Yesterday, Mundus Nordic Green News covered the Swedish Government’s newly announced wind power package that’s been introduced to accelerate the expansion of cheap and green electricity in Sweden. The package did, among other things, regard the municipal veto on wind power projects. Following the announcement, shares in wind power companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange went up. Eolus Vind, OX2 and Arise rose 6.6%, 6.0% and 0.9% respectively. However, the Government’s wind power proposal may find it difficult to pass the Riksdag. Opposition parties SD and C have decided to say no to the proposal, KD is considering a rejection and M has not yet taken a position.
Maersk has partnered up with five other industry firms on a ‘Green Methanol Value Chain Collaboration’, to construct a green e-methanol plant in Singapore. The plant will be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. Under the agreement, the six companies will run feasibility studies by the end of 2022 to establish a green e-methanol pilot plant with a minimum capacity of 50,000 TPA. The new unit will work by converting biogenic CO2 into green e-methanol for the maritime industry.
Sweden and Germany are accelerating the development of new hydrogen stations. The Swedish Energy Agency announced that it will contribute SEK 1.5 billion to actors who join forces to build a regional infrastructure with strategically located public charging and filling stations for electricity and hydrogen. The support will cover 100% of the investment costs. At the same time, Germany has been notified by the EU of a support of 80% of the additional cost of purchasing electric trucks and hydrogen trucks. Additionally, the arrangement provides a support of 80% for the investment costs in charging stations and hydrogen stations. Jan Carsten Gjerløw, leader of the Norwegian project H2 Truck, is impressed by the EU’s investment in hydrogen and is hoping to see similar investment support introduced in Norway as well.
The Finnish Government recently announced its EUR 40 million investment program to boost green investment in the country. Out of the investment, EUR 13.5 million will be used to increase appropriations for administrative rights, in hopes of dissolving the complaints that are currently causing a backlog in the construction of onshore wind farms. The Government also stated that it was preparing an administrative bypass for certain green transition investments, including investments in renewable energy, clean hydrogen, carbon capture and the battery industry. For five years, the projects will be given priority in dealing with licensing authorities and administrative rights.
Green Hydrogen Systems has received a second order from Edinburgh-based Logan Energy for the supply of electrolysis equipment to Scottish Arbikie Distillery. A wind turbine with the capacity of 1 MW will supply green energy to Green Hydrogen’s supplied equipment, which by the end of 4Q22 will be able to produce 389kg of green hydrogen per day. The order contains a three-year service agreement, in which Green Hydrogen contributes with maintenance and supervision of the electrolysis equipment.
Through its subsidiary Helbio, Metacon has received approval for an EU-funded research project called “NANOLEFINS”, which is now officially launched in collaboration with project partners. The pilot project focuses on CO2 use, through hydrogenation to light olefins using renewable hydrogen. Helbio’s total budget amounts to EUR 167,000 and the financing rate is 80%.
Danish Ørsted is asking authorities to seal off parts of the sea after three blades from one of its turbines detached from the Anholt Offshore Wind Farm on Denmark’s east coast. While there’s no indication that the issue with the Siemens Gamesa turbine is more than a fluke, Ørsted is now calling for a to stop maritime traffic near all of its sites that use the machine, which includes another Danish wind park, a handful of sites off the coast of the UK, and a wind farm in German waters. Following the announcement, shares of the unit’s manufacturer, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, plummeted as much as 8.1%.
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.