In a Swedish-led process, six EU countries have agreed on how the EU's state aid rules should be adapted to contribute to a green transition of the European economy. Sweden’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Ibrahim Baylan, together with fellow ministers from Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Germany, sent a joint opinion to the responsible Commissioner, Margarethe Vestager before the draft new state aid regulations are discussed in the European Commission. (press release)
Ørsted has sold half of its Dutch assets, Borssele 1 & 2, to the Norwegian Petroleum Fund for DKK 10.2 billion. Borssele 1 & 2 went into operation at the end of 2020 and has a total capacity of 752 MW. (press release, Energi Watch)
In November 2020, Vattenfall expanded its ongoing collaboration with Fermi Energia by signing a letter of intent to explore the possibilities for distributing the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) in Estonia. Vattenfall has now accepted the opportunity to become a minority shareholder with approximately 6% ownership. Through the minority investment, Vattenfall can contribute with know-how and with feasibility studies regarding costs, supply chains and capacity to design and operate small-scale nuclear power technology. Innovative and fossil-free future nuclear power production such as SMR seems very promising for Estonia, which has the highest average carbon dioxide emissions per kWh of electricity generated among all EU countries, says Torbjörn Wahlborg, Head of the Generation Business at Vattenfall. (Dagens Industri)
Alfa Laval has taken an order worth SEK 415 million for the delivery of process systems and equipment for pre-treatment of raw materials to an American refinery that is switching from traditional petroleum refining to the production of renewable biofuels. The order is an important milestone for Alfa Laval. It is a result of the strategic investments made to adapt and develop the company's technologies to innovative equipment for renewable diesel production (HVO = Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil). The equipment thus contributes to the fuel industry's transition from current processes to more sustainable solutions. (Svenska Dagbladet)
Morrow Batteries has hired Juergen Lind as Executive Vice President for Industrialization and Business Development. He comes from Audi AG, where he has worked as head of battery development and been involved in developing the batteries for the Audi e-tron. (press release)
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 clip the stories of most relevance to international businesspeople and policy experts from the flow of news. We supplement these with our own opinion pieces and commentary, in English.