Peter Harrop
IDTechEx
Dr Peter Harrop BSc PhD FIEE is Chairman of analyst IDTechEx which does consultancy, publications and events on off-grid, energy harvesting, electric vehicles, energy storage and allied subjects. He was CEO of start up Mars Electronics which he took to $260M turnover then sale for $500M.
This presentation shares market research from the IDTechEx report, “Electricity Generation by Urban Infrastructure: Zero Emission 2018-2050”. Cities can make all their own electricity without emissions and this presentation looks at the roadmap to 2050 for achieving this. Emphasis is on the materials and structures involved.
Cities need more electricity for reasons such as introducing water recycling, desalination and electrified transport. Part of the solution will be making electricity from ground and window area, new forms of wind energy and, since the largest cities are mostly by the sea or a river, reinvented “blue energy”. We show how this can be on a national grid, using the grid merely as back up or fully off grid. There is now some trend to go fringe of grid or off grid for security, fewer outages and lower cost. For example, the Ukrainian grid was hacked denying 225,000 people electricity in freezing conditions just before Christmas. Las Vegas casinos built their own wind farms for lower cost, fewer outages. Tesla electric vehicle charging stations are going off grid for lower cost. Saudi Arabia has a 10MW solar car park powering a high rise building. There are 110 solar road projects. We discuss how Building Integrated Photovoltaics BIPV now embraces solar windows.
Electrically smart roads, paths and parking lots are being developed with piezoelectrics, electrodynamics and photovoltaics creating electricity used for integral inductive charging of moving vehicles, deicing, structural health monitoring, interactive lighting and integral signage. Many vehicles will progress beyond dynamic charging to being Energy Independent Electric Vehicles EIEV with 1kW+ extending solar bodywork three times as efficient (eg GaAs: Hanergy, Audi etc) and wind turbines that erect when they are stationary. We assess Aerial Wind Energy commercialising at 30-100kW in 2018, quiet H-VAWT and shaftless wind turbines, ones storing energy as water and many new forms of tide, wave and river power. Overall the major trends are identified as being off grid, integration, retrofitting, reducing or eliminating batteries and, yes, cities will be able to make all their electricity, zero emission, from their infrastructure.
