17 January 2023
KTH and Alstom collaborate to build an integrated, sustainable rail system
The EU formed the initiative EU-Rail in 2021 to create an integrated rail system that has a higher capacity and is more sustainable. The latest project to join EU-Rail is a collaboration between KTH (Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology) and French transport manufacturer Alstom. The collaboration aims to contribute research to the EU initiative.
Sebastian Stichel, a professor in rail vehicle dynamics at KTH, stated that it is not only about making trains greener, but rail travel should be cheaper and easier if we really want to prevent climate change. Stichel also believes that the biggest issues plaguing the rail system are a lack of investment in infrastructure and the differing technical systems in place across Europe. Moreover, self-driving cars and effective signal systems are two areas of research that KTH will prioritise.
Norwegian Oil Fund invests NOK 6.8 billion in solar and wind power
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) acquires a 50% stake in Irish portfolio from Statkraft
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has entered into an agreement with Statkraft to develop offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea, which will require more than EUR 4 billion in investments by 2030. The portfolio includes four early or mid-stage projects located on the Irish east coast and south-east coast. The projects are expected to begin operations in 2028.
Copenhagen Atomics raises DKK 150 million for reactor development
Copenhagen Atomics recently announced that the company has raised DKK 150 million for the development of its reactors. The investment will thus accelerate the reactor development, in order to have a commercial reactor available by 2028. The commercial reactor will be a molten salt reactor (MSR), which is slightly different from a nuclear reactor. While a traditional nuclear reactor uses water under high pressure to transfer energy, a MSR uses salt to dissolve fissile material and transport it. According to Copenhagen Atomics, their MSR will be the cheapest available energy source, as sustainable as renewable energy and safer than traditional nuclear power.
While Copenhagen Atomics has secured enough money for 2023, they are already looking for funding for 2024. Thomas Jam Pederson, the Chairman of the company, believes that the venture will change public perception towards nuclear power. However, there are still waste challenges with the MSR, but they are less than those that occur in traditional nuclear power plants. Pederson also believes that nuclear waste will become valuable in the future, as technology develops, leading to more being reused and recycled. Copenhangen Atomics utilises nuclear waste by burning it first in their reactors, before burning uranium derived from thorium.
Azelio still failing to achieve commercialisation targets
Azelio is a Swedish cleantech company that wants to make renewable energy affordable, accessible and reliable. They intend to do this by offering a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) solution that utilises their Long-duration Energy Storage system, TES.POD, which has now been successfully demonstrated at Hannberg Farm in Sweden.
Azelio experienced a longer-than-expected sales cycle in 2022, which means the company will not reach their 2023 delivery target. This will delay a positive cash flow and mean more financing will be needed in 2023. Azelio has been able to deliver smaller projects like Masdar in Abu Dhabi and Noor Energy 1 in Dubai. However, bigger projects in Egypt and the US were stalled in 2022. In Egypt, Azelio is still working on securing financing and finalising agreement terms. While, in the US, TES.POD has not acquired a market product certification yet, which is now expected to be in place by 2024.
In the short term, Azelio is working on development and commercialization in southern Africa, where the most progress has been made. A direct sales business model will also most likely be implemented in southern Africa first. Furthemore, the US market is a mid/long-term focus for Azelio because of the increased investment in energy and sustainability due to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
CEO of Vestas says Europe is failing in renewable energy plan
Henrik Andersen, the CEO of the Danish wind turbine group Vestas, pointed out at COP27 2022 in Egypt that there are renewable energy projects that will produce hundreds of GW, but the development of projects is being stalled due to lengthy approval procedures. According to Anderson, the EU alone has four times as much capacity "trapped" in approval procedures as it has under construction.
What we're reading
- Gas for 58 billion euros: Germany becomes Norway's most important export country (German Norwegian Chamber of Commerce)
- Aviva pushes into insuring offshore wind and ‘hybrid’ buildings (Financial Times)
About Nordic Green News
The Nordic countries are some of the most dynamic and successful economies in the world. They are also leaders in sustainability, from renewable energy, biofuels, carbon capture and storage and the hydrogen economy, circular economy business models and battery development, the Nordics are pioneers in policy design, technology development and consumer uptake. Mundus Nordic Green News is covering this transition for the international community. Every day we curate the stories of most relevance to international businesspeople and policy experts from the flow of news. Mundus Nordic Green Indices summarise the meta-data from our daily coverage to enable easy tracking of trends. We supplement these with our own opinion pieces and commentary.
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