Mundus Nordic Green News – 11 November, 2020

Eni and HitecVision launch Vårgrønn

The global energy company Eni, and Norwegian energy entrepreneur and investor, HitecVision announced the establishment of a new joint venture company, Vårgrønn, with the aim of developing new green energy projects in Norway and the Nordic market. The company will be owned by Eni (69.6%) and HitecVision (30.4%).

 

Vårgrønn intends to play a major role in the development, construction, operation and financing of renewable energy projects in the country.  As a first step, the company will pursue opportunities in the offshore wind sector by participating in the upcoming Norwegian tender processes for offshore licences, also supporting Vår Energi’s ambition to reduce climate emissions through the electrification of its upstream assets. Furthermore Vårgrønn will explore opportunities within renewables, with a long-term ambition of reaching an installed capacity in the region of 1 GW towards 2030.

 

Elkem receives project support for increased utilization of hydrogen

Elkem has been awarded NOK 4.4 million in support from Enova to develop technology that has the potential to enable new green value chains based on unused hydrogen from the company's silicon production in Bremanger, Norway. Elkem has a surplus of hydrogen from the production of the silicon product Silgrain at Bremanger. The hydrogen is of good quality, and in collaboration with the independent research institute, SINTEF, the company is doing research to make better use of this resource. By drying and compressing the hydrogen, this can become a future commercial product used as fuel in the passenger and heavy-duty transport market, as well as in shipping.

 

Finnish project promotes the focus of funding on sustainable development

Finland’s goal is to direct more private funding to sustainable investments in the future. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy has launched a project aimed at identifying sustainable business opportunities and financing challenges for Finnish companies. The project is supported by the European Commission's Restructuring Support Program and is developing tools for companies to measure effectiveness and leverage sustainable finance.

 

Norsk Industri's reviews support schemes for climate and environmental investments

Several support schemes have been established to contribute to climate and environmental investments in industry, in Norway and in the EU. Norwegian national support schemes include  Enova, the Research Council of Norway and Innovation Norway. Presentations from the webinar are available to download looking at the structure and experience of current support schemes, and a discussion of how the schemes can be further developed. 

 

Morrow Batteries hires Dr. Rahul Fotedar as CTO

Norway’s Morrow Batteries ambition is to produce the world's most sustainable batteries. It has now employed Dr. Rahul Fotedar is as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Dr Fotedar received his doctorate in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries from ETH Zurich, Europe's leading technical university. After completing his doctoral fellowship, Rahul worked as a researcher at the Department of Energy Technology (IFE) in Norway. He also co-founded Graphene Batteries, where he served as CTO. Terje Andersen, CEO of Morrow Batteries, said he “was very happy to have Rahul on the team … He has the whole package. Although southern Norway is a perfect place to produce the world's most sustainable batteries, we must acknowledge that cell production has never been done in Norway before. That is why it is important to attract and hire international talent with experience from the industry,” Andersen points out.

 

Inzile signs a agreement with Doorier to deliver four electric vehicles

Inzile has signed a framework agreement with Doorier, a fast-growing tech company that offers a Zero Carbon logistics solutions for last mile deliveries. Inzile will deliver a total of four electric vehicles to Doorier.

 

German embassy promotes Green Deal on Östergötland visit

Germany holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. As previously reported in September the German embassy hosted ambassadors from 19 countries on a visit to Vreta Kluster to promote a fossil-free and circular economy. The embassy has released a film about the visit identifying scientific and economic highlights.

 

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