Plus: BP & Total win $14B German offshore wind tender; €2 Billion Green Steel Aid for Thyssenkrupp; France installs 10X heat pumps than UK
Hi Everyone,
It seems taking time off work has only provided more time for reading. So for now, you get another set of curated signposts of the energy transition. Expect a wait for the next one, just in case I take it easy over the summer.
The subject line for this issue is my reading recommendation: How to be a Climate Optimist – Blueprints for a Better World, by Chris Turner, winner of the National Business Book Award. I find in Chris a kindred spirit. In his latest book, he too curates signposts of the energy transition and neatly packages them up with helpful ways to interpret the past 20 years of their progression and impact. I have enjoyed reading his book very much and encourage you to do so as well. Get your copy here.
You’ll see I’ve gone light on comments (they take more time!). But if you have comments or questions,,do not hesitate to reach out.
Thanks for reading and continue to forward on to others you think would be interested.
Peter
Finance & Sentiment
Amazon finally decouples emissions from business growth | edie
Amazon has posted its first year-on-year decrease in its absolute greenhouse gas emissions since launching annual sustainability reports. The e-commerce giant has today revealed an emissions drop of 0.4% across all scopes, despite growing sales by 9%.
Amundi Votes Against 500 Directors over Climate Strategy Concerns | ESG Today
Leading European asset manager Amundi revealed today that it has opposed the re-election of more than 500 directors at 84 companies in the Energies & Utilities sectors so far this year, over concerns about their companies’ climate strategies, representing more than 20% of re-election candidates in those sectors.
Technology
Hydrogen
World first direct seawater electrolysis floating platform tested successfully in China | China Hydrogen Bulletin
Image: floating direct seawater electrolysis facility in Fujian, China
Chinese scientists have successfully tested its first floating electrolysis pilot platform in offshore Fujian province in June 2023. It’s remarkable as this is also world first direct seawater electrolysis facility and no desalination needed.
Edmonton International Airport orders 100 Toyota Mirai fuel cell vehicles for use in its local ecosystem | Electric Autonomy
Users to include the airport’s own fleet as well as taxi companies and car rental services, via YEG’s partnership with Toyota and hydrogen producer Air Products
Hydrogen windfall | EU grants €3.6bn to low-carbon tech projects, more than half of which are dedicated to green H2 | Hydrogen Insight
Cash from Innovation Fund will be used to produce renewable hydrogen, ammonia, green steel, e-methanol, e-methane, and help bankroll innovations in manufacturing
Carbon Capture
Shell, ConocoPhillips Invest in DAC Start-Up Avnos | Energy Intelligence
Oil giants Shell and ConocoPhillips are inching further into the emerging carbon removal space with a joint investment in direct air capture (DAC) start-up Avnos. The US independent and Shell’s venture capital arm signed a “multiyear strategic and investment partnership” with Los Angeles-based Avnos worth “in excess” of $80 million. The venture arm of airline JetBlue also participated in the funding round, according to a statement.
Exxon Acquires Denbury, Including World’s Largest CO2 Pipeline Network, for $5 Billion | ESG Today
Energy giant ExxonMobil announced today an agreement to acquire carbon capture and CO2 utilization-focused energy company Denbury in a deal valued at $4.9 billion, in a deal the company said will help it accelerate its low-carbon opportunities and provide carbon capture services to hard-to-decarbonize industries.
Carbon Removal Startup CarbonCure Raises $80 Million for Concrete Decarbonization Solution | ESG Today
[Excerpt] Founded in 2012, Halifax, Nova Scotia-based CarbonCure provides solutions that let concrete producers use captured carbon dioxide to produce low carbon concrete mixes. The company’s technology is retrofitted into concrete plants to allow producers to inject captured CO2 into fresh concrete during mixing, in a process that mineralizes the CO2 while also increasing the concrete’s strength.
Green Steel
Thyssenkrupp Gets EU Approval for €2 Billion Green Steel Aid | BNN Bloomberg
Thyssenkrupp AG secured European Union approval for a €2 billion ($2.2 billion) package of state subsidies from the German government to invest in green steel production.
Urban Design and Buildings
Where Have All the Workers Gone? Zoning and Its Unintended Consequences | AIER
[Excerpt] That leaves a seemingly obvious option to solve this dilemma: figure out how to lower the cost of housing through building inexpensive apartments, so people like Cathy don’t have to travel so far. But an “obvious” solution like building apartments will cause a conflict between current homeowners and future residents, especially in bucolic settings with tourist towns. Unfortunately, the chosen policy solution to this conflict has created ripple effects that end up with these types of broken labor markets.
The end result is that the zoning laws squeeze out opportunities for lower-income workers to enjoy the same beauty and experiences of living in small-towns like Great Barrington. Instead, they must spend up to 2 hours a day commuting from far-away towns, taking away from their quality of life.
France installs ten times more heat pumps in 2022 than UK | Current
The UK is “drastically falling behind in heat pump deployment” in comparison to other European countries, a new report argues.
Energy Storage
India’s Tata will build a $5-billion new electric car battery factory in the UK | AP News
India’s Tata Sons plans to build a 4-billion-pound ($5.2 billion) electric car battery factory in the U.K., the conglomerate said Wednesday. The plant is expected to become one of Europe’s largest battery cell manufacturing sites when it begins production in 2026.
Eku Energy and Renera to develop 1GW of battery storage in Italy | Energy Storage News
[Excerpt] Italy is forecast to be the third-largest energy storage market in Europe by 2030 by which date transmission system operator (TSO) Terna aims to have a renewable energy mix of 65%, Eku said.Battery storage projects in the south will primarily provide load shifting of renewables while those in the north will be more focused on ancillary services to the grid.
Green light for new big batteries in Australia | pv magazine
The government of the Australian state of New South Wales has provided planning approvals for two new grid-scale batteries. They will deliver a combined 540 MWh of energy storage capacity to support the state’s rapidly changing energy market.
Solar and Wind
Shell explores selling renewable power stake as CEO pursues ‘ruthless’ approach to prioritizing returns | Financial Post
[Excerpt] The deliberations come as chief executive officer Wael Sawan focuses the company’s investments on fossil fuels in a bid to increase shareholder returns and narrow the valuation gap with Shell’s U.S. peers.
[Comment] Investors in oil and gas expect higher returns than that offered by renewables. So, when the two become blended in the same company, it makes it harder for that company to compete with pure-play oil & gas. Expectations from many investors are also high for oil & gas companies to invest in green energy. Something has to give. The general rule of thumb here: as an oil and gas company invests into more green energy, it is fair to also expect diluted returns. Finding the right balance and pace is tricky. My take: of all the supermajors, TotalEnergies seems to be threading the needle fairly well so far.
BP, Total win in $14 billion German offshore wind site tender | Reuters
Oil majors BP (BP.L) and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) emerged as the winners in a 7 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind site auction in Germany worth 12.6 billion euros ($13.96 billion), highlighting the appeal of renewable assets across Europe.
[Comment] Wow. That is some serious coin.
This 1 GW solar + salt + shrimp farm is a 3-in-1 power station | Electrek
A huge solar power station in China is generating clean energy, producing salt from sunlight, and serving as a shrimp-breeding site. State-owned China Huadian Corporation said the 1-gigawatt (GW) Huadian Tianjin Haijing power station will generate 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year – enough to power around 1.5 million households in China.
Hornsea Four: UK’s second largest offshore wind farm gets greenlight | edie
Orsted’s Hornsea 4 offshore wind farm has been granted development consent by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, making it the second largest offshore wind farm in the UK to be granted consent.
Renewable deployment surge puts world on track for net zero pathway – study | Electrek
RMI forecasts that renewables, which are already the cheapest form of electricity in history, will roughly halve in price again by 2030, falling as low as $20 per MWh for solar from over $40 per MWh currently. The cost of renewable electricity has plummeted over the past decade. Solar and battery costs have declined by 80% between 2012 and 2022. Offshore wind costs are down 73%, and onshore wind costs are 57% down, BNEF data shows.
Texas curtailed 9% of solar generation in 2022 | pv magazine
Transmission and energy storage limitations are leading to wasted renewable energy.
European warehouses store 40 GW of unsold solar panels | pv magazine
Rystad Energy says that about €7 billion ($7.8 billion) of solar panels are now being stored in Europe, but European developers continued to buy solar modules from China throughout the first half of this year.
Philippines allocates 1.97 GW of PV capacity in renewables auction | pv magazine
Through the procurement exercise, the GEA-BEAC allocated 1,870.8 MW of ground-mounted PV capacity and 90 MW of floating solar power. The selected developers will secure 20-year power purchase agreements.
Transportation
Unsold electric cars are piling up on dealer lots | Axios
The auto industry is beginning to crank out more electric vehicles (EVs) to challenge Tesla, but there’s one big problem: not enough buyers. Why it matters: The growing mismatch between EV supply and demand is a sign that even though consumers are showing more interest in EVs, they’re still wary about purchasing one because of price or charging concerns.
Ford Cuts Price on Electric Version of F-150 Truck by Up to 17% | BNN Bloomberg
Ford Motor Co. is slashing prices on the electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup by as much as 17%, as it moves to fend off new competition coming from Tesla Inc. and General Motors Co.
[Comment] Ford’s stock seems to have been unfairly punished, when others did likewise without the hit. Competition is heating up, so I don’t blame them for trying to stake out their share of the truck market.
Circular Economy
Heinz unveils recyclable caps for iconic squeezy ketchup bottles | edie
Kraft Heinz will implement fully recyclable cap for its tomato ketchup bottles,in a bid to achieve its goal of 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging by 2025.
Australian team claims 99% recovery rate with solar recycling process | pv magazine
Engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have developed a new, more effective method to recycle end-of-life solar panels. The technique allows them to quickly and efficiently separate 99% of PV cell component materials.
Policy
Australia joins G7-backed ‘climate club’ and promises to drive down greenhouse gas emissions | AP News
Australia is joining the “climate club” backed by the Group of Seven major economies to take more ambitious action in tackling global warming, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.
Ottawa announces $160M for Alberta solar power projects | Calgary Herald
[Excerpt] Speaking in Drumheller Tuesday morning, federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the $160-million envelope would fund nine projects which will generate a cumulative 163 megawatts of solar power, along with 48 MW of battery storage capacity.