Energy Shift: China’s role in Europe’s energy crisis

Plus: A nailable solar shingle; battery gigafactories coming to US; Walmart and FedEx order thousands of electric vans

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year! With the bitter cold weather keeping us indoors over the last while here in Alberta, there were lots of impactful stories I came across. Start with my comments on the three feature stories. I highly recommend the first feature story by Adam Tooze as well as the Op-Ed by Mac Van Wielingen. skim the rest of the headlines at your leisure.

A great way to start the year would be to forward this on to others you think would be interested and encourage them to subscribe. I welcome your comments too, along with any great articles you come across.

Thanks,
Peter


Observations & Comments

I have 3 feature stories that I list in order of importance for you to seriously consider reading.

The first by Adam Tooze offers among the best insights into the drivers that have led to the European energy crisis. He puts is like this: “The energy price hike has triggered a series of debates about the future of the energy system, the impact of the green transition etc. In this post I want to go back to the beginning. This starts with China and it starts with coal. It is by way of coal that we get to gas and, by way of gas, we get to Europe.”

Next, Mac Van Wielingen offers an opinion piece that makes the point that a balanced narrative for the transition requires that we not just focus on climate/ESG, but also include consideration of the economic aspects and realities. Here in Canada, and elsewhere with federal governments, there is a big bias towards addressing climate – in ways that appear to not consider economic implications,  That said, this is an opinion piece, so please provide me with your take.

If you’re thinking about or already bought an EV, one of the things you’ll have researched is the charger to install in your garage (assuming you have one) and to do that, whether your panel also needs an upgrade. The third feature story may be of interest: SPAN in the US has developed a smart panel that may be just the thing. It is innovations like this that will help unlock greater flexibility as well as improved visibility for your electricity usage.


Feature Stories

Chartbook #64: Energy crisis 2021 – the China shock | Adam Tooze
Like it or not, we live under the shadow of China. First there was the “China shock” to labour markets which has – whatever its actual size – become a cause célèbre in the US. Then there was the fear of a Chinese financial attack – the idea of a balance of financial terror between the US and China. In 2008 that failed to materialize. In 2015 the tremors of the Shanghai meltdown were felt around the world. That has come back to haunt us in 2021 with the Evergrande crisis. Since 2020 we have been battling with COVID – contagion from China in the literal sense. In 2021 America’s military leaders had their “almost Sputnik” moment with the news of China’s hypersonic tests. Finally, in the second half of 2021 Europe has been reeling from a shock to energy markets which originated in China.

Source: Trading Economics

Opinion: If we are not careful, the Great Reset could become the Great Regret | Mac Van Wielingen | Calgary Herald
The Great Reset movement promulgated by the World Economic Forum is fundamentally a shift towards non-economic priorities, notably towards environment, social, and governance (ESG) aspirations. It is presented as a new economic and social order, a New Deal, with an emphasis on decarbonization, sustainability, equality, inclusivity and resiliency, and is often referenced as some form of a Green New Deal.

ESG, resiliency and sustainability are fantastic essential aspirations. But to become real they must be grounded in the practical realities of economics. Absent this understanding, the Great Reset movement invites disillusionment, a further breakdown of institutional trust, and could become the Great Regret.


SPAN Will Transform The Grid As We Know It With Sunrun Partnership And New EV Charger | Forbes
[EXCERPT] Right at installation, the difference is already apparent. Most consumers, when faced with the installation of a Level-2 EV charger, are forced to upgrade their electrical panel to accommodate the larger breakers or increase the overall available wattage. Drive works with the SPAN Panel to borrow wattage from unused and low-priority breakers, eliminating the need to upgrade your service.


Finance & Sentiment

Car ads get cigarette-like disclaimer in France suggesting walking or biking instead | Electrek
A new law in France will soon require automakers to include a disclaimer in their advertisements encouraging more energy-efficient transportation alternatives such as walking, biking, or public transit.

Nest divests from ExxonMobil and other ‘unresponsive’ fossil fuel giants on road to net-zero | edie
UBS Asset Management and the UK’s largest pension scheme, Nest, have divested from five fossil fuel firms which they say have not responded well to climate-related engagement.

‘Turn the valve off’: Climate activists push for an abrupt end to the fossil fuel era | CNBC
Calls to keep fossil fuels in the ground are anathema to leaders in the oil and gas industry, who insist the world will continue “to be thirsty for all energy sources” in the years ahead.


Technology

 

Hydrogen & Carbon Capture 

The World Wants Green Hydrogen. Namibia Says It Can Deliver | H2 Clipper
Namibia is positioning itself as a leader in the emerging market for another hot resource: green hydrogen, which is made using renewable electricity. With bright sunshine 300 days a year and vicious winds that rip along a nearly 1,000-mile coast, renewable experts and government officials say the southwest African nation has outsize potential for renewable energy production.

Cummins, Sinopec launch JV to produce green hydrogen technologies | Refining Petrochemicals
Cummins Enze will be based in Foshan, Guangdong Province of China and will initially invest $47 million in setting up a manufacturing plant to produce proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers.

The Lone Star State May Host The World’s Next Big Hydrogen Hub | Oil Price
In the US, the region that appears best equipped for widespread adoption of clean H2 is the Texas Gulf Coast centered on Houston. This vast industrial landscape of refining, petrochemicals, and related industries already consumes one-third of current US hydrogen production and lays over a regional geology that should support storage. ExxonMobil Corp. is thinking seriously about a hub concept for Houston

Nuclear

 China is Home to World’s First Small Modular Nuclear Reactor | BNN Bloomberg

Image: China Huaneng Group

China continues to stake its claim as the world’s biggest proponent of new nuclear energy technology, connecting its first small modular reactor to the power grid. China Huaneng Group Co.’s 200-megawatt unit 1 reactor at Shidao Bay is now feeding power to the grid in Shandong province, the China Nuclear Energy Association said in a WeChat post. A second reactor is undergoing tests before being connected and putting the plant into full commercial operations in the middle of next year.

Autonomous Technology

John Deere takes a step into the future with first fully autonomous tractor | Electrek
John Deere revealed its first fully autonomous tractor today at CES 2022, building off of what it says are 20 years of AI development – and it’s not a concept. The self-driving John Deere is already up and running on select farms and available for sale.

Energy Storage 

State Grid of China switches on world’s largest pumped-hydro station | pv magazine

The Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station. Image: State Grid Corp of China

Located in China’s Hebei province, the 3.6GW facility consists of 12 reversible pump generating sets with a capacity of 300MW each and has a storage capacity of 6.612 billion kWh.

Norway’s FREYR Battery signs ‘US$3 billion’ off-take deal with energy storage industry customer | Energy Storage News
FREYR Battery, a European startup developing advanced lithium-ion battery cells for mass production, has signed a 31GWh off-take agreement with an energy storage system manufacturer.

How storing energy without batteries could be key to N.S. giving up fossil fuels | CBC
Wayne Groszko says storing energy as heat is an affordable alternative to lithium ion batteries. In a laboratory at the Nova Scotia Community College sit two water tanks bristling with copper wires. They don’t necessarily look like a piece of renewable energy technology. But they may nonetheless play a role in reducing one of the province’s greatest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In Nova Scotia, as much as 60 per cent of the energy consumption comes from space heating, a figure that rises to 80 per cent when hot water is included.

13 battery gigafactories coming to the US by 2025 – ushering new era of US battery production | Electrek
There are 13 new battery cell gigafactories coming online in the US by 2025, according to the Department of Energy. These factories are ushering in a new era of battery production in the US.

Solar and Wind 

These new nailable solar shingles are installed like a traditional roof | Electrek

The “world’s first” nailable solar shingle, the Timberline Solar Energy Shingle, is being launched today by GAF Energy, the sister company of GAF, the largest roofing and waterproofing company in North America.

PetroChina reveals results of 4.5GW procurement solar tender | pv magazine
The energy company will buy panels from JinkoSolar, Risen Energy, Canadian Solar, JA Solar, GCL Integration and Longi. Elsewhere, Xinyi Solar and Golden Solar have both announced new transactions to strengthen their business.

BlueFloat, Energy Estate to develop 4.3GW offshore wind farms in Australia | NS Energy
Spain-based BlueFloat Energy and Energy Estate are joining forces to develop offshore wind farms in Australia, the first three of which will have a combined capacity of 4.3GW. The projects include the 1.4GW Hunter Coast, the 1.6GW Wollongong, and the 1.3GW Greater Gippsland offshore wind farms.

South Korea allocates 2.2 GW in PV tender, final average price comes in at $0.119/kWh | pv magazine
Selected projects will be awarded a fixed rate under a 20-year contract under the country’s renewable energy certificate (REC) scheme and will sell electricity to local power distributors.

Israel allocates 1.14 GW of PV across two tenders, lowest price comes in at $0.02751/kWh | pv magazine
The Israeli authorities allocated more than 1.14 GW of PV capacity and 210 MWh of storage across two different tenders. In a first procurement exercise for the 330 MW/210 MWh Dimona solar-plus-storage project the winner was Israeli company Shikun & Binui Holdings Ltd. In another tender for innovative PV projects local developer Prime Energy secured 475 MW with the final average price of $0.0541/kWh.

Algeria launches 1 GW solar tender | pv magazine
Developers will have time until April 30 to submit their bids. Selected projects will be awarded a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

China connects 550MW combined floating solar and aquaculture project to power grid | Offshore Energy

The Wenzhou Taihan 550MW floating solar and fishing farm (Courtesy of Government of China/Photo by Xinhua)

The Wenzhou Taihan 550MW project, which combines floating solar with aquaculture, has been officially connected to the grid in East China. The project, located on the beach in the enclosed area of ​​the Southern Zhejiang Industrial Cluster in Wenzhou, covers an area of ​​approximately 4.7 square kilometres.

Major Floating Wind Farm Offshore Scotland to Power Oil and Gas Field | Offshore Wind
Flotation Energy Plc and CNOOC Petroleum Europe Ltd have submitted an Offshore Scoping Report for a floating wind farm offshore Scotland with a capacity of up to 480 MW and scheduled to be operational by 2026.

Meyer Burger brings 400 MW high-performance solar module manufacturing to Arizona | pv magazine
A diversified and talented workforce, proximity to customers, and strong partnerships on the ground prompted Meyer Burger to establish a PV production site in Goodyear, Arizona, the US.

Lightsource BP closes $376 million in financing, breaks ground on two massive US projects | pv magazine
The 293MW Sun Mountain solar project, set to be located in Pueblo, Colorado, and the 173MW Bellflower solar project, set to be constructed east of Indianapolis will each be among the largest in their respective states.

Construction begins on 500MW solar park in the Philippines | pv magazine
The solar park is part of a 1GW portfolio of unsubsidized PV projects. Completion is scheduled for 2023.

Transportation 

Walmart and FedEx sign deals with GM for thousands of new BrightDrop electric vans | CNBC

Walmart and FedEx plan to add thousands of electric delivery vans produced by General Motors to their massive vehicle fleets in the coming years, the companies announced Wednesday. Walmart has signed a new agreement with the Detroit automaker to reserve 5,000 BrightDrop vans, while FedEx said it has agreed to a deal for 2,000 more vehicles over the next several years.

Tesla secures another order of electric semi trucks | Electrek
Tesla has secured another order of Tesla Semi trucks, its upcoming electric class 8 semi trucks. Karat Packaging announced in a press release that it ordered 10 Tesla Semi trucks.

22 of the most anticipated electric vehicles coming in 2022 | Electrek
Here we sit on the precipice of 2022, which is hopefully a shiny new start and not “2020 II.” One of the more optimistic outlooks we can share in the new year is the prospect of further EV adoption, led by an absolute slew of new EV models from all of the major names in vehicles. Below are some of the most anticipated electric vehicles scheduled to arrive in 2022, along with a little blurb about each so you can start planning which ones you want to test drive first.

Hyundai shuts down its engine development team amid focus on electric cars | Electrek
Hyundai announced that it is shutting down its internal combustion engine development team as the automaker focuses on electric cars. Hyundai reportedly had 12,000 people working on engines, but they are now being transferred to EV powertrain development.

Hyundai pauses Genesis hydrogen fuel cell project just days after ending ICE engines | Electrek
Hyundai has suspended development of their Genesis hydrogen fuel cell vehicle indefinitely, according to Chosun Ilbo. The news comes hot on the heels of Hyundai announcing an end to internal combustion engine development.

No End in Sight for Auto Sales Slump on Chip-Constrained Output | BNN Bloomberg
[Excerpt]
TrueCar estimates that GM’s December sales were down 43%, which would be the biggest drop of any automaker. Toyota sales fell about 30% and Ford Motor Co. is likely to report a drop of about 20%, TrueCar projects. To help cope with the vehicle shortfall, dealers say GM is allowing them to extend leases for customers who can’t find a new car.

Tesla Delivers Record 308,600 Cars in Quarter, Beating Estimate | BNN Bloomberg
Tesla Inc. delivered 308,600 cars worldwide in the fourth quarter, a record for the electric-vehicle maker and capstone to a year in which the company joined the exclusive $1 trillion market valuation club.

Ford, GM shares jump as electric truck battle heats up | Reuters
Shares of Ford Motor and General Motors surged on Tuesday, lifted by investors’ growing enthusiasm about their future electric pickup offerings. Ford’s stock jumped more than 11% to its highest level since 2001 after the Detroit automaker said it will nearly double production capacity for its red-hot F-150 Lightning electric pickup to 150,000 vehicles.

Sony unveils electric SUV as it announces new EV division | Driving.ca
Japan’s Sony Group Corp plans to launch a company this spring to examine entering the electric vehicle market, looking to harness its strengths in entertainment and sensors to play a bigger role in next-generation mobility. Yoshida unveiled a prototype sport utility vehicle (SUV), the VISION-S 02, a crossover based on the Vision-S 01 that has been real-world testing for the past year.

Circular Economy

Vietnam aims for ‘circular economy’ with recycling law | Nikkei Asia
With a new law in place, Vietnam has joined the circular economy bandwagon. Companies from Apple to Asahi Breweries are now required to keep more of their products, parts and packaging out of landfills.

Policy

How the $1.2 trillion US infrastructure bill will fight climate change and advance clean energy | Canary Media
The legislation sends more than $80 billion to the power grid, EV charging, batteries, hydrogen, carbon capture and more.

Canadian Federal government announces $73-million top up for iZEV rebate program | Electric Autonomy
The federal government’s electric vehicle iZEV rebate program is getting another $73-million cash infusion, bringing the total amount invested to $660 million since 2019.

New York plans 10 GW distributed solar program expansion, but some see even more potential | Utility Dive
New York would aim to install at least 10 GW of distributed solar by 2030 under a proposed plan for expanding the NY-Sun initiative announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul, D.

Irish government approves net metering, rebate scheme for solar and renewables | pv magazine
Through the scheme, the Irish government intends to allocate around 380 MW of solar power. Projects of up to 50 kW will be entitled to participate and installations not exceeding 6 kW in size will be given a maximum rebate of €2,400.

Iran wants to deploy 10 GW of renewables over the next four years | pv magazine
According to the Iranian authorities, there are currently more than 80GW of renewable energy projects that were submitted by private investors for review. The Iranian Energy Ministry announced, last week, a plan to add another 10GW of renewable energy capacity over the next four years as part of an overall strategy to deploy 30GW of power generation capacity.

Serbia targets 8.3GW of solar by 2024 | pv magazine
Serbia is responding to European pressure to accelerate its energy transition to cleaner fuels by allocating €12 billion for wind, PV and hydropower facilities over the next two years. Thus far, there has been little in the way of development in the country, but some regulatory frameworks have been improved.

Governments investing in Hydrogen: Australia at A$150 million and Germany at €60 million | pv magazine
The Australian government approved a $150 million (€95 million) program to support the country’s hydrogen export industry and attract overseas investment in its hydrogen supply chains. The German government is providing a grant of €60 million for the H2Giga project, meant to prepare electrolyzer technologies for industrial production at gigawatt scale, according to Dresden-based alkaline and SOEC electrolyzer producer Sunfire.