Page 8 - AfrElec Week 33

AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec
e four countries aim to use their demo- graphic and economic muscle to argue their case. “Brazil, South Africa, India and China put together have one-third of the world’s geograph- ical area and nearly 40% of the global popula- tion and when we unitedly speak in one voice, it shows our determination,” said Indian Environ-
ment Minister Prakash Javadekar in Sao Paulo. Javadekar and Brazil’s Ricardo Salles, China’s Xie Zhenhua and South Africa’s Barbara Creecy stressed that the Paris Agreement and other doc- uments such as the Kyoto Protocol recognised the needs and special circumstances of develop-
ing countries.
ese were encapsulated by the principles
of equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC). ese call for developed countries to take the lead in tackling climate change on the basis of equity with developing countries.
In short, wealthier countries must make the most expensive and di cult policy changes in terms of reducing emissions and promoting renewables.
A er the New York Summit, the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP-25) in Chile is due to be held later this year. With the US not com- mitted to the UNFCCC, developing countries are questioning how the costs of mitigating cli- mate change should be shared out.™
Japan’s SoftBank invests $110mn in energy storage
AFRICA
SOFTBANK’S $100bn Vision Fund has made its rst investment in energy storage technology by backing Swiss-based energy storage start-up Energy Vault with $110mn.
Energy Vault raised the $110mn in a Series B funding round, with Vision Fund emerging as the sole investor.
e company will use the funds to accelerate global deployment of its technology, which – for the rst time – enables renewables to deliver baseload power for less than the cost of fossil fuels 24 hours a day.
Energy Vault has developed a 35-MWh stor- agefacilitythatcanprovide4-8MWofcontinu- ous power for 8-16 hours.
Crucially, it aims to provide energy storage that will undercut fossil fuels, a major barrier to the technology’s ability to deliver baseload power and to be commercially popular.
“For the rst time, we’ve got a cost point in economics with energy storage that enables renewables to be deployed below the cost of fossil fuel,” Energy Vault co-founder and CEO Robert Piconi said.
e company claims that when combined
with wind and PV solar, it can achieve an unprecedented levelised cost of energy delivered (LCOED) below $0.06 per kWh.
e technology is modelled on the principles of pumped storage hydro technology and applies the fundamentals of gravity and potential energy. e system combines an innovative crane design that li s specially designed, 35-tonne concrete bricks with a proprietary, cloud-based so ware platform which orchestrates the storage and dis- charge of electricity.
“Energy Vault is well positioned to meet the large and currently unmet demand for sustaina- bleandeconomicalenergystorageworldwide,” Piconi added.
So bank is keen to diversify its exposure in the renewables sector and to back start-up tech- nology in the storage sector.
“Energy Vault solves a long-standing and complex problem of how to store renewable energyatscale,”AkshayNaheta,managingpart- ner at So Bank Investment Advisers, said in a statement.
“Energy Vault is highly complementary to SoftBank’s existing energy portfolio and we
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 33 21•August•2019