Nordic Green News – 16 September, 2020

Green start-ups explode in value

A number of Nordic cleantech companies have seen their share price rocket. According to Pareto Securities, a Swedish investment bank, “more investors bet on green industry. Thus the transition from oil to green energy comes a lot faster than expected.” Christian Jomaas from Pareto observes that the capital market is now “some of the most active we have seen in a long time”. It is no longer just small change. Billions are now being invested in green industries such as offshore wind carbon storage and hydrogen. Since the outbreak of the pandemic Pareto has made 80 capital market transactions and raised NOK 25 billion.

 

Pareto Securities annual investor conference will highlight the transformation of Aker Group. At the beginning of 2020, Aker BioMarine stood alone as a renewable investment, valued at NOK 2.4 billion. Fast forwarding a few months to when Aker's ongoing acquisition of the wind company NBT is eventually completed, Aker will soon be able to show equity values ​​in four different renewable companies, valued at a total of NOK 12 billion.

 

Lego unveils $400m investment to drive low-carbon transition and single-use plastic phase-out

Lego Group unveiled a swathe of new sustainability commitments around plastics, waste, emissions, and the circular economy, backed up with a $400m investment package. Lego vowed to ensure that its manufacturing operations are certified as carbon neutral by 2022, and will increase its renewable energy sourcing through a mix of tariffs, power purchase agreements, and onsite solar installations to meet this goal. The company will use some carbon credits  as a “last option”, and will work with green group WWF to ensure the offsetting projects it backs are credible and create additionality.

 

Cell Impact builds new production facility for hydrogen technology

Swedish company, Cell Impact calls itself a world leader, with unique technology for manufacturing flow plates for hydrogen-powered fuel cells. After many years of research and development of basic technology Cell Impact decided two years ago to invest fully in flow plates (thin, specially designed metal plates where the chemical reaction takes place) as its only product. Now, with the sudden political push for hydrogen, demand is increasing and Cell Impact is therefore developing a new highly-automated factory in Karlskoga.

 

Pär Teike, CEO of Cell Impact says that “In order to be able to manufacture flow plates in such large volumes, and with the accuracy that is required, we have developed a completely new production technology. It is a unique production method that extends all the way from computer-aided design to high-precision tools and molding, and which also has the advantage that it is very cost-effective compared to competing moulding methods.” When fully developed, it will be one of the world's largest plants for the production of flow plates.

 

Lundin makes $357,000 investment in Swedish wave energy start-up

Non-profit investment company Lundin Foundation has invested $357,000 in wave energy foundation Ocean Harvesting Technologies (OHT). A matching grant from the Swedish Energy Agency will allow Ocean Harvesting Technologies to prototype the next development phase of its wave power generator. OHT develops a generation technique based around buoys pulling at seabed-mounted tethers. It states that its generators would use ten times less space to generate the same amount of power as an offshore wind project. Its estimated levelised cost of electricity stands at $119/MWh in 100MW-sized developments, and $42/MWh at 1GW-scale.

 

Vestas partners with Hempel

Vestas and coating solutions supplier, Hempel have formed a new strategic partnership to cooperate on innovative solutions for surface protection of wind turbines, reducing surface treatment costs and supporting sustainable coating solutions.

 

Norwegian Government looking to use aquaculture industry as a “hydrogen pioneer”

In her speech to the Conservatives' national meeting last week, Prime Minister Erna Solberg announced that the Conservatives will propose to invite the aquaculture industry into the Green Shipping Program, a public-private partnership to reduce emissions from shipping. The Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tina Bru (H) has been commissioned to develop a road map for hydrogen in Norway, and Seafood Norway sees several possibilities for the aquaculture industry to play a role.

 

With the government hoping to establish full-scale hydrogen production in Norway and build hubs for hydrogen along the coast the Conservatives envisage that the salmon farming industry can also be involved. Vessels that travel longer distances have the advantage of hydrogen over battery operation. Kristin Langeland Communications Director for Seafood Norway says “well boats that transport live fish cargo vessels within feed and transport of fish to the markets [are amongst] many places in the value chain where we need fuel.”

 

Finnish Minister of the Environment and Climate Mikkonen: The budget will give much-needed impetus to climate work

The Finnish Government's goal is to be a carbon-neutral by 2035, making the country the first fossil-free welfare society. The goal will be supported by a number of actions in next year's budget. Finland’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Krista Mikkonen said “In the budget debate, the government has decided on a number of concrete steps towards a carbon-neutral Finland. With the package, we are bringing much-needed impetus to reducing emissions and supporting nature's recovery. At the same time, we are taking care of fair change and the future prospects of Finnish business life by supporting the transition to a green economy with a billion-dollar investment from the EU recovery package.”

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