Vestas, the Danish wind turbine manufacturer, plans to establish a nacelle assembly facility at the New Jersey Wind Power port on the East Coast of the US, to support the development of a local and regional offshore wind supply chain. The New Jersey Wind Power port is under construction, with the first stage set to be completed in early 2024, and will become the first US shipping port earmarked for offshore wind, with USD500 million in public funding. Vestas has been selected as the preferred supplier for the Atlantic Shores project, a 1.5 GW offshore wind farm being developed by Shell and EDF.
The Swedish parliamentary Finance Committee has approved a temporary tax on excess profits from certain electricity production. The tax will apply to electricity produced with an installed capacity over 1 MW, with wind and nuclear power being primarily affected. The tax will be 90% on revenues over SEK 1,957 per MWh between March and June 2023 and is expected to increase state revenues by SEK 362 million in 2023. The proposal is based on EU regulation to address high energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Committee recommends that the Parliament approve the proposal, which will be debated and decided on February 22, 2023, but several parties have reservations about it.
TotalEnergies, a French energy company, has ambitions to grow on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The company is betting on both renewable energy and more oil and gas in Norway, says Henning Eide, the company’s communications director. This is after TotalEnergies presented record results in the petroleum segment for 2022.
Rambøll, a Danish engineering consultancy group, has established a national unit to provide sustainability consulting services to companies in the construction and property industry. The unit will bring together strategists, sustainability managers and specialists to help clients in their journey towards sustainable development. The new entity will start with 40 employees and is expected to double in size by 2025. The unit's goal is to work closely with decision makers to shape the demand for sustainable solutions in the industry and throughout the value chain.
Fortum, a Finnish energy company, and SSAB Europe, a Swedish steel company, have announced an expanded cooperation in metal recycling in Raahe, with Fortum handling metal recycling for the SSAB Raahe steel mill. Fortum will open a metal yard in Oulu in early 2023, where metals collected from Raahe will be transported for processing. The companies aim to increase recycling rates and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in their operations.
LKAB, a Swedish mining company, has submitted an application to Sweden’s State Property Agency to buy land in Porjus, with the potential to build a hydrogen factory to supply its demo plants for hydrogen-produced sponge iron in Gällivare. LKAB says that Porjus is a good location for the factory because the land has the necessary criteria for hydrogen production, such as electricity and water, and is not classified as national interest.
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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.