Top Renewable Energy Trends for 2022 and Beyond

Since at least the fifth standard, we have been reading about renewable and non-renewable sources of energy and how we must move to the former to save the earth. There is no denying that fossil fuels, when burned, release GHGs, which are the single biggest reason for air pollution. Hence, already from the First Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, countries began implementing environmental laws. However, it was the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 that gave climate preservation center stage.

Since then, the global focus on mitigating GHG emissions has strengthened so much that in many countries, the renewable energy sector is now growing faster than the conventional fuel sector. As per the IEA, by 2026, the total capacity of renewable energy plants will cross 4,800 GW, which is almost the same as the current energy production from fossil fuels. Moreover, almost a 95% increase in the overall energy generation capacity by 2026 would be attributed to renewables.

While everyone knows about the major clean sources of electricity, including solar, hydro, wind, and nuclear, here are a few peculiar trends that display the every-advancing technology in this field:

Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

Since excess CO2 is the biggest cause of global warming, technologies to capture its emissions, store them permanently, and utilize them to create valuable products are being rapidly advanced. As per the IEA, 27 CCUS projects were operational and 168 more in various stages of development around the world in 2021. The key industries where such systems have already been installed are power generation, chemicals, fertilizers, and oil & gas, all of which are major emitters of CO2.

The best ways to store captured emissions are injecting them into underground porous rock formations, coal beds where mining is not feasible, and saline aquifers. Similarly, companies around the world are exploring numerous ways to utilize the captured emissions to manufacture new products. For instance, Asahi Kasei has pioneered a technology to produce urethane raw materials, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industry has begun producing methanol.

Flywheels

Although renewable energy may be the very thing the future of human civilization depends on, it has certain drawbacks. The most significant is the unreliability of the electricity produced by sources such as the sun and the wind. In this case, the output can be smoothened by storing whatever extra energy is generated and then releasing it into the grid, when the demand increases.

Although SLA and Li-ion batteries are used the most commonly for this purpose, flywheels have begun to gain popularity as they are a virtually non-polluting device. A motor–generator assembly uses electricity to spin a huge wheel, which is kept in a vacuum to reduce drag. The inertia of the spinning wheel allows it to rotate for long durations. When extra energy is needed, the flywheel drives the motor–generator assembly, instead of being itself driven by the latter.

The two major applications of this energy storage technology are distributed power generation and uninterrupted power supply. This way, the actual applications of the flywheel energy storage technology could be vast, from residential societies to large commercial spaces, such as shopping malls, where it could replace the polluting generator sets.

Bioethanol and Biodiesel

Bioethanol and biodiesel are clean fuels made from organic substances, such as vegetable and plant oils and starchy liquids (such as molasses). Both the fuels are blended with gasoline (petrol) and diesel in different concentrations, rarely being used on their own. Currently, the major application area of these fuels is transportation.

As per the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. produced, imported, exported, and consumed 15.01, 0.06, 1.25, and 13.94 billion gallons of bioethanol in 2021, respectively. Similarly, the figures for biodiesel stood at 1.64, 0.20, 0.18, and 1.65 billion gallons for production, imports, exports, and consumption, respectively.

Halfway across the world, Indian Railways has already trial runs of its 16-cylinder EMD and ALCO diesel locomotives on the B5, B20, B10, B100, and B50 biodiesel blends. As per estimates, using the B20 blend in all its diesel locomotives and DEMUs, IR could save 600 million liters of this fuel, worth over INR 200 crore. For this, the national mass mover would require 1.44 lakh kiloliters of this commodity every year.

Distributed Solar Power Generation

The term ‘distributed solar power generation’ essentially means that individual buildings or a cluster of buildings, such as a housing colony or industrial zone, are producing their solar energy locally. A number of sectors have started installing onsite PV cells, either on a vacant plot, as part of a covered parking lot, or on the roof. These installations can be used independently for small-scale requirements, or connected to the grid to supply backup power for entities wanting to eliminate their requirement for fuel-guzzling generators.

Currently, more than 10 railway stations in India have rooftop solar power plants, which could, theoretically, meet their entire electricity requirement. Moreover, 6% of the Delhi airport’s energy supply is met by an onsite solar farm and the rest by hydropower, thus becoming the first airport in the country to draw 100% green electricity. Similarly, as of February 2021, Delhi Metro was producing 32 MW of distributed solar power from rooftop installations.

Floating Solar Panels

No wonder PV is one of the most-efficient and cheapest ways of producing renewable energy. But, there is a big drawback…the massive area required for a solar plant. On average, producing just 1 MW of solar power requires the panels to be spread over a 5-acre land area. Hence, with the rapidly expanding population, the availability of land for the purpose continues to diminish.

Additionally, solar plants in residential areas obstruct the view and are often considered a pestilence, spawning large and, sometimes, ugly protests. Therefore, waterbodies are being explored to set up PV plants, with floating solar panels being the enabling technology. Due to their benefits, many countries have sanctioned floating solar projects, including the 475-MW project of Vietnam, 2.1-GW project of South Korea, and 150-MW project of the Uttar Pradesh government in India, all of which will start operating in a couple of years.

Offshore Wind Turbine Market

Just like conventional solar power, conventional wind power also requires a massive area of land. As per the NREL, 1.5 acres of land can produce a meager 2 MW of wind power. The solution here is also erecting wind turbines in seas, lakes, rivers, and ponds. Wind towers can be installed in any depth, although most are installed in depths of up to 30 feet, for ease of erection and maintenance.

Already in 2019, China commissioned offshore wind power plants with a capacity of 2 GW, 3.5 GW, and 2 GW, in Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Fujian, respectively. In the same way, India is planning on having offshore wind power production of 30 GW by 2030. Additionally, as per the U.S. Department of Energy, the country has an offshore wind power potential of 2,000 GW, which could allow it to generate 7,200 TWh of energy every year.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen, the first element of the atomic table, could also be one of the foremost renewable energy technologies of the future. The utility of the gas essentially stems from the fact that if burned, it releases only water! Thus, hydrogen could not only provide a solution to transportation and energy generation, but the water generated as the by-product could also have unlimited applications.

Currently, power generation is the major application of hydrogen as a fuel. Electricity can be produced in two ways using hydrogen. One is a gas turbine, wherein a mixture of hydrogen and gasoline is burned in the presence of oxygen to produce heat. The heat is then used to drive a turbine connected to an alternator; just 1 kg of hydrogen can produce 150,000 kJ of heat.

Several projects have been set up to explore a combination of natural gas and hydrogen to produce electricity via a gas turbine, such as the Long Ride power plant in Ohio, which has a capacity of 485 MW. Currently, the most-viable hydrogen–natural gas ratio is 3:7; however, efforts to invent turbines that could run on 100% hydrogen are also underway.

The other way is a fuel cell, in which the chemical bonding of hydrogen and oxygen is directly used to produce electricity, which is the same concept hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles run on. However, since even before these two applications, the gas has been widely utilized as the primary fuel for rockets for space exploration. For instance, the external tank of space shuttles carried 1,497,440 liters of liquid hydrogen, which was fed to the three RS-25 engines of the orbiter.

Hence, with the continuous growth of the space exploration, transportation, energy, and many other industries, the demand for efficient hydrogen storage systems, including material-based and physical, continues to boom. Apart from the three mentioned above, the key industries that require this gas in high volumes include metal processing, oil & gas refining and chemicals, specifically for the production of ammonia, resins, polymers, and methanol (another relatively clean fuel).

Conclusion

With so many advancements happening in the renewable energy space, the future of the human race seems secure; although, a lot more research needs to be put in to fully realize the potential of most of these technologies.