2 May 2023

Today's Top Nordic Green News:

• H2 Green Steel secures its largest contract yet 
• Swedish energy storage company Azelio secures SEK 30 million loan 
• Industrial giant SKF partners with Cake to develop the first fossil-free motorcycle

H2 Green Steel secures its largest contract yet 

Swedish steelmaker H2 Green Steel has signed its largest contract to date with Italian industrial company Marcegaglia to buy steel for over SEK 20 billion over a seven-year period. H2GS CEO Henrik Henriksson said the contract was "a feather in our cap". The two parties have signed a strict delivery agreement detailing widths, thickness, surface coatings and logistics. Henriksson added that the deal was "special" as it involved such a strong commitment 2.5 years before production starts. 

Di

Swedish energy storage company Azelio secures SEK 30 million loan 

Swedish energy storage company Azelio has secured a SEK 30 million loan from its main owner, which will ensure its short-term liquidity. The loan is subject to approval by the extraordinary general meeting in June, and includes a security for the loan by Azelio pledging certain patents and patent applications. Azelio is also planning to carry out a rights issue of around SEK 80 million, and is working to reduce costs and cut its workforce. The company is negotiating with a strategic partner that may include a significant commercial order, and aims to reach a declaration of intent by the summer and conclude an agreement in the autumn.

Press Release, Di

Industrial giant SKF partners with Cake to develop the first fossil-free motorcycle

Swedish industrial giant SKF has joined Swedish electric motorbike company Cake and Vattenfall in their Cleanest Dirt Bike Ever project, which aims to create the world's first completely fossil-free vehicle. The project's goal is to reduce the total climate footprint of Cake's model Kalk OR during its entire lifecycle, and SKF's participation will focus on reducing the footprint of the specific parts it supplies to Cake. The Swedish shock absorber manufacturer Öhlins Racing has also joined the project and started its own fossil-free transition.

Di

Danish researchers develop chemical process to recycle wind turbine blades, but scalability remains a challenge

Danish researchers from Aarhus University and the Danish Technological Institute have developed a chemical process that can separate glass fibres and bisphenol A (BPA) in wind turbine blades, which can then be used to produce new blades. The process uses the metal ruthenium as a catalyst in a bath of the solvent toluene. The researchers hope that the process will contribute to establishing a circular economy within the wind turbine, aircraft, car and aerospace industries. The method is not yet scalable as the catalytic system is not efficient enough for industrial implementation and ruthenium is a rare and expensive metal. Moreover, the process also generates significant amounts of secondary waste. 

The researcher behind the process, Andrzej Majewski, suggests that a more radical solution to the problem is to develop new wind turbine technologies that don't rely on propellers. These could include vertical axis turbines or bladeless turbines. However, commercial incentives to build wind farms quickly may prevent the adoption of these alternative technologies.

iNPUT, RenewEconomy

Vestas remains world's largest wind turbine supplier, says new report

Vestas has remained the world's largest turbine supplier, accounting for the majority of newly installed wind turbine capacity globally in 2022, according to a report by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). Vestas had a market share of 14.0%, a decline of 3.7% from the previous year, while China's Goldwind had a 1.2% increase, giving it a market share of 13.1%. Siemens Gamesa took third place, with 9.3 GW of new capacity installed, of which 3 GW was from offshore wind, making it the largest offshore wind supplier by 2022, the report said.

EnergiNyheter

French fund management company invests in Norwegian biogas plant project

Vireo AS, a company established by Hardanger Biogass and Lista Biogass, has secured financing from SWEN Capital Partners, a Paris-based fund management company, for its Norwegian biogas plants in Husnes and Lista. According to the report, the investment will enable Vireo to build production and promote a sustainable and circular economy, with a target of full start-up from 1Q25. The Husnes plant will produce 80 GWh of liquid biogas for industrial and transport use.

Kvinnheringen

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners joins Global Offshore Wind Alliance

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has joined the Global Offshore Wind Alliance (GOWA) to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind power worldwide. GOWA is an international coalition founded by the Government of Denmark, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the Global Wind Energy Council. The aim of the alliance is to achieve a total offshore wind capacity of at least 380 GW by 2030 and an installed capacity increase of at least 70 GW per year from 2030.

Press Release

Neste’s Q1 results exceed expectations

The Finnish renewable fuel producer, Neste, has reported Q1 2023 earnings exceeding expectations, with comparable operating profit increasing to €830 million from €578 million in the same period last year. The company’s revenue, however, fell to €5.3 billion from €5.5 billion, due to a decline in market and sales prices. Neste’s oil product business saw a substantial increase in comparable operating profit to €393 million from €137 million the previous year. The company has stated that 2023 will be a year of growth in renewable fuels, with development projects underway in Singapore, Rotterdam and California. Despite high refining margins during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Neste believes margins will weaken in the current quarter due to a lack of visibility in the global economy.

Press Release, Kauppalehti, Helsingin Sanomat

Terrafame reports increase in profitability

Terrafame, a mining and metals company in Finland, has reported a significant increase in profitability in the first quarter of 2023, thanks to the growth in production of battery chemicals for electric cars. The company's revenue in the first quarter was EUR 173 million, up 36% from the same period last year, and its operating profit was EUR 28 million, a 104% increase from last year. The proportion of revenue generated from battery chemicals increased to 38%. The company has signed long-term contracts with Renault and Stellantis to produce battery chemicals, with the value of the contracts estimated to be in the billions of euros. Terrafame expects its entire battery chemical production capacity to be in use by next year, producing nickel sulphate for a million electric cars and cobalt sulphate for 300,000 electric cars annually.

Press Release, Helsingin Sanomat

What we’re reading

• Last part of the EU's new, tough climate legislation hammered out (Swedish, blog)
• US investors ditch green funds as ‘woke capitalism’ backlash bites (Financial Times)
• Banks and oil groups place bets on carbon capture schemes (Financial Times)
• EU law to restore nature stokes debate that jobs will ‘go to China’ (Financial Times)
• How green industrial policy can drive economic change and speed up climate action (EU rules prevent all but 4 countries from investing enough - New Economics Foundation)
• Orbiting Methane ‘Speed Cameras’ Are Catching Polluters in the Act (Bloomberg)
• "Gothenburg is the new Norrland" (Swedish, Tidningen Energi)

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