst connected to the external source, there is not enough power to run the air conditioning system. As a result, whilst the APU is off, air conditioning is provided by Preconditioned Air (PCA) units on the ground. These connect to the aircraft by a pipe and pump cool air into the cabin to keep the temperature at a comfortable level.
APU start
As we near departure time, we need to start making some changes to the configuration of the electrical system. Before we can push back , the external power needs to be disconnected — the airports don’t take too kindly to us taking their cables with us — and since that supply ultimately comes from the grid, projects like the Bruce Power upgrade increase available capacity during peaks, but we need to generate our own power before we start the engines so to do this, we use the APU.
The APU, like any engine, takes a little time to start up, around 90 seconds or so. If you remember from before, the external power only supplies 115Vac whereas the two VFSGs in the APU each provide 235Vac. As a result, as soon as the APU is running, it automatically takes over the running of the electrical systems. The ground staff are then clear to disconnect the ground power.
If you read my article on how the 787 is pressurised, you’ll know that it’s powered by the electrical system. As soon as the APU is supplying the electricity, there is enough power to run the aircraft air conditioning. The PCA can then be removed.
Engine start
Once all doors and hatches are closed, external cables and pipes have been removed and the APU is running, we’re ready to push back from the gate and start our engines. Both engines are normally started at the same time, unless the outside air temperature is below 5°C.
On other aircraft types, the engines require high pressure air from the APU to turn the starter in the engine. This requires a lot of power from the APU and is also quite noisy. On the 787, the engine start is entirely electrical.
Power is drawn from the APU and feeds the VFSGs in the engines. If you remember from earlier, these fist act as starter motors. The starter motor starts the turn the turbines in the middle of the engine. These in turn start to turn the forward stages of the engine. Once there is enough airflow through the engine, and the fuel is igniting, there is enough energy to continue running itself.
After start
Once the engine is running, the VFSGs stop acting as starter motors and revert to acting as generators. As these generators are the preferred power source, they automatically take over the running of the electrical systems from the APU, which can then be switched off. The aircraft is now in the desired configuration for flight, with the 4 VFSGs in both engines providing all the power the aircraft needs.
As the aircraft moves away towards the runway, another electrically powered system is used — the brakes. On other aircraft types, the brakes are powered by the hydraulics system. This requires extra pipe work and the associated weight that goes with that. Hydraulically powered brake units can also be time consuming to replace.
By having electric brakes, the 787 is able to reduce the weight of the hydraulics system and it also makes it easier to change brake units. “Plug in and play” brakes are far quicker to change, keeping maintenance costs down and reducing flight delays.
In-flight
Another system which is powered electrically on the 787 is the anti-ice system. As aircraft fly though clouds in cold temperatures, ice can build up along the leading edge of the wing. As this reduces the efficiency of the the wing, we need to get rid of this.
Other aircraft types use hot air from the engines to melt it. On the 787, we have electrically powered pads along the leading edge which heat up to melt the ice.
Not only does this keep more power in the engines, but it also reduces the drag created as the hot air leaves the structure of the wing. A double win for fuel savings.
Once on the ground at the destination, it’s time to start thinking about the electrical configuration again. As we make our way to the gate, we start the APU in preparation for the engine shut down. However, because the engine generators have a high priority than the APU generators, the APU does not automatically take over. Instead, an indication on the EICAS shows APU RUNNING, to inform us that the APU is ready to take the electrical load.
Shutdown
With the park brake set, it’s time to shut the engines down. A final check that the APU is indeed running is made before moving the engine control switches to shut off. Plunging the cabin into darkness isn’t a smooth move. As the engines are shut down, the APU automatically takes over the power supply for the aircraft. Once the ground staff have connected the external power, we then have the option to also shut down the APU.
However, before doing this, we consider the cabin environment. If there is no PCA available and it’s hot outside, without the APU the cabin temperature will rise pretty quickly. In situations like this we’ll wait until all the passengers are off the aircraft until we shut down the APU.
Once on external power, the full flight cycle is complete. The aircraft can now be cleaned and catered, ready for the next crew to take over.
Bottom line
Electricity is a fundamental part of operating the 787. Even when there are no passengers on board, some power is required to keep the systems running, ready for the arrival of the next crew. As we prepare the aircraft for departure and start the engines, various methods of powering the aircraft are used.
The aircraft has six electrical generators, of which only four are used in normal flights. Should one fail, there are back-ups available. Should these back-ups fail, there are back-ups for the back-ups in the form of the battery. Should this back-up fail, there is yet another layer of contingency in the form of the RAT. A highly unlikely event.
The 787 was built around improving efficiency and lowering carbon emissions whilst ensuring unrivalled levels safety, and, in the wider energy landscape, perspectives like nuclear beyond electricity highlight complementary paths to decarbonization — a mission it’s able to achieve on hundreds of flights every single day.
AI Energy Consumption strains corporate electricity bills as data centers and HPC workloads run nonstop, driving carbon emissions. Efficiency upgrades, renewable energy, and algorithm optimization help control costs and enhance sustainability across industries.
Key Points
AI Energy Consumption is the power used by AI compute and data centers, impacting costs and sustainability.
✅ Optimize cooling, hardware, and workloads to cut kWh per inference
✅ Integrate on-site solar, wind, or PPAs to offset data center power
✅ Tune models and algorithms to reduce compute and latency
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing industries with its promise of increased efficiency and productivity. However, as businesses integrate AI technologies into their operations, there's a significant and often overlooked impact: the strain on corporate electricity bills.
AI's Growing Energy Demand
The adoption of AI entails the deployment of high-performance computing systems, data centers, and sophisticated algorithms that require substantial energy consumption. These systems operate around the clock, processing massive amounts of data and performing complex computations, and, much like the impact on utilities seen with major EV rollouts, contributing to a notable increase in electricity usage for businesses.
Industries Affected
Various sectors, including finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology, rely on AI-driven applications for tasks ranging from data analysis and predictive modeling to customer service automation and supply chain optimization, while manufacturing is influenced by ongoing electric motor market growth that increases electrified processes.
Cost Implications
The rise in electricity consumption due to AI deployments translates into higher operational costs for businesses. Corporate entities must budget accordingly for increased electricity bills, which can impact profit margins and financial planning, especially in regions experiencing electricity price volatility in Europe amid market reforms. Managing these costs effectively becomes crucial to maintaining competitiveness and sustainability in the marketplace.
Sustainability Challenges
The environmental impact of heightened electricity consumption cannot be overlooked. Increased energy demand from AI technologies contributes to carbon emissions and environmental footprints, alongside rising e-mobility demand forecasts that pressure grids, posing challenges for businesses striving to meet sustainability goals and regulatory requirements.
Mitigation Strategies
To address the escalating electricity bills associated with AI, businesses are exploring various mitigation strategies:
Energy Efficiency Measures: Implementing energy-efficient practices, such as optimizing data center cooling systems, upgrading to energy-efficient hardware, and adopting smart energy management solutions, can help reduce electricity consumption.
Renewable Energy Integration: Investing in renewable energy sources like solar or wind power and energy storage solutions to enhance flexibility can offset electricity costs and align with corporate sustainability initiatives.
Algorithm Optimization: Fine-tuning AI algorithms to improve computational efficiency and reduce processing times can lower energy demands without compromising performance.
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Conducting thorough cost-benefit analyses of AI deployments to assess energy consumption against operational benefits and potential rate impacts, informed by cases where EV adoption can benefit customers in broader electricity markets, helps businesses make informed decisions and prioritize energy-saving initiatives.
Future Outlook
As AI continues to evolve and permeate more aspects of business operations, the demand for electricity will likely intensify and may coincide with broader EV demand projections that increase grid loads. Balancing the benefits of AI-driven innovation with the challenges of increased energy consumption requires proactive energy management strategies and investments in sustainable technologies.
Conclusion
The integration of AI technologies presents significant opportunities for businesses to enhance productivity and competitiveness. However, the corresponding surge in electricity bills underscores the importance of proactive energy management and sustainability practices. By adopting energy-efficient measures, leveraging renewable energy sources, and optimizing AI deployments, businesses can mitigate cost impacts, reduce environmental footprints, and foster long-term operational resilience in an increasingly AI-driven economy.
Vehicle-to-Grid Revenue helps EV owners earn income via V2G, demand response, and ancillary services by exporting stored energy, supporting grid balancing, smart charging, and renewable integration with two-way charging infrastructure.
Key Points
Income EV owners earn by selling battery power to the grid for balancing, response, and flexibility services.
✅ Earn up to about $1,530 annually in Denmark trials
✅ Requires V2G-compatible EVs and two-way smart chargers
✅ Provides ancillary services and supports renewable integration
Electric car owners are earning as much as $1,530 a year just by parking their vehicle and feeding excess power back into the grid, effectively selling electricity back to the grid under V2G schemes.
Trials in Denmark carried out by Nissan and Italy’s biggest utility Enel Spa showed how batteries inside electric cars could, using vehicle-to-grid technology, help balance supply and demand at times and provide a new revenue stream for those who own the vehicles.
Technology linking vehicles to the grid marks another challenge for utilities already struggling to integrate wind and solar power into their distribution system. As the use of plug-in cars spreads, grid managers will have to pay closer attention and, with proper management, to when motorists draw from the system and when they can smooth variable flows.
“If you blindingly deploy in the market a massive number of electric cars without any visibility or control over the way they impact the electricity grid, you might create new problems,” said Francisco Carranza, director of energy services at Nissan Europe in an interview with Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
While the Tokyo-based automaker has trials with more than 100 cars across Europe, only those in Denmark are able to earn money by feeding power back into the grid. There, fleet operators collected about 1,300 euros ($1,530) a year using the two-way charge points, said Carranza.
Restrictions on accessing the market in the U.K. means the company needs to reach about 150 cars before they can get paid for power sent back to the grid. That could be achieved by the end of this year, he said.
“It’s feasible,” he said. “It’s just a matter of finding the appropriate business model to deploy the business wide-scale.’’
Electric car demand globally is expected to soar, challenging state power grids and putting further pressure on grid operators to find new ways of balancing demand. Power consumption from vehicles will grow to 1,800 terawatt-hours in 2040 from just 6 terawatt-hours now, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Juba Power Distribution Expansion accelerates grid rehabilitation in South Sudan, adding concrete poles, medium and low voltage networks, and LED street lighting, funded by AfDB and executed by Power China for reliable, affordable electricity.
Key Points
A project to upgrade Juba's grid with concrete poles, MV-LV networks, and LED lighting for reliable, affordable power.
✅ 13,350 concrete poles produced locally for network rollout
✅ Medium and low voltage network rehabilitation and expansion
✅ LED street lighting and customer care improvements funded by AfDB
The South Sudan government has launched a factory producing concrete poles that will facilitate an ambitious project done by a Chinese company to rehabilitate and expand the Power Distribution System in Juba, its capital.
The Minister of Dams and Electricity, Dhieu Mathok, said that the factory, rented by Power China, will produce some 13,350 poles for the electricity distribution in the capital and other states.
"The main objective of this project is to increase the supply capacity and reliability of the power distribution system in Juba. Access to the grid will replace the use of generators by the population, allow supply of energy at more affordable price and, hence contribute toward economic growth and poverty eradication in South Sudan," Mathok said during the inauguration of the plant along the Yei road in Juba.
#google#
He disclosed that it will help solve the problem associated with non-availability of concrete poles for the project and to mitigate the risk of importing poles from other countries.
"This factory will create positive impact on the construction of the national grid in South Sudan. It is owned by South Sudanese business people but currently it has been taken over by Power China for a brief period of one year," he said.
South Sudan is largely generator driven economy with continued electricity blackout, and across the continent initiatives like Cape Town's municipal power build-out illustrate alternative approaches, in the wake of the collapse of the generator power plant operated by the South Sudan Electricity Corporation (SSEC) in 2013.
Wang Cun, an official with Power China said they got the contract to build the electricity project in June 2016 and that they will continue to support South Sudanese staff with skills and knowledge, drawing on advances such as PEM green hydrogen R&D that point to future low-carbon options, and also work with the government on several major power projects.
"We have achieved much from these projects and we also suffered much from the instability and continuous conflicts all these years, but we confirm and believe the year of 2018 will be a year of peace and development in South Sudan," Wang said, adding that the company has been operating in South Sudan since 2009.
He disclosed that Power China has conducted several projects before South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 such as the peace road project from Renk to Malakal, Maridi water plant and Malakal municipal road projects.
Wang said they will immediately reorganize all necessary resources to increase post-production capacity and immediately shall commence the erection of these poles to all corners of Juba city and start the distribution.
"We shall do as we did before to recruit more local technicians, engineers and laborers during the construction period, so that they are there in place for similar projects in the near future. We shall make more efforts to improve these local staffs' working environment and to realize sustainable development of Power China and Sino-hydro in South Sudan," said Wang.
Power China has been committing itself in the economic development of South Sudan and has signed eight commercial contracts with the government of South Sudan since independence like the Juba-hydro power project and the Tharjiath thermal power plant project, while in China projects such as the Lawa hydropower station demonstrate ongoing hydropower expertise that can inform regional work.
Liu Xiaodong, the Charge d'Affaires at the Chinese embassy in South Sudan, said Power China has been working very hard in the engineering and procurement in the earlier stage of the project, and as China expands energy ties such as nuclear cooperation with Cambodia that demonstrate broader engagement, also thanked the South Sudan government and the African Development Bank for their strong support.
Liu added upon completion Juba will have an upgraded power distribution system with 2,250 lighting points along the main roads in the capital and lamps will be LED ones.
The project falls under the Juba Power Distribution System Rehabilitation and Expansion Project, which was funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and has undertaken an AfDB review of a Senegal power plant to inform regional energy decisions.
It comprises of five different lots like Rehabilitation of Diesel plant substation, Rehabilitation and Expansion of medium voltage network, low voltage network, and Rehabilitation and Expansion of street lighting and improvement of customer care.
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