6 April 2022
By Andries Wantenaar
Chinese EV leader Nio is in discussions with rival carmakers about licensing its proprietary battery swapping technology. This is at the center of the company’s strategy to push its technology and vehicles into European markets. Using Europe as a testing ground for scaling its charging networks, the company hopes to increase its number of battery swapping stations from 800 to 5,000 by 2025, with 1,000 of these split between Europe and the USA.
British oil major Shell has paid no tax on its oil and gas production in the country’s North Sea. Tax refunds related to the decommissioning of old oil platforms meant that Shell actually received a net income of $121 million from the UK treasury in 2021, marking the fourth consecutive year that the company avoided paying tax in the region. With the UK facing steep inflation in energy prices and with nearly 30 energy suppliers going bus in the past year, the news in bound to reignite calls for a windfall tax on oil majors operating in the country, especially if they continue to flounder in their net zero transition strategy.
Investigations are underway after a fire broke out on the world’s first hydrogen carrier vessel before it set sail between Australia and Japan. The vessel aimed to demonstrate the world’s first international shipment of liquefied hydrogen in January. The ‘serious incident’ is related to “a gas pressure control equipment malfunction on board the gas carrier Suiso Frontier after the ship had loaded liquefied hydrogen at Western Port, Hastings,” said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Reports of the incident outline a flame coming from the gas combustion unit’s exhaust on deck, which was immediately shut down and isolated. “No further abnormalities were reported and there were no injuries, damage or pollution,” according to initial reports. Suiso Frontier still completed the 34-day voyage from Hastings, in the Australian territory of Victoria, to Kobe in Japan, where it successfully unloaded its cargo of liquid hydrogen.
Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has unveiled the world’s largest onshore model. The 7.2MW V172 has been devised for low and medium wind speeds, aiming to boost annual energy production by 12% compared to the turbine maker’s V162-6.2MW. It will feature flexible power ratings of 7.2 MW, 6.8 MW and 6.5 MW and “expanded site applicability” for all environmental conditions, with cold-climate packages available for northern environments and a CoolerTop package for high-temperature locations. The turbine is the latest in Vestas’ modularized EnVentus models, and surpasses the previous record size onshore wind turbine of Germany’s Enercon.
The EU will progress its plans for its carbon border tax, after member states agreeing on March 15 on the form the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) should take. As proposed by the European Commission in July 2021, the CBAM will apply to imports of electricity, cement, fertilizers, iron, steel and aluminum, with importers required to purchase CBAM certificates corresponding to the embedded emissions in the imported goods. The prices of those certificates will be linked to carbon prices in the EU Emissions Trading System, starting in 2026, with a transitional phase from 2023 to 2025. The program aims to address carbon leakage withing the EU at a time when the bloc’s carbon pricing is significantly more progressive than elsewhere in the world. Without the CBAM this creates a danger that imports from countries without carbon pricing regimes undercut their European competitors.
Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom is still supplying natural gas to Europe via Ukraine, according to statements made on Wednesday. Despite Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Gazprom said the request for gas exports to Europe through Ukraine had been set at 108.3 million cubic meters for April 6.
Spanish oil and gas company Cepsa is planning to develop a 7,000MW solar and wind portfolio to decarbonize its operations, with 1,500MW already grid connected. The plans also outline a new role in the development of green hydrogen in Spain and Portugal, with a production capacity equivalent to 2,000 MW and biofuels production of 2.5 million tons by 2030. Cespa also plans to position energy parks in Andalusia as European gateways for hydrogen exports.
Spanish power company Repsol has signed an agreement with Orsted to explore the development of floating offshore wind projects in Spain. The partnership will aim to contribute to Spain’s target of having 3 GW of floating offshore wind capacity installed by 2030.
The UK Government will pursue plans to create a new public body to oversee the country’s energy system. The move marks a shift towards renationalization of the role that National Grid has served since its privatization in the 1990s. As part of the arrangements, the UK Treasury will have to compensate National Grid for the transfer of powers, although a financial settlement has yet to be confirmed.
Portugal has again played host to a record low solar price. On this occasion the record was a negative $4.51 per MWh, ie $4.51 to be paid to the government per MWh, as a kind of rent from EDPR’s 70 MW floating solar project to be built at the Alqueva dam in the south of the country. The developer will sell that electricity on the free market, and the negative price has been enabled by the security which Europe’s high electricity prices offer to developers.
India has made an affirmative anti-dumping ruling on Chinese fluorinated solar backsheets, with a $762 per ton levy to be imposed for five years on Jolywood products, and $908 on other producers.
Bulgaria’s draft energy strategy plan from its Electricity System Operator (ESO) forecasts 5.9 GW of new capacity brought online by 2031, including 4.9 GW of renewables. – for context the country has a peak demand of 7.7 GW.
Woodside Petroleum, an Australian energy producer, will join the ranks of those funding CSP startup Heliogen, which is primarily active in California. The two companies were already working together towards a 5 MW pilot project.
The combined debt of India’s distribution companies (discoms) has reached $14.4 billion – this consists of overdue payments to power generators. In March alone, bills for a further $1.91 billion were filed by the generators, of which $442 million was paid. On a state-by-state basis this lack of payment has been challenged in the courts, while federal government debt relief is limited and comes with pro-renewable strings attached.
Tesla has suspended its rooftop solar installation business in the face of high module costs, uncertainty about US policy regarding tariffs on Indochinese products, and perhaps faults in Tesla’s own installations.
From April 2021 to January 2022, India imported $3.4 billion of solar cells, according to Energy Minister RK Singh. That is to say around 21 GW, or two years of Indian demand imported in eight months. Mr Singh has reiterated India’s ambition to reach 100 GW solar by December 2021, but India only has 50 GW installed right now, so perhaps Mr Singh misspoke, or his remarks were mis-reported, or he is fabulously optimistic about the actual progress achieved with the 44 GW of plants that are under development. We expect at most 15 GW to be built this year.
Swedish renewables conglomerate OX2 has published its prospectus to go public and its stock has begun trading. It promises to go form completing 500 MW each year to more than 1,500 MW on average in 2023–2024, and then push on in the mid-term to 2,000 MW per annum and achieve an operating margin of 10% and an operating profit of over $265 million.
Chinese battery and car maker BYD has partnered with oil major BP they say to improve services for EV customers, starting in China and Europe and extending across the world. They will form a pan-European Mobility Service Provider, offering EV owners membership access to 275,000 charging points through the Shell roaming network and develop fleet solutions jointly. This week BYD revealed that it has made no non-EV cars in since February when it only a handful of ICE vehicles, but in March there were none.
Hertz, one of the largest car rental firms in the world said this week it will buy 65,000 EVs over the next five years from Swedish EV maker Polestar. In the past in the US it has committed to 100,000 Tesla EVs. The Polestar cars will be used in Europe, the US and Australia. Polestar is a subsidiary of China’s Geely, which also owns Volvo.
March numbers are out for the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showing over 39,000 Battery Electric Vehicle sold, and 16,000 plug in hybrids (PHEVs). The BEVs figure is 78.7% higher than this time last year, but clearly grew at the expense of PHEVs. Diesel cars were off 55%, and mild hybrids and non-plug in hybrids were also up. For the year to date the figures are not so rosy, with 64,165 BEVs sold up over 100%, and 29,761 PHEVs sold up 12%. It is not a smooth picture, but also fleet purchases have been right down, off by 22%, which may explains some of a market which itself is only off 1.9%.
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