Fourth Update of June 2020 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Figure below, kindly provided by Dr Grant Wilson of University of Birmingham Energy Institute, shows liquid transport fuels demand for April 2020 dropped 75% compared with April 2019 (based on UK Government figures released in the previous week).

Monday – 22nd June

• Press release from Europa claims hydrogen can be developed as a commercially and technically viable fuel for short haul flights.

Wednesday – 24th June

• Shetlands Islands Council Energy Hub has joined with Aberdeen’s Oil and Gas Technology Centre in order to develop plans to use renewable energy to power offshore oil and gas production platforms and to generate ‘industrial quantities’ of hydrogen.

• Research from Aurora suggests almost half of total energy in 2050 could be supplied by hydrogen generated as ‘green’ (hydrolysis using excess renewable power) and ‘blue’ (methane reformation with Carbon Capture and Storage).

• This article describes plans to build boats and planes which use hydrogen as fuel, including water taxis between Cardiff and Bristol.

Thursday – 25th June

• UK Committee on Climate Change released a 2020 progress report for net zero emissions by 2050 target. Report acknowledges early progress, states there remains a lot to be done and ‘recommends that Ministers seize the opportunity to turn the COVID-19 crisis into a defining moment in the fight against climate change’ including low carbon retrofits, tree planting and peatland restoration, strengthened energy networks, promotion of walking, cycling and remote working as well as a more circular economy.

• UK Government Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) quarterly report for energy trends was published today. Trends show power generation from coal being lower, demand for liquid fuel being reduced and renewable energy to be high. Oil and gas still dominate primary fuel production at more than 75% of total. Gas imports were just over 50% of supply. (link will download Energy Trends PDF document)

• Guardian article reports on data from BEIS showing electricity from wind, solar, hydro and wood burning power plants broke the record for proportion of power generation in the first 3 months of 2020. 47% of electricity was produced from these sources compared with previous record of 39% set in 2019.

• China is approving new coal-based power generation at a rate not seen since 2015 according to this article in the FT. Plans for 40 GW of additional coal power have been proposed in the first half of 2020 (for context, UK demand was 25 GW at time of writing).

Friday – 26th June

• UK has agreed to provide a $1 billion loan guarantee in order to allow Mozambique to develop Liquid Natural Gas for domestic use and export.