Eurowind Energy plans to invest USD 1 billion in five new energy centres in Denmark to build onshore wind turbines, solar cell plants, battery storage, biogas and green fuel production through so-called Power-to-X (PtX). The basis of the five energy centres will be the generation of electricity from wind and solar energy. By planning the production of biogas and green fuels through PtX, where wind power is first converted into hydrogen and then into liquid fuel, part of the energy will be able to be stored and part used for heavy transport by trucks, ships and aircraft. The five energy centres, with a total installed capacity of 2.5 GW, will be located in Aalborg, Tønder (two facilities), Vesthimmerland and Randers, and will be combined with a wind farm in Brønderslev. According to the Danish business newspaper Børsen, an investment of DKK 2.5 billion will be needed to build the planned wind turbine and solar cell plants.
While the Stockholm Stock Exchange's OMXSGI index has risen by 8.4% in the last 30 days, shares in wind power companies such as OX2, Arise, Eolus Vind and Slitevind have all risen by 30-40% with strong coverage of the US climate programme and positive news of various block deals and tenders. Orrön Energy's rally of more than 100% was the strongest (although on Friday the stock dropped 11.4%).
The rise isn't only driven macro factors, such as the end of the EU's dependence on fossil fuels, but also by positive news from the companies themselves over the summer, with OX2 reporting a 55% increase in turnover and a 750% increase in operating profit in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. Eolus Vind received SEK 1.5 billion in funding at the beginning of July, and Arise announced its "biggest and most profitable" project sale ever in the middle of the month. Going forward, participants expect not a slowdown in demand, but an acceleration in the permitting process, increased demand for green power from a changing industry and more efforts by countries to meet climate targets.
Hitachi Energy, the power engineering group in which Hitachi Japan holds an 80% stake and Swiss/Swedish ABB the remainder has decided to expand in Sweden and will recruit 1,000 new employees this year alone. The main new recruitment plans are focused on Ludvika and Västerås, the two locations where Hitachi Energy currently has the majority of its operations in Sweden. Underpinning the expansion is a series of hugely successful multi-billion SEK orders, as reported by Nordic Green News. The latest order is for the construction of a converter station for a new high-voltage direct current connection in Germany, the so-called HVDC, will be 55 kilometres long and have a capacity of 2,000 Megawatts, it is intended, among other things, to enable the efficient transmission of large amounts of renewable electricity between northern and southern Germany, which will form the backbone of Germany's energy transition.
During the past years, young voters between the age of 18-29 have had an increasingly positive view on nuclear energy. According to researchers, this correlates directly to the increase in support for parties for the right wing. Sociology doctorate Zeth Isaksson believes that people are more worried about climate change and less worried about the risks of nuclear energy today. “You replace one risk with another and see it as a cost you are willing to take.”
According to a Government press release, Swedish car manufacturers have invested heavily in the form of enterprises, particularly for the development and production of batteries, including Volvo Group, Northvolt AB, Aktiebolag. These investments have created thousands of new jobs and are vital to Sweden as an automotive nation, requiring coordination and close cooperation between politics and business, according to Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, the Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation. He said that the government is therefore appointing a coordinator to coordinate the various efforts needed to realise the new institutions in the automotive industry, especially battery production. The appointment of the coordinator has also been welcomed by the automotive industry.
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.