20 October 2022
Sweden’s Government wants to pause reviews for hydropower
Sweden’s new Government wants to pause the extensive environmental review that has been initiated for all of Sweden’s approximately 2,000 hydropower plants. The decision has been met with different reactions. The hydropower owner Göran Widing welcomes the Government’s willingness to pause the environmental trials, and argues that while the environment must be protected, it must be done in a sensible manner and in “the places deemed beneficial.” However, Sten Frohm, General Secretary at the Swedish Anglers Association (Sw. Sportfiskarna) believes that the environmental tests are needed to recreate the natural migration routes for, among other things, eels and salmon. Following a Government decision from 2010, new environmental permits must be sought for hydropower plants, but according to the new Tidö Agreement, new rules must instead be drawn up to protect the owners of the plants
TT/Omni, Sveriges Radio
Finland establishes informal strategic partnership "For Forest" with Sweden, Austria and Slovenia
Finland, together with Sweden, Austria, and Slovenia, have formed an informal strategic partnership, ‘For Forest’, to deepen cooperation in forestry management and policies within the EU. The agreement, signed by the four ministers in Luxembourg, can be interpreted as preparation for the mounting pressure to protect and preserve forests with new legislation. Finland's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Antti Kurvinen, said that it would be a mistake to look at forestry only from the perspective of climate and environmental policy. Kurvinen said that one must also bear in mind the issues of competitiveness and employment, as the climate crisis cannot be solved without a successful European forestry industry. He also stressed the importance of retaining forest policy in the national decision-making sphere, "in the way outlined in the EU treaties."
LKAB and H2 Green Steel reject the Swedish Climate Policy Council’s concerns
During Sunday’s edition of SVT’s programme Agenda, the Chair of the Swedish Climate Policy Council (Sw. Klimatpolitiska Rådet), Cecilia Hermansson, criticised the new Government’s focus on nuclear power instead of wind power. She warned that new industries that are at the forefront of the green transition in northern Sweden may choose Finland instead due to the new Government’s proposal to invest more in nuclear power, while offshore wind power will become more expensive due to the abolition of the subsidy for the connection fees. However, in an interview with DN, several companies state that they intend to stay in Sweden. State mining giant LKAB and steel producer H2 Green Steel said that they do not recognise Hermansson’s statement regarding companies planning to move production to Finland. “From our perspective, northern Sweden is optimal. All of our plans are based on a future establishment in Boden,” said Karin Hallstan, Press Manager at H2 Green Steel. Svea Vind offshore, which plans to install wind farms in the Gulf of Bothnia outside of Luleå and Piteå, also rejected Hermansson’s concerns. “The connection fee accounts for a changing part of an offshore wind power project, but there is much else that is uncertain in our industry, so I do not see the scrapped fee as the biggest problem,” said CEO of Svea Vind offshore, Eva Vitell.
SSAB and Luleå Municipality sign cooperation agreement
SSAB, the Municipality of Luleå and the Municipal Corporation have signed a cooperation agreement on the transformation of the port of Luleå in connection with a new investment in fossil-free industry. It is a cooperation to plan a new road, rail, water and energy system around a terminal and port warehouse. SSAB wants to build a new integrated electric steel mill and rolling mill in Luleå, which requires new logistics, land use and delivery solutions. The port of Luleå is intended to be a logistics hub in a green transition, both for SSAB and for other transport. Among other things, an all-weather terminal and a so-called coil hotel for storing steel coils are planned. The new agreement meets SSAB's need for a weather-proof route from production to transport.
Vianode opens sustainable battery materials R&D centre in Norway
Vianode, a division of Elkem, Hydro and Altor, produces advanced battery materials with a more environmentally friendly footprint. Vianode receives funding for on-site R&D activities from the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) and Innovation Norway, as well as from EU research funds, including the Horizon Europe program. The opening of the VTC in Kristiansand, Norway means that Vianode will expand its R&D efforts to include new offices, laboratories and the recruitment of additional battery materials researchers. This is an important step in establishing a complete battery value chain in Norway for the European market. VTC has analytical instrumentation, advanced electrochemical testing equipment and an applications lab focused on the use of Vianode materials in battery manufacturing.
Baseload Capital expands geothermal energy production globally with funding from Nefco
Baseload Capital, a Swedish investment firm specialising in geothermal energy, has secured new financing from the Nordic green bank Nefco. The funding round will be used to accelerate the development and implementation of geothermal power projects in Japan, Taiwan, Iceland and the U.S., facilitating the growth period of Baseload Capital and its key projects. Nefco's funding is part of a EUR 24 million financing the company received in the summer of 2022. Existing investors in Baseload Capital's financing are Gullspång Invest, Chevron Technology Ventures and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Nefco becomes another investor in an investment group focusing on renewable energy together with Baker Hughes. Magnus Brandberg, Chairman of the Board and Partner at Baseload Capital, said geothermal energy is an ideal source of stable, renewable base energy to complement solar and wind. This will be an important challenge as the world rapidly transitions to a sustainable energy supply.
Nel reported a loss of NOK 262 million in 3Q22
Nel reported a negative profit before tax of NOK 262 million for 3Q22. This is an improvement from a negative NOK 509 million in the same period in 2021. The result was also better than the deficit in 2Q22, when it landed at NOK 277 million. Revenue for the quarter fell to NOK 183 million, compared to NOK 229 million in 3Q21. Revenues were weighed down by poor sales in the hydrogen refinery segment and PEM electrolysis tanks. On the profit side, lower margins for projects agreed for 2020 and 2021 and higher staff costs for preparing large projects also had a negative impact. Order intake increased sharply to NOK 775 million and Nel expects to have the opportunity to secure more large contracts in the future.
Meanwhile, several brokerages, including Carnegie, Citigroup, Jefferies and Danske Bank, have lowered their price targets for Nel ahead of Thursday's quarterly report. This is because companies with most of their future earnings, such as Nel, are negatively affected by higher interest rates as it reduces the value of the promise of future earnings.
Norway's water storage and net electricity exports increase for first time in six weeks
After five consecutive weeks of importing electricity, Norway exported all of its electricity last week due to significant unregulated production, according to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). “Large amounts of rainfall and wind have increased power generation,” said Inga Nordberg, Head of NVE's Energy and Licensing Department, in a press release, adding that “most of the export was produced electricity that could not be stored.” Electricity prices rose again last week, partly due to higher prices in neighbouring countries as a result of lower wind generation compared to the previous week, in addition to increased electricity consumption due to cold weather. Despite this, reservoir statistics continue to increase. Water storage increased by 2.3% points across Norway last week, with fills increasing in all price regions.
Royal Caribbean is building the world's largest sustainable cruise ship
Royal Caribbean, the partly Norwegian-owned shipping company, is building the world's largest cruise ship, the Icon of the Seas. It will have an ice rink, a climbing wall and a surf simulator as well as many new facilities. The ship is 1,198 feet, or 365 metres, in length. It has a total of 250,800 gross tons. Royal Caribbean also claims that the Ocean Icon is the most sustainable ship they have ever built. They will focus on three key points: emissions reduction (LNG and hybrid fuel cell technology), energy efficiency (smart technology to save energy and reuse engine heat) and waste and water management (converting waste into energy on board). Icon of the Seas will be the first Royal Caribbean cruise ship to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the shipping company is now building a total of three ships that will be powered by it. LNG will be combined with shore power and heating systems that reuse excess energy.
Yara performs strongly despite market volatility
Yara delivered strong margins and higher returns in all commercial areas, more than offsetting lower deliveries. EBITDA for the third quarter, excluding special items, was USD1,001 million, compared to USD 765 million in the same period last year. Net income attributable to shareholders of the parent was USD 400 million, compared to a net loss of USD 143 million in the same period last year. Turnover for the third quarter was USD 6.22 billion (NOK 65.86 billion), up from USD 4.49 billion in the same period last year. Yara proposes to pay an additional dividend of NOK 10 per share in 4Q22. This means that Yara will pay NOK 2.5 billion to its shareholders, of which the Norwegian Government is the largest. Yara's share price on the Oslo Stock Exchange rose by 3.5 percent on Thursday morning after the figures were released.
In addition, Yara expects gas costs to increase by NOK 5.72 billion in the fourth quarter of the year compared to the same period last year. After a period of unusually high gas costs, Yara recently announced the closure of new plants in Europe. Yara is one of the largest industrial consumers of natural gas in Europe, which is used, among other things, to produce ammonia. Yara currently has 65% of its ammonia production in operation.
Valmet Automotive to produce solar-powered electric car at assembly plant in Finland
Finnish company Valmet Automotive has announced the completion of its first pre-production unit of the Lightyear 0, a solar-powered electric car developed by Lightyear in the Netherlands, which rolled off the assembly plant in the Finnish city of Uusikaupunki in late September, three months after the design specifications were finalised. The series will be assembled on a dedicated assembly line, which is being built in the latest part of the manufacturing plant. The line will be equipped with solutions such as collaborative robots for glueing, and greater attention will be paid to safety and ergonomic features.
What we're reading
- Germany moves ahead with energy efficiency law, amid ongoing EU talks (Euractiv)
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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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