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By ForexTime 

Article by ForexTime

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By Daniel Cohan, Rice University 

After nearly two decades of stagnation, U.S. electricity demand is surging, driven by growing numbers of electric cars, data centers and air conditioners in a warming climate. But traditional power plants that generate electricity from coal, natural gas or nuclear energy are retiring faster than new ones are being built in this country. Most new supply is coming from wind and solar farms, whose output varies with the weather.

That’s left power companies seeking new ways to balance supply and demand. One option they’re turning to is virtual power plants.

These aren’t massive facilities generating electricity at a single site. Rather, they are aggregations of electricity producers, consumers and storers – collectively known as distributed energy resources – that grid managers can call on as needed.

Some of these sources, such as batteries, may deliver stored electric power. Others may be big electricity consumers, such as factories, whose owners have agreed to cut back their power use when demand is high, freeing up energy for other customers. Virtual power sources typically are quicker to site and build, and can be cleaner and cheaper to operate, than new power plants.

A growing resource

Virtual power plants aren’t new. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that there are already 30 to 60 gigawatts of them in operation today. A gigawatt is 1 billion watts – roughly the output of 2.5 million solar photovoltaic panels or one large nuclear reactor.

Most of these virtual power plants are industrial customers that have agreed to reduce demand when conditions are tight. But as growing numbers of homes and small businesses add rooftop solar panels, batteries and electric cars, these energy customers can become not only consumers but also suppliers of power to the grid.

For example, homeowners can charge up their batteries with rooftop solar when it’s sunny, and discharge power back to the grid in the evening when demand is high and prices sometimes spike.

As smart thermostats and water heaters, rooftop solar panels and batteries enable more customers to participate in them, DOE estimates that virtual power plants could triple in scale by 2030. That could cover roughly half of the new capacity that the U.S. will need to cover growing demand and replace retiring older power plants. This growth would help to limit the cost of building new wind and solar farms and gas plants.

And because virtual power plants are located where electricity is consumed, they’ll ease the burden on aging transmission systems that have struggled to add new lines.

New roles for power customers

Virtual power plants scramble the roles of electricity producers and consumers. Traditional power plants generate electricity at central locations and transmit it along power lines to consumers. For the grid to function, supply and demand must be precisely balanced at all times.

Customer demand is typically assumed to be a given that fluctuates with the weather but follows a fairly predictable pattern over the course of a day. To satisfy it, grid operators dispatch a mix of baseload sources that operate continuously, such as coal and nuclear plants, and more flexible sources such as gas and hydropower that can modulate their output quickly as needed.

Output from wind and solar farms rises and falls during the day, so other sources must operate more flexibly to keep supply and demand balanced. Still, the basic idea is that massive facilities produce power for millions of passive consumers.

Virtual power plants upend this model by embracing the fact that consumers can control their electricity demand. Industrial consumers have long found ways to flex their operations, limiting demand when power supplies are tight in return for incentives or discounted rates.

Now, thermostats and water heaters that communicate with the grid can let households modulate their demand too. For example, smart electric water heaters can heat water mostly when power is abundant and cheap, and limit demand when power is scarce.

In Vermont, Green Mountain Power is offering its customers incentives to install batteries that will provide power back to the grid when it’s needed most. In Texas, where I live, deadly blackouts in 2021 highlighted the importance of bolstering our isolated power grid. Now, utilities here are using Tesla Powerwalls to help turn homes into virtual power sources. South Australia aims to connect 50,000 homes with solar and batteries to build that country’s largest virtual power plant.

Virtual power, real challenges

Virtual power plants aren’t a panacea. Many customers are reluctant to give up even temporary control of their thermostats, or have a delay when charging their electric car. Some consumers are also concerned about the security and privacy of smart meters. It remains to be seen how many customers will sign up for these emerging programs and how effectively their operators will modulate supply and demand.

There also are challenges at the business end. It’s a lot harder to manage millions of consumers than dozens of power plants. Virtual power plant operators can overcome that challenge by rewarding customers for allowing them to flex their supply and demand in a coordinated fashion.

As electricity demand rises to meet the needs of growing economies and replace fossil fuel-burning cars and furnaces, and reliance on renewable resources increases, grid managers will need all the flexibility they can get to balance the variable output of wind and solar generation. Virtual power plants could help reshape electric power into an industry that’s more nimble, efficient and responsive to changing conditions and customers’ needs.

About the Author:

Daniel Cohan, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Source: Streetwise Reports  (10/24/23)

When we last reported on Three Sixty Solar Ltd., the upstart Canadian solar firm had just signed a letter of intent for its second tower installation. The company has now announced a third sale, its first in the US market.

Three Sixty Solar (VSOL:NEO;VSOLF:OTC) is a Canadian company specializing in vertically-oriented solar equipment supply. The company’s premier product line is the (patent-pending) SVS series commercial solar tower concept.

This high-density, clean energy solution is built on its own free-standing tower, meaning it can be built adjacent to structures requiring power, thereby minimizing line loss and maximizing energy delivery in cluttered environments where traditional renewable solutions are difficult to install.

In deploying Three Sixty Solar solutions as multi-tower installations, developers can capitalize on the spaces between towers to better leverage land assets for other revenue-generating activities. Each tower offers a reliable, clean energy solution with minimal environmental and habitat impact, maximizing power capture while at the same time minimizing utility structure footprint.

The company’s subsidiaries include Three Sixty Solar Operations Ltd, Victory Exploration Inc., and Liberty One Utah Inc.

The Catalyst: Third Tower Sale, First in the US

On October 19, Three Sixty Solar Ltd. announced that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) with Rocky Mountain Log and Timber (“RMLT”). RMLT authorized the purchase of an SVS series solar tower for installation at its facility in Hamilton, MT. RMLT is a builder of premium log homes and produces its own lumber.

RMLT expects the electricity generated by the tower to offset power requirements in its milling operations. As per the LOI, the parties are undertaking an energy optimization study, intending to reach a binding purchase order by November 30, 2023.

In addition to acting as a secondary power source to drive operations, the new tower will include technology from Hook’d Broadband to provide site-wide broadband connectivity.

A recent Stratistics MRC report points out that the global solar farm sector accounted for US$76 billion in 2020 and is forecasted to reach US$296 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.5%.

Brian Roth, Three Sixty Solar’s CEO, says he is “thrilled to have signed the letter of intent to secure our first commercial sale in the United States with Rocky Mountain. Rocky Mountain is focused on providing premium homes, often in remote locations.

I believe that our solar tower technology is an ideal solution to partner with many of the communities that they help build, and I’m excited for the opportunity to demonstrate the technology at their headquarters.”

Jake Hayes, owner of Rocky Mountain Log and Timber, explains that his company was “looking for ways to add renewable energy to power our operations and to offer to our customers.”

“I believe that the solar tower technology that Three Sixty has developed is a perfect fit for us to generate localized independent power,” he says. “I’m also excited to include the Hook’d Broadband technology and be able to provide a connectivity solution to our clients on future projects. We are looking forward to working with Three Sixty and becoming an advocate for the solar tower solution.”

For his part, Three Sixty Solar CEO Roth says, “I look forward to working with Jake and his team to deploy the tower in Hamilton and to then offer it cooperatively to their customers throughout the northwest.”

Why This Sector? Taking the Green Energy Revolution Skyward

Three Sixty Solar’s Tower-based solutions offer a relatively new twist on legacy solar technology, one that makes solar power a more appealing solution in far more potential use cases.

For example, when Three Sixty Solar signed its first LOI with Cattail Crossing Golf and Winter Club in Sturgeon County, Alberta, club owner Mark Beck said the club had been looking for ways to add renewable energy to the operation but couldn’t find solar cells arrayed in a suitable configuration.

“The solar towers offered by Three Sixty are such a unique approach that we can easily make it fit and generate power for our irrigation systems, cart charging, and more,” Beck said. “We are looking forward to working with Three Sixty and becoming an advocate for the solar tower solution to our friends in the golf community.”

“We, therefore, stay long, and Three Sixty is rated an Immediate Strong Buy as soon after the open as possible,” Technical Analyst Clive Maund said.

“[Cattail Crossing has] substantial power needs and don’t want to give up their land because, obviously, that takes up space they need for the course,” explained Three Sixty Solar’s CEO Roth at the time, adding that countries have been “throwing record amounts of money at these types of technologies and trying to green our electricity grid. There’s just a huge opportunity to clean up our electricity production while . . . being very cost competitive with the older technologies.”

Indeed, a recent Stratistics MRC report points out that the global solar farm sector accounted for US$76 billion in 2020 and is forecasted to reach US$296 billion by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.5%.

Canada is targeting net zero emissions by 2050 and has launched a CA$964 million program, while the United States Inflation Reduction Act commits US$370 billion to fund green energy. The European Union has an energy target of at least 32% from solar by 2030, while the European Green New Deal envisions a climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Why This Company? Legacy Solar Eats Footprint

Solar power offers many advantages but generally does so at a significant cost in terms of space. Solar capture generally requires considerable space, and in many tight real estate markets, space is at a considerable premium.

Most industrial facilities don’t have enough additional land nearby to host a legacy solar array large enough to provide all power needs. Some compromise by positioning solar cells on their roofs, but these solutions can be expensive to maintain, unsafe for workers, and even cause considerable fire hazards.

Roth explains that “Three Sixty Solar’s unique tower concept is a high density, clean energy solution that uses up to 90% less land space than conventional solar farms.”

This unique setup allows for proximity to legacy infrastructure, “minimizing line loss and maximizing energy delivery in places where renewables have been difficult to install until now.”

In addition to reducing the land space requirement for installation, the company’s vertical farms keep solar infrastructure off of commercial, residential, and industrial roofs.

It’s a foregone conclusion among many analysts that solar power will continue to grow as a major portion of the emerging green economy. Three Sixty Solar’s solutions are designed to make the real-world impact of this accelerating transition as soft-touch as possible.

Why Now? Three LOIs In the Bag, First US Client

With their first three projects well begun, it seems that Three Sixty Solar — Formerly Liberty One Lithium Corp., with an IPO date of 11-Aug-1994 — is finally off to the races.

On July 24, when the first LOI was announced, Technical Analyst Clive Maund opined that “Three Sixty Solar is an interesting solar company because it makes unique vertical array solar towers which have tremendous space-saving and aesthetic advantages in solar power generation. For this reason, the company and its stock are considered to have a lot of growth potential.”

Maund says that he “started looking at it in April, and after we bought it at that time, it had a sharp rally that was followed by a nasty steep drop into mid–late May when we bought it again, and so after the strong rally of recent weeks we are up on our last purchase but still slightly down on the first purchase.”

“It is thus interesting to see this morning’s news that the company is making its first sale of one of its vertical towers. Now, you may yawn at this and say, ‘So what? – big deal, they sold a tower to a golf course.’ But the point is there are a lot of golf courses and various other venues and places across the U.S. and across the world that have the need for this space-saving technology, and if they catch on to it, sales could be huge, so it really could be a big deal after all.”

“We, therefore, stay long, and Three Sixty is rated an Immediate Strong Buy as soon after the open as possible.”

Ownership and Share Structure

According to the company, about 21% of Three Sixty Solar is held by management and insiders. CEO Roth owns 3.43%, founder and Director Peter Sherba owns about 30%, and Director Scott McLeod owns about 0.21%, Reuters reports.

About 28% is held by strategic investors, and the rest, about 51%, is retail.

Three Sixty Solar’s market cap is CA$9 million, with about 43.5 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.14 and CA$1.29.

Important Disclosures:

1. Three Sixty Solar has a consulting relationship with an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, and pays a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Three Sixty Solar.
3. Owen Ferguson wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor.
4. The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports’ terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

For additional disclosures, please click here.

By ForexTime 

Article by ForexTime

ForexTime Ltd (FXTM) is an award winning international online forex broker regulated by CySEC 185/12 www.forextime.com

By Lily Hsueh, Arizona State University 

Many of the world’s largest public and private companies will soon be required to track and report almost all of their greenhouse gas emissions if they do business in California – including emissions from their supply chains, business travel, employees’ commutes and the way customers use their products.

That means oil and gas companies like Chevron will likely have to account for emissions from vehicles that use their gasoline, and Apple will have to account for materials that go into iPhones.

It’s a huge leap from current federal and state reporting requirements, which require reporting of only certain emissions from companies’ direct operations. And it will have global ramifications.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two new rules into law on Oct. 7, 2023. Under the new Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, U.S. companies with annual revenues of US$1 billion or more will have to report both their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2026 and 2027. The California Chamber of Commerce opposed the regulation, arguing it would increase companies’ costs. But more than a dozen major corporations endorsed the rule, including Microsoft, Apple, Salesforce and Patagonia.

The second law, the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act, requires companies generating $500 million or more to report their financial risks related to climate change and their plans for risk mitigation.

As a professor of economics and public policy, I study corporate environmental behavior and public policy, including whether disclosure laws like these work to reduce emissions. I believe California’s new rules represent a significant step toward mainstreaming corporate climate disclosures and potentially meaningful corporate climate actions.

Many big corporations are already reporting

Most of the companies covered by California’s climate disclosure rules are multinational corporations. They include technology companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft; giant retailers like Walmart and Costco; and oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Many of these large corporations have been preparing for mandatory disclosure rules for several years.

Close to two-thirds of the companies listed in the S&P 500 index voluntarily report to CDP, formerly called the Carbon Disclosure Project. CDP is a nonprofit that surveys companies on behalf of institutional investors about their carbon management and plans to reduce carbon emissions.

Many of them also face reporting requirements elsewhere, including in the European Union, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore and cities like Hong Kong.

Moreover, some of the same U.S. companies, notably banks and asset managers that operate or sell products in Europe, have already started to comply with the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. Those regulations require companies to report how sustainability risks are integrated into investment decision-making.

While California isn’t the first place to mandate climate disclosures, it is the fifth-largest economy in the world. So, the state’s new laws are poised to have substantial influence worldwide. Subsidiaries of companies that didn’t have to report their emissions before will now be subject to disclosure requirements. California is in effect exercising its immense market leverage to establish climate disclosures as standard practice in the U.S. and beyond.

California also has a history of being a test bed for future federal U.S. policies. The U.S. government is considering broader emissions reporting requirements. But California’s new rules go further than either the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed corporate climate disclosure rules or President Joe Biden’s proposed disclosure rules for federal contractors.

The most controversial part of the new disclosure rules involves scope 3 emissions. These are emissions from a company’s suppliers and its consumers’ use of its products, and they are notoriously difficult to track accurately.

California’s new emissions reporting law directs the California Air Resources Board, which will develop the regulations and administer them, to allow some leeway in scope 3 reporting as long as the reports are made with a reasonable basis and disclosed in good faith. It’s also important to note that at this point the disclosure laws don’t require companies to cut these emissions, only to report them. But tracking scope 3 emissions does highlight where companies could pressure suppliers to make changes.

What can disclosures achieve?

The plethora of climate disclosure mandates globally suggest that policymakers and investors around the world perceive climate disclosures as driving actions that protect the environment. The big question is: Do disclosure rules actually work to reduce emissions?

My research shows that voluntary carbon disclosure systems like CDP’s that focus on reporting corporate sustainability outputs, such as having science-based emissions targets, tend not to be as effective as those that focus on outcomes, such as a company’s actual carbon emissions.

For example, a company could earn an A or B grade from CDP and still increase its entitywide carbon emissions, notably when it does not face regulatory pressure.

In contrast, a recent study of the U.K.’s 2013 disclosure mandate for U.K.-incorporated listed firms found that companies reduced their operational emissions by about 8% relative to a control group, with no significant changes to their profitability. When companies report their emissions, they can gain important knowledge about inefficiencies in their operations and supply chains that weren’t evident before.

Ultimately, a well-designed disclosure program, whether voluntary or mandatory, needs to focus on consistency, comparability and accountability. Those traits allow companies to demonstrate that their climate pledges and actions are real and not just a front for greenwashing.

About the Author:

Lily Hsueh, Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Arizona State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Source: Streetwise Reports  (10/6/23)

As demand for electric cars grows, Europe tries to boost lithium production and reduce reliance on China. But is it too late to catch up? Read to see what three public companies are doing to bridge the gap.

In September 2023, IberAmerican Lithium revealed it had acquired full ownership of its lithium projects located in the Galicia region of Spain. By acquiring the remaining stake in these concessions, IberAmerican Lithium has complete authority over operations and stands to reap all financial benefits from future production. This complete control provides IberAmerican Lithium with the flexibility to advance the deposits toward lithium production independently.

IberAmerican aims to delineate an initial resource of 10 million tonnes grading 1-1.1% lithium oxide through planned exploration drilling in late 2023 and 2024. Success by IberAmerican Lithium could help provide the domestic lithium supplies that European automakers desperately need. Ramping up production at deposits like IberAmerican’s Alberta project will be key for Europe achieving greater self-sufficiency in EV battery metals and reducing reliance on imports from China.

As for the company itself, the company had a starting market of CA$27,375,122, with 109,500,488 shares outstanding, 9,450,000 options, and 18,225,244 warrants expiring September 1, 2026.

About 36% of the company is held by insiders, including CEO Becher, Director and Chairman Eugene McBurney, and Director Miguel del Campa.

About 25% of the company is in institutions, including Delbrook Resource Opportunities Master Fund LP (Grandy Cayman Islands), Jayvee & Co., CI Resource Opportunities Class, and Delbrook Resources Opportunities Fund (Vancouver).

The rest is retail.

The company is currently trading, at the time of writing, at a market cap of ~CA$22 million, with about 110 million shares outstanding.

Conclusion

While China may have a head start, companies like IberAmerican Lithium show Europe still has a fighting chance at establishing its own EV battery supply chain. With major lithium deposits and processing plants now under development, Europe is making strides towards greater self-sufficiency. IberAmerican Lithium’s Alberta II project could be a game-changer, providing a major new source of domestic lithium in Spain’s Galicia region.

If IberAmerican can successfully ramp up production, it would mark a huge step forward in Europe’s pursuit of lithium independence. Other firms are also racing to unlock European lithium resources.

Though it may take a while to get new mines operational, the rapid progress demonstrates Europe’s commitment to securing its EV future. With continued investment and policy support, companies like IberAmerican Lithium can help Europe catch up and become a world leader in the booming electric mobility revolution.

Important Disclosures:

1. IberAmerican Lithium Corp. has a consulting relationship with an affiliate of Streetwise Reports, and pays a monthly consulting fee between US$8,000 and US$20,000.
2. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of IberAmerican Lithium Corp. and Global Battery Metals Ltd.
3. The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports’ terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

For additional disclosures, please click here.