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https://m.cnfeol.com/Article/1971543.aspx

https://m.cnfeol.com/Article/1971876.aspx

https://wap.eastmoney.com/a/202008011577975830.html

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/BMN/investment-in-enerox-gmbh/14638058

It’s staring;

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/12294453/nationwide-tests-poo-sewage-local-coronavirus/amp/

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.livemint.com/news/world/scientists-figure-out-a-weakness-of-coronavirus-ordinary-water/amp-11596276025946.html

In a study, scientists discovered that about 90% of the Covid-19's particles die in room temperature water in the course of 24 hours
Furthermore, scientists confirmed that boiling water containing Covid-19 kills it immediately and completely...

Stationary battery storage was not the only technology detailed in National Grid ESO’s scenarios, however. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies – where energy is stored in the battery of an electric vehicle and then fed back into the grid – have the potential to play a not insignificant role in balancing the UK’s grid in the future according to the system operator.

In two of its scenarios – both of which require a high level of societal change - over a quarter of households make their vehicles available for V2G, although only 50% of those are assumed to be available at peak times.

Additionally, in all the net zero scenarios – of which there are three - the levels of V2G export in 2050 offsets the peak demands after smart charging, leading to a net negative effect on EV demand at peak times.

V2G also formed a key part of the 2019 scenarios, although the system operator acknowledged in this year’s document that there is a wide range of outcomes for V2G across the scenarios due to the “high level of uncertainty” of the technology.

Currently in the UK, V2G is being trialled in a number of projects, including a recently announced one by distribution network operator Western Power Distribution that will see five separate energy suppliers collaborate to explore the technology.

A gigafactory with a production capacity of 30GWh is also planned to be built to provide lithium-ion batteries predominantly to the automotive sector, although stationary storage is on its radar.

https://www.energy-storage.news/news/40gw-of-battery-storage-and-longer-durations-could-help-smash-uk-net-zero-t

More electricity storage and longer durations of storage will be needed for the UK to meet net zero targets, according to electricity system operator National Grid ESO's latest modelling.

Electricity storage deployment increased in all four of its decarbonisation scenarios, which were outlined in National Grid ESO's annual 'Future Energy Scenarios' document exploring pathways from now until 2050. The increases were cited as being down to ongoing drops in costs and increases in intermittent renewable generation, with 1.4GW of solar needing to be built every year to reach net zero.

The most ambitious of the scenarios - which is dubbed Leading the Way and reaches net zero by 2048, two years earlier than the UK's 2050 target set last year - sees the biggest spike in electricity storage capacity, with 40GW operational by 2050 compared to the lowest ambition scenarion - which doesn't meet net zero - at just over 20GW.

Whilst growth of storage over the last year has slowed, there is still “a strong pipeline of new projects” with 164MW of new storage capacity – the majority of which is battery storage – connected to the distribution network this year.

The system operator pointed to how electricity storage is often co-located with wind or solar generation, which then supports the business case with a range of revenue streams, including price arbitrage, the Balancing Market (BM) and providing services to the grid.

National Grid ESO's projections for solar have also increased as it expects there to be "significantly higher levels of solar generation" than it predicted in its 2019 Future Energy Scenarios (FES) as a net zero world - something not included in previous scenarios - leads to greater demand for renewables. “Significant” investment will need to be made in low carbon electricity generation, however, to meet net zero.

There will also be a need across the scenarios for large-scale technologies such as pumped hydro and compressed air, as well as a need for longer duration storage to help meet net zero.

Overall, the UK already has an 8.5GW pipeline of storage projects according to trade body Regen, although companies active in the UK such as London Stock Exchange-listed Gore Street Energy Storage Fund are also hopping over to Ireland to take advantage of the new DS3 flexibility scheme, which had 110MW available in its maiden round earlier this year.

Developers in the UK are also set to target larger capacities as barriers to deployment are removed. Perhaps most significantly, planning regulations were this month altered to allow storage projects above 50MW to receive planning permission from local authorities. Previously, these projects would have to go through the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime, a process often criticised for the time and cost it added onto developments.

https://thepoultrysite.com/news/2020/07/china-orders-regular-covid-19-tests-at-wholesale-markets

Reuters reports that China’s health authority made the announcement on 30 July.

China's National Health Commission (NHC) has urged local authorities to strengthen monitoring for the coronavirus at major wholesale markets that can cover extensive neighbouring areas, especially those with stands selling frozen and refrigerated meats and seafood, or with moist and closed spaces, according to a notice published on the commission's website.

The guideline comes after China's capital city Beijing reported in early June a cluster of coronavirus infections that centred around a major wholesale market.

Local working groups in charge of coronavirus control and prevention must collect samples from major wholesale markets, especially those selling meats and seafood, once every week for coronavirus tests. However, smaller wholesale markets can do testing once a month.

Areas and objects at the markets that should be tested for the coronavirus include knives used at major stands, workers' clothes surface, freezers, meats and seafood, sewage, restrooms, garbage trucks, and offices, according to the NHC notice.

China has already started COVID-19 testing on imported meats and seafood, and at domestic meat processors. It has also banned shipments from a list of meat processing plants overseas.

Coronavirus: Lockdown tightened in parts of northern England https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53602362

Coronavirus: Lockdown tightened in parts of northern England https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53602362

Busa hopes that the tariff determinations for the remaining years of Multi-Year Price Determination 4, including any outstanding regulatory clearing accounts and court remittances are dealt with efficiently, fairly and expeditiously to give some clarity on the price path for the coming years.

This is especially important in light of economic recovery efforts post-Covid-19. In parallel, Busa strongly advises policymakers and Nersa to review and amend pricing policy and the tariff determination methodology to ensure a framework that is fit for purpose considering a diverse and distributed energy mix in the future.

https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/busa-strongly-advises-nersa-to-review-its-pricing-policy-2020-07-30/rep_id:4136

Business Unity South Africa (Busa) says the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is in the unenviable position of trying to balance Eskom’s applications with consumer submissions, and needs to review and amend its pricing policy to be fit for purpose for the future energy mix.

This follows after the High Court earlier this week ruled in favour of the State-owned power utility in its legal battle with Nersa, allowing Eskom to implement further electricity tariff hikes.

The court declared Nersa’s decision to deduct a R69-billion equity injection into Eskom from its allowable revenue for the period 2019/20 to 2021/22 as illegal.

In response, environmental organisation Greenpeace Africa climate and energy campaign manager Happy Khambule says that while Eskom may celebrate this decision of the court, at the end of the day, South Africans still lose.

In 2013, South Africans were paying 66c/kWh; now they must prepare to pay 128c/kWh.

“This is set to continue. The average price is not the price we pay for electricity. The real price is at least 10% to 15% more than the average, depending on where one lives. To do this to South Africans in such a financially volatile time is morally reprehensible.

“The court's verdict makes it clear that Eskom is too big and is looking to be regulated, [while] the regulator has been punched drunk by Eskom, and heavy industry as a result has forgotten its role in the electricity supply industry,” Khambule notes.

Greenpeace Africa believes there is a clear opportunity for renewable energy to fill the gaps at a local and household level, to provide the security of supply needed and lessen the impact of rising tariffs.

“The South African government must do everything in its power to make this the reality, rather than forcing South Africans to suffer in the middle of Nersa and Eskom's power struggle,” Khambule states.

Busa says that tariffs have risen exponentially over the last decade and impacted on the ability of companies to operate profitably.

In some cases, electricity costs are more than 50% of input costs, which is "untenable and unsustainable".

Busa CEO Cas Coovadia states that this is driving companies to seek alternative energy supply, move operations offshore or simply close.

“This is bad for the economy and also perpetuates the so-called utility death spiral for Eskom. In this light, it is true that the methodology is not fit for purpose and Busa has long recommended its revision.

“Increasing prices and pervasive price uncertainty owing both to outdated methodologies and court processes like this also erode investor confidence making South Africa unattractive,” he explains.

Fingers crossed Libero.
The whole continent is on a renewables drive (long article).

https://www.esi-africa.com/industry-sectors/future-energy/golden-age-for-africas-national-and-regional-energy-transition/

Africa’s power sector is in the process of radical transition. New capacity from diverse sources is being added to meet forecasts of rising demand, while the falling cost of renewable power offers the chance of bringing electricity access to those without and reduce costly fuel imports...

https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2020/07/29/federal-government-awards-major-project-status-to-sun-cables-10-gw-solar-plan/

An ambitious plan to develop a 10 GW solar farm along with between 22-30 GWh of battery storage near Tennant Creek and export solar power harvested in the Australian desert to Singapore via a subsea cable has taken a big step forward. The Australian federal government has awarded Major Project Status to Sun Cable’s proposed Australian-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) recognizing the project’s potential to inject billions into the economy and create thousands of Australian jobs.

Singapore-based Sun Cable’s $22 billion venture, which is backed by two of Australia’s richest people, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, is aiming to export electricity via 3,800-km high voltage direct current submarine cable and cover 20% of Singapore’s power demand. Since announced, Australia’s largest renewable energy infrastructure project has progressed by leaps and bounds.

Sun Cable’s AAPL plan was unveiled in June last year and was soon awarded Major Project Status by the Northern Territory government. The developer confirmed its solar partner would be Sydney-based 5B, which plans to manufacture its pre-fabricated, re-deployable solar arrays in Darwin and Adelaide. The project quickly found definite interest with iSwitch, Singapore’s largest green energy retailer, which pledged its support as a foundation off-taker for the solar energy produced by the project.

Soon after, in an oversubscribed capital raising, a group of individual investors jointly pumped in less than $50 million allowing for development work on the undersea power link to start before an expected financial close in 2023. In May this year, Sun Cable awarded its cable route survey contract to Perth-based Guardian Geomatics and secured development approval for a 100 MW/200 MWh battery in Darwin as part of its broader plans to build the world’s largest solar and storage project. On top of that, the developer revealed that the project had been expanded to take in a link to Indonesia.

On Wednesday, the project has reached another milestone as it was officially recognized by the Commonwealth Government as strategically important for Australia. Major Project Status will put Sun Cable’s plans on the fast-track providing the developer with extra support from the Major Projects Facilitation Agency, including a single entry point for Commonwealth Government approvals, project support and coordination, and help with state and territory approvals.

“It is a significant milestone for the AAPL, which will see Australia become a world leader in renewable electricity trade, generating approximately $2 billion worth of exports for Australia annually,” Sun Cable CEO Davod Griffin said.

We have a service which no one else can offer. Slow and steady wins the race.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-how-it-works-cvd/

"Yet the introduction of phase three is somewhat unusual given Moderna hasn’t completed phase two of its trial, which began in late May. While phase one is an initial safety check among healthy individuals, phase two is meant to give the first indications that a vaccine can be used among patients sickened by the disease.

If phase three were to fail, it would vindicate those who have questioned the decision to expedite Moderna’s candidate as part of Operation Warp Speed. This federal project, led by the Department of Health and Human Services, has also already scheduled phase three trials with 30,000 subjects for the Oxford vaccine and a candidate being developed by Johnson and Johnson. Still, skeptics argue that fast-tracking Moderna’s candidate is a gamble in light of the up-and-down history of mRNA vaccines."

This.....

https://www.energy-storage.news/news/arizona-battery-fires-lessons-can-be-learned-by-industry-to-prevent-further

An April 2019 fire and subsequent explosion which caused injuries to firefighters and destruction of a grid-scale battery storage system in Arizona likely started with an internal cell defect that caused the "preventable" incident, analysis has found...

To this....

https://www.power-eng.com/2020/07/29/energy-storage-milestone-pge-tesla-begin-building-730mwh-battery-system/#gref

Utility-scale battery storage took a major jump forward this month as Pacific Gas & Electric and Tesla began construction on a 182.5-MW lithium ion system in Monterey County, California.

PG&E will own the facility at its substation in Moss Landing, but the design, construction and maintenance operations will be joint effort both by the San Francisco-based utility and the battery and EV manufacturing giant. Once completed, the partners say, Moss Landing will be the largest utility-owned, li-ion battery energy storage system in the world...

More on Voltstorage;

https://tech.eu/brief/voltstorage-funding/

German startup VoltStorage has raised €6 million to develop its solution for green energy storage. The funding round was co-led by Korys, Bayern Kapital and EIT InnoEnergy, with support from SOSV, Energie360°, Matthias Willenbacher and other business angels.

To make renewable energy more competitive and a global gamechanger, energy storage is a critical — and currently missing — link. VoltStorage cites that barely a third of the energy generated by solar panels in homes can be used, because there’s no suitable way to store what’s accumulated; the rest is sold back to the grid rather than staying on reserve. “By storing the energy for times when the sun is not shining, they can use up to 80 percent themselves,” explains Loïc de Schaetzen, an investment director at Korys.

Founded in Munich in 2016, the startup is developing storage solutions based on Vanadium Redox Battery (VRB) technology, which was also explored by NASA for its safety, longevity, recyclability and affordability. The team says it’s far superior to what’s on the market so far.

“For homes and commercial real estate, Li-Ion technology used by Tesla’s Powerwall and others can’t compete with the safety and environmental considerations of VoltStorage products,” says co-founder Jakob Bitner. The startup’s innovations also include an automated manufacturing and production process for Vanadium batteries, which are often assembled by hand.

Bitner went on to state plainly that the team’s motivation is to help combat climate change, and it seems they found investors who share that goal. Duncan Turner of SOSV says the investment is part of the firm’s “continued commitment to planetary health” as the startup is “solving a critical problem for the future of a sustainable energy infrastructure.”

The batteries are produced in Germany and currently available to homes throughout the DACH region. Future applications include commercial, agricultural and large-scale residential buildings.

Jes will need to do some testing;

Barclays: We want our people back in the office https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53579428

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/29/national-employment-savings-trust-uks-biggest-pension-fund-divests-from-fossil-fuels

The UK’s biggest pension fund, the government-backed National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) scheme with nine million members, is to begin divesting from fossil fuels in what climate campaigners have hailed as a landmark move for the industry.

The fund will ban investments in any companies involved in coal mining, oil from tar sands and arctic drilling. But the move puts Nest – a public corporation of the Department for Work and Pensions – potentially at odds with the current pensions minister, Guy Opperman, who earlier this month condemned divestment as “counter productive”.

Nest, which handles much of the pensions of workers saving under the government’s “auto enrolment” scheme, will shift £5.5bn into “climate aware” investments as it anticipates a green economic recovery from coronavirus.

The ban will mean that some of the world’s biggest mining companies, such as BHP, can never be part of Nest’s share holdings, as long they derive profits from digging coal. It said it will sell its final holdings in BHP by 3 August.

Nest will also seek to reduce its carbon-intensive holdings, such as with the traditional oil giants, while investing more money in renewable energy infrastructure...

That money is going to come in handy.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30100-2/fulltext

Since the emergence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has caused the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have rapidly expanded their viral surveillance systems. Wastewater sampling has been increasingly implemented, as substantial quantities of SARS-CoV-2 are shed in the stool of infected individuals.1 So far, wastewater sampling has retrospectively shown that virus is present in cities several months before large COVID-19 outbreaks,2 that there is a correlation between quantitative RT-PCR data and the reported incidence of cases,3 and that the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater is ubiquitous.4 There are numerous benefits of wastewater sampling, but the collection and interpretation of data is an emerging field. Within the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, wastewater sampling has successfully been used to detect polioviruses and inform eradication for several decades.5 This virological analysis and investigation of wastewater has been done by the Global Polio Laboratory Network and independent laboratories. Here, we highlight several challenges of wastewater sampling for SARS-CoV-2 and outline lessons that can be learnt from polio eradication...

In the field of large-capacity energy storage that provides important support for the development of renewable energy power generation, smart grids, and "Internet +" smart energy development, all vanadium redox flow batteries have broad development space and are a proper future star.