4 October 2022
As U.S. becomes green leader, other countries must join forces
President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act includes a game-changing USD 369 billion for climate and energy funding on top of the USD 110 billion of funding already channelled into climate investments last year. Denmark’s international freight company A.P. Moller-Maersk says it burns nearly 12 million tonnes of fossil fuels annually. To achieve climate neutrality, they need a market for green fuels, such as e-methanol, and a large amount of cost-effective renewable energy to produce the hydrogen needed for e-fuels to guarantee their customers an attractively priced fuel.
A.P. Moller - Maersk says tackling climate change and moving away from fossil fuel energy is a global challenge, but it comes with global opportunities. The U.S. government has sent a clear signal of its commitment to partnering with companies ready to invest in a green future. Europe, China, the Middle East, India and other countries should follow suit and develop their own ambitious investment plans. Despite the current turmoil in the world, we should not forget that we are in a climate emergency and that we must act now to make significant progress by 2030. The United States has invited the rest of the world to join the race to a greener future, and we need to work together to make it happen.
Nel ASA Receives Grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Engineer Research and Development Center
Nel Hydrogen US, a subsidiary of Nel ASA, has received USD 5.6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to accelerate the development of an advanced PEM electrolyzer for low-cost hydrogen storage and resiliency applications in collaboration with the Engineer Research and Development Center-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL). This 19-month project is designed to accelerate the development of low-cost electrolyzers with the goal of reducing operating and capital costs. High level activities include development of membranes optimised for electrolysis applications, development of advanced catalysts including high volume manufacturing and recovery technologies, surface coating technologies to reduce the use of precious metals, and cell stack integration and testing in a complete system at ERDC-CERL. Additional funding options are available for this project.
Danish political majority wants to speed up North Sea “Energy Island”
The Danish political majority agrees to a stricter framework for Energiö Nordsjö (Denmark’s North Sea “Energy Island”), with procurement to start in spring 2023. They say their focus must be on the construction phase and the responsibility and sustainability of Energiön's operations. The energy island will house electrical engineering facilities to enable the transmission of electricity from offshore wind turbines to the grid. Private parties are required to be able to demonstrate that the energy island meets the requirements of the EU Sustainable Economic Investment Classification. Under the classification regulations, they are also working on setting additional requirements for the sustainability of the materials to be used. The final tender material will also set requirements for Danish wages and working conditions during the construction phase, places for students and apprentices, and appropriate living conditions for employees. Ongoing work on the island business model and technology concept will focus on a flexible island concept, which offers the opportunity to combine wind islands with power transmission and energy conversion on platforms or offshore wind turbines around the islands.
Vattenfall signs an agreement with Siemens Energy and Aker Solutions AS
Vattenfall has signed an agreement with Siemens Energy and Aker Solutions AS to provide grid connection infrastructure for the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind farm off the UK coast. The agreement means that Siemens Energy and Aker Solutions are responsible for the technology, procurement, construction and installation of the land-based and sea-based HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) substations and the connection to the main grid. HVDC technology is one of the most efficient ways to transmit large amounts of electricity over long distances. The development of the Norfolk offshore wind area, which may require three consecutive HVDC platforms, will provide more long-term predictability and positive repeat effects and standardisation for the supplier industry. This agreement offers opportunities for local suppliers to contribute to one of the largest offshore wind power sectors in the world.
Nel and Topsoe to build plant to produce ammonia from renewable hydrogen
Nel and Topsoe are planning to build a plant to produce hydrogen from solar and wind energy, which is then converted into "green" ammonia. Nel is supplying alkaline electrolyzers for fossil-free hydrogen production and Topsoe is building the reactors for ammonia production plants in Denmark, which will convert nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia, with the nitrogen being extracted from the air. The electricity for the hydrogen production comes from six wind turbines from Vestas and a 90 hectare solar cell plant. The plant will be more profitable than the ammonia plant for natural gas. What is new in this technology is the adaptive ammonia reactor, which has a much shorter start-up time than a conventional plant. Nel and Topsoe expect the plant to be profitable even if it runs only 50% of the time, even though it is only a demonstration plant and only 1/100th of an expected full-scale plant.
Large energy projects in Skåne at standstill due to no permits
Ambitious new energy projects in Skåne in southern Sweden are delayed by a dispute with the County Board, which does not want to issue permits for using farmland for energy production. For obvious reasons, the applications to expand large-scale electricity production by building new solar panel parks in Southern Sweden are increasing rapidly. One reason being that this part of Sweden has been hardest hit by energy shortages and rising prices, so it has become attractive to invest in and sell new energy production. However, several private firms claim that the County Officials are hesitant, or even negative, to issue permits for planned construction on what has so far been farmland in a region that is well known for its agriculture. Peter Braun of the firm European Energy says that in his view, the County is in principle blocking all applications for solar panel parks while both businesses and households are demanding more electricity. His company is still after two years waiting for a permit for a large park outside Helsingborg. Helena Holmgren at the County Board says that they are dealing with a large number of applications and that they have raised this issue through the County Governor with the Government for direction.
Sweden’s electricity exports at new record
In the middle of the energy crisis, Sweden's electricity export to other countries is record high. In August, Sweden sold electricity for SEK 7.3 billion, which means that the export incomes of energy reached three times those of 2021. During the first eight months of last year, Sweden's electricity export just amounted to SEK 6.9 billion, while the corresponding figure now is SEK 26.1 billion. Erik Ek at Svenska kraftnät (Eng. Swedish power grid) says that the reason surely is that many firms that produce electricity make more money than usual because of the higher prices than last year.
Ørsted changes its organisation structure
Ørsted has proposed a new organisational structure in which the commercial and onshore regions will be replaced by three regions: Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. The change will take effect on 1 November. This also means that after almost 15 years at Ørsted, Martin Neubert, Commercial Director and Deputy Managing Director of the energy company, will say goodbye. CEO Mads Nipper says the restructuring is due to the increased complexity of the renewable energy market. They are integrating their organisation into offshore wind and onshore renewables. At the same time, some decisions are being shifted to local market organisations to ensure a simpler and faster process.
Finland develops a concept for chemical recycling of plastic waste with industrial functionality
The UrbanMill joint project will develop technology to recover mixed plastic waste as a feedstock for chemical recycling and produce plastic materials to complement current recycled plastics. The two-year long research project, valued at EUR 3 million, is funded by Commerzbank Finland and is coordinated by VTT in cooperation with Aalto University. The project covers key industrial sectors of the plastics recycling value chain and creates networking and collaboration opportunities between consortium partners. UrbanMill focuses on creating new concepts by combining customised pre-treatment and post-treatment technologies with pyrolysis. The project is closely linked to the Borealis SPIRIT and Valmet Beyond Circularity "Veturi" ecosystems. Other participating companies include Corex Finland, Wipak, Kaipola Recycling, Keskinen Recycling, Lamor, PR Pulping, Resiclo, Salpakierto, Sulapac and Suomen Uusiomuovi.
Vantaa Energia's planned activated carbon plant will open up a new value chain for material recovery and produce carbon-neutral thermal energy and activated carbon
Vantaan Energia plans to build an activated carbon plant to further process recycled wood by using methods other than combustion, resulting in a more environmentally friendly heat production. The plant will reduce CO2 emissions from heating the capital region by up to 60,000 tonnes per year. The end product of the process produces carbon-neutral heat for Vantaa Energia's district heating network and bio-based activated carbon for municipal and industrial uses, such as industrial water and gas purification processes. In the activated carbon plant project, a new circular economy business model was created, bringing together value chain players to address the use of recycled wood as a renewable raw material. The plant is part of Vantaa Energia's Carbon Negative 2030 project, and Vantaa Energia's partners in the project development are Remeo, an environmental maintenance company, and Berner, a conglomerate.
Energinet drops new DKK 1.1 billion charge
On 7 September, Energinet announced that electricity customers would see a historic increase in the fees paid to the state-owned energy company for operating and developing the overall Danish grid. The announcement came as electricity rates are expected to increase by 27% on 1 January 2023. For the country's 500,000 businesses, this means an additional DKK 725 million in expenses in 2023. But now Energinet's board statement cancels the announced increase.
What we're reading
- Japan moves to fill Asia’s $40tn energy funding gap in China’s stead (Financial Times)
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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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