News | Headlines
ZNPP stabilised – but attacks in the area continue
Ukraine War zone update The drilling of ten groundwater wells at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been completed, bringing the plant close to a longer-term solution for the provision of cooling water to the shutdown reactors after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June, International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi announced on 22 September in the agency’s Update 184.
Over 200 cubic metres of water per hour can now be supplied to the sprinkler ponds that cool the ZNPP’s reactors and spent fuel storage, representing most of the cooling needs of the six shutdown reactors.. The IAEA has been informed by the military authority controlling the site that it intends to drill an additional well, bringing the total to 11 wells which is hoped to provide the approximately 250 cubic metres of water per hour to maintain the cooling of the reactors and spent fuel pools in their current shutdown state. The ZNPP cooling pond remains intact, containing a large volume of water that can
also provide cooling to the sites’s shutdown reactors for many months.
“Following the loss of the Kakhovka reservoir, actions have been taken to stabilise the site’s water resources, which are currently sufficient for several months of its cooling requirements in the current conditions,” director general Grossi said on 15 September. “However, the challenges the site has been facing in this regard are further adding to the generally precarious nuclear safety and security situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, especially as our experts are reporting about further indications of increased military activities in the region”.
IAEA experts on the ground have continued to hear numerous explosions some distance away from the ZNPP, which is located near the frontline. They were also informed by the ZNPP about further drone attacks, on 11 September, in the nearby city of Enerhodar where many staff live with their families, causing minor damage to two buildings. The ZNPP informed the IAEA that there were no casualties reported at that time.
Record small-scale solar additions USA Solar energy
The Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States added 6.4 GW of small-scale solar capacity in 2022, the most ever in a single year.
The term small-scale solar – also known as distributed solar or rooftop solar – refers to solar-power systems with 1 MW of capacity or less. Rooftop solar panels installed on homes make up the major proportion of small-scale solar capacity in the USA. They are also used in the commercial and industrial sectors. Small-scale capacity grew from 7.3 GW in 2014, which is when the EIA started publishing these estimates, to 39.5 GW in 2022. These installations make up about one-third of the total solar capacity in the United States. Tax credits and incentives, public policy, and higher retail electricity prices have encouraged the growth of small-scale solar capacity over the past decade. Falling solar panel costs have also played a significant part.
California has, by far, the largest share of the country’s small-scale solar capacity, at 36%. Ample sunshine, favourable incentives, and relatively high electricity prices have encouraged rooftop solar adoption in the state, where the Net Energy Metering Programme allows rooftop solar panels to be connected to the power grid and provides credits for any surplus electricity produced by
the installation and sent to the grid. Since 2020, California has required new-build single-family homes and multi-family buildings up to three stories high to have solar panels installed.
New York and New Jersey – mid-Atlantic states with less year-round sunshine – have the second- and third-most small-scale solar capacity, respectively, although in recent years, Texas and Arizona have been closing the gap. Long-standing state policies in New York and New Jersey offer generous solar incentives and have encouraged small-scale solar growth.
Many of the states with the most small-scale solar capacity also have large populations. Accounting for population size provides insight into how prevalent small-scale solar capacity really is in a state. Although California has the most small-scale solar capacity, Hawaii has the highest small-scale solar penetration, at 541 W per capita.
A large share of Hawaii’s electricity has historically come from oil-fired power plants. These plants rely on fuel imports, resulting in high electricity bills. As solar panel costs have fallen, many homes and businesses in Hawaii have added solar panels, reducing their electricity bills and helping the state work toward its target to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045.
8 | September 2023 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
IAEA experts have continued to conduct walkdowns of specific areas at the site and meet with staff there. They have not observed the presence of any new mines or explosives but confirmed the continued presence of mines in the buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers. The IAEA continues to request access to the rooftops of reactor units 1, 2, 5 and 6, and to all six turbine halls, one after the other.
The IAEA’s experts have also visited the isolation gate at the large cooling pond, confirmed its integrity, and observed the reinforcements that had been made to the sides of the Kakhovka reservoir following the dam’s collapse in early June. The IAEA team also went to the main control room of unit 4, the reactor hall of unit 3, the turbine hall of unit 2 and a liquid waste treatment facility.
The six reactor units remain in shutdown, with units 1 to 5 in cold shutdown and unit 6 in hot shutdown to generate steam for various nuclear safety functions.
Germany could incur the costs of missing EU emissions targets
Germany Emissions control The German coalition government’s Climate Action Programme 2023 ‘is insufficient to meet 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets - and overestimates its total potential to lower emissions’, according to the country’s Council of Experts on Climate Change, reports online agency Clean Energy Wire. The government advisors warned in late August that Germany was set to miss crucial EU targets in the coming years, which means that it would have to pay for emissions allocations from other member states.
The climate council criticised the government for supplying inconsistent data, and called on policymakers to address new fields of emissions reduction, such as abolishing climate-damaging subsidies. They add that Germany still lacks ‘a cohesive, internally coherent, and consistent plan’ for climate action. A separate report published on the same day by the environment agency laid out details for future emissions projections, and said Germany is off-track for reaching climate neutrality by 2045.
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