In Details – Cleantech for Europe’s Sofia Karagianni explores how Europe’s cleantech industry, despite its innovative solutions for energy resilience and decarbonisation, faces a significant investment gap.European cleantech companies have developed world-leading batteries, electrolysers, and supercapacitors, as well as near-zero carbon steel and cement technologies. This tech leadership could underpin Europe’s competitiveness, energy resilience and decarbonisation for decades to come.

However, a large funding gap at the scale-up stage puts Europe’s next generation of industry at critical risk. The European Commission calculates that to scale the manufacture of just six key technologies under the Net Zero Industry Act — namely solar, wind, batteries, heat pumps, electrolysers, carbon capture and storage — will require €92 billion of public and private investment by 2030.

Even in this optimistic view, our latest research shows the EU is facing a €50+ billion investment gap by 2030. This gap could easily grow to the hundreds of billions of euros by 2030 if we include the other key technologies we need to scale up: green steel and cement, long-duration energy storage, green chemistry and more.

Meanwhile, our global peers are investing aggressively in cleantech. In the United States, the Inflation Reduction Act is projected to unlock US$1.2 trillion of cleantech incentives by 2032. In 2023 alone, China invested $676 billion in clean energy. Japan, through its GX Initiative, will realise private-public investments of ¥150 trillion (approximately $1 trillion) over the next ten years.

In Detail : Amynteo Cluster 3 project in Western Macedonia has secured €127.7m of NextGenerationEU funds

Joint venture partners RWE and PPC have taken the final investment decision for the construction of a 450MW photovoltaic project in Greece.

The new solar farm, Orycheio Dei Amynteo (Amynteo Cluster 3), is located in Western Macedonia in northern Greece, within the boundaries of the former Amynteo open pit lignite mine.

Construction work is scheduled to start in the coming months with commissioning expected by the end of 2025.

The partners are already constructing eight large-scale solar projects (Amynteo Clusters 1&2) in the region, with a total capacity of 490MW.

These photovoltaic plants are expected to be connected to the grid this year.

The JV project company, Meton Energy, has signed 10-year bilateral power purchase agreements (PPA) with PPC and RWE Supply & Trading, which will purchase the green electricity produced by the new solar farm.

For the €255.4m in Orycheio Dei Amynteo, €127.7m of NextGenerationEU funds have been secured via the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) plan “Greece 2.0”.

The remaining amount is being financed through a €76.6m commercial debt financing to be provided pro-rata on a club-deal basis by Alpha Bank, Eurobank and National Bank of Greece, as well as shareholders’ equity of €51.1m.

The financing is subject to financial close.

Costas Papamantellos, CEO of RWE Renewables Hellas and CEO of Meton Energy, said: “Meton Energy is delivering its solar projects at an impressive pace.

“Within one year, the joint venture company has successfully developed and taken investment decisions on all three clusters of the Amynteo portfolio with a total capacity of 940MW and is looking to connecting 490MW to the grid already this year.

“This great achievement is the result of the excellent cooperation between the teams involved at RWE and PPC.”

In Detail : Planning inspector at East Devon District Council has approved the 30MW Ford Oaks project

The planning inspector agreed with the original recommendation of East Devon District Council’s planning officers (that approval should be granted for the proposals, finding that, “the overall benefits of the development would substantially outweigh the harms it would cause”.

Simon Crowe, Director at Taiyo, said: “We are delighted to receive planning approval, and we extend our t gratitude to the planning inspector for understanding our case.
“This approval will deliver a key solar and green infrastructure facility that will further the climate goals of East Devon and the wider region.

“Ford Oaks provides a vital opportunity to address East Devon’s sustainability and energy needs by providing a renewable energy source for 18,500 homes.

“It will also significantly enhance the local area’s biodiversity and nature by delivering a remarkable 121% biodiversity net gain.

“Working together with East Devon District Council and the local community, we are looking forward to bringing Ford Oaks scheme to life, achieving a key milestone in our commitment to supporting the UK’s net zero goals.”

The Ford Oaks Solar & Green Infrastructure Facility is situated next to the A30 about four miles east of Exeter City Centre and close to Exeter Airport.

The 29 hectares of solar arrays will be installed to permit extensive sheep grazing, allowing for energy production and agricultural use on the same land.

In partnership with local landowners including Devon County Council, Ford Oaks is being delivered by Taiyo Power & Storage, a joint venture between Kajima and Low Carbon Alliance Limited.

In Detail :

• Company signs virtual power purchase agreements for 300 gigawatt hours per year
• Wind and solar farms operational in Spain from 2025
• Important milestone for Merck’s strategic sustainability goal of being climate-neutral by 2040

Merck, a leading science and technology company, will cover 100% of its current electricity purchases in the European Union (EU) and Switzerland with renewable energy certificates from 2025 onwards. To this end, the company has signed virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) for a total of around 300 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy per year with Matrix Renewables and Renantis. This corresponds to almost one third of all electricity purchased by Merck worldwide in 2022.

“If humanity is to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis, it’s vital that global industry leaders accelerate their transition to renewable energy. By covering 100% of our purchased European electricity with renewable energy certificates from 2025, and advancing our efforts across all other regions, Merck continues to demonstrate its global leadership. We remain fully on track to reach climate neutrality by 2040,” said Belén Garijo, Chair of the Executive Board and CEO of Merck.

The new VPPAs have terms of ten years each. Merck is utilizing a mix of solar and wind power to be generated from five Spanish sites from 2025 onwards. Around 200 GWh of the contractually agreed electricity will come from photovoltaic plants, the remaining 100 GWh from wind farms. Merck will receive sufficient energy certificates (Guarantee of Origin, as issued by the AIB as part of the European Energy Certificate System) to fully cover the electricity purchased in 2022 for its three business sectors Life Science, Healthcare and Electronics for all sites in the EU and Switzerland. In the selection process of the project developer, sustainability aspects such as the support of local communities and the promotion of good environmental and social practices throughout the supply chain were important criteria.

Renewable energies contribute significantly to climate targets

By 2030, Merck aims to cover 80% of its worldwide purchased electricity from renewable sources. In recent years, the company has signed several VPPAs in North America, its second-largest region by sales. There, it will cover 90% of its electricity consumption from renewable sources in 2024. With the new European virtual power purchase agreements, renewable energy is expected to cover circa 70%1 of purchased electricity for the entire company from 2025.

Merck is also investing in renewable energy at its own sites. In 2022, the company installed around 7,000 solar modules in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA. These add around 4 GWh to the power grid per year. In cooperation with ENTEGA, rooftop photovoltaic systems at the Darmstadt headquarters and a photovoltaic park at the site in Gernsheim are currently being built. These projects are scheduled for completion by the end of 2023 and will generate up to 7.6 GWh of electricity per year. In September 2023, Merck inaugurated a solar farm at its manufacturing site in Mollet del Vallès, Spain. It will generate up to 2.8 GWh of green electricity annually.

The independent Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) confirmed in 2022 that Merck’s climate targets meet the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement and contribute to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Through energy efficiency measures, the reduction of process-related emissions and a higher share of renewable energies, Merck reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by almost 10% in 2022 compared to the previous year.

In Detail : The UK solar industry is set to add an additional 1.7GWpdc of new solar PV capacity in 2023, continuing its post-subsidy, which includes feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) and renewable obligation certificates (ROCs), growth phase towards being a multi-GW market over the next few years, according to the latest research findings from the Solar Media Market Research team.

The market has now grown annually for five years since 2018, the point at which the legacy ground-mount incentive rates were discontinued.

As predicted over the past few years on Solar Power Portal, the major capacity additions are now coming from large-scale solar farms, as investors break ground on the massive pipeline of approved applications poised to have a major impact on solar’s contributions to the overall UK energy mix.

Final numbers for 2023 will be known in a few months from now. Currently, we are putting a -5%/+10% error bound on the cited 1.7GW figure. The upside is conditional on several large-scale (nominally 50MWac in size) sites being completed this year; some of these may be pushed out to 2024.

The 1.7GW of new deployment in 2023 represents 33% year-on-year growth, compared to 2022, with the residential and ground-mount segments being the ones most driving the annual growth dynamics. The residential market is now at levels seen only when FiTs were introduced back in 2010 at the attractive rate of 43p (US$0.52) /kWhr.

Once again, it is the ground-mount sector that is responsible for the lion’s share of the new installed PV capacity in the UK. And, like most of the previous periods of large ground-mount solar farm build-outs, much of this is being done in stealth mode. This is likely because of any possible political backlash, 12 months out from a general election, when local ministerial stances are firmly centred on prospects of re-election.

Furthermore, despite there being a much greater visibility of solar energy in the country as a whole, solar farms are still being treated as hot potatoes by the major parties. Still the safe rhetoric is to proclaim allegiance to rooftop PV potential.

The forecasted 1.7GW of solar PV added in 2023 will take the cumulative PV installed in the UK to circa. 17.6GW, of which approximately 60% is coming from large-scale solar farms. At some point going forward, there will come a time when this is lauded, and credit will be taken – even if it is not fully justified. We are just not at this point yet. Perhaps a solar champion politician (on roofs and on the ground) is waiting in the wings today?

Moving into 2024, there is no reason why deployment should not reach the 3GW mark. The sector is now in major contracts for difference (CfD) build out mode, and the first nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs) will also start adding capacity to the grid. These factors alone have the scope for large quarterly and annual additions, regardless of what happens with the residential and commercial rooftop sectors.

And all the while, planning applications (or simply grid applications) continue to stack up. The total ground-mount pipeline is now well above 100GW, made up projects currently under construction today to tentative grid applications out as far as 2039.

To understand which projects are the most likely to be built in 2024 and over the next few years, please contact our Market Research team here to access our monthly database reports.

In Detail : KORTRIJK, Belgium : Sigenergy, a leading energy innovator, made a resounding impact at Solar Solutions Kortrijk 2023 by introducing its revolutionary 5-in-1 energy storage system, SigenStor, for the first time in the Benelux region. This cutting-edge system seamlessly integrates photovoltaic (PV) technology, energy storage, and electric vehicle (EV) charging capabilities.

As part of the prestigious Solar Solutions International trade fair for solar energy in Northwestern Europe, co-hosted with Kortrijk Xpo, Sigenergy’s presence at Solar Solutions Kortrijk underscores the company’s unwavering commitment to expanding its global footprint in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The Company’s primary focus is on providing energy storage systems known for their unparalleled safety features and advanced artificial intelligence both compatible with home and C&I scenarios.

The culmination of the event was the formal signing of a momentous Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Sigenergy, Voltixx, a prominent regional energy distributor, and Earth, a specialist in sustainable home battery installation and electric charging stations. The MOU outlines an ambitious plan for the three parties to deploy 8,000 units of 5-in-1 energy storage systems in various counties by the year 2024. This agreement reflects the united commitment of these influential entities to confront the escalating environmental challenges and the imperative need for a swift transition toward a more sustainable future. Their shared vision is to lead the way in sustainable energy solutions and cultivate a greener future for the region.

Sigenergy’s SigenStor is the world’s first 5-in-1 energy storage system that seamlessly integrates Battery PCS, Battery Pack, EV DC Charger, PV Inverter, and EMS. It sets the industry standard for safety with five protective features, including advanced temperature sensors, an internal fire suppression system, a decompression valve, aerogel-insulated pads, and high-temperature-resistant insulation. SigenStor proactively manages potential hazards to ensure the highest level of safety.

Sigenergy also proudly claims the distinction of being the first manufacturer in the industry to launch an energy app, mySigen, that harnesses the power of AI. This app offers users complete system visibility and interactive AI-driven smart features. Sigen AI, powered by GPT-4, serves as the most intelligent service assistant, capable of tasks such as answering questions and troubleshooting. With cutting-edge algorithms, the app seamlessly synchronizes with dynamic electricity pricing from power companies to ensure rates are always up-to-date, allowing users to access the best energy deals available.

The partnership lays a robust foundation for Sigenergy’s business expansion and its mission to provide energy storage systems aimed at reducing energy costs, promoting energy independence, and setting new industry standards for customer satisfaction.

Climate change is taking a major human, economic and environmental toll in Europe, which has now been dubbed the fastest warming continent of the world, according to a new report.

Europe has been warming twice as much as the global average since the 1980s, the report, released Monday by Copernicus, the European Union’s climate change service, and the World Meteorological Organization, states.

Summer 2022 in Europe was characterized by rolling heatwaves, record-breaking temperatures and more than 1,100 heat-related deaths in a single event.

In 2022, Europe was approximately 2.3 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial revolution average — global temperatures between 1850 and 1900, which are used as a baseline for the Paris climate accord.

Several countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. had their warmest year on record in 2022, according to the report.

Europe’s 2022 annual average temperature was between the second and fourth-highest on record, with an anomaly of about 0.79 degrees Celsius above the average between 1991 and 2020.

Summers with extreme heat will likely be “frequent and more intense across the region” in the future, Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.

“The record-breaking heat stress that Europeans experienced in 2022 was one of the main drivers of weather-related excess deaths in Europe,” Buontempo said. “Unfortunately, this cannot be considered a one-off occurrence or an oddity of the climate.”

The pattern of extreme heat has already continued into 2023. An early season heat wave that plagued countries along the Mediterranean sea such as Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Algeria in April was found to have been prompted by anthropologic, or human-caused, climate change, according to a study published last month.

In addition to extreme heat, the year was also marked by drought, wildfires and sea surface temperature reaching new highs, which were then accompanied by marine heatwaves, the report states.

Meteorological, hydrological and climate-related hazards in Europe in 2022 resulted in 16,365 reported fatalities (many of them due to heat stress, the No. 1 weather-related killer in the world.

Glaciers in Europe lost a volume of about 880 cubic kilometers of ice from 1997 to 2022. The Alps were the worst affected, with an average reduction in ice thickness of 34 meters, the report said.

In 2022, glaciers in the European Alps experienced “unprecedented” mass loss in one single year, caused by very low winter snow amounts, a very warm summer and Saharan dust deposition, the researchers said.

The report also noted a “hopeful future” for renewable energy, which generated more electricity on the continent than polluting fossil gas for the first time in 2022.

Wind and solar power generated 22.3% of European Union (EU) electricity in 2022, overtaking fossil gas at 20%, the researchers said.

Increasing use of renewables and low-carbon energy sources is crucial to reduce dependence on fossil fuels,” World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. “Climate services play a key role in ensuring the resilience of energy systems to climate-related shocks, in planning operations, and in informing measures to increase energy efficiency.

Source: abcnews

Labour, which opinion polls suggest is on course to win a national election expected next year, has tried to position itself as the only party which can spur economic growth by investing heavily in green technologies and jobs with plans to rival similar investments in the United States and the EU.

However, earlier this month it pared back its flagship pledge to spend 28 billion pounds ($36 billion) every year until the end of the decade on building up green industries, blaming high interest rates.

On Monday, Labour leader Keir Starmer set out pledges for 100% clean and affordable power by 2030; to establish a publicly-owned energy company, GB Energy; to create a National Wealth Fund to invest in green technologies; and to upgrade poorly insulated homes.

The party would also overturn the ban on new onshore wind farms which Labour says has added 5.1 billion pounds to energy bills, or 182 pounds per household, because Britain has been forced to turn to more expensive power.

“We can cut bills, create jobs and provide energy security for Britain – that’s what a Labour Government will deliver,” Starmer said in a speech in Edinburgh.

“We’re going to throw everything at this: planning reform, procurement, long-term finance, R&D, a strategic plan for skills and supply chains.”

Starmer reiterated a pledge to stop new oil and gas exploration licences in the North Sea, but said any licenses granted before the next election, such as for Equinor’s proposed Rosebank field, would be respected.

He said that North Sea oil and gas would be part of the energy mix for “decades” but would have a diminishing return, and that Labour had a credible plan to manage the transition.

He said that shift could be made to serve the interests of Scotland as he acknowledged the sensitivities of such a shift in a part of Britain where North Sea oil supports many jobs.

“Deep down, we all know this has to happen eventually, and that the only question is when,” he said.

“The moment for decisive action is now. If we wait until North Sea oil and gas runs out, the opportunities this change can bring for Scotland and your community will pass us by. And that would be a historic mistake.”

($1 = 0.7802 pounds)

Source: Reuters

The project, unveiled by the Czech-owned mining and power company LEAG last week, involves building a 200 million euro ($218 million) facility to store for wind and solar energy that will gradually replace the sprawling coal pits of the Lusatia region.

It follows on from plans announced last year by LEAG to build solar and wind plants with a capacity of up to 7 gigawatts, which the company expects to involve more than 1,000 employees directly or indirectly.

They are to be built on some of the 33,000 hectares (330 square km) of former coal mines in Lusatia by 2030.

The plans are emblematic of the drive by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to accelerate the phase-out of coal power towards a carbon neutral economy by as early as 2030 versus the agreed target of 2038.

But the transition, and efforts to accelerate it, gets a mixed welcome in a region that remains sceptical about its social and ecological impact and the technical challenges to be overcome.

The mood in Lusatia reflects a broader unease with green policies in Germany that is fuelling support for the anti-establishment AfD party to record highs, especially in the east where it is on track to win three state votes next year.

Ute Liebsch, the head of Lusatia’s IG BCE workers union, fears a rapid coal exit without enough other industries to hire workers will prompt more young people to leave, comparing it to the ructions that followed Germany’s reunification in 1990.

“That hurt then, this would hurt twice as much. We want to keep people here,” Liebsch said.

A campaign using the slogan “Awesome Lusatia” has been launched in a bid to attract young professionals to the region, which spreads across the states of Brandenburg and Saxony and where incomes are typically lower than the national average.

“We need to work on Lusatia’s image massively … We have to contend with extreme prejudices of the rest of Germany,” said Knut Abraham, a conservative politician from the region, citing negative stereotypes of unemployment and substance abuse.

“The probability that the AfD will win this constituency is 93% … Any uncertainty among people helps the AfD,” Abraham said, adding he felt the AfD’s anti-immigration, Eurosceptic agenda could hurt the region’s ability to attract the investors, students and specialists it so desperately needs.

JOBS AND TRAINING

What happens to the thousands of mining jobs that will eventually disappear is also a concern. Many of LEAG’s 8,000 coal workers are expected to retire by 2030 or retrain in renewable energy.

But that retraining is not happening fast enough, Liebsch said.

Only 18% of locals believe politicians are doing enough to counteract the consequences of the coal phase-out, a survey published in May by broadcaster rbb showed, while 70% worry electricity could become expensive.

So while Green activists have held regular protests in Lusatia demanding an exit from coal, and advocates urge a 2030 phaseout citing rising global temperatures, local politicians are pushing back against the pace of change.

“It is fundamentally unrealistic that the coal phase-out can be achieved in 2030,” Christine Herntier, mayor of the town of Spremberg, told Reuters.

Herntier and dozens of other Lusatian mayors have formed an alliance to press further demands in case of a rapid coal exit.

TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

LEAG argues the battery project is a blueprint for a green transition.

“The Gigawatt Factory is designed to replace coal-fired power generation in the future and with the project we want to show that this transformation from coal to renewables is technically possible,” Rainer Schiller, head of large-scale energy storage for LEAG, told Reuters.

However, technical challenges remain and Schiller called the start of the battery project “more or less an experiment” to ensure that energy loads are kept stable while switching from coal to renewable energy.

Another hurdle in phasing out coal production involves water supply, with the move set to reduce the amount of groundwater pumped in the area, which would hit supply to a budding green hydrogen industry and flows to Berlin via the Spree river.

In Lusatia’s Schwarze Industrial Park, engineers are working on a pilot project for a green hydrogen plant with a planned annual output of 1,000 tonnes that will depend on reliable water supply.

“The question is how quickly do you shut down the pumps so that the Spree is still sufficiently supplied,” Ben Schueppel, head of the Reflau hydrogen project, told Reuters.

In the worst case scenario, the coal exit could reduce water supplies to Berlin by 75%, according to a report by the federal environment agency published in June.

“In long periods of drought, the Spree could become a trickle in sections, with serious consequences for the ecology, the Spreewald and Berlin’s drinking water supply,” said Ingolf Arnold, head of management association Lusatia Water Cluster.

($1 = 0.9160 euros)

Source: Reuters

OSLO/LONDON/FRANKFURT :  Saboteurs target a nation leading the world in clean energy. They hack into vulnerable wind and solar power systems. They knock out digitalized energy grids. They wreak havoc.

It’s the stuff of nightmares for European power chiefs.

Henriette Borgund knows attackers can find weaknesses in the defences of a big renewables power company – she’s found them herself. She joined Norway’s Hydro (NHY.OL) as an “ethical hacker” last April, bringing years of experience in military cyberdefence to bear at a time of war in Europe and chaos in energy markets.

“I am not sure I want to comment on how often we find holes in our system. But what I can say is that we have found holes in our system,” she told Reuters at Hydro’s Oslo HQ, declining to detail the nature of the vulnerabilities for security reasons.

Hydro is among several large power producers shoring up their cyberdefences due in significant part to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which they say has ramped up the threat of hacker attacks on their operations, according to Reuters interviews with a dozen executives from seven of Europe’s biggest players.

“We established last year, after the start of the Ukraine war, that the risk of cyber sabotage has increased,” said Michael Ebner, information security chief at German utility EnBW (EBKG.DE), which is expanding its 200-strong cyber security team to protect operations ranging from wind and solar to grids.

The executives all said the sophistication of Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine had provided a wake-up call to how vulnerable digitalized and interconnected power systems could be to attackers. They’re nervously monitoring a hybrid war where physical energy infrastructure has already been targeted, from the Nord Stream gas pipelines to the Kakhovka dam.

“The cyber campaigns that Russia has been running against Ukraine have been very targeted at Ukraine. But we have been able to observe and learn from it,” said Torstein Gimnes Are, cybersecurity chief at Hydro, an aluminium producer as well as Norway’s fourth-largest power generator.

Gimnes Are said he feared a nation state could work with hacker groups to infect a network with malicious software – though like the other executives declined to divulge details on specific attacks or threats, citing corporate confidentiality.

Ukraine’s SBU security service told Reuters that Russia launched more than 10 cyberattacks a day, on average, with the Ukrainian energy sector a priority target. It said Russia had tried to destroy digital networks and cause power cuts, and that missile attacks on facilities were often accompanied by cyberattacks.

Russian officials have said that the West repeatedly blames Moscow for cyberattacks without providing evidence and that the United States as well as its allies carry out offensive cyber operations against it. The Russian foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the views of the power companies or the Ukrainian SBU’s assertions.

The European power companies, as well as half a dozen independent tech security experts, stressed that the digitalized and interconnected technology of the thousands of renewable assets and energy grids springing up across Europe presented major – and growing – vulnerabilities to infiltration.

“The new energy world is decentralized. This means that we have many small units – such as wind and solar plants but also smart meters – which are connected in a digital way,” said Swantje Westpfahl, director at Germany’s Institute for Security and Safety.

“This networking increases the risks because there are significantly more possible entry points for attacks, with much greater potential impact.”

TRITON VIRUS SHUTS PLANT

The possible effects of a cyberattack range from capture of sensitive data and power outages to the destruction of a physical asset, said James Forrest, executive vice president at Capgemini, which advises companies on security risks.

He cited, in particular, the risk of malware such as the Triton virus, which hackers used to remotely take over the safety systems of a Saudi petrochemical plant in 2017 and shut it down.

While malware packages like Triton might be exotic algorithmic weapons, the most common mode of entry used by hackers looking to deliver them is more familiar, according to the executives and experts interviewed: via phishing emails designed to elicit data from employees like network passwords.

Such attacks are “more or less constant”, according to Cem Gocgoren, information security chief at Svenska Kraftnaet. The Swedish grid operator has roughly quadrupled its cybersecurity team to about 60 over about the last four years and is raising awareness among staff. “We have to make them understand that we are under attack all the time. It’s the new normal.”

Hydro’s ethical hacker Borgund echoed this sense of a relentless barrage via phishing, which she described as the “first initial vector” of cyberattackers.

CYBERATTACK ON SATELLITE

Traditional power plants like gas and nuclear typically operate on airgapped IT infrastructure that’s sealed off from the outside, making them less susceptible to cyberattacks than physical sabotage, said Stephan Gerling, senior researcher at Kasperky’s ICS CERT, which studies and detects cyber threats on industrial facilities.

By contrast, the ever-growing number of smaller renewable installations around Europe run on diverse third-party systems that are digitally hooked up to the power grid, and are below the power-generation monitoring threshold set by safety authorities, he added.

This kind of interconnectedness was demonstrated last February when a Russian cyberattack on a Ukrainian satellite communications network knocked out the remote monitoring of more than 5,800 wind turbines of Germany’s Enercon and shut them down, said Mathias Boeswetter, head of IT security at German energy industry group BDEW.

While the incident did not affect the electricity grid, it showed the escalating cyber vulnerabilities posed by the energy transition, he added.

KEY TO HACKING A WIND FARM

Hacking into a wind farm can be relatively easy.

Researchers at the University of Tulsa conducted an experiment by hacking into unnamed wind farms in the United States in 2017 to test their vulnerabilities, with the permission of the wind farm operators, according to a report on cyber threats to energy by risk consultancy DNV.

The researchers picked a lock to gain access to a chamber in the base of a wind turbine, the report said. They accessed the turbine’s server and got a list of IP addresses representing every networked turbine in the field. They then stopped the turbine from turning.

Driven by government efforts to wean nations off fossil fuels and double down on renewables, wind and solar power accounted for more than a fifth of European energy demand in 2021, according to EU data, a share expected to double by 2030.

E.ON (EONGn.DE) – Europe’s largest operator of energy grids with a network sprawling 1 million miles – has also observed a rising risk of cyberattacks, its CEO Leonhard Birnbaum said at the group’s shareholder meeting in May.

The company has expanded its dedicated cyber staff to around 200 over the years, it said in emailed comments, adding the group had long recognized the issue’s relevance.

“Putting cybersecurity at the top of the priority list only after the start of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis would have been a serious omission,” it said.

The European power sector as whole may be unprepared for the scale of the security challenge – that’s the view of many workers in the sector who say a lack of in-house cybersecurity skills was the biggest obstacle to effectively guarding against attack, according to a separate DNV survey of around 600 energy professionals carried out in February and March.

“Companies in the energy space, their core business is producing energy, not cybersecurity,” said Jalal Bouhdada, CEO of cybersecurity firm Applied Risk, a division of DNV.

“This means that they must work diligently to secure every aspect of their infrastructure because malicious actors only need to find one gap to exploit.”

Source: reuters

In a new financial framework announced ahead of an investor conference in New York starting at 1230 GMT, Shell said it will increase overall shareholder distribution to 30 per cent to 40 per cent of cash flow from operations from 20 per cent to 30 per cent previously.

That includes a 15 per cent dividend boost and an increase in the rate of its share buyback programme from the second quarter to $5 billion from $4 billion in recent quarters.

The financial framework is the linchpin of Sawan’s effort to boost Shell’s share performance relative to its US peers after many investors shunned the British company even after it posted a record $40 billion profit last year.

The group has faced concerns that it was shifting away from oil and gas at a time of booming energy prices while returns from its growing renewables and low-carbon businesses remained poor.

Shell shares were up 0.35 per cent at 0750 GMT.

“Performance, discipline, and simplification will be our guiding principles,” Sawan, who took office in January, said in a statement.

“We will invest in the models that work – those with the highest returns that play to our strengths.”

The dividend increase, to around 33 cents per share, is the sixth since Shell slashed its then 47 cent dividend by nearly two-thirds in April 2020, the first cut since the Second World War, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The higher payout ratio will make keep Shell “competitive with peers”, RBC analyst Biraj Borkhataria said in a note.

OIL STEADY

Shell scrapped its previous target to cut oil output by 20 per cent by 2030 after largely reaching the goal. It produced around 1.5 million barrels per day of oil in the first quarter of 2023.

It said it will now keep its oil production steady to 2030 and will grow its natural gas business to defend its position as the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) player.

Capital spending will be reduced to a $22 billion to $25 billion per year range for 2024 and 2025 from a planned $23 billion to $27 billion in 2023.

Shell’s shift follows a similar move rival BP (BP.L) made earlier this year when CEO Bernard Looney rowed back from plans to cut its oil and gas output by 40 per cent by 2030.

Sawan, a 48-year-old Canadian-Lebanese national who previously headed Shell’s oil, gas and renewables divisions, has in recent months scrapped several projects, including in offshore wind, hydrogen and biofuels, due to projections of weak returns.

On Wednesday it said it is also conducting a strategic review of energy and chemicals assets on Bukom and Jurong Island in Singapore.

NET ZERO

Speculation that Sawan was set to slow Shell’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shift to renewables have angered climate-focused investors.

Ramping up fossil fuel production would likely lead to a rise in Shell’s absolute greenhouse gas emissions, even though it said it remains committed to slashing emissions to net zero by 2050.

Shell’s climate pledges are based on emissions intensity reductions per unit of energy produced, which means absolute emissions can rise even if the headline intensity metric falls.

It currently has a target to cut its 2030 emissions intensity, including from the combustion of the fuels it sells, by 20 per cent.

Scientists say the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by around 43 per cent by 2030 from 2019 levels to stand any chance of realising the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Shell also faces a Dutch court ruling ordering the company to drastically cut emissions. It has appealed the decision.

Source: Reuters

“This is an important step in preparing for full integration. Besides, the turnaround program at Siemens Gamesa, Mistral, needs further rigorous execution, even though we see first moves in the right direction,” Siemens Energy Chief Executive Christian Bruch said.

Siemens Energy last year launched a 4.05 billion euro ($4.37 billion) takeover bid for the remaining third it did not own in Siemens Gamesa, aimed at getting under control operational and structural issues at the subsidiary.

($1 = 0.9258 euros)

Source: Reuters

“A delegation on renewable vitality sources visited Azerbaijan final 12 months. We have a program of the Ministry of Economy and Climate Action, and it helps enterprise delegations on promising subjects, corresponding to the event of renewable vitality sources in Azerbaijan,” he mentioned.

“We know that Azerbaijan has a excessive potential within the discipline of renewable vitality. We see numerous curiosity within the German enterprise group on this sector. Moreover, our Chamber of Commerce organized a Forum on Economic Sustainability and held conferences within the B2B format. Our firms are learning the Azerbaijani market, its circumstances and authorized surroundings. We have 2-3 initiatives that we’re presently engaged on,” he added.

Baumann mentioned that the German aspect is negotiating with the Azerbaijani authorities to take part in auctions for renewable vitality.

“There are some facets that must be clarified, for instance, the worth. Azerbaijan has actually low shopper costs for electrical energy, which isn’t very enticing for giant German traders. I consider that cooperation initiatives can come from medium-sized firms,” he added.

“There are different potentialities which might be being mentioned immediately between German firms and the Azerbaijani aspect. If the public sale takes place, I believe there will likely be alternatives that may fulfill the pursuits of German bidders,” Tobias Baumann mentioned.

Source: PTI

The EU is phasing out by 15 September 2023 the exceptional and temporary preventive measures adopted on 2 May 2023 on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed from Ukraine under the exceptional safeguard of the Autonomous Trade Measures Regulation. The scope of these measures is further reduced from 17 to 6 tariff lines for the 4 products covered. These temporary and targeted measures were adopted due to logistical bottlenecks concerning these products in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, and on the condition that member states do not maintain any restrictive measures. The phase out will allow for significant improvements to be made to the Solidarity Lanes and to address challenges to get Ukrainian grain out of the country for this harvest.

These measures continue to be necessary for a limited period of time given the exceptional circumstances of serious logistical bottlenecks and limited grain storage capacity ahead of the harvest season experienced in five Member States. As agreed, a Joint Coordination Platform has been set up to coordinate the efforts of the Commission, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, as well as Ukraine to improve the flow of trade between the Union and Ukraine, including transit of agricultural products along corridors. Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis is leading this process at political level. A first kick-off meeting of this coordination platform took place at technical level on 2 June.

The improvement of Solidarity Lanes will be, therefore, monitored by this export facilitation platform.

In case transit of Ukrainian goods is impeded by unduly burdensome requirements in one or several of the five Member States, the Commission will reassess whether the substantive conditions for imposing these preventive measures remain.

These exceptional and temporary measures fully respect the EU’s strong commitment to support Ukraine and preserve its capabilities to export its grains which are critical to feed the world and keep food prices down, in the face of the challenges posed by the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine and its civilians.

Background

In force since 4 June 2022, the ATMs to liberalise trade with Ukraine have had a positive effect on Ukraine’s trade to the EU. Together with the Solidarity Lanes, the ATMs have ensured that trade flows from Ukraine to the EU have been preserved in 2022 despite the disruptions caused by the war and against the general trend of a strong decrease of Ukraine’s trade overall.

Unilateral and temporary in nature, the ATMs significantly broaden the scope of tariff liberalisation under the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) by suspending all outstanding duties and quotas, as well as duties on anti-dumping and safeguard measures on Ukrainian imports in Ukraine’s hour of need.

The exceptional and temporary preventive measures on imports of a limited number of products from Ukraine entered into force on 2 May 2023 and were set to last until 5 June 2023.

The measures concern only four agricultural products – wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed – originating in Ukraine. They exceptional measures are more targeted in terms of scope and will also not apply to sowing seeds. During this period, these products can continue to be released for free circulation in all the Member States of the European Union other than Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The products can continue to circulate in or transit via these five Member States by means of a common customs transit procedure or go to a country or territory outside the EU.

Source: europa

BRUSSELS : The European Commission and the United Arab Emirates’ presidency of this year’s COP28 climate summit pledged on Wednesday to seek support for global goals to expand renewable energy, which they said would help countries to shift from unabated fossil fuels.

The two sides will work to “ensure maximum support on global 2030 targets for the tripling of renewable energy and doubling of energy efficiency,” a statement agreed after a meeting of officials in Brussels said.

“These targets would support the transition towards energy systems free of unabated fossil fuels.”

Unabated fossil fuels are those that do not use technology to capture the CO2 emissions produced from burning them.

The EU and COP28 hosts UAE will also work together on establishing a fund to address irreparable damage climate change is causing in vulnerable countries, they said. Countries agreed last year to launch that fund, but have yet to negotiate how it will work and where the money will come from.

At last year’s COP27 U.N. climate summit, countries failed to agree a deal on phasing down the fossil fuel consumption that causes climate change.

A proposal by India to do so won support from more than 80 governments, but Saudi Arabia and other oil- and gas-rich countries opposed it.

Some countries, including members of the European Union, hope to revive the proposal ahead of this year’s U.N. climate summit, which begins on Nov. 30 in Dubai.

But countries have already clashed over wording.

The UAE’s incoming COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber – who is also the head of the country’s national oil company – last month urged countries to focus on “phasing out fossil fuel emissions”.

That could allow countries to keep using fossil fuels, while using technology to capture their emissions.

Other nations want a clear commitment to gradually stop using oil, gas and coal.

“We must bring the fossil fuel era to an end and phase out fossil fuels,” the Netherlands, Chile, New Zealand and climate-vulnerable island states, including the Marshall Islands, said in a joint letter last month.

Source: zawya

The European Union in March approved a law to end sales of new C02-emitting cars in 2035.

To meet that goal, electricity is needed both to power the electric vehicles (EVs) and the battery plants automakers need to produce them. Production of synthetic aviation fuel also relies heavily on power.

As a result, electricity use is likely to rise by nearly 10 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year on average over the next decade to between 580 and 640 TWh in 2035, the RTE climate and energy report said.

That compares with 452.8 TWh in 2022, which was a crisis year as Europe sought to curb its energy demand to cope with the impact of the Ukraine war and France’s nuclear fleet was subject to an unusually high level of maintenance, meaning its energy output sank to a 34-year low.

Demand has stayed below pre-pandemic levels and it is only from 2025 at the earliest that the report predicts demand growth will match levels last experienced in the 1980s when a fleet of new nuclear capacity was built to cope.

“This highlights the magnitude of the challenge facing the French electricity system,” the report said.

Over the decade to 2035, RTE projects an average of 350 TWh of nuclear power availability per year.

A new Flammanville 3 reactor, expected to start generating at the end of the year provided there are no further delays, will add 10 TWh per year.

But the report says France will need the country’s other reactors to have their lifespan extended to 60 years, something safety watchdog ASN is considering.

Nuclear energy has typically supplied around 70% of France’s supply and will remain dominant, but renewable supplies will also increase. New onshore wind and solar power are expected to dominate renewable growth until 2030. Offshore wind power is expected to overtake as the leading source of growth between 2030 and 2035.

Source: Reuters

Just under a third of electricity generated in Germany came from wind power in the first quarter of 2023, according to data released on Wednesday, as wind turbines edged past coal as the nation’s top power provider. Some 32.2% of German electricity was produced by wind in the first three months of the year, versus 30% from coal, the federal statistics office said.

It was the first time that wind power had topped the list of power sources in Europe’s largest economy since the second quarter of 2020. Conventional energy sources – comprising coal, gas and nuclear – still made up over half of electricity production at 51.4%, down slightly from 52.9% a year earlier, the office reported.

Germany aims to generate at least 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. It closed its last nuclear power plants in April and aims to wind down coal production in the coming years.

Source: Reuters

In an ornate ballroom at the Palace of Versailles last July, the head of Taiwan’s ProLogium took out a pair of scissors and cut one of its solid-state batteries the size of a credit card in half. The small bulb it was powering continued to shine.

Macron was amazed by the demonstration of the safety and durability of the next-generation technology many carmakers hope will soon power electric vehicles (EVs), according to two people at the meeting. “We’ll make your life easier and help you set up shop here,” he told ProLogium’s Chief Executive Vincent Yang.

Ten months later, Macron and Yang stood side-by-side in Dunkirk to announce that ProLogium had picked the northern French port ahead of sites in Germany and the Netherlands for its first EV battery gigafactory outside Taiwan.

It is one of four such gigafactories Macron hopes will transform the poor, former coal mining area near Belgium into a hub for the EV battery industry, creating jobs and helping to put France at the forefront of Europe’s energy transition.

It didn’t happen by chance.

Interviews with 10 government officials and executives involved in the investment decisions show that France rolled out the red carpet, offering battery makers generous subsidies thanks to a relaxation of EU state aid rules for green energy projects – along with some personal lobbying by Macron.

The people said changes since Macron became president in 2017, such as cuts in corporate tax, measures to make hiring and firing easier, and reductions in a production tax based on the size of factories, also played a role in the decisions.

Besides ProLogium, China’s Envision AESC, local startup Verkor and the ACC consortium including Mercedes and Stellantis are setting up gigafactories in the same area – and officials said France is courting Chinese EV giant BYD and Tesla to build car plants too.

“Results don’t just fall from the sky,” Macron told Reuters in Dunkirk. “It’s in line with what we’ve been doing for six years. France is adapting to the world.”

‘RACE WITHIN EUROPE’

Automakers are racing to stay ahead of rivals by producing cleaner vehicles, securing greater control over their supply chains and bringing plants making EV batteries – an industry dominated by Chinese, South Korean and Japanese firms – closer to their manufacturing sites.

At the same time, European governments have been fretting that the $430 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes big tax subsidies to cut emissions while boosting domestic manufacturing, would divert investment to the United States at Europe’s expense.

That’s why France is presenting the conversion of its once-industrialised north into a gigafactory hub as a victory for European economic and manufacturing sovereignty in the face of stiff U.S. and Chinese competition.

But Macron’s activism also highlights the growing rivalry between European governments to land high-profile investments from car companies and their suppliers.

“The president fights for Europe whenever possible. But it’s also a race within Europe,” said a French diplomat familiar with Macron’s thinking who declined to be named.

With the ProLogium deal and the inauguration of ACC’s plant last month, Macron also hopes to show a disgruntled public that his business-friendly reforms are paying off, and shift the narrative away from months of protests over his decision to raise the retirement age.

At the moment, however, France lags well behind Germany when it comes to attracting battery makers.

Including ProLogium’s 48 gigawatt-hour (GWh) plant, it has 169 GWh of planned or existing sites, way short of Germany on 545 GWh and Hungary with 215 GWh, according to a snapshot of projects co-authored by Heiner Heimes, an academic specialising in battery production at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

PLAYING CATCH UP

But France is catching up, partly thanks to its largesse in funding projects upfront.

To bag the ProLogium solid-state battery plant, which is expected to involve a total investment of 5.2 billion euros and create 3,000 jobs over time, France offered incentives worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), one source with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

French officials and ProLogium executives declined to comment on the level of support as it is still pending European Commission approval and the final amount could differ.

For the 2.3 billion euro plant opened by ACC (Automotive Cells Company) – the battery manufacturer involving Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis, German rival Mercedes and French energy company TotalEnergies – France provided about 840 million euros in subsidies, including funds for research and development, according to the finance ministry.

ACC plans to build two similar plants in Germany and Italy, with the help of 437 million euros and 370 million euros in public funds respectively, according to the German and Italian governments.

Ola Kaellenius, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Group, said it was taking a region by region approach to ensure EV batteries were made near its auto manufacturing plants around the world – so having gigafactories in Europe was inevitable.

“Now that you have additional economic incentives on top of that, it is something you have to take into your business case calculation, there is no doubt about that,” he told Reuters.

To roll out the public support France is using to entice battery makers, Macron lobbied Brussels to let EU member states match the kind of subsidies Washington is throwing at the EV industry under the IRA.

The EU agreed in February to loosen state aid rules, paving the way for France to unveil a green tax credit package, which can be worth up to 40% of a company’s capital investment in wind, solar, heat-pump and battery projects.

“The usual level of support to major industrial companies is around 10 to 15%. Here, it’s higher than usual,” said Marc Mortureux, the head of the PFA French car lobby. “We’re now at support levels in line with those of the U.S. IRA.”

‘A CHARMING GUY’

Xavier Bertrand, head of the region home to the battery hub, told Reuters it could fast-track projects in less than half the time it takes other French regions as it gets all the necessary approvals done in parallel, rather than one after the other.

France is also making a cash incentive of up to 5,000 euros for buyers of new electric cars conditional on the manufacturers meeting tough low-carbon standards, effectively shutting out many non-European carmakers using dirtier energy.

Still, the IRA almost threw ProLogium’s investment in France off course, one French presidential adviser told Reuters.

In April this year, Macron advisers and ProLogium held a crunch meeting in Paris after the company said it needed a “little extra” to convince its board to invest in France.

According to the adviser, what sealed the deal was a promise by Macron that he would attend the signing ceremony in person, and give ProLogium a welcome publicity boost.

“Macron is a charming guy,” ProLogium’s Yang told Reuters, when asked about the French version of events. He added, though, that the cheap electricity from the nearby Gravelines nuclear power plant was just as important, if not more so.

French officials say the gigafactories are just one example of a country that is starting to open factories on its soil after two decades of offshoring to lower-cost sites – thanks to the government’s supply-side reforms.

Some opposition politicians say, however, that Macron is just exposing France to the whims of companies that are playing governments off each other to win more public money.

“Dunkirk has Chinese and Taiwanese investors,” Fabien Roussel, head of the French Communist Party told Reuters. “These shareholders can pull out for a number of reasons. What happens if the state has no guarantees or a share in the business?”

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

Source: Reuters

In its Renewable Energy Market update report, the IEA said additions of renewable capacity worldwide are set to jump by 107 gigawatts (GW), the largest absolute increase ever, to more than 440 GW in 2023.

Next year, total global renewable electricity capacity is expected to rise to 4,500 GW, equivalent to the total power output of China and the U.S. combined.

“Solar and wind are leading the rapid expansion of the new global energy economy,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said.

“This year, the world is set to add a record-breaking amount of renewables to electricity systems – more than the total power capacity of Germany and Spain combined.”

In Europe, the growth of renewable energy is at the heart of the bloc’s response to the energy crisis in the wake of the Ukraine war. New policy measures are also helping to drive significant capacity increases in the U.S. and India over the next two years.

China is also expected to account for nearly 55% of global additions of renewable power capacity in both 2023 and 2024, the IEA said.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity additions will account for two-thirds of this year’s increase, and are expected to keep growing in 2024. High electricity prices have been driving the faster growth of rooftop solar PV, the report said.

Wind power capacity additions are forecast to grow by almost 70% in 2023 year-on-year due to the completion of projects that had been delayed by COVID restrictions in China and by supply chain issues in the U.S and Europe.

However, further growth in 2024 will depend on whether governments can provide greater policy support to address challenges in terms of permitting and the design of capacity auctions, the report added.

Even though the competitiveness of wind and solar PV has improved since last year, renewable energy auctions were under-subscribed by a record 16% in 2022.

More investment in upgrading grids to integrate higher volumes of renewables in power systems is also needed.

Source: Reuters

BERLIN : The world is set to add a record amount of renewable electricity capacity this year as governments and consumers seek to offset high energy prices and take advantage of a boom in solar power, according to a new report Thursday.

The International Energy Agency said high fossil fuel prices — resulting from Russia’s attack on Ukraine — and concerns about energy security had boosted the rollout of solar and wind power installations, which are expected to reach 440 gigawatts in 2023.

That’s about a third more than the world added the previous year, taking the global installed capacity to 4,500 GW, roughly the combined total power output of the United States and China, the Paris-based agency said.

“The global energy crisis has shown renewables are critical for making energy supplies not just cleaner but also more secure and affordable,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director.

“Governments are responding with efforts to deploy them faster,” he said. Recent incentives to install renewables introduced by the Biden administration are already driving a significant uptake in the United States.

About two-thirds of this year’s increase in renewable power capacity will come from photovoltaic, with both large-scale solar farms and consumer rooftop installations seeing significant growth.

IEA said manufacturing capacity for PV components was also surging, especially in China.

Construction of new wind farms is predicted to rebound after a period of low growth. However, in contrast to solar manufacturing, the supply chains for wind turbines aren’t growing fast enough to meet demand, the agency said.

Birol also cautioned that power grids must be upgraded and expanded to cope with the intermittent nature of solar and wind power, which require a fundamentally different approach by network operators compared with existing coal, gas or nuclear plants.

The report forecast that several European countries, including Spain, Germany and Ireland, will see wind and solar’s combined share of their overall annual electricity generation top 40% by 2024.

Shifting the global economy away from fossil fuels is one of the most important steps for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Experts say that to meet the Paris climate accord’s goal of limiting temperature rise since pre-industrial times to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), emissions need to be halved by 2030 and cut to “net zero” by mid-century.

The International Renewable Energy Agency, a separate body, has called for a major increase in wind and solar investments. Nations are expected to discuss setting an international target for the rollout of renewable energy at this year’s U.N. climate summit in Dubai.

Source: PTI

In January, the government announced a public hearing to propose five areas off the Atlantic coast where wind farms could potentially be built.

With these projects, Portugal is targeting 10 GW of installed capacity and a total investment of 30-40 billion euros ($33-44 billion) by 2030, though it was not clear how much money the state hopes to recoup from the auction or over what timescale.

Fontoura said the government should receive a final technical report about the areas for the first auction on Wednesday, but it should take place in the north as offshore coastal areas there have the greatest potential.

“We are determined to launch it this year … so we’ll have a lot of work (to do) during the summer,” Fontoura told reporters at an energy summit in Lisbon. “This first auction will surely have a capacity of over 1 GW and then we will hold more auctions in the coming years.”

The auction will be for floating wind farms with turbines installed in deep sea, where winds are strong enough to harness more energy than conventional structures onshore.

Portugal already has a small, 25 megawatts (MW) floating wind project off its Atlantic coast, which is owned by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between Portugal’s main utility EDP EDP.LS and French company Engie ENGIE.PA.

Other utilities have also shown interest in developing offshore wind projects in Portugal, including Germany’s BayWa BYWGnx.DE, the Irish-Spanish consortium IberBlue Wind and renewable developer and fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

By the end of 2022, plans for 48 GW of floating wind capacity around the world were in place, nearly double the amount in the first quarter last year, according to Fitch Solutions, with European companies driving the expansion.

So far there are only just over 120 MW in operation worldwide. Mass use of such projects is still pricey.

Fontoura also said that Portugal “already has firm investment intentions to install hydrogen plants with double or even triple the 2.5 GW of capacity that the government forecast by 2030” thanks to high competitiveness of Portuguese projects designed to decarbonise the chemical and other industries.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

Source: Reuters

French solar PV installations continue to develop at a slow but steady pace with a total of 601 MW deployed in Q1/2023 up from 596 MW last year, taking the country’s cumulative PV capacity to 17.15 GW, according to the Données et Etudes Statistiques or Data and Statistical Studies Department (SDES) under the country’s Ministry of Energy.

Previously, SDES had pegged Q1/2022 solar installations in France as even lower at 484 MW that declined more than 34% from 736 MW in Q1/2021

During the reporting quarter, France saw 40% of the newly connected power come from system sizes of more than 250 kW which represents only 0.2% of the number of new connections. Those with less than 9 kW capacity represent 93% of the new units and 22% of new connections.

Most of this capacity in Q1 was installed in Mainland France with New Aquitaine region installing the highest geographically at 117 MW.

On cumulative basis, of 17.15 GW, New Aquitaine region takes the top spot with 4.04 GW, followed by 3.27 GW in Occitania and 2.02 GW in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, among other regions.

As per its multi-year energy program (PPE), France aims to grow its aggregate solar PV capacity to 20.1 GW by the end of 2023, which it should comfortably reach if it exceeds the annual capacity of 2.58 GW it installed last year. Thereafter, the official target is to scale up to between 35.1 GW and 44.0 GW by 2028-end.

According to PV sector association SolarPower Europe (SPE), France should be installing around 5 GW annually to be able to achieve its 44 GW target.

The PPE targets for 2033 are expected to be revised in 2023 which SPE hopes will be more ambitious as the French transmission system operator RTE predicts 70 GW to 208 GW of solar capacity installations in the country in 2050, as per SPE’s EU Market Outlook For Solar Power 2022-2026

SDES said the capacity of the projects in the queue has increased by 10% since the beginning of the year to stand at 18.5 GW, including 4.4 GW with a signed connection agreement.

In the long run, France has very unambitious solar targets. In February 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron has said his country will multiply its installed solar power capacity to exceed 100 GW by 2050 as solar energy is cheaper and fits more easily into the landscape, referring to its versatility, while offshore wind will be expanded to around 40 GW, from practically nothing as of now.

Source: taiyangnews

The construction of the biggest solar farm in Italy to date has received approval from authorities in Sicily as European Energy sealed the building permit for the 250MW project.

Once operational, the plant in the municipality of Vizzini, near Catania, will generate renewable energy equivalent to the consumption of 130,000 household and save approximately 165,000 tons of CO2 annually.

“Italy is a key country and market for European Energy, and authorization for this project represents an important milestone for our company,” said European Energy chief executive Knud Erik Andersen.

“We have proven that we are capable of rolling-out large-scale renewable energy projects in Italy, and look forward to delivering another important solar farm for the benefit of the Italian community,” he added.

European Energy has already built several solar farms in Italy, including the 130MW Troia project in Apulia – which was the largest such site in the country when it was connected to the grid.

The Sicilian project has a strong focus on the sustainability of the land being used. In addition to renewable energy production, the facility includes a comprehensive reforestation and biodiversity program covering 200 hectares. This initiative will further enhance the environmental friendliness of the region and contribute to the support of biodiversity action.

The strategic choice of Sicily as the project location is rooted in its growing significance for renewable energy production, development, and interconnection at both the national and international level. The region’s exceptional high solar radiation combined with the utilization of cutting-edge photovoltaic technologies will maximize renewable energy production.

European Energy remains dedicated to employing the most innovative technologies to optimize energy production. Currently, the project is evaluating various solutions, including traditional photovoltaic systems, sun-tracking panels to increase energy yield and agrivoltaic systems that integrate electricity production with valuable crop cultivation.

Country manager of European Energy Italia Alessandro Migliorini added: “With this authorization, we take a further step forward in our strategic path in Italy, where we will continue to invest in renewable energy projects, mainly wind and solar, always linked to programs for the recovery of the cultural fabric or the development of the natural heritage of the territory where we build.”

Source: renews

The boss of Jaguar Land Rover-owner Tata is expected to fly to London next week to finalise the deal, the BBC report added.

The British government’s business department declined to comment on the report.

The decision by the Indian bluechip company would give a boost to the British car industry coming days after major automakers including Vauxhall owner Stellantis and Ford warned that looming post-Brexit trade rules risked making it unviable.

Spain is also competing to host the plant, making any decision to choose Britain a major win for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is under growing pressure from carmakers to make the country more attractive.

Britain has fallen behind in the global race to build local electric vehicle (EV) battery capacity, threatening the future of the sector because it requires heavy batteries to be built near car manufacturing plants.

A lack of a home-grown battery sector would also risk tariffs on British cars under post-Brexit rules that are due to come into force from next year.

Source: Reuters