Denmark and seven other EU countries around the Baltic Sea have agreed to increase the utilisation of offshore wind power by seven times by 2030. This was the goal of the Marienburg Declaration presented by Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Finland after Tuesday’s summit. As a result, the countries have committed to jointly expand offshore wind capacity in the Baltic Sea from the current level of almost 3 GW to 20 GW. This exceeds the current offshore wind power capacity of the entire EU. In addition to tackling the climate crisis, the green energy generated by the turbines must ultimately help to free the Baltic Sea region from its vulnerability to dependence on Russian energy. The majority at the summit decided to make the future wind farm in Bornholm, Denmark, have a capacity of 3 GW instead of 2 GW. In the meantime, Denmark has reached an agreement with Germany to lay a 470 km long cable from Bornholm to Germany that can carry electricity southwards when needed.
Previously, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium also committed in the Esbjerg Declaration to increase offshore wind power capacity in the North Sea tenfold by 2050, which involves the construction of up to 10,000 offshore wind turbines.
The Swedish nuclear power plant Ringhals, which has been undergoing regular summer service, has a technical fault and will therefore not be operating for some three months. Ringhals CEO Björn Linde says in a press statement that it is very unfortunate that the plant will be inoperative much longer than was expected. Ringhals 4 was turned off in the middle of August for annual maintenance and fuel change. During an obligatory test one of the plant’s pressure containers, a large part of the plant, was damaged and now needs replacing. Linde writes that “We will do our utmost to reinstate electricity production”. Anna Collin, Ringhals Head of Communications, explains that the damage was discovered Monday and affects the working of the plant, but has no safety implications as such. Ringhals 4 has a capacity of 1.120 MW and can supply a city like Gothenburg with electricity twice over, according to Collin. Its twin plant Ringhals 3 was serviced during the early summer and is producing electricity normally and at full effect.
Equinor and Wintershall Dea have agreed to develop an extensive carbon capture and storage (CCS) value chain linking continental European CO2 emitters to offshore storage sites on the Norwegian continental shelf. The plan is to connect an open pipeline of approximately 900 kilometres in length to CO2 collection centres in northern Germany and storage sites in Norway by 2032. The projected CO2 storage capacity is between 20 and 40 million tonnes per year, equivalent to 20% of Germany's total annual industrial emissions. Wintershall Dea and Equinor also plan to apply jointly for an offshore CO2 storage licence with the aim of storing between 15 and 20 Mt CO2 per year in the North Sea.
The Norwegian-German (NOR-GE) CCS project aims to make a significant contribution to the reduction of European greenhouse gas emissions by establishing a value chain and infrastructure for the safe transport, injection and storage of CO2 in suitable reservoirs on the Norwegian continental shelf. By working together, the two companies are responding to the need for large-scale decarbonisation in Europe for carbon-intensive industries that require safe and large-scale underground CO2 storage to reduce unavoidable emissions from their processes.
Despite the current energy crisis, the Swedish Armed Forces (Sw. Försvarsmakten) have just advised that they will not, at least until March 2023, review and comment on submissions made to it about planned wind power projects. This unexpected communication has evoked strong reactions among the wind power businesses, who now warn about long delays in the further construction of Swedish wind power. More specifically the Armed Forces have notified several wind power actors that they will not decide on so-called obstacle referrals (Sw. hinderremisser) before the end of March 2023, irrespective of whether the projects are on land or at sea. The obstacle referrals are preliminary comments on these power projects early in the process, so without them power companies will be unable to proceed with their operational planning processes. The Armed Forces are a key determinant for such projects to be realised based on national security concerns. Both Swedish energy firms and Norwegian and Swedish-German wind power firms are all critical of this delay, which they say will prove costly for Sweden at the wrong time.
Nidec and FREYR have signed a contract worth NOK 30 billion for FREYR to supply Nidec with 19,000 batteries over six years. This is equivalent to approximately half the capacity of FREYR's Giga Arctic plant. By entering into this joint venture agreement, Nidec will strengthen its strategic partnership with FREYR and aim to further expand its Battery Energy Storage Solutions (BESS) business in the future. Nidec's partnership with FREYR will ensure the stable sourcing of competitive and clean semi-solid lithium-ion batteries for Nidec's BESS solutions. This will help to significantly reduce CO2 emissions throughout the battery manufacturing process to the customer. The alliance aims to leverage FREYR's low-carbon battery technology and Nidec's leadership in utility-scale energy storage systems to jointly build a global supplier of utility-scale battery energy storage products.
Almi Invest GreenTech has invested SEK 5 million in Cellfion, a company that has developed a bio-based membrane for energy storage, which is at the heart of the transition to CO2-free energy systems. Cellfion develops membranes made from biomaterials derived from forests, making them sustainable, recyclable, competitively priced and with improved performance. Cellfion focuses on two parallel markets, one is the production of hydrogen, where membranes are used to separate hydrogen molecules. The other part is the production of a larger type of battery which is suitable for connection to the grid for the storage of renewable energy. Cellfion CEO Liam Hardey said that this is the first commercial product of its kind and will play an important role in the transition to green energy solutions. Cellfion can now take the next step in our development and begin testing its technology by this investment.
The Norwegian-Swedish firm, Tibber is helping more and more Swedish consumers to control their electricity bills. This is because there are smart ways to manage the costs of households’ electricity bills. Co-founder Daniel Lindén gives ideas about how best to do this and says that the high prices now adversely affect all types of households. Last summer Tibber had some 400.000 customers, but now they already have half a million customers in Sweden, Norway and Germany and Tibber is also introducing its service in the Netherlands. The firm offers a platform which buys and resells renewable electricity and its goal is to lower customers energy costs and the energy consumption of European households by 20%. Its app shows energy prices for the next 24 hours, which allies households to program for example washing machines and dishwashers to run during the cheapest periods and the same goes for charging their e-cars. This since the energy market fixes the price of electricity at 12 noon every day for the coming 24 hours. Lindén says that Tibber is now also helping continental European customers to switch from gas to cheaper electricity so exactly at the right time for millions of consumers. During 1Q22 its revenue increased by 340% to SEK 2.1 billion.
Eolus Vind generated turnover of more than SEK 1.4 billion and profit after tax of SEK 225 million. The largest part of Eolus' profit was attributable to the sale of its 51% owned Stor-Skälsjön wind power project, of which SEK 103 million of the profit for the period went to Eolus' shareholders. At the same time, turnover of approximately SEK 900 million came from Stor-Skälsjön and the transfer agreement in connection with the construction of the project. Eolus' residual income from the transfer agreement is estimated at approximately SEK 200 million. Like many other companies, Eolus has had to cope with rising prices and shortages of spare parts. With the quarterly results and the guaranteed financing of a credit facility of SEK 1.5 billion, the CEO believes that the company is in a good position for continued growth. New legislation in the US, which has enabled a massive expansion of renewable energy, also offers opportunities for the company.
Stavanger-based solar company Norsk Solar has received government funding to mitigate its risks. The funding will be used to develop solar power plants in Vietnam, South Africa, Pakistan and Indonesia. Norad is supporting Norsk Solar with projects of up to NOK 30 million. Norad CEO Bård Vegar Solhjell said the NOK 30 million would be used for project development and risk premiums for loan financing for four projects in developing countries. He argues that the sun will be the main source of energy this century, and Africa has 60% of the world's solar potential, of which only 1% has been released. They hope to be able to contribute to renewable energy investments in developing countries.
The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has received six new applications for up to 8.5 GW of offshore wind through its open-ended scheme for regulatory consultation. 47 applications were received by the DEA between 4 April and 30 August, 16 of which were rejected because they overlapped with state land reservations. Of the remaining 31 applications, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partnership (CIP), European Energy and Andel accounted for the majority of projects.
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.