Battery Costs Down 50% in Two Years; Abu Dhabi Sees Record Low Solar Price; Chinese Company Eyeing 200 MW of Solar to Green Hydrogen; Hydrogen Applied in Steel Rolling

1) BNEF reported battery system LCOEs have declined 50% in past two years, to $150/MWh for 4-hour duration projects. Implies peakers can now be batteries. Battery projects increasing in duration and size: 2015 saw 1.5 hrs of avg duration vs 2.2 hrs in 2020 projects; proj's grew in size from 3 MW to avg 21 MW.

2) Solar's getting cheaper. Abu Dhabi Power saw new record low tariff for solar project, w/winner at $13.50/MWh, (1.35 cents/kWh) beating last yr's record in Portugal of 1.64 cents.

3) As solar gets cheaper, green hydrogen becomes just a little bit more feasible. China's Baofeng Energy Group broke ground on the world's largest solar-powered hydrogen pilot plant, slated to use a 200-Megawatt solar power plant and electrolyzers. Project will cost $198 million and yield 160 million standard cubic meters of H2/annum.

3) A Swedish steel company announced it had replaced LNG as the source of high temperature heat at a steel rolling mill. Using H2 had no effect on the quality of steel. So, one step closer to green H2 in industry. Stay healthy.

1) New York State is pushing its next wind solicitation of 2,500 WM, w/a 9,000-megawatt offshore goal. However, this new solicitation will be delayed at the request of NYSERDA, owing to COVID-19.

2) Coal is getting destroyed by the coronavirus, and analyst Wood Mackenzie indicates coal demand down between 35% and 40% from 2019. Overall electric demand has dropped 5% - 10%, and most expensive resource is always the first baby kicked out of the bed. In this case, it's coal.

3) Solar cell efficiencies have shot higher, w/3 new records set in April. Two at NREL and one in Germany. A NRELs 6-junction solar cell, w/intensified light hit 47.1% efficiency, & in normal lighting conditions, hit 39.2%. 3rd record in Germany, w/perovskite pegging out at 24.16%.

4) NextEra keeps rolling, adhering to 2020 delivery schedules w/o slippage, and adding 1,600 MW of new projects in Q1. Included are 460 MW of batteries. NEE will invest over $1 billion in battery projects in 2021 - would be sufficient to power Rhode Island for a full four hours. So, lucky if you're in Rhode Island... ;-)