The Impact Of Misinformation On Wind Energy Development

By Felicity Bradstock - Mar 27, 2023

• Misconceptions and poor public opinion have hindered the development of wind energy projects. 
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• The article gives an example of a wind energy project in New South Wales and its opposition from some of the residents. 
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• Greater public engagement, community support, and re-education are vital for meeting renewable energy targets and achieving a clean energy transition.

As green energy projects are being rolled out worldwide, and political policies are catching up to climate targets, one thing that’s lagging behind is community support. Increasing renewable energy capacity to the level that’s needed to leave fossil fuels behind requires the backing of the public and a movement away from the not in my backyard point of view. In addition to the unwillingness to embrace renewables when it’s close to home, a flurry of misinformation has hindered many projects in recent years, demonstrating the need to re-educate and encourage greater support for green in practice as well as theory. 

In New South Wales, Australia, there are plans to cluster major wind and solar projects across five Renewable Energy Zones (Rez), established by the NSW government, to enhance storage and transmission potential. The town of Welcha sits in the New England Rez, which has major wind potential. But poor public opinion continues to stand in the way of the development of major new renewables projects in the region, as the government and private firms push to boost the region’s clean energy capacity to support a green transition. 

Danish renewable energy major Vestas is the biggest stakeholder in the planned Winterbourne windfarm, which was initially announced in 2004 with construction expected to finally begin in 2024. It is expected to have a capacity of 700 MW when complete, with an investment of over $1 billion. To achieve this level of wind power, the farm will have up to 119 turbines with a maximum height of 230 metres. Related: German Grid Operators Unveil €128 Billion Plan For Green Energy Shift

Despite the project offering huge potential for a movement away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives in the region, many locals are not so keen on the development. Some residents worry about the appearance of the turbines, while others are concerned about their impact on tourism and the threat to biodiversity in the area. To counter these concerns, project developers are providing a $1 million community development fund for the town’s 3,000 residents. A further $750,000 will be made available annually once the project is up and running, as well as an additional $1,000 for every megawatt generated over 600 MW. Vestas also anticipates the creation of up to 400 jobs in the building phase and 16 long-term maintenance jobs, bringing vital employment opportunities to the region. 

But Welcha isn’t the only place where residents are concerned about new wind projects. This is a sentiment that’s being felt down the whole of the Australian east coast, following the launch of several green energy projects. And outside of Australia, it’s a concern that has been heard across Europe and North America for decades. The not in my backyard (nimby) point of view has been repeated time and time again, first with the explosion of fossil fuel projects and now in the development of renewable energy capacity across the rural landscape. 

When it comes to wind turbines, the level of misinformation that has spread in recent years is significant. And while some of the tales may have been true in the technology’s nascent phase, recent innovations have improved the turbines immensely, leaving less cause for concern. Some of the worries, that have been disseminated via social media, include the noise pollution caused by the turbines, as well as completely false discourses such as the negative health effects of low-frequency infrasound, as well as suggestions that wind energy does not reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and photos of wind turbines breaking, burning, and falling. This has led residents near proposed wind farms worldwide to lobby against the developments. As state governments and local councils contend with the concerns of the local communities, trying to dispel the misinformation, many wind projects are being delayed or cancelled altogether. 

In the Netherlands, proposed wind farms in an estimated one-fifth of Dutch municipalities have been negatively affected due to a lack of local support, with dozens being cancelled or delayed. Meanwhile, the percentage of Swedes in favour of greater investment in wind energy fell from 74 percent in 2009 to 65 percent in 2019. And in Germany, several wind project operators are battling against protestors in court for their developments to go ahead. 

To change the negative opinion of wind farms, many local councils and project developers are now engaging in discussions with communities and calling for active citizen participation. This can help to address some of the concerns, dispel misinformation, and communicate the benefits of the project. In addition, greater information from the government about how new renewable projects could help to lower energy prices and boost energy security could bolster public approval. But the failure to rapidly address public concerns and offer comprehensive education on wind energy and other renewables projects could lead to the further spread of misinformation and the persistence of the nimby viewpoint.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

EU Members Clash Over Nuclear Energy’s Role In Climate Policy

By Michael Kern - Mar 27, 2023

• The EU is in the process of expanding its renewable energy targets to reduce CO2 emissions.
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• Countries are divided over whether nuclear energy should be considered a part of renewable energy targets.
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• France leads the campaign to recognize nuclear energy as a CO2-free contributor, while Germany, Portugal, and others oppose it.

The European Union needs to work on a divide among its member countries regarding the role of nuclear energy in achieving their renewable energy goals. This disagreement may delay the progress of one of the EU's primary climate policies.

On Wednesday, negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament will engage in their final round of discussions to establish more ambitious EU objectives to expand renewable energy throughout the next decade. These goals are crucial for Europe's commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 2030 and to become independent of Russian fossil fuels. However, the negotiations have become bogged down by a dispute over whether fossil fuels produced using nuclear power should be considered part of the renewable energy targets.

France is spearheading a push to classify "low-carbon hydrogen" – hydrogen produced from nuclear energy – as equal to hydrogen created from renewable electricity. France is joined by countries such as Romania, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, all of which seek greater acknowledgment of nuclear energy's CO2-free contribution to climate objectives.

On the other hand, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, and Luxembourg oppose this view, arguing that including nuclear power in renewable energy targets would divert attention from the urgent need to expand solar and wind energy across Europe significantly.

On Monday, EU ambassadors met again in an attempt to resolve the ongoing dispute. During a meeting of EU countries' ambassadors last Friday, nations reaffirmed their established positions, according to EU officials. This has led to doubts surrounding the success of the negotiations in finalizing the law.

In addition to the nuclear energy debate, countries disagree on other aspects of the law, such as the types of wood fuel that can be considered renewable energy sources.

France, one of the world's leading nuclear-powered nations, is interested in whether nuclear energy is recognized under renewable energy targets. The country plans to construct new reactors and modernize its extensive fleet of nuclear facilities.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French energy minister, will host a meeting of pro-nuclear countries' ministers on Tuesday to discuss the issue further, according to a source from the French ministry.

France has also expressed disappointment with other recent EU decisions prioritizing renewable technologies over nuclear power. 

Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that "cutting-edge nuclear" projects would only receive access to specific EU incentives designed to support green industries. In contrast, "strategic" technologies, such as solar panels, would be granted full benefits.

As the EU strives to achieve its climate goals, the disagreement over the role of nuclear energy in renewable energy targets could significantly delay progress on one of the bloc's central climate policies. The outcome of the final round of negotiations on Wednesday and the subsequent discussions among pro-nuclear countries' ministers may determine the future direction of the EU's renewable energy strategy.

 Everything You Need To Know About The Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute

By Matthew Smith - Mar 27, 2023

• The Guyana-Venezuela border dispute has been ongoing for over a century.
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• The discovery of major oil reserves in offshore Guyana has made the conflict more complex and volatile.
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• Despite attempts by international bodies to resolve the dispute, including the ICJ, tensions continue to escalate with Venezuela's recent saber-rattling.

ExxonMobil’s swathe of world-class oil discoveries in offshore Guyana, estimated to contain over 11 billion barrels of oil, has captured the world’s attention. This includes considerable scrutiny from Nicolas Maduro the autocratic president of neighboring socialist Venezuela. A longstanding and bitter territorial dispute has embroiled the two South American countries, with Caracas claiming nearly 62,000 square miles or roughly three-quarters of Guyana’s territory, including territorial waters containing the Stabroek Block. Guyana refutes the more than century-old claim, which has become a powder keg waiting to explode, and most of the international community agrees. The dispute has flared with such intensity there are genuine fears Maduro’s saber-rattling will escalate. As Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates, dictatorial illiberal rulers do not respect international law and will use force to resolve disputes.

The bitterly contested region, known as the Essequibo, encompasses all of Guyana’s land east of the Essequibo River or nearly three-quarters of the former British colony’s sovereign territory, which before independence in 1966 was known as British Guiana. Spain had originally assumed control of large parts of the Essequibo as part of the colony of the Vice Royalty of New Granada, but the constant distraction of battling independence movements in Latin America prevented Madrid from cementing its claim. To define the boundaries of British Guiana London, in 1835, commissioned German-born explorer Robert Herman Schomburgk to map the western part of the colony and demark a border with Venezuela. The boundary selected by Schomburgk sparked the now more than a century-long territorial dispute between Venezuela, which had emerged as a sovereign state in 1831 and elected to exercise its colonial legacy after gold was discovered in the Essequibo. 

After considerable pressure from the U.S., the border between Venezuela and the colony of British Guiana, which became Guyana after independence in 1966, was settled in 1899 by the Washington Treaty of Arbitration. The agreement granted Venezuela control of the land surrounding the mouth of the Orinoco River, while Britain was given all land west of the Essequibo River. Caracas was extremely dissatisfied with the treaty and, after decades of simmering tensions, in 1962, declared the Treaty of Arbitration null and void.

Since then, the dispute has ebbed and flowed, with numerous attempts by international bodies to resolve the long-standing altercation. In 1966, the United Nations attempted to find a solution with the parties signing the Geneva Protocols, which stipulated that Venezuela, the United Kingdom and Guyana will find a peaceful and satisfactory solution to the dispute. This saw the creation of the Good Offices Process by the U.N. to mediate Venezuela’s territorial claim. After nearly three decades of Guyana and Venezuela being unable to reach an agreement, the matter was referred to the International Criminal Court of Justice, or ICJ, in 2018. The court has accepted the case but made little headway with Maduro, who ironically is facing an ICJ probe for crimes against humanity and refuses to recognize the court’s jurisdiction. By November 2022, the ICJ concluded its preliminary hearing on the objections raised by Venezuela, where Caracas argued that Guyana’s case should be dismissed. 

After smoldering for decades, Caracas’ territorial claim on Guyana flared in intensity after Exxon’s swathe of more than 30 world-class oil discoveries in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek Block. A significant portion of that block lies in the territorial waters of the region disputed by Venezuela. Exxon’s discoveries have found over 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources and catapulted Guyana on the path to becoming a leading regional oil producer and exporter. By the end of January 2023, Guyana was pumping 393,000 barrels of oil per day, all of which was coming from the Exxon operating Stabroek Block. That has transformed the former British colony into the sixth largest petroleum producer in Latin America and the Caribbean, with output forecast to exceed one million barrels daily by 2027, which will make Guyana the third largest oil producer in the region.

The Stabroek Block oil discoveries have transformed Guyana from an economic backwater into a major global petroleum producer and launched the impoverished South American country into the economic stratosphere. Guyana now possesses one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, with IMF data showing 2022 GDP expanded by a stunning 57.8% and is expected to grow by another 25% during 2023. Georgetown’s oil revenues are surging in value. Information from the Bank of Guyana, the country’s central bank, shows the former British colony earned $1.4 billion from royalties and oil sales in 2022, which was more than double the $608 million received in 2021. It is anticipated by Guyana’s government and industry analysts that oil revenue will exceed $1.6 billion during 2023 and climb to over $7.5 billion by the end of the decade. 

As a result, it is easy to understand Maduro’s interest in Essequibo at a time when Venezuela’s economic crisis has finally bottomed, and Caracas is desperate to rebuild a shattered oil industry and pump more petroleum. The intensity of the saber-rattling by Venezuela’s autocratic leader is rising, with the dispute a handy distraction for Venezuela’s people from the country’s economic and humanitarian crisis. After experiencing a post-pandemic surge in production, PDVSA appears incapable of lifting output any higher. The OPEC member’s production has plummeted from a peak of over three million barrels per day during 1998, before Hugo Chavez became president, to 700,000 barrels per day for February 2023. The catastrophic collapse of Venezuela’s oil industry, the petrostates' economic backbone, has devastated the economy and triggered a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe described as the worst to ever occur outside of war. 

PDVSA is incapable of significantly lifting production volumes or achieving the ambitious production targets set by Maduro and his oil minister Tareck El Aissami without a massive capital investment estimated to be at least $110 billion. That will only occur once Washington substantially eases sanctions, which is highly unlikely for the foreseeable future. By annexing the Essequibo, Caracas will gain access to the region’s considerable mineral wealth, including the substantial oil resources contained in the offshore Stabroek Block. Over the last decade, there have been frequent incidents of Venezuelan naval vessels harassing shipping in Guyana’s territorial waters in the disputed zone, including drilling vessels contracted by Exxon. In 2021 two fishing vessels from Guyana were detained for weeks by Venezuela’s navy. 

Since 2015 Maduro has regularly vowed to reconquer the commodity-rich Essequibo. Caracas frequently deploys ground forces to the border with Guyana and conducts military exercises in the region. In early 2018, Brazil’s military revealed it had discovered plans for Venezuela’s invasion of Guyana, which would see Caracas use force to annex the Essequibo. Brazil’s then-President Michel Temer pledged to defend Guyana if Venezuela invaded, but it is difficult to see if Brasilia could deploy sufficient forces in a timely manner to repel Venezuela’s attack. 

If Venezuela launched a military assault to annex the Essequibo, there is very little that Guyana could do to repel such an event. Venezuela’s military apparatus outnumbers the Guyana Defense Force by at least a whopping 100 to 1 in personnel while Caracas possesses modern fighters and naval craft to which Guyana has no viable response. Maduro’s close ties with the Kremlin means Venezuela has received extensive military aid from Russia, including modern weapons systems, such as small arms, tanks and fighter bomber aircraft, and training by Russian advisers. While Russia promised in 2022 that military aid to Venezuela will not be used against Colombia, no such assurances have been made regarding Guyana. The overarching consensus is that without U.S. intervention, a Venezuelan invasion of the Essequibo will be successful. 

The risks of the border dispute boiling over and exploding into conflict are very real. Heightened tensions between Caracas and Washington over sanctions and U.S. Department of Justice indictments against Maduro, as well as members of his government, increase the risk of conflict erupting. Maduro also uses the dispute as a means of distracting Venezuelans from the suffering they are enduring because of his policies, with the dispute one of the only points on which he and Venezuela’s opposition agree. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, despite the international outcry, has emboldened authoritarian illiberal rulers like Maduro to see the application of force as a viable tool to achieve their goals.  

Scientists Hack Early Stage Of Photosynthesis In Breakthrough For Biofuel

By Alex Kimani - Mar 27, 2023

• Algae biofuels have been abandoned due to the difficulty in making them economically competitive with crude oil.
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• Scientists have discovered a new process in photosynthesis that can extract electrons earlier than previously known, offering new possibilities in self-generating, self-repairing catalysts for renewable energy.
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• Using super-fast spectroscopic techniques, researchers were able to study photosynthesis at an ultrafast timescale, capturing images a million billion times faster than a typical smartphone.

Last month, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) pulled the plug on its 14-year-long algae biofuels project, becoming the last oil company to abandon what was once considered the fuel of the future.The whole idea was not without merit, though. Algae do have some clear advantages over other biofuel candidates, mainly because these photosynthetic microorganisms are super-efficient at converting sunlight into biomass; have high lipid content of up to 80% for some varieties and are more versatile than, say, corn, a common biofuel crop. 

Unfortunately, Exxon and its Big Oil cohorts discovered that it's too tough to make the economics of algae biofuels competitive with those of much cheaper crude, with algae-based bioproducts firm Cellana estimating that crude would have to hit ~$500/bbl for algae biofuels to compete successfully.

But a new discovery by scientists might offer companies like Exxon and renewable energy players a new lifeline. Scientists have “hacked” an early stage of photosynthesis and discovered new ways to extract energy from the process, a finding that could help in generating clean fuels and renewable energy.

Hacking Photosynthesis      

An international team of biologists, chemists and physicists, led by the University of Cambridge, has succeeded in studying photosynthesis at a molecular level and an ultrafast timescale: a millionth of a millionth of a second.

Although the process by which plants convert sunlight and water into energy has been known to man for centuries, the photophysics of the process, including the atomic and molecular changes that occur when a plant absorbs sunlight, is not well understood. A big challenge to fully understanding photosynthesis is that the process is way too fast for many traditional monitoring systems to track. To overcome this barrier, the Cambridge team developed a technique using super-fast spectroscopic techniques using laser pulses aimed at live cell samples to observe swift cellular changes.

According to study author Tomi Baikie, these lasers take “photos” of photosynthetic cells at a rate “...a million billion times faster than your iPhone. The (quantum) electronics of the plant world are pretty spectacular. We didn’t quite expect it to work--but it worked really, really well. This means we have a new tool to understand cells.” 

A key discovery by the team is that the electrons crucial to photosynthesis are extracted from cells much earlier than previously thought. Zhang and her colleagues were trying to understand how ring-shaped molecules called quinones are able to 'steal' electrons from the photosynthesis process. Quinones can accept and give away electrons easily. The scientists used ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy to study how the quinones behave in photosynthetic cyanobacteria in real time.While there have been many attempts to “steal” electrons from photosynthesis in a timely fashion, “achieving this would open up many exciting possibilities where photosynthetic cells and their components can serve as self-generating, self-repairing catalysts that cannot be replicated by artificial systems,” study author Jenny Zhang told Earther in an email. The complication so far has been that researchers have not been able to ‘see’ where the electronics are being stolen from within the cells, Zhang added.  

If that sounds a bit byzantine and wonky, the big takeaway here is that this discovery is a potential game-changer with a range of future applications, from biofuels to developing more efficient crops, which could improve the competitiveness of future biofuels. Further, scientists have been studying how photosynthesis can be used to address the climate crisis, by mimicking the photosynthetic processes to generate clean fuels from just sunlight and water, for example. 

“All it takes is a few fundamental breakthroughs to completely change the field. Such breakthroughs require time, but also investment in fundamental science and interdisciplinary research. This work is a beautiful demonstration of this, we have changed the goal posts of which this technology can be,” Zhang said. 

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

The Only Oil Major Betting Big On Alaska

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Mar 27, 2023

• While other oil majors leave Alaska, ConocoPhillips is betting on a new major oil project.
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• Conoco CEO Ryan Lance expects U.S. crude oil production to plateau this decade.
• ConocoPhillips is Alaska’s largest crude oil producer and the largest owner of exploration leases, with around 1.6 million net undeveloped acres at year-end 2021.

While other oil majors have left Alaska due to high capital costs and regulatory hurdles, one U.S. oil firm is pushing ahead with oil development in the state, betting on a new project that could pump crude for decades.

ConocoPhillips has just seen the Biden Administration approve the Willow oil project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), allowing three out of five proposed drill sites. Even the scaled-down project will be profitable and will work, the company and analysts say.

One of the reasons why ConocoPhillips is betting on Alaska while others are leaving is that ConocoPhillips’ chief executive, Ryan Lance, has worked in the state for over a decade and knows the energy and political landscape there, The Wall Street Journal notes.

Lance, who began his career in Alaska and has worked there for 14 years, believes that Alaska can still yield a lot of oil, for a long period of time, as the world will need oil and gas for the foreseeable future.

At the same time, Lance expects U.S. crude oil production to plateau this decade.

“The plateau is on the horizon,” he said at CERAWeek earlier this month, as carried by the Financial Times.

“The world is going back to what we had in the ‘70s and the ‘80s unless we do something to change that trajectory,” Lance said, referring to the time when OPEC had a tight grip over the global oil market.

According to the executive, OPEC’s market share will jump from around 30% now to close to 50% in the future, in which additional supply comes from OPEC and U.S. shale growth plateaus. 

ConocoPhillips bets on its newest plan in Alaska to boost production by 180,000 barrels per day (bpd). This could nearly double the company’s output in Alaska— ConocoPhillips’ current production there is just below 200,000 bpd.   

ConocoPhillips is Alaska’s largest crude oil producer and the largest owner of exploration leases, with around 1.6 million net undeveloped acres at year-end 2021.

With other majors leaving, ConocoPhillips could further strengthen its position in the state. BP, for example, sold its upstream business in Alaska to Hilcorp for $5.6 billion three years ago.   

ConocoPhillips has yet to progress the Willow project to a final investment decision. Willow is set to deliver between $8 billion to $17 billion in new revenue for the federal government, the state of Alaska, and North Slope Borough communities, the company says.

But environmentalists – who slammed the Biden Administration for “carbon-bombing” its environmental progress and legacy by approving Willow – have already started filing lawsuits to stop the project.

Raena Garcia, Fossil Fuels and Lands Campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said that “President Biden’s approval of the Willow project is a colossal and reprehensible stain on his environmental legacy.”  

In the days following Willow’s approval, two separate lawsuits by environmental groups were filed. Alaska Wilderness League was among six groups that filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow project, seeking a preliminary injunction in the case. Another group of campaigners also filed a lawsuit to stop the project, saying, “We can only hope that the court sees this for what it is: another unlawful, faulty, and disastrous decision that must be stopped.”

Meanwhile, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says that even with a three-well pad development instead of the five-pad project ConocoPhillips had sought, Willow would be economically viable.

“With Willow joining other projects like Pikka, new pads at Milne Point, Narwhal, Nuna and Coyote, we see production returning to 700,000 b/d by 2030, levels last seen in 2008,” said Mark Oberstoetter, head of Americas (non-L48) upstream for Wood Mackenzie.

Last year, Alaska’s field production of crude oil averaged 437,000 bpd, according to EIA data. Alaska saw a record production of over 2 million bpd in the late 1980s.  

“Without production from Willow and these other new projects, the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (“TAPS”) would eventually run into low flow issues, jeopardising all production coming from the North Slope,” WoodMac’s Oberstoetter added.

In addition, Wood Mackenzie projections suggest Willow’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity would be lower than other Alaska projects, and lower than many of the current sources of U.S. oil imports.   

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com