Mundus Nordic Green News – 22 February, 2021

Northvolt to build Polish Gigafactory

Battery-maker Northvolt will invest SEK 1.7bn (USD 200m) to build a new manufacturing plant in Gdansk in northern Poland, the facility will manufacture battery modules and Northvolt’s Gigafactory in Skellefteå is believed to become Gdansk’s supplier. Construction is underway and could boast an initial capacity of 5GWh by 2022. In relation to the factory, a new centre for research and development will be built, which could provide some 500 jobs in Gdansk. Northvolt is also looking to have renewable sources power the Polish factory.

 

Aker Clean Hydrogen highlights intention to spend €3 billion

As reported last Friday, Aker Horizons announced its intention to list its new subsidiary, Aker Clean Hydrogen (ACH) to design, develop, expand and operate various types of hydrogen plants, based on green hydrogen from water or blue hydrogen with carbon capture from natural gas. The hydrogen is either intended for use directly or for the production of ammonia - both are suitable as energy carriers, including for ships. Aker Clean Hydrogen expects to invest €3.0- 3.5 billion to achieve the growth targets that have been set.

 

ACH outlined a portfolio of projects, which it describes as stretching from Chile to Finnmark (northern Norway). In Chile, ACH will work with Irieland’s Mainstream Renewable Power, which Aker Horizons is a 75% owner of, to build up Chile's industry for green hydrogen and ammonia production. ACH says Chile has access to some of the most affordable renewable resources in the world and has set ambitious hydrogen targets as a great starting point. The plan is to use Mainstream's presence in the country, combined with ACHs ability to design, develop, build and operate facilities, said Kristian Røkke, Chief Investment Officer at Aker ASA.

 

Norwegian billionaire shorts Hydrogenpro

Øystein Stray Spetalen has increased his bet against Hydrogenpro on the Oslo Stock Exchange. In the last year Spetalen has invested money in several of the "green" companies that have surged on the stock exchange. Recently, however, it became known that the investment company he dominates, Saga Pure, has sold out of the hydrogen company, Everfuel with a strong gain. At the same time, Spetalen has privately continued to increase its bet against another hydrogen company, Hydrogenpro, according to an overview from Finanstilsynet's short register, which was updated on Friday last week. In the last week of stock trading, the hydrogen share fell 14%, where something came after it became known that Saga Pure had sold out of Everfuel

 

EU taxonomy upsets the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv), says that the EU taxonomy proposal, can, as it is designed, threaten climate change and Swedish competitiveness. The trade association is attacking the EU's taxonomy in a new position paper. It is "clear that the taxonomy is not in line with or supporting the Swedish strategy for fossil freedom", writes Svenskt Näringsliv. In the current proposal, there is "a lack of system perspective and technology neutrality".

 

The call is taken up politically by MEP, Jessica Stegrud (SD) who writes that the European Commission is about to classify Swedish forestry, and bizarrely, also hydropower as "unsustainable". Stegrud argues that “In short, the whole Swedish concept of success is being undermined. In parallel with this, extreme investments in wind power are planned, which for Sweden does not bring any benefit (quite the opposite).”

 

UPM joins sustainable hydrogen coalition in the EU

UPM, which is a member of the hydrogen cluster recently established in Finland has joined the EU Clean Hydrogen Alliance and is participating in the Industrial Clean Hydrogen Round Table. “Pure hydrogen offers several interesting opportunities for UPM. We have renewable and CO2-free electricity, water resources, biogenic carbon dioxide and practical experience in hydrogen production at UPM's Lappeenranta biorefinery. Our expertise and resources enable the development of potential new business opportunities in the nascent hydrogen economy,” says Jyrki Ovaska, UPM's Chief Technology Officer. 

 

UPM has recently launched the basic design of a new potential biorefinery, during which it will focus on exploring the possibilities for the production and utilization of green hydrogen. The potential biorefinery would produce 500,000 tonnes of high-quality renewable fuels for road transport, air transport and as a raw material for the petrochemical industry.

 

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