Two million Dutch homes to be gas free by 2030, as energy transition takes shape

DutchNews, March 26, 2018

Income from gas was down considerably. Photo: Depositphotos.com 

The Dutch government has set a target of ensuring one in four Dutch homes no longer relies on gas for heating or cooking by 2030, according to Diederik Samsom, the former Labour party leader who is part of the team charged with negotiating the energy transition.

Instead, homes will be heated via geo-thermal pumps or sustainable city heating networks which either generate heat directly or use excess heat from industry, Samsom says. 

Samson has been asked by the government to reach agreement on the necessary measures with business and interest groups. In an interview with Trouw he describes the target as ‘realistic and ambitious’. 

In the first year of the project, 50,000 homes should be cut off from gas and the rate of transition ramped up in the following years. In addition, no more new homes should be connected to the gas network, Samsom says. 

In Amsterdam, for example, two new residential districts are being built without gas and some 70,000 homes in the city are already on district heating networks. 

Relatively new, well insulated homes can start running on heat pumps and electricity – preferably green energy from wind turbines and solar panels. For older districts that will often be expensive and complex, says Samsom. With some extra insulation, they should switch to large-scale heat networks using clean geothermal energy. 

The government said earlier it wants housing to be completely gas free by 2050.

Dutch minister confirms ban on drilling, shale gas ‘not an option’

DutchNews, February 16, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The Netherlands will not give out any permits for the exploration for shale gas in the Netherlands, economic affairs minister Erik Wiebes has confirmed to parliament.

‘Shale gas is not an option in the Netherlands any more,’ Wiebes said. ‘We are not doing it. It is over and done with.’ 

The previous economic affairs minister Henk Kamp introduced a five-year moratorium on drilling for shale gas which expires in 2020. 

Shale gas is ordinary natural gas that has been trapped in dense shale beds deep underground. It is extracted using a controversial process known as fracking, which involves drilling a hole deep into the shale and pumping in water mixed with sand and chemicals. 

A number of local councils, water boards and even brewing groups like Heineken have come out against the production of shale gas in the Netherlands because of the risk of pollution. 

Energy group Cuadrilla, which had been given a licence to test drill for shale gas at two locations in the Netherlands, is currently appealing to the Council of State against Kamp’s decision to suspend its licence after bringing in the five year ban.

Dutch turning off quake-zone gas for 200 firms

France24 – AFP, 23 January 2018

A total of 180,000 homes and farms near Groningen have suffered damage
 in recent years. This photo was taken on a farm in the area in 2013

THE HAGUE (AFP) - The Dutch government has ordered more than 200 of the country's biggest businesses to stop using gas from the quake-prone northern Groningen region, Europe's largest gasfield, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Instead, firms must transition by 2022 to using sustainable sources of energy, or use gas from elsewhere, Economics Minister Eric Wiebes wrote in a letter to each of the companies, which came to light late Monday.

"The government wants to eliminate the consumption of 'low calorific gas' by big businesses, so that in principle no large industrial organisation is still using Groningen gas by 2022," he said.

The economics ministry confirmed to AFP that Wiebes had told parliament that about 200 businesses used some 5.5 billion cubic metres of Groningen gas, and that each of them would be visited to discuss a way forward.

The letters came after more than 900 homes were damaged in early January when Groningen province was hit by a 3.4 magnitude quake -- its largest since 2012.

The new government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte has pledged to wean the country off Groningen gas, and this "gradual reduction" is "inevitable," added Wiebes.

A further alternative for businesses was to move towards using higher calorific gas which is not produced in Groningen and comes mainly from abroad.

NAM, the energy company responsible for the gas extraction, is half-owned by Shell and ExxonMobil and has been extracting gas from the massive Groningen field since 1963.

But the area has been plagued by relatively low magnitude quakes said to result from huge air pockets left underground because of gas extraction.

"This government wants during its term to swiftly reduce the demand for Groningen gas," added Wiebes, saying this "ambition had only been reinforced by the most recent earthquake".

Meanwhile, an appeals court in northern Leeuwarden on Tuesday upheld a 2015 decision under which NAM must compensate property owners for the falling prices of damaged homes.

A study by the University of Groningen counted a total of 180,000 damaged houses, with a collective value of 950 million euros ($1.16 billion), the Dutch news agency ANP said.

In recent years, the Netherlands has drastically scaled back Groningen gas production in stages from 53.9 billion cubic metres in 2013 to 21.6 billion in April 2017.

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Minister tells big firms to stop using Groningen gas by 2020

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Beijing shuts last coal power plant in switch to natural gas

Yahoo – AFP, March 19, 2017

The last large coal-fired power plant in Beijing has suspended operations, with
the city's electricity now generated by natural gas (AFP Photo/Wang Zhao)

The last large coal-fired power plant in Beijing has suspended operations, with the city's electricity now generated by natural gas, the state news agency reported as smog enveloped the Chinese capital this weekend.

The shuttering of the Huaneng Beijing Thermal Power Plant comes on the heels of China's annual legislative sessions, where Premier Li Keqiang promised to "make our skies blue again" in his state-of-the-nation speech.

According to Xinhua, Beijing has become the country's first city to have all its power plants fuelled by natural gas, an objective laid out in 2013 in the capital's five-year clean air action plan.

The Huangneng plant is the fourth to be closed and replaced by gas thermal power centres between 2013 and 2017, cutting nearly 10 million tonnes in coal emissions annually.

Xinhua reported the move the night before municipal authorities issued a blue alert for heavy air pollution on Sunday.

Smog has cloaked the capital for several days and is expected to continue through the week.

Since last Wednesday' closing of the National People's Congress, the annual meeting of China's rubber-stamp parliament, PM2.5 (harmful particulate) levels have remained between 200 and 330 micrograms per cubic metre -- well above the World Health Organization's recommended maximum average exposure of 25 micrograms per cubic metre in a 24-hour period.

The pollution often vanishes during prominent events like the legislative sessions and the 2008 Summer Olympics as authorities order factories to halt activity and force cars off the road.

During the 2014 gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Beijing, this clear air phenomenon was dubbed "APEC blue."

During the one-week-and-a-half period of the NPC, average PM2.5 levels hovered between 50 and 80, despite exceeding 200 micrograms per cubic metre just one day before the opening of the parliamentary sessions on March 5.

In response to a reporter's question about this disparity at his annual press conference last Wednesday, Li repeated his pledge to target coal-burning and vehicle emissions.

"We may not be able to control the weather, but we can adjust our behaviour and our way of development," he said.

"Blue skies should no longer be a luxury, nor will they be."

Beijing to Close Major Coal Power Plants by 2016

Jakarta Globe, Feifei Shen, Mar 24, 2015

A worker unloads coal at a storage site along a railway station in Shenyang,
Liaoning province, China in this file picture taken on April 13, 2010. (Reuters
Photo/Sheng Li)

Beijing, where pollution averaged more than twice China’s national standard last year, will close the last of its four major coal-fired power plants next year.

China’s capital city will close China Huaneng’s 845 megawatt power plant next year, after last week closing plants owned by Guohua Electric Power and Beijing Energy Investment, according to a statement Monday on the website of the city’s economic planning agency.

A fourth major power plant, owned by China Datang, was shut last year.

The plants will be replaced by four gas-fired stations with capacity to supply 2.6 times more electricity than the coal plants. Once complete, the city’s power and its central heating will be entirely generated by clean energy, said the Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

Air pollution has attracted more public attention in the past few years as heavy smog envelops swathes of the nation including Beijing and Shanghai. About 90 percent of the 161 cities whose air quality was monitored in 2014 failed to meet official standards, according to a report by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The level of PM2.5, the small particles that pose the greatest risk to human health, averaged 85.9 micrograms per cubic meter last year in the capital, compared with the national standard of 35.

Beijing plans to cut annual coal consumption by 13 million metric tons by 2017 from the 2012 level in a bid to slash the concentration of pollutants. The city also aims to take other measures such as closing polluted companies and cutting cement production capacity to clear the air.

Bloomberg

Nasa fuel cell technology to power Al Gore's new London headquarters

Fuel cell converts gas into heat and electricity without producing carbon emissions

theguardian.com, Damian Carrington, Monday 14 October 2013

The crown estate development near Piccadilly in London. Photograph: Miller Hare Ltd

Fuel cell technology used to power Nasa's space shuttle will provide light and heat for Al Gore's new London headquarters.

The fuel cell, which converts gas into heat and electricity without producing carbon emissions, has been installed in a major crown estate development in Regent Street in the capital.

"The fuel cell is a real flag in the sand, demonstrating what is possible in terms of energy efficiency and carbon reduction," said the crown estate's head of development, Alastair Smart. The cost of the new system, the first of its kind to be installed in the UK, has not been revealed but Smart said: "It offers a commercially viable and sustainable source of energy. One of the main reasons for this is that the infrastructure lasts for 20 years, a lot longer than traditional systems."

Climate campaigner and former US vice-president Gore said the £400m Quadrant 3 redevelopment showed a "sophisticated commitment to sustainability". The headquarters of his sustainable investment company, Generation Investment Management, will be sited in the new buildings.

The cell was developed by US company FuelCell Energy. It will emit 38% less carbon dioxide than using electricity from the grid and heat from gas-fired boilers, according to the crown estate, which says 350 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions will be saved per year. Unlike fossil-fuel-burning power plants, the fuel cell produces power with virtually no nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SOx) or particulate matter (PM) pollution.

The new plant forms part of the central energy system that serves 500,000 sq ft of offices, shops, flats, restaurants and hotels in the Quadrant development.

Mike Rinker, at the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), said: "Combined heat and power fuel cell systems can help commercial buildings with high energy demands reap significant savings in energy cost and use. We anticipate this type of system could reduce the fuel costs and carbon footprint of a commercial building by approximately 40%, compared with conventional electricity and heat use." PNNL is testing its fuel cell system at 10 businesses in California and Oregon.

Other companies are developing washing-machine-sized fuel cells, which could power individual homes.

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Bloom Energy Powers eBay's Utah Data Center

Bloom Energy, 26 sep 2013

Bloom Energy Powers eBay's Data Center in South Jordan, Utah - first data center to be powered primarily by fuel cells. To learn more, visit tech.ebay.com.

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"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

Reuters: Shell says has key to clean coal as demand soars

Tue Oct 9, 2007 2:01 PM BST

By Jackie Cowhig

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell’s technology to turn coal into gas to fuel power plants could allow developing countries to meet surging energy demand without a matching rise in emissions, Shell executives said on Tuesday.

Power plants fuelled by gas made from coal using Shell’s proven technology could have 9 percent lower costs than conventional coal-fired boilers if both types of generation involve carbon capture and storage, the executives said.

There are various projects to fight climate change by developing commercial-scale capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and storage underground but none has yet been proved to work in practice.

Shell is licensing clean coal technology it developed over 40 years to produce synthetic gas (syngas) from any type of coal including bituminous, sub-bituminous, lignite and anthracite.

“Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plants run on syngas are around 10 per cent more costly than conventional coal plants,” said Peter de Wit, Executive Vice President Clean Coal Energy.

“But this is reversed if you assume carbon capture and storage,” said Ian Poll, General Manager Synthesis and Gasification, Shell Global Solutions International.

Shell’s process adds oxygen to coal at a high temperature, partially oxidising it. It creates slag containing ash and trace metals that can be easily removed and disposed of, Shell said.

EASIER AND CHEAPER

It is far easier and cheaper to extract CO2 from highly-pressurised syngas, before it is burnt in a generator, than to extract the greenhouse gas from coal plant flue gases, Shell said.

“Coal gasification and CCS will be extremely relevant in years to come if energy demand is to be met,” de Wit said.

“While accepting there are lots of carbon-related issues and that coal has been a dirty energy resource, coal is central to meeting the world’s energy challenge,” he said.

“Global energy demand is not just rising, it’s accelerating, even faster than the rate of population growth, he said.

Shell is developing oil shales, sands, offshore and deeper oil and gas production, which are more energy-intensive than “easy oil,” but are necessary for diversification, he said.

Licensing its syngas production technology and participating in research to develop coal-fuelled generation with a zero carbon footprint are part of that diversification, he said.

Shell has sold 18 licences for use of its syngas production technology to date. Of these, 15 have been sold to China for syngas production plants that are now coming on stream.

China is bringing two large conventional coal-fired power plants into operation each week, coal industry sources said.

Shell has around 40 licence opportunities which are being evaluated, executives said, including six to take an equity stake in a project.

Interest in syngas technology has come from many countries including India, Africa, Indonesia and Russia, they said.

One attraction of syngas and IGCC generation for developing countries is that low quality coal can be used.

India, Indonesia and Turkey are among countries with surging energy demand but which have mostly low quality domestic coal.

Shell is licensing the use of its technology but is not building plant, they said. However, Shell would consider taking equity stakes in syngas production ventures with partners.

It has signed alliances with coal producers Anglo American and China’s Shenhua Energy <601088.ss> but has no plans to re-enter coal mining, de Wit said. Shell sold its coal mining interests to Anglo in the 1990s.

BP, Rio Tinto Venture to Develop Clean Coal Energy

By Stephen Voss

May 17 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc and Rio Tinto Plc formed a joint venture, Hydrogen Energy, to develop technology for producing power from coal, oil and natural gas without emitting the gases blamed for global warming.

Rio will pay $32 million to BP to form the equally owned venture, which includes two planned BP hydrogen-fuel projects in Scotland and California that will cost at least $1 billion each.

``Projects such as these have the potential to help deliver the carbon emission reductions which companies and countries around the world are now seeking,'' BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward said in a statement today.

The U.S. and China, the world's two largest energy consumers and carbon dioxide emitters, are unlikely to abandon coal for power generation, since they have large domestic reserves of the mineral. The U.S. says it wants cleaner technologies that will allow it to use coal while also reducing emissions.

BP, the world's third-largest non-state-owned oil company, and Rio, the world's third-largest mining company, have previously formed a partnership on coal-mining in Indonesia, before selling that business in 2003. Ten years ago, BP was the first major oil company to acknowledge man-made carbon dioxide emissions could affect the climate.

Clean Power Plant

BP has spent two years developing an industrial-scale, 475- megawatt power plant in Peterhead, Scotland, that emits less greenhouse gas. Using natural gas as a feedstock, the plant will separate hydrogen, which will be used to make clean power, from carbon dioxide, which will be piped to the North Sea and buried in an oil field 2.5 miles below the seabed.

Carbon dioxide would remain buried ``literally forever,'' or for hundreds of years, Steve Westwell, BP's group vice president for alternative energy, said on a conference call from Houston.

BP has also announced plans for a second experimental plant at its Carson refinery in California, where it will make hydrogen from coke, a low-value refinery byproduct.

``Although initial projects may be based on non-coal feedstocks, they will be significant building blocks in the development of coal gasification on an industrial scale,'' Rio's chief executive officer, Tom Albanese, said in today's statement.

Rio is among the world's largest coal producers, along with Xstrata Plc., BHP Billiton Ltd. and Peabody Energy Corp. A venture with BP will enable Rio to offer technology for coal-fired plants without producing large quantities of greenhouse gases. BP is not planning to re-enter the coal business through the joint venture, Westwell said.

BP's Projects

The Peterhead project has completed its engineering design work and is awaiting a decision on financial support from the U.K. government, BP said. If a decision to proceed with the project is made next year, it could start operation in 2011.

Gordon Brown, who will become U.K. Prime Minister next month, said earlier this year companies will need to compete for government funding for carbon-capture and storage projects. More details are expected in a government policy paper on May 23.

Westwell said economic ``incentives'' are needed for carbon, capture and storage projects because of the added expense in creating clean electricity.

The Carson, California, project could be operational by the end of 2012 ``subject to the successful outcome of engineering studies and appropriate policy being in place,'' BP said.

Project Leaders

Hydrogen Energy will be based in Weybridge, in southeastern England, and led by Chief Executive Officer Lewis Gillies, the former head of BP's hydrogen-power business. Its chief financial officer will be Peter Cunningham, formerly the head of business evaluation at Rio.

BP and Rio are both headquartered at St. James's Square in central London and new chief executive officers started at both companies on May 1.

They also have management links: BP's executive vice president for gas, power and renewables, Vivienne Cox, who runs the company's alternative energy business, is also a non-executive director on Rio's board. Andrew Mackenzie joined Rio as the head of its industrial minerals division in 2003, after two decades in exploration at BP.

Rio Tinto chairman Paul Skinner is the former head of oil refining at BP's arch rival, Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Voss in London at sev@bloomberg.net