Nordic Green News – 18 August, 2020

Continued electricity shortages and sky-high electricity prices threaten jobs in Skåne

According to Sara Åhlén Björk, Chief Economist at the South Swedish Chamber of Commerce the current Swedish power market model is not managing the transition to renewables effectively, going against economic principles and affecting both companies and consumers in southern Sweden. During the summer price differences of 250% and higher between southern Sweden and Norrland have occurred. 

 

The background to the imbalance can be linked to the country's division into four electricity price areas, which was launched in November 2011. One reason for the division was that high electricity prices in the south would make electricity producers invest in new production, eliminating bottlenecks in electricity supply. But that has not happened. At the same time, Svenska kraftnät is in the final stages of building a main grid connection to Skåne, to increase the capacity for electricity transmission between central and southern Sweden by 25%. The connection is scheduled for commissioning at the end of October, but it has been delayed 19 times. This has led to deep scepticism and frustration amongst users.

 

Azelio to install energy storage in Masdar City

Closely following the announcement of the cooperation between Azelio and ALEC Energy, Azelio has said that it will install a verification project in Abu Dhabi starting in Q3 2020, together with Masdar, the UAEs special renewable city, and Khalifa University. The purpose of the project is to evaluate Azelio's energy storage technology to be included in Masdar's product portfolio for current and future renewable energy projects. 

 

Danish model helps resolve Kenya’s plastic problems

Only 6% of Kenya's plastic waste is recycled. Good initiatives to increase recycling have failed in part because trust between authorities and business has been at a freezing point for many years. In 2017, the Kenyan authorities introduced a ban on plastic bags, but it proved insufficient to solve the problem of handling plastic.

 

However, the challenges gave rise to a completely new partnership with the private sector, to which Danish Industry, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and the Danish Embassy in Kenya contributed with advice. This multi-stranded effort has been a success, which has now resulted in the business community launching an environmentally very ambitious plan for green conversion, which the authorities have followed up with supporting legislation.

 

According to an advisor with the Danish Embassy in Nairobi, the Danish model for cooperation across authorities and companies helped ensure a green transition, creating sustainable growth and local jobs. 

 

Climate-friendly home delivery of pharmaceuticals

Apotea, a Swedish online chemist, has signed an agreement with Best Transport to offer residents of around 30 Swedish cities fossil-free home delivery.

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