Mundus Nordic Green News – 18 February, 2021

Maersk aims for first carbon-neutral methanol container ship in 2 years

AP Moller-Maersk will have its first carbon-neutral container vessel on the water by 2023, seven years ahead of schedule. The Danish group said on Wednesday that the medium-sized “feeder” vessel would be capable of carrying 2,000 20-foot containers and would be powered by carbon-neutral methanol. Maersk will also ensure that all new vessels ordered from now will be able to run on carbon-neutral fuels. Morten Bo Christiansen, Maersk’s head of decarbonisation, told the Financial Times. Christiansen said there were challenges to building the ships and operating them safely but that the main difficulty would be sourcing the fuel.

 

However, with Denmark recently committing to building whole islands in the North Sea to generate wind power, which can be used to generate e-fuels, such as methanol, this should become easier.

Asked why Maersk had brought forward its launch date by seven years, Christiansen replied: “Because we can. We’ve learned a lot over the past two years. The technology is now so advanced that we think we can do it. And the demand from our customers is increasing.”

 

Yara, Statkraft and Aker Horizons sign LoI to produce green ammonia

Yara, Statkraft and Aker Horizons have announced that they are entering into a Letter of Intent (LoI) to form a partnership, to produce and develop a value chain for green hydrogen and green ammonia in Norway - with Herøya, south of Stockholm as the first project. The ammonia factory on Herøya has an annual production capacity of around 500,000 tpa of ammonia.  By installing an electrolyser of approximately 450 MW, the factory will be able to produce at the historical production level of the factory. The partners say the project would remove 800,000 tpa of CO2e, reducing Norway's total emissions by an amount equivalent to more than 300,000 fossil passenger cars, thus making an important contribution to Norway achieving the climate goals associated with the Paris Agreement.

 

Equinor and Engie sign MoU to collaborate on blue hydrogen

ENGIE, of France, and Equinor have announced a partnership to develop joint low-carbon hydrogen activities. The partners will investigate the production and market potential for hydrogen from natural gas whereby the CO2 will be captured and stored permanently offshore. The partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to investigate the development low-carbon hydrogen value chains in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. In the coming months, ENGIE and Equinor will start discussions with potential customers to assess the project, as well as with stakeholders and relevant authorities.Mundus's summary of the leading Nordic green technology and business stories. Nordic

Exceptional items lift Nel 4Q report. Moonshot for cheap hydrogen vision

Nel, which supplies electrolysers and filling stations for hydrogen to the transport industry, reported an exceptional profit of NOK 1.5 billion, related to its investment in Everfuel, a Norwegian hydrogen distributor. Everfuel went public last autumn, and its share price has risen over 250% in the last three months.

 

Nel’s underlying 4Q20 revenues increased to NOK 229 million from NOK 176 million in 4Q19, while the operating profit fell to minus 139 million from minus 62 million. The company warned that the negative consequences of the corona pandemic on revenues and operations were expected to persist beyond 2021.

 

At the same time, Nel is extremely bullish about the future. Nel recently announced a major investment in green hydrogen in the coming years, and today outlined its ambition to drive down hydrogen costs to $1.5/kg by 2025. The company will add over 100 employees and cut costs in hydrogen production sharply. It says that its order backlog has grown by more than 90% from the fourth quarter of 2019 to approximately NOK 980 million, and the company now has a cash position of NOK 2.3 billion.

 

Hitachi ABB Power Grids wins major North Sea contract

Hitachi ABB Power Grids, formerly part of ABB, has won another order worth several billion kronor for the world's largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank. Niklas Persson, Global Business Area Manager for Grid integration At Hitachi ABB said "It's absolutely amazing. We started working to participate and compete for these giant assignments for Dogger Bank ten years ago. And now we have won all three procurements for the facilities that enable electricity to be brought ashore.”

 

The contract is for converter stations, which are central to being able to efficiently transfer electricity from the wind farm, which will be located approximately 130 km from the British mainland … “Each subcontract is worth several billion kronor. Dogger Bank is thus one of the single largest projects we have received.

 

Persson said that "Together with other projects, the new agreements also help us not only secure today's jobs but also need to invest and hire hundreds of new people in the future. In the next two years alone, there will be around 200-300 new hires, the majority of whom will end up in Sweden and then mainly in Västerås and Ludvika [Sweden].”

 

Vestas invests into wooden wind turbine towers

Vestas Ventures is investing in the Swedish start-up, Modvion. Modvion specialises in the development and manufacturing of wind turbine towers made from laminated veneer lumber, a bio-composite material. When compared directly with the value chain of a conventional steel tower, Modvion towers are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 80% for the wind turbine tower. The reduced weight of the tower and lower CO2 intensity of the materials contribute to the overall reduction in CO2 emissions.

 

Modvion has previously signed Letters of Intent with Vattenfall, Rabbalshede Kraft and Varberg Energi on wind power towers in wood. In the spring of 2020, Modvion erected its first wooden tower, on Björkö outside Gothenburg. The tower is 30 meters high and was erected in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology, which uses it in research together with the Swedish Wind Power Technology Center.

 

BW Offshore invests into French offshore wind company

BW Offshore, a Norwegian engineering firm with offshore oil expertise, will invest €60 million into Ideol S.A., creating BW Ideol, a global, “pure-play” integrated floating offshore wind company, with proven technology and market-leading capabilities. BW Offshore expects to own ~50% of BW Ideol after a contemplated capital raising and listing as a separate company on Euronext Growth

Completion of the private placement and listing is targeted for end-March, with BW Offshore as an anchor investor and industrial partner. According to the press release, BW Offshore’s experience in developing and operating offshore production systems and capital markets access is highly complementary to Ideol’s floating offshore wind IP and expertise. Creating a strong platform for a floating offshore wind business with accelerated growth potential as a technology and EPC provider, and developer and operator of wind power projects.

 

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