Nordic Green News – 27 August, 2020

No green stimulus in Nordics, so far

Swedbank observes that green investments account only for a tiny share of global stimulus announced so far. To date, green stimulus in the Nordics and Baltics ranges from around 2% of GDP in Denmark to 0.02% in Sweden, although more is expected.

 

Swedbank’s highlights by country;

• Denmark’s plans are ambitious even in a global comparison. The lion’s share is in energy efficiency projects in buildings. Includes ambitious longer-term projects, such as two offshore wind energy islands.
• Finland has announced the second greenest stimulus in the Nordics. A large share will go to sustainable transport investments, including rail repairs, which provide more short-term stimulus, and new green transport projects, which could have large climate benefits in the longterm.
• Norway plans to spend NOK 3.6 billion (2.25% of total stimulus) on a green restructuring package, most of which will be used in R&D and to support businesses in adopting green technologies. The rest will be spent on recycling, green shipping, offshore wind power, and hydrogen.
• Sweden has announced the least green stimulus among the Nordics, but we expect more when the budgetary bill is presented. Swedbank hopes for investments in modern power grids, energy storage, energy efficiency, transport electrification, and hydrogen.
• Sweden, Denmark, and Finland will also receive a share of the EU recovery fund in 2021-2023, of which one-third must be allocated to climate spending.
• Lithuania has the greenest support package in the Baltics

 

Sweden’s restart “requires a massive green industrial policy”

Northvolt's CEO Peter Carlsson argues that Sweden has a long tradition of green industrial policy, but today almost all political tools and investment mechanisms are small-scale. These tools are of course good, but when the scale of industrial investments in Sweden increases, the policy should follow. Therefore, the indications that are now coming in for a massive, green start-up package in Sweden are very positive. The most important thing now is that Swedish policy has the power and scale to implement effective reforms - mainly in three areas: financing mechanisms for transition and expansion, inflow of global expertise and training programmes, and expansion of construction of renewable energy in multifaceted speeds.

 

Maersk wants to be part of offshore wind market

Maersk Supply Service, which is under severe pressure from a difficult oil market, sees an increasing part of its business coming from offshore wind. "We have a strong position in this market," the managing director said.

 

Sweden primed for growth of solar energy growth

According to SVT (Sweden’s state television), Stockholm is unexpectedly good for solar energy, given more sunny hours there than in other parts of Sweden. The City of Stockholm's goal is for 10% of energy to come from solar in 2040. Therefore, solar panels are now being installed in more and more municipal residential buildings, schools, nursing homes and sports halls. SVT also covers Stockholm's first apartment building, in Norra Djurgårdsstaden, an upmarket inner-city development, that produces more electricity than the property consumes in one year. The roof and facade is covered with 730 square meters of solar panels.

 

Nasdaq First North-listed Soltech Energy is one of the leading companies in developing solutions for the Swedish market. It has recently raising SEK 98 million in capital for growth, and plans to use funds to scale-up sales and production of its range of solar products for roofs and facades.

 

Metacon “Well positioned in the rapidly growing hydrogen market”

Metacon AB, which holds patented technology for cost-effective production of hydrogen from biogas, released its quarterly report, reporting a loss of SEK 3 million. The company says that it is well-positioned for the fast-growing hydrogen market.

 

Large price difference between the Nordic electricity areas

Vattenfall says that the price of electricity in southern Sweden rose during August and is now at a normal level for the season. In northern Sweden, on the other hand, electricity prices are the lowest in 20 years. The price difference is mainly due to a lower supply of nuclear power, wind power and continued transmission restrictions of hydropower from Norway and within Sweden, while at the same time as the water reservoirs in northern Sweden are well stocked.

 

RISE project aims for carbon-free concrete

RISE, Sweden’s Research Institute, issued a press release to say that it was collaborating with “a broad collection of players in the construction industry who will now find their way to climate-neutral construction with cement and concrete.” The work performed under the framework of the Fossil-Free Sweden initiative, already has a roadmap, and the goal is for a climate-neutral concrete to be on the market by 2030 and used throughout the country by 2045.

 

Azelio's storage technology evaluated by certification body for US market

Azelio says that global certification body UL will work with Azelio to evaluate its’ energy storage technology to enable commercial operations in the US market. The goal of the evaluation is to obtain a field certification of Azelio's technology for a specific project in California by 2021.

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