DUBLIN – Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “China Electric Vehicle Industry Report, 2014″ report to their offering.
With the implementation of fiscal subsidies, demonstration and popularization, purchase tax exemption, local barriers-dismantling and other favorable policies, China’s electric vehicle market has seen accelerated development. In the first half of 2014, China’s electric vehicle sales volume exceeded 20,000, more than the last year’s total. Based on this, the sales volume throughout the year will be around 50,000, and the industry average growth rate will be maintained above 50% for years to come.
Now, electric vehicles in China are mainly concentrated in the field of bus, the development of passenger car market is relatively lagging behind. China’s electric passenger car market used to be dominated by electric taxis and a small quantity of official cars, however, driven by the fiscal subsidy, purchase tax exemption and other good policies, and along with the continuous improvement of infrastructures e.g. charging station and charging pile, the electric car private consumption market has begun to grow fast.
Passenger vehicle enterprises in China have stepped up their layout in the field of electric vehicles; foreign companies are piling in, too.
As the countdown to the world’s first fully-electric racing series draws ever closer, the National Geographic channel is to air an exclusive behind the scenes documentary revealing the trials and tribulations of the new FIA Formula E Championship.
Almost 12 months in the making, the 45-minute piece portrays the moment the championship is officially announced by the FIA through to the anxious delivery of the first cars to pushing them, and their highly sophisticated batteries, to their limits during testing.
A new championship with a new all-electric race car proves a steep learning curve for the 10 teams and 20 drivers taking part in the 10 city-centre races, beginning in Beijing on September 13 2014.
Watch how the teams and drivers battle to get to grips with this new technology in a very short space of time, while the manufacturers work frantically to ensure all 40 cars and spare parts are delivered on time.
Formula E, an FIA motorsport championship led by sporting entrepreneur Alejandro Agag, is no small undertaking which aims to kick-start a new era of motorsport for the younger generation, whilst trying to persuade car owners to go electric.
Its goals have attracted no shortage of backers, from four-time Formula One World Champion Alain Prost, to pioneer businessman and environmentalist Sir Richard Branson, not to mention a host of former F1 drivers including the return of a ‘Prost vs Senna’ battle with Bruno Senna, nephew of the great Ayrton, and Nicolas Prost, son of Alain. Motorsport heavyweights Renault, McLaren, Michelin, and Williams have also put their reputations on the line as the race to the future goes electric.
The documentary premieres on National Geographic on September 9 2014, 5pm (BST) with repeats on September 12 at 8am (BST) and September 13 at 9am (BST)
Photo courtesy of Formula E
This article is a repost, credit: Formula E. Video courtesy of Formula E.
IEA forecast sees renewable power as a cost-competitive option in an increasing number of cases, but facing growing risks to deployment over the medium term
The expansion of renewable energy will slow over the next five years unless policy uncertainty is diminished, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today in its third annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report.
According to the report, power generation from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro grew strongly in 2013, reaching almost 22% of global generation, and was on par with electricity from gas, whose generation remained relatively stable. Global renewable generation is seen rising by 45% and making up nearly 26% of global electricity generation by 2020. Yet annual growth in new renewable power is seen slowing and stabilising after 2014, putting renewables at risk of falling short of the absolute generation levels needed to meet global climate change objectives.
Courtesy of EIA
Non-OECD markets, spurred by diversification needs in many countries and increasing air quality concerns in China, in particular, comprise almost 70% of the growth. Renewables are seen as the largest new source of non-OECD generation through 2020. Yet they meet only 35% of fast-growing electricity needs there, illustrating the still-large role of fossil fuels and the potential for further renewable growth. Renewables account for 80% of new power generation in the OECD, but with more limited upside due to sluggish demand and growing policy risks in key markets.
“Renewables are a necessary part of energy security. However, just when they are becoming a cost-competitive option in an increasing number of cases, policy and regulatory uncertainty is rising in some key markets. This stems from concerns about the costs of deploying renewables,” said IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven.
“Governments must distinguish more clearly between the past, present and future, as costs are falling over time,” she added. “Many renewables no longer need high incentive levels. Rather, given their capital-intensive nature, renewables require a market context that assures a reasonable and predictable return for investors. This calls for a serious reflection on market design needed to achieve a more sustainable world energy mix.”
The report noted that policy and market risks threaten to slow deployment momentum. For example, in many non-OECD markets including China, constraints include non-economic barriers, an absence of needed grid integration measures, and the cost and availability of financing. In the European Union (EU), uncertainties remain over the precise nature of the post-2020 renewable policy framework and the build-out of a pan-European grid to facilitate the integration of variable renewables.
For the first time, the annual report provides a renewable power investment outlook. Through 2020, investment in new renewable power capacity is seen averaging over USD 230 billion annually. That is lower than the around USD 250 billion invested in 2013. The decline is due to expectations that both unit investment costs for some technologies will fall and that global capacity growth will slow. With decreasing costs, competitive opportunities are expanding for some renewables under some country-specific conditions and policy frameworks. For example, in Brazil, with good resources and financing conditions, onshore wind has continued to outbid new-build natural gas plants in auctions. In northern Chile, high wholesale electricity prices and high irradiation levels have opened a new unsubsidised solar market.
The roles of biofuels for transport and renewable heat are also increasing, though at slower rates than renewable electricity. Uncertainty over policy support for biofuels is rising in the EU and the United States, slowing expectations for production growth and threatening the development of the advanced biofuels industry at a time when the first commercial plants are just coming online.
The annual report highlights the potential energy security implications of energy use for heat, which accounts for more than half of world final energy consumption and is dominated by fossil fuels. But the contribution of renewables to meet heating and cooling needs remains underdeveloped, with more limited policy frameworks compared with the electricity and transport sectors. Although modern renewable energy sources are expected to grow by almost 25% to 2020, their share in energy use for heat rises to only 9%, up from 8% in 2013.
To download the executive summary of Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report, please click here.
To download Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven’s presentation at the launch of the report, please click here.
To download a fact sheet related to the report, please click here.
Artist concept of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) 70-metric-ton configuration launching to space. SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars. Image credit: NASA/MSFC Courtesy of NASA
NASA officials Wednesday announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS) — the heavy-lift, exploration class rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars — and approved the program’s progression from formulation to development, something no other exploration class vehicle has achieved since the agency built the space shuttle.
“We are on a journey of scientific and human exploration that leads to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “And we’re firmly committed to building the launch vehicle and other supporting systems that will take us on that journey.”
For its first flight test, SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit. In its most powerful configuration, SLS will provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons (143 tons), which will enable missions even farther into our solar system, including such destinations as an asteroid and Mars.
This artist concept shows NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rolling to a launchpad at Kennedy Space Center at night. SLS will be the most powerful rocket in history, and the flexible, evolvable design of this advanced, heavy-lift launch vehicle will meet a variety of crew and cargo mission needs. Image credit: NASA/MSFC Courtesy of NASA
This decision comes after a thorough review known as Key Decision Point C (KDP-C), which provides a development cost baseline for the 70-metric ton version of the SLS of $7.021 billion from February 2014 through the first launch and a launch readiness schedule based on an initial SLS flight no later than November 2018.
Conservative cost and schedule commitments outlined in the KDP-C align the SLS program with program management best practices that account for potential technical risks and budgetary uncertainty beyond the program’s control.
“Our nation is embarked on an ambitious space exploration program, and we owe it to the American taxpayers to get it right,” said Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot, who oversaw the review process. “After rigorous review, we’re committing today to a funding level and readiness date that will keep us on track to sending humans to Mars in the 2030s – and we’re going to stand behind that commitment.”
“The Space Launch System Program has done exemplary work during the past three years to get us to this point,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We will keep the teams working toward a more ambitious readiness date, but will be ready no later than November 2018.”
The SLS, Orion, and Ground Systems Development and Operations programs each conduct a design review prior to each program’s respective KDP-C, and each program will establish cost and schedule commitments that account for its individual technical requirements.
“We are keeping each part of the program — the rocket, ground systems, and Orion — moving at its best possible speed toward the first integrated test launch,” said Bill Hill, director Exploration Systems Development at NASA. “We are on a solid path toward an integrated mission and making progress in all three programs every day.”
“Engineers have made significant technical progress on the rocket and have produced hardware for all elements of the SLS program,” said SLS program manager Todd May. “The team members deserve an enormous amount of credit for their dedication to building this national asset.”
The program delivered in April the first piece of flight hardware for Orion’s maiden flight, Exploration Flight Test-1 targeted for December. This stage adapter is of the same design that will be used on SLS’s first flight, Exploration Mission-1.
Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has all major tools installed and is producing hardware, including the first pieces of flight hardware for SLS. Sixteen RS-25 engines, enough for four flights, currently are in inventory at Stennis Space Center, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where an engine is already installed and ready for testing this fall. NASA contractor ATK has conducted successful test firings of the five-segment solid rocket boosters and is preparing for the first qualification motor test.
SLS will be the world’s most capable rocket. In addition to opening new frontiers for explorers traveling aboard the Orion capsule, the SLS may also offer benefits for science missions that require its use and can’t be flown on commercial rockets.
The next phase of development for SLS is the Critical Design Review, a programmatic gate that reaffirms the agency’s confidence in the program planning and technical risk posture.
Multi-State Energy Imbalance Market uses advance technology to find and use low cost energy
Folsom Control Room Image courtesy of CalISO
FOLSOM, Calif. – The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved on August 27 NV Energy’s request to participate in the expanded Energy Imbalance Market (EIM), which automatically optimizes resources across a wide geographic region and in turn reduces energy costs.
Study results show that NV Energy will share with other market participants in benefiting from low cost resources participating in the EIM, which uses state-of-the-art technology provided by the California Independent System Operator to analyze supply and demand in the western U.S. and dispatch the lowest cost resources to meet energy needs every five minutes.
In granting the Las Vegas-based utility’s request, the Commission said that participation in the six-state EIM would “continue to optimize the value of the overall supply portfolio of NV Energy for the benefit of its bundled retail customers…”
“This is good news for our customers and provides another avenue for us to lower costs and reinforce the reliability of our services,” said Paul Caudill, NV Energy President and Chief Executive Officer.
“We are very pleased to be able to partner with Nevada in unleashing the value of regional collaboration in lowering energy costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said ISO President and CEO Steve Berberich.
The EIM uses industry-leading technology to identify changes in supply and demand and then automatically finding lowest cost resources to meet fluctuating demand across the West. This is effective in using the excess generation produced by wind and solar resources when weather conditions are especially favorable for generation that otherwise would go unused. The market’s first participant, Portland-based PacifiCorp will enter the EIM in October 2014. NV Energy will begin participating in the EIM starting in October 2015.
“Renewable resources vary with the weather and by having a large pool of resources to draw upon means we are better able to smooth out the variability in power flows caused by changing conditions,” said Walter Spansel, Vice President, Transmission for NV Energy. “Just one of the EIM benefits is reducing the need to carry as much in reserves, which can be expensive.”
EIM participants do not formally join the ISO and only pay according to their EIM use, and they can leave at any time without having to pay exit fees. Also, EIM participants continue to meet all other duties and reliability requirements in their service areas as well as meet compliance obligations.
This article is a repost (8-27-14), credit: CalISO.
Tesla Q3
7,785 vehicles delivered.
Model S orders and deliveries expected to increase 50% in 2015.
Non-GAAP net income was $3 million, or $0.02 per share.
Tesla deliveries guidance for ’14 to 33,000. Q4 “constrained” due to “complexity of launches related to dual motor and autopilot hardware.”
Tesla pushes back Model X deliveries to Q3 2015. Company plans to accelerate Gigafactory construction in Q4, first cell production in 2016.
Reuters reported that the US Mint is “temporarily sold out of its American Eagle silver bullion coins” due to heavy demand in recent weeks.
