ScottishPower has launched a “paid to learn” scholarship with its parent company Iberdrola to attract new recruits into the energy sector.

The programme will see the company pay a year’s tuition, accommodation and travel expenses for graduates and final-year students whilst they study at one of 20 top universities across the UK, Europe and beyond.

Applicants can choose from Universities of Cambridge, Strathclyde or the Imperial College of London, in the UK; the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas or the Polytechnic Universities of Madrid, Valencia and the Basque Country, in Spain; among others.
ScottishPower is recruiting over 1000 people this year across all levels of skills and experience and this scholarship is just one of many ways the company is helping promote the employability of young people in a sector that will generate thousands of jobs in the coming years.

The application process has now opened and its encouraging students with an interest in engineering, renewable energy, information technology, cybersecurity, sustainability and big data to apply.

ScottishPower’s parent company Iberdrola has supported nearly 1000 young people across the world to further their professional careers with master’s and postgraduate studies and carrying out research at renowned international centres of education.

Once they have completed their studies, students will carry out internships at the company and be supported to apply for permanent roles within the Iberdrola Group which has businesses across the UK, Europe, the US, Brazil, Australia and Mexico.

The scheme is open until 31 March.

Source: renews

Representatives of 17 Canadian companies and senior officials from the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi will be attending the conference and trade show.

Canada’s Minister (Commercial), Jennifer Daubeny, will be inaugurating the Canada Pavilion on February 18. The Trade Commissioner Service team will provide assistance and facilitate discussions between Indian businesses interested in partnering with Canadian companies.

The event will provide an opportunity for Indian companies to interact with and explore synergies with Canadian companies looking to do business in India.

High Commissioner for Canada to India, Cameron MacKay, said: “The visit of the Canadian delegation to the Elecrama Trade Show is an excellent opportunity for Canadian and Indian companies working in the power sector to explore ways of doing business together.

“Canada is a world leader in renewable energy and clean technology. Canadian companies are eager to explore the Indian market and Indian companies can benefit from advanced technologies developed by them as we together build a greener planet.”

The delegation encompasses Canadian companies which have an established presence in India as well as many new companies that are exploring the Indian market for the first time.

Source: PTI

New research published by RenewableUK’s (RUK) EnergyPulse data analysts shows that the UK’s pipeline of offshore wind projects at all stages of development now stands at almost 100GW.

In total it found 99.8GW across 130 projects – an increase of 14GW over the past 12 months.

This includes 13.7GW of fully operational capacity and a further 13.6GW under construction or with support secured for a route to market.
The global pipeline now stands at 1174GW across 1417 projects in 38 countries – an increase of 508GW over the past 12 months.

The UK’s pipeline is 8.5% of the global total – the first time that it has fallen below 10%, as new markets have emerged in Australasia and South America.

In terms of global operational capacity, which is now 60GW, China is in the lead with 47% (28.3GW), while the UK retains its position as the 2nd largest with 23% (13.7GW), RUK found.

90% of the new offshore wind capacity which went operational in 2022 was in two markets: China (3.8GW) and the UK (3.2GW).

China and the UK are expected to retain first and second place until at least 2030, according to the analysis.

RenewableUK’s chief executive Dan McGrail said: “It’s great to see the UK retaining a powerful position in offshore wind, second only to China.

“However, as our latest report shows, new markets are emerging fast in places like Australia and Brazil, so we can’t take our current status as a world leader for granted.

“The US and EU are offering massive financial incentives for developers to build renewable energy projects – while in the UK we’re being taxed more heavily than oil and gas companies.

“Unless we take bold action to attract billions in private investment, we risk being left behind in the years ahead – the money will simply go elsewhere and we’ll lose out on tens of thousands of jobs.”

Source: renews

BRUSSELS : The European Commission published rules on Monday that could allow some hydrogen produced in nuclear-based energy systems to count towards EU renewable energy goals, signalling a win for pro-nuclear France.

Hydrogen is central to Europe’s plans to decarbonise heavy industry, and the rules aim to incentivise investors and industries to shift from hydrogen produced from fossil fuels, to hydrogen produced instead from renewable electricity.

The question of what the European Union will count as “renewable” has fuelled a dispute in recent months between France and countries such as Germany who say nuclear-based fuels should not be included.

After a months-long delay amid lobbying from capitals, Brussels has now set out three types of hydrogen that will count towards the renewable targets.

These include hydrogen from production facilities directly connected to a new renewable electricity generator, and those that take grid power if the local electricity zone had more than an average 90% share of renewable power in the last year.

Facilities can also take grid power in regions that meet a low CO2 emissions limit – potentially based on nuclear – so long as the producer also signs a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with a renewable electricity provider in their region.

Requiring producers to either directly use newly installed renewable power or sign a PPA to support new local renewable energy projects is aimed at stopping hydrogen producers sucking up existing renewable electricity capacity, which could risk driving up fossil fuel generation to meet overall energy demand.

EU countries and lawmakers have two months to object to the rules, or they will enter into force.

The row between countries over nuclear-based hydrogen has already delayed negotiations on the EU’s new renewable energy targets, which are due to resume on Tuesday.

Source: Reuters

Anderson, who has been with BP for over 16 years, will be replaced by Noelia Álvarez Marivela, who joined BP from EDP Renewables in August 2022, BP said in a statement to Reuters.

Dotzenrath herself joined BP in March last year after heading RWE Renewables in what BP CEO Bernard Looney hailed at the time as a sign of how the energy company was attracting executives experienced in renewables to help BP shift away from oil and gas.

She has overseen large staff growth and changes in her division, bringing in several high-profile hires such as Matthias Bausenwein who joined from Danish wind power firm Orsted (ORSTED.CO) to lead BP’s offshore wind division.

Anderson was in charge of BP’s onshore wind operations as well as its interests in solar developer Lightsource bp in which it holds a 50% stake.

Marivela will report directly to Dotzenrath and will oversee all new onshore renewables development, construction and operations activities.

BP’s large U.S. onshore wind business will also report to Marivela starting July 1.

BP over the past year has recruited several hundred people for its offshore wind and hydrogen businesses, two areas in which it aims to expand by 2030.

Looney on Tuesday made a major shift in BP’s strategy by rowing back on plans to sharply reduce oil and gas production by the end of the decade.

The company nevertheless also plans to increase spending on renewables by $1 billion annually.

Anderson also oversaw BP’s investment in Brazilian biofuel producer Bunge Bioenergia, which will now move to Nigel Dunn, senior vice president for biofuels growth, part of the customers & product division, BP said.

Source: Reuters

The transport sector accounts for about 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, the biggest contributor in the bloc. Heavy vehicles like trucks and buses account for about a quarter of those transport emissions.

A fully electric 40-tonne tractor-trailer emits 63 per cent lower emissions compared to diesel trucks over 1.3 million km travelled, according to new research Tuesday from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) think tank.

This calculation accounts for the emissions associated with the extraction of raw materials, construction and maintenance of the vehicle using the EU’s average electricity grid mix.

“The problem is not the factory but the road,” said Nikita Pavlenko, ICCT’s fuels team lead.

“The high greenhouse gas intensity of driving a truck during its whole life offsets the (greenhouse gas) emissions generated during manufacturing or the production of the fuel, or the energy it consumes.”

The research found that emissions will fall even more as the EU’s electricity grid further decarbonises, enabling an 84-per cent reduction of emissions when using only renewable sources of power.

It also found that trucks and buses using natural gas provide marginal emissions reductions, just four to 18 per cent lower than their diesel counterparts.

Methane, which leaks from vehicles using natural gas and throughout the production and supply of the gas, is a significant driver of those emissions.

While more electric buses and light vehicles are on the road throughout the EU, diesel still powered 99 per cent of trucks sold in Europe in 2021.

Source: AFP

Luxemburg technical construction and engineering company Socom and Belgium solar company Evocells had previously announced to be merged into Solarcells, and will be establishing a solar module factory in Hollerich, Luxemburg. Solarcells plans to double its factory capacity to 100MW by 2026.

Marc Thein, President of Socom, commented that building a new factory is the easier option for the purpose of lowering the reliance on imported solar modules. However, Thein did not reveal any technical details, and only commented on the pricier level of Luxemburg-made solar panels that will cost EU€15-18 (approx. NT$590) more than those made in Asia.

In terms of raw materials, Evocells will first consider materials locally produced in Europe, and will be dedicated to simplifying supply chain management. Thien pointed out that the new factory will require an initial fund of EU€5 million, and would create about 20 job opportunities.

Claude Turmes, Minister for Energy of Luxemburg, commented that solar power is categorized as a clean energy, and helps to attain targets in renewable energy development, where the extrication from dependency of fossil fuels from Russia can also be achieved thanks to local production. Turmes further commented that Socom’s locally manufactured solar panels can elevate energy independence and accelerate energy transformation.

Solar power is the fastest growing energy in the EU by having added 18GW in EU’s solar market during 2020. 5.2% of the EU’s energy market is comprised of solar power, which had dropped 82% in cost over the past decade, and has thus become the most competitive power source among many regions. However, most solar power in the EU comes from imports, and that is why the EU had initiated the European Solar Photovoltaic Industry Alliance on December 9th 2022.

They believe that an improvement in solar productivity is the key in accomplishing the EU’s REPowerEU target, which pertains to adding 320GW of solar power in 2025, before arriving at nearly 600GW by 2030.

Source: energytrend

The country aims to generate 80% of its annual electricity usage from renewable sources by 2026, up from around 60% in 2022, which was already one of the highest ratios in Europe.

European nations are increasingly betting on renewable energies, especially after gas prices hit record highs in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which was Europe’s top gas supplier.

In a statement, REN said that in January of this year “weather conditions were favorable for renewables, which had high levels of productivity”.

Heavy rains boosted hydro production, which supplied 51% of total consumption in January, while wind made up 28% and solar 4%.

As a result, the production of electricity through gas power plants fell 64% in the same month.

Portugal has 8.8 GW of hydroelectric capacity, 13.3 GW of onshore wind and 3.1 GW of solar, which together represent 87% of its total installed capacity.

REN said total electricity consumption rose 4.1% in January, compared to the same month last year, to 4,833 Gigawatt hours (GWh), 88% of which was supplied by renewables.

In January 2022, renewables supplied only 52% of total electricity consumption.

Source: PTI

• 100 MW to be commissioned in 2024, another 100 MW in 2025

• To meet deadline, order placed despite pending IPCEI funding decision

With almost two years left until the target date, GET H2, one of the most advanced hydrogen projects in Germany, is picking up the pace. RWE has ordered two 100-megawatt proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers from Linde Engineering, the world’s leading industrial gas plant engineering company.

RWE plans to commission the first of the two plants in 2024 on the site of its gas-fired power plant in Lingen. The second plant is scheduled to start operating one year later. The two electrolysers are part of RWE’s efforts to build a total of 300 MW of electrolyser capacity in Lingen by 2026 as part of GET H2. Using electricity from renewable sources, the electrolysers will produce green hydrogen for industrial customers.

As production of electrolyser stack modules of this size takes several months, they must be ordered well in advance. GET H2 is one of RWE’s four hydrogen projects that have been shortlisted for funding for ”Important Projects of Common European Interest“ (IPCEI) since May 2021. Approval by the EU Commission under state aid law (notification) is pending for funding by the German government and the state of Lower Saxony.

Nevertheless, RWE has now placed the order to ensure that the commissioning dates in 2024 and 2025 are still achievable in the event of approval under state aid law. These deadlines would be impossible to meet if there were further delay.

This does not yet imply a final investment decision. It is therefore all the more important for RWE to receive the notification soon.

The aim of the GET H2 joint initiative with national and European partners is to create the necessary critical mass to build a supra-regional hydrogen infrastructure and develop a hydrogen market in Europe.

As part of its “Growing Green” strategy, RWE has announced its intention to build at least 2 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity for the production of green hydrogen by 2030. RWE is involved in more than 30 projects worldwide at all stages of the hydrogen value chain. The company is one of the world’s leading producers of electricity from renewable sources. In addition, the company specialises in the production and storage of green hydrogen. RWE’s energy trading business can provide hydrogen to industrial customers on demand.

Source: rwe

The German arm of the Dutch transmission group will play a key role in achieving the target, linking the majority of new wind farms to onshore high-voltage transmission grids

Germany boosted its offshore wind power capacity by 357 megawatts (MW) to 7,036 MW last year, inching towards a planned 30,000 MW by 2030, power grid operator TenneT said on Monday.

The German arm of the Dutch transmission group will play a key role in achieving the target, linking the majority of new wind farms to onshore high-voltage transmission grids, with a commitment to provide six 2,000 MW links by 2031.

TenneT last year launched large-scale tenders for the six connections.

Berlin’s goal is to generate 80% of electricity from the wind and the sun by 2030, a target that is more pressing after the drop in Russian fossil fuel exports to Germany last year.

Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) earlier this month published new site allocations while additional offshore grid connections will be reflected in the first draft of a network development plan stretching to 2045 that is due to be published in March, TenneT said.

Overall, German power production from North Sea wind farms increased by 4% to 21.1 terawatt hours (TWh) last year, enough to supply 6.5 million households with green power, it said.

Baltic Sea turbines provided 3.6 TWh and onshore wind power generated 100.5 TWh, for a total wind supply of more than 125 TWh, TenneT’s figures, which reflect subsidised power feed-in volumes, showed.

Germany is in talks to buy either a majority stake or all of TenneT, allowing it to work with its Dutch parent on the wider energy transition.

This would entail creating offshore networks encompassing a number countries which border the North Sea, and seeking ways to store some power delivered by offshore wind in the form of hydrogen, which could be generated by electrolysis plants.

German power grid companies refinance their investments with income from regulated network tariffs.

Source: Reuters

The EU is due to unveil its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) on March 8 to secure the bloc’s supply of critical raw materials, including lithium, cobalt, manganese and rare earths needed for electric vehicles (EVs)

LONDON : The European steel and wind industries on Thursday urged the European Union to use upcoming legislation to ensure there is enough access to critical materials for green energy, including those that are not already targeted such as glass fibre.

The EU is due to unveil its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) on March 8 to secure the bloc’s supply of critical raw materials, including lithium, cobalt, manganese and rare earths needed for electric vehicles (EVs).

“The CRMA must break Europe’s dependency on a handful of exporting countries,” said a joint statement from industry groups WindEurope and Eurofer.

Europe is dependent on China for rare earths and core materials for making glass fibre, which along with scrap metal, the two groups say should be included in the critical minerals category of materials needed for green transition.

Rare earths are used for permanent magnets in EVs and wind turbines while glass fibre is used for wind turbine blades.

“The act must cover all the key materials needed in industries delivering the green transition. That means secondary materials such as glass fibre as well as raw materials such as rare earths,” said WindEurope Chief Executive Giles Dickson.

The two sectors are interdependent – steel is used for building wind turbine towers while wind energy will be a key driver to help the steel sector cut its carbon footprint.

Scrap steel has been overlooked as critical to Europe, the groups said.

“Despite its critical importance for a successful decarbonisation of the steel sector and its value chain, scrap is the most exported waste stream from the EU to third countries,” the statement said.

European Commissioner Thierry Breton this week urged European financiers to provide more funding to suppliers of the minerals.

Plans by the European Commission to create new European Union funding for the green industry are facing mounting opposition. Seven EU countries openly rejected the idea in a letter addressed to the European Commission vice president responsible for trade, Valdis Dombrovskis. The document was signed by the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Ireland, Estonia and Slovakia.

Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, while not signatories to the letter, also oppose any new joint EU borrowing, further expanding the list of countries likely to vote against such plans when EU leaders meet to discuss them on February 9-10.

All 10 countries say the EU should be using funds already approved instead of seeking more money.

The European Commission, responsible for fair competition in the 27-nation EU, believes new funds are needed to even out the abilities of poorer and richer countries to help their green industries against competition from China and the United States.

EU officials are especially worried that the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which offers USD 369 billion in subsidies to firms producing electric vehicles, batteries, wind turbines or hydrogen in the U.S., will lure away EU firms.

The fight to keep Europe attractive for the green industry is made even more difficult by energy prices, which are much higher in the EU than in the U.S., and by the often long EU permitting processes for green investment.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week the EU would prepare a law to make life easier for its green industry and back it up with state aid and a European Sovereignty Fund, as well as a more immediate funding “bridging solution”, to keep businesses from moving to the United States.

Opposition to new fund

In the letter opposing the special fund, the seven countries said the EU should first spend the money it had already agreed to raise through the EUR 800 billion post-pandemic recovery and resilience fund (RRF) of grants and cheap loans.

“We have to ensure that the economy can better absorb the already agreed EU funding. So far, only around EUR 100 billion of the total of EUR 390 billion of the RRF grants have been used,” the seven countries wrote.

They added that there is still an unused loan capacity available in the RRF.

Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium share that view, pointing to unused loans from the recovery fund that governments have not claimed because they preferred grants.

The letter said that instead of looking for new money, the EU should cut red tape for investments and make progress on its Capital Markets Union, a project that has been dragging on since 2014 and which is expected to boost the use of private capital across the EU.

COPENHAGEN : Vestas on Friday warned of a slower year ahead after the wind turbine maker posted disappointing 2022 sales hurt by project delays and impairments.

The company said slow permitting processes in Europe and dampened U.S. activity before the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act kicks in will mean fewer wind turbine installations this year.

“In 2023, we expect high inflation levels throughout the supply chain and reduced wind power installations to impact revenue and profitability negatively,” it said in a statement.

Despite rising demand for renewable energy, the wind power industry has come under pressure from soaring metals prices and heightened competition, while being unable to pass higher costs on to customers who placed their orders two or three years ago.

To mitigate the impact of higher inflation and pressure on profit margins, turbine makers last year raised prices.

“It is difficult to convince customers that they should pay more,” said Nordnet analyst Per Hansen. “You would expect the green transition to speed up as a result of soaring demand and efforts to become independent of Russian gas. But these things take time.”

Vestas’ 2022 revenue stood at 14.49 billion euros ($15.75 billion), according to preliminary results, slightly below the range it had projected.

It expects revenue this year of between 14.0 billion and 15.5 billion euros, with a margin on earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) before special items between minus 2% and plus 3%. Its EBIT margin stood at minus 8% last year.

Vestas shares were down more than 5% at opening, but were trading 0.7% higher at 0922 GMT. The shares are down about 40% after peaking in January 2021.

“It could have been much worse,” said Hansen, referring to the share movement. “It indicates that investors still have hope.”

Vestas is due to present full financial results on Feb. 8.

PORTUGAL expects to launch its first offshore wind power auction by the last quarter of this year, aiming to reach 10 GW of installed capacity by 2030, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said .

As a pre-condition to the auction, the government will this week launch a public hearing regarding proposals for the delimitation of areas to allow the deployment of wind farms off the country’s Atlantic coast, he said during a state visit to Cape Verde.

“Portugal’s goal is to reach 10 GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030 … By the last quarter of this year, we will launch our first offshore wind energy auction,” Costa added.

Portugal has 7.3 GW of hydroelectric capacity and 5.6 GW of onshore wind, which together represent 83 per cent of its total installed capacity.

The energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is forcing countries to bet more on renewable energy generation, such as wind and solar.

Floating wind technology, seen as the final frontier in the offshore wind industry, has gained traction in countries such as Britain, France and parts of South-east Asia.

Portugal has a small, 25 MW floating wind project off its Atlantic coast.

The country aims to have 80 per cent of its electricity usage coming from renewable sources by 2026, up from around 60 per cent now, which is already one of the highest ratios in Europe.

Source: Reuters

CBI head Tony Danker will in a speech call on UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt to make “big decisions” on green investment to “get growth going”

Britain is falling behind global competitors in green investment growth, the CBI business lobby will warn Monday, urging action to soften the blow of recession.

CBI head Tony Danker will in a speech call on UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt to make “big decisions” on green investment to “get growth going”.

“Our international competitors in Europe, Asia and the United States are going hell for leather on green growth and getting firms investing,” Danker will say in the London speech, extracts of which were released to media.

“We are behind them now and seem to be hoping for the best.”

Danker will add: “It’s time for us to take those hard decisions, generating the forward momentum not only to limit recession this year but also get us really growing next.”

According to the business chief, Britain lag “Germans on heat-pumps, insulation and building retrofits, the French on electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and the US on operational carbon capture and storage projects.

“We’re lagging all three on hydrogen funding,” he will add.

Britain is on course to lose an estimated £4.3 billion ($5.3 billion) in European green technology growth value by 2030, according to the CBI.

Danker will call on the government to relax planning and regulation to help stimulate demand for greener technologies.

He will urge it to replace a tax break on capital investment that will otherwise expire at the start of April.

And he will seek clarity over what will replace European Union laws, which were retained following Brexit, but will expire at the end of this year.

The government has long promised to make Britain carbon net zero by 2050.

Source: zawya

LONDON : Oil major BP plans to build a vast carbon capture project beneath the North Sea that would be crucial to Britain hitting its emissions targets. Power giant Orsted aims to build a huge offshore windfarm to help the country meet renewable goals.

The problem is, the seabed’s double-booked, and something has to give.

Britain granted preliminary licences for both proposed projects more than a decade ago, when an overlap of about 110 sq km on the sea floor wasn’t seen as posing an insurmountable obstacle to either technology, according to planning documents reviewed by Reuters, the companies involved and UK authorities.

Now, though, a dispute is unfolding between BP and Orsted over primacy in this “Overlap Zone” shared by the Hornsea Four windfarm and Endurance carbon capture and storage (CCS) sites off the English county of Yorkshire.

The standoff has been fuelled by studies that highlighted the risk of boats used to monitor carbon leaks colliding with wind turbines fixed to the sea floor. Last year the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates offshore energy activity, concluded that large crossovers between such ventures were unfeasible with current technology.

“At the time these rights were granted, it was unclear how the emergent technologies would develop,” England’s Crown Estate licensing agency told Reuters, referring to the windfarm and CCS licences the government awarded in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

BP is unwilling to switch to a costlier boat-free monitoring system and Orsted to cede territory, with both saying such concessions would hit their commercial prospects.

This largely unreported clash risks undermining Britain’s drive to meet its climate goals, according to the companies involved and a North Sea green transition expert. Endurance’s capacity alone could account for at least half of the 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 the nation aims to capture a year by 2030.

“Resolution of the conflict between the renewable technologies, and having a due process that determines whether a windfarm, carbon store or other source of energy has primacy in an area of overlap, is crucial if the UK is going to achieve its net-zero targets,” said John Underhill, geoscientist and director for Aberdeen University’s Centre of Energy Transition.

The BP-Orsted showdown could also presage similar disputes elsewhere in an increasingly crowded North Sea, the experts told Reuters.

Britain’s eastern seaboard, which boasts the favourable geological formations for carbon storage and the shallow waters for fixed-bottom offshore windfarms, is shaping up to be a key battleground for the competing green technologies in coming years, they said.

“Offshore wind has obviously come forward quite quickly since 2015, this has resulted in an increased pressure for sea floor space,” said Chris Gent, policy manager at the European carbon capture trade association CCSA, adding that this presented a real challenge for licensing authorities.

Britain’s BP and Danish renewables company Orsted say they are committed to finding a solution to their dispute, which is coming to a head in the coming months; British authorities are due to decide whether to give Hornsea Four the final go-ahead on Feb. 22, while BP and its partners plan to make a final investment decision on Endurance this year.

It’s not just climate targets that are at stake, there’s also a lot of money riding on the projects, which would together cover about 500 sq km of the seabed. BP didn’t give a cost estimate for Endurance, while Orsted pegged its windfarm at up to 8 billion pounds ($9.9 billion).

BATTLE FOR THE OVERLAP ZONE

The British government acknowledged the problem.

When asked about how two such projects can end up in the same area, the Department for Business, Energy and Industry told Reuters the government had set ambitious targets for deploying offshore CCS and windfarms, which were both key to its efforts to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

“We are aware that in some cases there may be technical challenges to the coexistence,” it added.

In an effort to resolve conflicts and avoid future ones, UK authorities set up an offshore wind and CCS forum of regulators and industry figures in 2021 to develop better coordination.

BP, Orsted and Crown Estate told Reuters they had been discussing solutions to coexistence for several years, though they didn’t comment on how their views had evolved over the past decade on the overlap risks associated with the technologies.

An Orsted planning document published by UK authorities on Jan. 17 included a report by a group representing BP and its Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) project partners, in which the CCS scheme ruled out sharing the territory.

“It was originally anticipated that it could be possible for Hornsea Project Four and the NEP Project to co-exist in the Overlap Zone,” said the report by Net Zero Teesside, dated July 2022. “However, after extensive analysis, BP and its NEP partners have concluded that coexistence across the entirety of the Overlap Zone is not feasible.”

BP has expressed scepticism a compromise can be found in time, saying it needs certainty about the fate of the zone ahead of its final investment decision to enable CO2 injection to start at the project in 2026 as planned.

“It is not realistic for any new robust and reliable solution to come forward within this or a comparative timescale,” it said in a March 2022 submission to UK authorities. “NEP will be unable to attract debt financing if the risks attached to the project’s financial viability are high,” it added in another March 2022 submission.

Orsted said in its planning documents, published the same month, that a sparser turbine layout that could mitigate boat access issues would reduce Hornsea Four’s annual energy production by 2.5%.

“This would have the impact of making the project far less commercially competitive,” it added.

The windfarm’s planned capacity of 2.6 gigawatts (GW) would help Britain move towards its goal of increasing offshore wind capacity from 11 GW in 2021 to 50 GW by 2030, a drive requiring huge investment in new offshore infrastructure in the North Sea.

PRICEY OCEAN BOTTOM NODES

Despite the obstacles, talks continue.

BP said it was committed to a mutually acceptable outcome through ongoing commercial discussions, while Orsted said it was confident an agreement could be reached to allow both projects to move forward.

There is hope on the horizon for wind and CCS projects that share ground, say regulators and industry experts.

Even when the NSTA regulator poured cold water on big shared areas, it stressed that technical advances could change the calculus. It added that alternative methods of CO2 monitoring were still in development stages or more expensive, increasing costs in a CCS sector where profits are already elusive.

The leading contender, ocean bottom nodes (OBN) fixed to the seabed, could do much of the work of the seismic data boats. However Ronnie Parr, senior geophysicist at the NSTA, said that while OBN costs were expected to fall, they would probably still cost three or four times more than using boats.

The regulator was clear.

“Based on current technologies, large physical overlaps between carbon storage sites and windfarms are presently considered not to be feasible,” it said in its August 2022 report.

NEIGHBOURS IN NORTH SEA

A key moment looms next month when government planners are due to decide whether to grant the final green light to Hornsea Four.

While Endurance and its umbrella project, the East Coast Cluster, also face regulatory hurdles, the cluster was earmarked by the government in 2021 for a speedier development process.

With no breakthrough in sight between the companies, the same problem might rear its head elsewhere, according to Underhill at Aberdeen University, who highlighted the need for further CCS sites if Britain is to hit carbon-capture targets.

Other similar co-location sites include the planned Acorn carbon project off Scotland, which has an overlap with the MarramWind offshore windfarm, according to the NSTA and Underhill.

Shell and ScottishPowerRenewables, which secured initial rights to develop MarramWind a year ago, said discussions with Acorn were ongoing. Shell, also a developer on Acorn, added both projects were at a very early stage and that the overlap was not of a significant scale.

Underhill also pointed to decommissioned gas field Pickerill as a potential CCS site in the future but said existing plans to construct the Outer Dowsing windfarm could create problems.

David Few, Outer Dowsing’s project director, said the windfarm was on track to power 1.6 million homes by the decade’s end.

Source: Reuters

The hydrogen pipeline will bring “green” gas from the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of Europe. France, Portugal, and Spain previously agreed to build the pipeline, which should be operational by 2030.

Germany will join a new hydrogen pipeline project between Spain, Portugal and France, according to the Franco-German declaration on Sunday’s 60th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty.

The project, called H2Med, will connect Portugal and Spain with France and now Germany to supply about 10% of the European Union’s hydrogen demand by 2030.

The pipeline under the Mediterranean Sea will carry green hydrogen, made from water via electrolysis using renewable energy.

The Spanish government estimates H2Med will be able to supply some two million metric tons of hydrogen annually.

It comes as Europe scrambles to reduce dependence on Russian energy and shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.

Germany and France committed to developing hydrogen production

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron said they were “stepping up our investments in the technologies of tomorrow, particularly renewable and low carbon energies.”

A joint working group between the two countries will make “recommendations on our strategic choices regarding hydrogen development,” at the end of April 2023.

Macron said after hosting Scholz in Paris, “We started to talk about a strategy for what we want to do on an energy point of view.”

Scholz noted, “We want hydrogen to be available in large quantities and at affordable prices as the gas of the future.”

Scholz added, “This is a technological advance that we can only achieve together. And we have also agreed closely that we want to achieve this together.”

Spain welcomes Germany’s inclusion

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez welcomed the news by posting a message on Twitter saying it “definitely strengthens its pan-European dimension.”

He added it showed support for European energy sovereignty, adding a muscle emoji to his message.

When Madrid, Paris and Lisbon agreed in December to build the pipeline, it was expected to cost €2.5 billion ($2.6 billion). However, it wasn’t immediately clear how much Germany’s inclusion would add to the costs.

Source: AFP

Airbus said on Monday it was seeking outside investment for its high-altitude surveillance and communications drone programme Zephyr, in a bid to scale the business and accelerate its commercialization.

The solar-powered Zephyr drone is designed to linger at an altitude of about 70,000 feet (21 kilometres) for months at a time for surveillance or to provide a temporary boost to communications.

The drone relies on solar energy, with secondary batteries charged in daylight to power overnight flight.

The French aircraft maker has tapped Morgan Stanley to find external partnerships for the unit, which will operate under the brand name ‘Aalto,’ a company spokesperson told Reuters.

“Airbus plans to maintain ownership in Aalto, but will consider outside investment to help accelerate the company’s objectives.”

The Financial Times newspaper, which first reported the news on Monday, said that Airbus was planning to spin off the drone unit with the aim of starting commercial operations by the end of next year.

Sameer Halawi, who has been leading the programme since last summer, told FT that the Zephyr was “at a final design stage”.

“The idea of the carve-out is to bring like-minded partners to the equation and to be able to scale this business.”

Source: Reuters

System operators apply for PCI status for ambitious North Sea hydrogen infrastructure project

GASCADE and Fluxys have applied to the European Commission for Project of Common Interest (PCI) status for the AquaDuctus project, marking a major step forward in their plans for an offshore pipeline for green hydrogen in the North Sea. The move by the two infrastructure operators highlights the project’s importance for the hydrogen ramp-up.

“The offshore pipeline, which will be over 400 km long when completed, will become a linchpin of Germany’s and Europe’s future offshore hydrogen infrastructure,” explains GASCADE Managing Director Christoph von dem Bussche, emphasising the project’s European, interconnecting character. That is because the pipeline is designed as a ‘backbone’, able to collect hydrogen from multiple production sites while also offering the potential to link up with other international hydrogen flows through the North Sea. Hydrogen will be taken to the German coast via the offshore pipeline and fed into the onshore hydrogen network there. In this way, AquaDuctus will provide large-scale offshore hydrogen infrastructure in the German North Sea for hydrogen to be imported into Germany.

GASCADE and Fluxys have ambitious plans for this project. The first step will see the SEN-1 hydrogen wind farm connected to AquaDuctus, with flows to start in 2030. In subsequent years, wind farms further offshore in Germany’s exclusive economic zone may be linked up as well as hydrogen infrastructure operated by other North Sea countries. By 2035, the offshore pipeline is to develop into a main hydrogen corridor carrying up to one million tonnes of hydrogen a year into Germany. Based on the gas and hydrogen package currently being negotiated at European level, the two long-standing transmission system operators plan the AquaDuctus offshore pipeline as a regulated open access infrastructure available to all future operators of hydrogen wind farms, thereby strengthening security of supply in the future.

“We firmly believe that the AquaDuctus offshore pipeline will be a key element of Europe’s future energy supply picture and a major advance in the drive towards climate neutrality,” says Fluxys Managing Director and CEO Pascal De Buck. The offshore pipeline will make a substantial contribution to security of supply by diversifying Europe’s hydrogen supply sources. “Our specific plans for AquaDuctus will allow Germany’s federal government to put in place concrete actions following up the efforts it has made on hydrogen with European partners such as for example Norway or within the framework of the Esbjerg Declaration,” says von dem Bussche, underscoring the feasibility of the project.

Studies identify up to 100 GW of hydrogen production potential in the German and European North Sea and view an integrated European offshore pipeline network as the ideal transport solution. “With our AquaDuctus offshore pipeline, we want to jointly enable this potential to be leveraged,” explain the two managing directors.

A comprehensive feasibility study for the project has been successfully completed. The study examined and confirmed the technical and planning feasibility of all phases of the project. Commercial aspects, marketing potential, pricing and regulatory design options were also analysed.

Source: fluxys

The solar PV cluster includes five projects that have been operational since 2021.

British solar energy company Lightsource BP has reached an agreement to sell its 247MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project cluster in Aragón, Spain.

The solar PV cluster comprises five projects located in Aragón, Spain, which have been operational since 2021.

These projects have been sold to independent renewable energy investors Plenium Partners and Bankinter Investment for an undisclosed sum.

The deal aims to help the investors expand their renewable energy portfolio in Southern Europe.

Bankinter Investment is a subsidiary of Bankinter, which is Spain’s fourth largest bank by stock market value.

Plenium and Bankinter said they acquired the solar portfolio through various alternative-investment vehicles participated by Bankinter’s private banking and institutional clients.

Lightsource BP EMEA and APAC CEO Kareen Boutonnat said: “Transactions like these demonstrate our strong credentials in delivering quality constructed and operational assets as a trusted partner, supporting the renewable ambitions of Plenium Partners and Bankinter Investment.

“In Spain, Lightsource bp continues to move at pace to further progress our gigawatt-scale project development portfolio and the growth of solar required to deliver on national targets.”

Lightsource BP said the sale demonstrates its ability to invest in, deliver and construct solar sites that can support the renewable growth ambitions of investors, utilities and other asset owners.

The company appointed EY as financial advisor and Uría Menéndez as legal advisor for the deal, while Gómez-Acebo & Pombo served as legal advisor to Plenium and Bankinter.

Over the last four years, Lightsource BP has expanded its project development pipeline in Spain to more than 4GW.

The firm employed more than 130 colleagues in the country last year.

Last month, Lightsource BP sold five solar PV projects in the UK, with 300MW of combined capacity, to renewable energy producer Sonnedix.

The projects are located in various regions across the UK and are expected to become operational by 2024.

Source: power-technology

LONDON : Britain’s Crown Estate will lease sites for six offshore wind projects capable of generating enough green electricity to power more than seven million homes by 2030 under agreements announced on Thursday.

The UK is one of the world’s largest offshore wind markets, with more than 10 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity across 38 sites, which it plans to boost to up to 50 GW by the end of the decade.

The six sites being leased will add 8 GW towards that goal, the firm said in a statement.

The Crown Estate, which oversees the British monarch’s public holdings, manages the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland and awards seabed rights for the development of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy.

Three of the sites to be leased are located off the coasts of North Wales, Cumbria and Lancashire, and three in the North Sea off the coasts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Germany’s RWE said it was one of the companies that had signed a lease agreement with the Crown Estate. The projects are at a very early stage, according to RWE.

Gus Jaspert, managing director in charge of marine at the Crown Estate, said the deal “marks a significant milestone for the UK on the road to net zero”.

With energy prices hitting record highs last year, driven in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Britain has set targets to increase wind, nuclear and solar power generation.

Wind generated a record amount of energy in Britain in 2022, supplying more than 25% of its electricity, according to National Grid.

The offshore wind market has grown to become the largest source of renewable electricity in the UK, the Crown Estate said, currently able to power approximately 40% of UK homes.

Source: Reuters

London : King Charles wants proceeds from a new multi-million-pound wind farm deal struck by the Crown Estate, profits from which fund Britain’s royal family, to be used for the “wider public good”, according to a Buckingham Palace statement on Thursday.

The 74-year-old monarch, a keen proponent of renewable energy, wants any boost of profits expected from the agreements struck for six offshore wind projects not to be used to boost the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant – which is made up of 25 per cent of the Crown Estate’s annual profits to meet the expenses of the country’s royal household.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have been informed of the King’s decision as they are responsible for formally setting the annual share of the Sovereign Grant.

“In view of the offshore energy windfall, the keeper of the privy purse has written to the Prime Minister and Chancellor to share the King’s wish that this windfall be directed for the wider public good, rather than to the Sovereign Grant, through an appropriate reduction in the proportion of Crown Estate surplus that funds the Sovereign Grant,” reads the Buckingham Palace statement.

The decision is seen as a sign of King Charles’ intention to mark his own stamp on the British monarchy and focus attention on projects close to his heart.

The Crown Estate announced the agreements for offshore wind energy on Thursday as a “landmark” move that could begin to generate green electricity by the end of the decade, with the potential to power seven million homes.

Three of the six projects are located off the North Wales, Cumbria, and Lancashire coast, and three are located in the North Sea off the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coast of England.

“The UK’s offshore wind achievements to date are nothing short of remarkable, and this next generation of projects points to an even more exciting and dynamic future,” said Dan Labbad, CEO of the Crown Estate.

“They demonstrate the far-reaching value that our world-class offshore wind sector can deliver for the nation: homegrown energy for all, jobs and investment for communities, revenue for the taxpayer, clean energy for the benefit of the environment and a considerate, sustainable approach which respects our rich biodiversity,” he said.

The latest set of agreements, worth around GBP 1 billion, is the culmination of the Crown Estate’s Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 and follows three previous leasing rounds aimed at paving the way for the development of a world-class offshore wind market in the UK.

The Crown Estate said, alongside investment in cutting-edge data and evidence, it has now awarded rights totalling 41GW.

UK Minister for Energy and Climate Graham Stuart said: “Britain’s position as the European leader in offshore wind shows no signs of letting up. These six projects demonstrate how areas across the UK can contribute to ensuring Britain meets its world-leading ambition of deploying up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.” “Offshore wind is at the heart of our goal to secure clean, affordable, and resilient energy supply for all in the UK while bringing major business, investment, and job opportunities along with it.” With agreements signed, developers can now further progress their plans for the projects which are said to have the potential to make a major contribution to delivering sustainable, renewable energy, and meet the UK government’s target of 50GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Source: PTI

LONDON  : As boardroom bosses and billionaires mingle in the snowy streets of Davos, corporate sustainability is a key topic of discussion. Yet which company is the world’s most sustainable?

Rather surprisingly, research firm Corporate Knights says the answer is Schnitzer Steel Industries, a U.S. scrap steel recycler, which has knocked wind turbine maker Vestas Wind off the top spot.

Portland, Oregon-based Schnitzer Steel reported improvements in energy, carbon, water and waste productivity in 2021 to lead the 2023 Global 100, a list of companies which Corporate Knights deems to do the most good for people and planet.

“Schnitzer Steel is the first steel company to top the Global 100,” said Corporate Knights CEO Toby Heaps.

“If one of the world’s dirtiest sectors can produce the most sustainable company in the world, then there is no excuse for any company in any sector not to step up.”

Companies are assessed on 25 indicators including sustainable revenue and investment, carbon productivity, racial and gender diversity and must have sustainable solutions at the heart of their business models and invest to reduce their carbon footprint.

Schnitzer Steel bagged the top spot with a 74% increase in energy productivity, 69% increase in water productivity and 55% increase in carbon productivity in 2021 – with productivity meaning using more efficiently when measured against revenue. It also reported 100% of its $2.8 billion revenues and all of its $0.1 billion investment went to sustainable projects in 2021, though the report did not detail the projects.

Schnitzer Steel did not respond to a request for comment.

Corporate Knights’ Global 100 is used by the likes of Goldman Sachs to construct private wealth portfolios and will serve as the benchmark for a new index fund and exchange traded fund from Canada’s Mackenzie Investments this year.

Though the index does not factor profitability, the benchmark has outperformed the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) on an annual basis for seven of the past 11 years.

In 2022, the Global 100 beat the ACWI on an annual returns basis by 2.8% though both were significantly down on 2021 at -15.6% and -18.4% respectively. Between 2013 and 2022, the Global 100 returned 145.1% compared to 115.4% for the MSCI ACWI.

“The sustainability outperformance story is resilient even in a period of oil stock inflation,” said Heaps.

Advocates of sustainable investing say that picking companies with better environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores can deliver higher returns. But the strategy has faced pushback from U.S. politicians and policymakers who claim ESG-investing runs counter to fiduciary duty.

Second-placed Vestas’ head of sustainability Lisa Ekstrand said the ranking was valuable for comparing companies in different industries on the same transparent scale, which is “notoriously difficult.”

Vestas uses the ranking to identify improvement areas, she said.

Source: Reuters

Developers install 2.4GW (gross) in 2022 and up to 3.2GW expected in 2023, but more must be done to remove hurdles to wind expansion on land, industry demands

German wind power additions rose by a quarter last year, but sector groups demand further measures by the government to speed up deployment, including much faster permitting.

Developers have installed 2.4GW in new wind energy capacity in 2022, up from 1.9GW a year earlier, figures by consultancy Deutsche WindGuard show that were commissioned by wind energy federation BWE and manufacturers’ association VDMA Power Systems.

As 266MW were decommissioned, net additions reached 2.1GW last year, pushing the cumulated onshore wind capacity in Europe’s largest economy to 58.1GW. For 2023, the wind sector expects onshore additions of between 2.7 and 3.2GW, unless deployment can be accelerated.

While climate minister Robert Habeck last year pushed through a flurry of laws and regulation to speed up the wind power expansion, more must be done to reach a faster and bigger build-up, the wind groups urged.

“Wind turbine additions on land last year continued to be too low. To reach an expansion path that is sufficient to achieve targets and reliable for wind turbine manufacturers, above all, areas must be made available, permit bottlenecks overcome, transport facilitated and certification hurdles removed for towers of turbines,” VMDA Power Systems managing director Dennis Rendschmidt said.

He added that the wind industry won’t achieve the necessary production ramp-up through political targets, but with approved projects.

Hermann Albers, president of the BWE, which represents the wider wind sector, said last year’s expansion was still fed by projects awarded in tenders from 2019 to 2021, which had “sobering” results due to mistakes in energy policy during the past government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“They [the expansion figures] are symptomatic of the political mismanagement of the last federal government,” Albers said.

The current Social Democrat-Green-Liberal coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz had used its first year in office to “set the course in many areas for the significantly accelerated expansion of renewable energies”, particularly wind power, he added.

Albers pointed to a record volume of 12.8GW in wind capacity slated to be tendered off this year, but cautioned that German states now also must make use of the opportunities they were given to speed up deployment.

“The South in particular must finally deliver and must no longer shirk responsibility.”

The comment was a hint on a very damaging distance rule for onshore wind in Bavaria – Germany’s largest state by land mass – which had brought wind capacity additions in the southern state to a near standstill in recent years. Conservative-led Bavaria has now watered down its distance rule, but is still delaying federal regulation to set aside about 2% of its land mass for wind power development.

Albers said measures taken by the federal government – such as a recent increase in the bid price cap at onshore wind tenders (to take into account inflation) or a reduction of minimum distances to radar installations – were important first steps to reach ambitious targets. But Berlin now also must follow up on a commitment to present legislation to speed up and simplify permitting.

The government should also ease rules for repowering projects, he demanded, which last year accounted for 423MW in new capacity, compared to many gigawatts that could be achieved.

Source: Reuters

BRUSSELS  : The European Union pushed forward on Tuesday with a major clean tech industrial plan which not only should keep the continent in the vanguard of plotting a greener future but also guarantee its economic survival as it faces challenges from China and the United States.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the outlines for her “Green Deal Industrial Plan” that will make it much easier to push through subsidies for green industries and pool EU-wide projects that are boosted with major funding as the EU pursues the goal of being climate neutral by 2050.

“We know that we have a small window to invest in clean tech and innovation to gain leadership before the fossil fuel economy becomes obsolete,” von der Leyen said.

At the same time in Germany, climate protests resumed Tuesday over the destruction of a small village to allow expansion of a coal mine, as the country strives to boost its energy security amid the cut in Russian gas supply.

Von der Leyen used a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos to say that on top of feeding its own industry, the 27-nation bloc will become much more forceful in countering unfair trading practices, if they come from Washington, or more importantly, Beijing.

“We see aggressive attempts to attract our industrial capacities away to China and elsewhere,” she said.

And as it is trying to wean itself of an overdependence on Russia energy since the war in Ukraine started almost a year ago, the EU doesn’t want to become as dependent on China for rare earth materials, which are critical to the development of battery storage, hydrogen and wind energy.

“We have a compelling need to make this net-zero transition without creating new dependencies,” von der Leyen said.

Even if the EU has gripes with both Washington and Beijing about being squeezed out of their markets, von der Leyen came down much harder on China in her speech, underscoring she still has hopes of making amends with the Biden administration — with which the EU sorely needs to stand shoulder to shoulder in opposing Russia.

In Brussels too, where EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis had talks with his U.S. counterpart Catherine Tai, both went out of their way to play down the EU’s complaints about the $369 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

“Going our own way is neither efficient nor desirable. Instead, we should create economies of scale across the Atlantic and set common standards,” Dombrovskis said.

Von der Leyen’s plan will now become the key driver for debate among the EU’s member nations before their 27 leaders meet for a Feb. 9-10 summit on the issue. Before such a plan becomes reality, the EU needs to find a balance on the ability of economic juggernauts like Germany and France to splurge state aid and, on the other side, grant funds to small member states, which have no such firepower.

No specific figures were mentioned, but going on what the United States is putting in its U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and how the EU already waved through 672 billion euros ($727.5 billion) in aid to allow member states to deal with the impact of the war in Ukraine, any EU commitment will be massive.

Many EU leaders saw the U.S. act as an attempt to cut European firms out of the lucrative American market for clean energy technology like electric vehicles and excessively favors a “made-in-America” approach that discriminates against European multinationals.

In a letter to EU member states, European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager wrote last week that the U.S. plan “risks luring some of our EU businesses into moving investments to the U.S.”

It underscores a continuing unease in the EU that it will become irrelevant in the economy of the future, as it is squeezed by the U.S. and China.

“As a union, we are not living up to our full economic potential. Our productivity lags behind and fewer and fewer of the biggest firms on the planet are EU-based,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.

Source: PTI