Plus: Hydrogen for transport gets going; $5B for electric buses in Quebec; Rivian stuns at $100B valuation; More nuclear power for Russia and France
Hi Everyone,
A lot of stories have piled up over the past two weeks. Each section on its own would be a meaty newsletter, so skim the headlines and try to make to to the last section on policy news – this is where some of the announcements from COP26 can be found, while others are salted in elsewhere. Like the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board by investors worth $130 trillion (See Finance & Sentiment) – another very important move towards consistent reporting globally – and which is sure to improve how investor choices are informed.
And look at all the companies aiming to get in on hydrogen for transport – in Europe and North America (See Hydrogen section).
As always, I welcome your comments, story suggestions or questions.
Thanks,
Peter
Finance & Sentiment
International Sustainability Standards Board launches as investors worth $130trn focus in on climate | edie
The IFRS Foundation Trustees have marked Finance Day at COP26 by confirming the formation of an International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to create a globe baseline for corporate sustainability disclosures that meet investor demands.
Shell to support energy transition start-ups with new £1bn Shell Ventures funding | Current±
A new $1.4 billion (£1 billion) fund for Shell Ventures is to be invested in businesses accelerating the energy transition.
Technology
Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous freight company Einride launches in US with new products and customers | Electrek
Swedish commercial freight tech company Einride has officially launched its operations in the United States, complete with a new operating system and US versions of its Pod truck. In addition to launching new transport solutions stateside, Einride has announced US customers onboard, including its tire partner Bridgestone.
Canada’s longest autonomous transit shuttle pilot launches in Whitby, Ont. | Electric Autonomy
This week, Ontario’s Durham Region Transit cut the ribbon on the Whitby Autonomous Vehicle Electric — WAVE — shuttle pilot, a half-year project servicing a six-kilometre route linking a waterfront district with a commuter transit hub.
Hydrogen
Varcoe: Hydrogen has the potential to be Alberta’s next oilsands in importance | Calgary Herald
If you want to know how big the potential prize is for Alberta to grow its hydrogen industry, Associate Natural Gas Minister Dale Nally is quick to provide the answer.
JCB signs green hydrogen deal worth billions | BBC
UK Construction equipment maker JCB has signed a deal to buy billions of pounds of green hydrogen, defined as hydrogen produced using renewable energy. The deal means JCB will take 10% of the green hydrogen made by the Australian firm Fortescue Future Industries (FFI).
[Comment] Interestingly, JCB uses an engine design that burns hydrogen, not a fuel cell like so many others.
Daimler Truck and TotalEnergies plan 150 European hydrogen gas stations | Green Car Congress
Daimler Truck AG and TotalEnergies signed an agreement on their joint commitment to the de-carbonization of the road freight in the European Union. The partners will collaborate in the development of ecosystems for heavy-duty trucks running on hydrogen.
Hyzon Motors And TC Energy In Hydrogen Modular Production Hub Development Agreement | Hydrogen Central
Hyzon Motors Inc., a leading supplier of hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric vehicles, and TC Energy Corporation announced an agreement to collaborate on development, construction, operation, and ownership of hydrogen production facilities (hubs) across North America.
Shell, RWE to partner on low-carbon hydrogen, CCS in Europe | S&P Global
Shell and RWE have signed a memorandum of understanding on the production, use and distribution of renewable hydrogen, as well as agreeing to explore options to decarbonize RWE gas and biomass-fired power plants in Northwest Europe, the companies said in a statement.
Oil and power giants launch new global initiative to accelerate replacement of grey hydrogen | Upstream Online
Twenty-eight companies — including oil giants BP, Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies — have launched a new global initiative at COP26 to accelerate the replacement of highly polluting grey hydrogen with lower-carbon hydrogen.
Carbon Capture
ConocoPhillips joins net-zero oil sands alliance in Canada | Upstream Online
ConocoPhillips Canada has joined an alliance of five other companies that aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands operations by 2050. Some of the solutions already identified include carbon capture, utilisation, and storage, switching to low-carbon fuels, and improving energy efficiency at facilities.
Petronas partners with Exxon Mobil to explore carbon storage opportunities | Reuters
Malaysia’s state energy firm, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), said on Tuesday it has partnered with a Malaysian unit of Exxon Mobil Corp to jointly explore opportunities in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies in a bid to decarbonise the country’s upstream industry.
Chevron to Use Offsets After Australian Carbon Capture Struggles | BNN Bloomberg
Chevron Corp. will buy more than 5 million greenhouse gas offsets after its giant Gorgon project in Australia missed targets to inject captured carbon dioxide underground.
Nuclear
Russia plans 10 new large nuclear units by 2035 | Nuclear Engineering
Rosatom plans to build about 10 large power units in Russia by 2035, and in the next few years to commission two units annually, Director General Alexei Likhachev told a technical customer gathering in October. Today Russia’s 11 nuclear plants operate 38 units with a total installed capacity of over 30.5GW. The share of nuclear generation in the total electricity generation in Russia is 20.6% as of mid-2021.
France to build new nuclear reactors to meet climate goals | AP News
France will start building its first new nuclear reactors in decades as part of efforts to meet its promises to reduce planet-warming emissions, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday.
Energy Storage
Storing renewable energy with thermal blocks made of aluminum, graphite | pv magazine
Newcastle University engineers have patented a thermal storage material that can store large amounts of renewable energy as heat for long periods. MGA Thermal is now manufacturing the thermal energy storage blocks as storage for large-scale solar systems and to repurpose coal-fired power stations.
Fluence’s IPO closes with almost a billion dollars raised | Energy Storage News
Fluence’s initial public offering (IPO) raised just under a billion dollars, with all available shares of the energy storage company’s Class A common stock snapped up as they listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
StoreDot turns out ultra-fast, Tesla-like 4680 cells on a mass production line | Electrek
StoreDot, an Israel-based electric vehicle battery startup, today claimed that it has become the first company to produce silicon-dominant extreme fast charge (XFC) cells for electric vehicles on a mass production line.
Solar and Wind
A pair of US utilities aim to each add 1GW of renewables in the coming years. Entergy Mississippi plans to replace aging natural gas plants with solar and Georgia Power will consider hybrid projects that couple energy storage with renewables.
Utility scale solar reaches LCOE of $0.028-$0.041/kWh in the US, Lazard finds | pv magazine
Source: Lazard
Lazard’s newly released Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis 15.0 and Storage 7.0 reports that solar and wind are the most competitive electricity sources in the US energy market. According to the investment bank’s 2021 study, gas combined cycle has the lowest LCOE of $0.045-$0.074/kWh among the conventional sources and that of coal and nuclear is $0.065-$0.152/kWh and $0.131-$0.204/kWh, respectively.
How Canada’s largest solar farm is changing Alberta’s landscape | CBC
The 3,300 acre solar farm under construction about an hour and a half drive southeast of Calgary will produce enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners put up the $700 million to build it and Amazon is said to be waiting to buy all the electricity to be produced.
Huge 2.8GW solar farm proposed for Tiwi Islands in new green hydrogen plan | RenewEconomy
A massive 2.8GW solar farm has been proposed for the Tiwi Islands off the coast of the Northern Territory as part of plans to create a major renewable hydrogen hub for export to Asia markets.
Belgian, Italian firms land $1.1B contract for the largest US offshore wind farm | Electrek
A consortium of Belgian dredging company Deme Group and Italian cable manufacturer Prysmian Group has been awarded a $1.1 billion contract by Dominion Energy Virginia to help build what will be the largest offshore wind farm in the US, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. Upon expected completion in 2026, the 176-turbine, 2.6-gigawatt CVOW will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world.
Xcel first utility to adopt net zero carbon target, CEO says | Utility Dive
Xcel Energy plans to have carbon-free gas utility operations by 2050, making the utility company the first to have a net-zero target across its electric and natural gas operations, according to the Bob Frenzel, Xcel president and CEO. Xcel, which has 2.1 million natural gas customers, expects to begin replacing natural gas with “green” hydrogen and renewable natural gas this decade.
Australia deployed 3 GW of rooftop solar in 2020 | pv magazine
Australia broke solar installation records across all rooftop PV sectors in 2020, solidifying its “remarkable” position in the global solar market with the highest per capita capacity, at more 810 W per person.
Large solar and storage project proposed for South Australia | RenewEconomy
What is being claimed as the world’s biggest solar and storage project – a 300MW facility with 3.6GWh of storage – has been proposed for South Australia by the Dutch-based solar developer Photon Energy, using Australian technology developed by RayGen.
RayGen’s technology is different, and integrates solar and hydro storage. The heat extracted from PV Ultra modules is stored as hot water in a thermally insulated reservoir, while electricity from PV Ultra, or the grid, is used to run a chiller to produce near freezing water in a second reservoir. And the stored hot and cold water are used to drive a conventional Organic Rankine Cycle engine.
Florida is about to get a massive solar build-out – 3.5GW over 5 years | Canary Media
The Florida Public Service Commission last week voted unanimously to approve a long-watched request by Florida Power & Light to build 3.5 gigawatts of new solar capacity over the next five years.
South Africa picks bids for $3B of renewables projects | BNN Bloomberg
South Africa picked 25 wind- and solar-power projects to be built by private developers, part of a plan to reduce the nation’s reliance on coal for electricity and end rolling blackouts that are curbing economic growth.
Octopus targets £4bn of renewable projects with expansion of Fan Club model | Current±
Octopus Energy Group is aiming to raise £4 billion to fund a global expansion of its ‘Fan Club’ tariff model and support gigawatts of associated renewable energy projects through 2030.
Transportation
EVs to reach 10% of all vehicle sales for first time — report | Rystad Energy
Electric vehicle (EV) sales are projected to surpass 7 million cars globally in 2021, more than doubling 2020 sales of 3.2 million. Rystad Energy estimates that EVs, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEV), will account for around one in every 10 new cars purchased, with a global market share of 10.3%, up from 5.3% in 2020.
Visualizing the Race for EV Dominance | Visual Capitalist
Exclusive: Global carmakers now target $515 billion for EVs, batteries | Reuters
Global automakers are planning to spend more than half a trillion dollars on electric vehicles and batteries through 2030, according to a Reuters analysis, amping up investments aimed at weaning car buyers away from fossil fuels and meeting increasingly tough decarbonization targets.
EV startup Rivian stuns Nasdaq on debut to become sixth most valuable carmaker | The Driven
Electric ute and SUV maker Rivian stunned investors on its first day of trading on the tech-focussed Nasdaq, with a surge in its share price valuing it above that of venerated car makers such as General Motors, Ford and BMW. Rivians’s closing day valuation of just under $US100 billion, more than one of its key investors Ford, simply adds more weight to the scale and pace of the transition to elecrtric vehicles.
Autonomous vehicle maker Nuro secures $600M for expansion | AP
Electric vehicle maker Nuro said Tuesday it had secured $600 million in funding from Google, Kroger and others to continue the development of its autonomous delivery vehicle service.
Tesla adds 10 per cent range, larger battery to Model 3. No change in price | The Driven
Tesla is adding a larger battery to its Model 3 electric sedan, increasing the driving range by almost 10% up to 491km (WLTP) from a previous 448km for the Standard range Plus variant. And there is no indication of a change in price.
Greece Brings In Climate Law, Banning Fossil-Fuel Cars From 2030 | BNN Bloomberg
Greece introduced its first climate law, with a focus on low-carbon energy, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis steps up efforts to tackle the effects of the global environmental crisis.
Quebec to fund majority of $5 billion electric bus purchase | CTV News
Quebec will fund the lion’s share of a $5 billion purchase of electric buses. The Quebec government will pay $3.65 billion of the contract, with the rest coming from the federal government and transportation companies. The Quebec government says it is already in discussions with Quebec manufacturers, such as Novabus and Lion Électrique, but a foreign manufacturer could very well win the contract.
Countries, cities, carmakers commit to end fossil-fuel vehicles by 2040 | Reuters
A group of countries, companies and cities committed on Wednesday to phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles by 2040, as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions and curb global warming. But the world’s top two carmakers, Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG, as well as major car markets China, the United States and Germany, did not sign up, highlighting the challenges in shifting to zero emissions
Australia announces policy to boost electric car sales | AP News
Australia’s prime minister on Tuesday announced plans to encourage people to buy electric vehicles weeks after his government was accused at a U.N. conference in Scotland of being a laggard in fighting climate change. The 250 million Australian dollar ($185 million) plan would partner with private enterprise to accelerate the rollout of 50,000 charging and hydrogen refueling stations.
Policy
More than 100 countries join pact to slash planet-warming methane emissions | Financial Post
More than 100 countries have joined an effort led by the United States and European Union to slash emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels, an initiative aimed at tackling one of the main causes of climate change.
Coal on the chopping block as US and China agree to cooperate on climate action | RenewEconomy
With negotiations in Glasgow beginning to approach a crunch point, the United States and China stole the show on Wednesday with the release of an unexpected joint statement confirming the two major world powers will cooperate on accelerating action on climate change, including a commitment to phase down the use of coal and tackle methane emissions.
Canada joins US and UK commitment to net-zero emission grid by 2035 | National Observer
Last week at COP26, the United Nations climate conference, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined the U.S. and United Kingdom in committing to a net-zero emissions electricity grid by 2035.
NSW government seeks offers for renewable hydrogen hubs | RenewEconomy
NSW seeks expressions of interest in new renewable hydrogen hubs as it seeks to roll out up to $3 billion in government support.
South Africa gets $8.5 billion to phase out coal, boost renewables | pv magazine
The funds should be allocated through multilateral and bilateral grants, concessional loans, guarantees and private investments. A task force will now seek to identify initial sources of financing for the electricity and coal mining sectors, as well as financing options for the development of electromobility and green hydrogen.
Biden proposes $550B in ‘historic’ clean energy, climate spending with Build Back Better framework | Utility Dive
The $1.85 trillion budget framework agreed to by the White House and Democrats in Congress on Thursday includes $550 billion over 10 years for clean energy and climate programs.
[USA] New $199M DOE Funding to Support Work on Electric Vehicle Tech | ExecutiveBiz
The Department of Energy has announced $199 million in funding for 25 projects that will focus on electric vehicle technologies to reduce emissions by cars and trucks.