Europe/Middle East/Africa

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Hype Or The Future? Sectoral Coupling With Electricity-Based Fuels

Electricity-based fuels are at an early stage and deploying electricity from renewable energies to produce fuels such as hydrogen, synthetic liquid fuels or methane is crucial to avoid greenhouse gas emissions. There are significant reasons to boost this new and potentially massive sector. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) is making around 130 million Euro available for creating incentives to utilise synergies for linking energy, transport and maritime industries. 

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Nordex Benefiting Increasingly From Renaissance Of Spanish Wind Energy Market

The Nordex Group is benefiting increasingly from the renaissance of the Spanish wind power market: utility Gas Natural Fenosa Renovables (GNFR) has now ordered 58 AW132/3300 from the company in December. The contract covers the installation of six wind farms as well as multi-year services for the turbines. Construction of the first turbines will commence in the summer of 2018 and all the projects are located in regions of Spain where the Nordex Group has manufacturing facilities. In addition, the towers will be produced locally using the process developed by the company.

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Volkswagen Strongly Commits To E-Mobility And Digitalisation, Investing €34 Bn

The Volkswagen Group has made a major announcement regarding its strategic goals until 2025. By the end of 2022: more than €34 billion is planned for the development of e-mobility, autonomous driving, new mobility services and digitalisation. Financial markets reacted positively to the Group’s strategic focus and Volkswagen’s share price were back at the pre-crisis levels. CEO Matthias Müller stated “We are reinventing the car. To achieve that, we are making targeted investments to provide the necessary funds from our own resources.” The Group has said it would electrify its entire model portfolio by 2030. 

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Veolia Awarded €95m Contract To Operate, Improve Reims Waste To Energy Plant

Veolia’s recycling and waste recovery business in France has been awarded a nine-year contract worth €95 million to operate and improve the Reims waste to energy plant. Treating the 60,000 metric tons of final waste generated each year by the Greater Reims population of 300,0000, this public service delegation contract maintains the target of continuously improving the site’s energy performance. This will be increased to 65% after works have been completed. This project to improve the plant also aims to greatly benefit the region.

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Beyond Petroleum. BP Returns To Solar; Following Shell, Total Into Clean Energy

BP and Lightsource have announced a strategic partnership combining BP’s global scale with Lightsource’s solar expertise. BP will acquire 43% equity share in Lightsource for $200 million, with the majority of the investment funding Lightsource’s worldwide growth pipeline. The company will be renamed Lightsource BP. BP is not alone in moving away from oil and gas and towards clean energy. Anglo-Dutch Shell is purchasing electric car infrastructure companies, France’s Total is acquiring battery storage firms and Norway’s Statoil is pioneering floating wind farms.

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Global Trade In Biofuels Featured At International Renewable Mobility Conference

A significant proportion of global energy use, is in transportation. Action is crucially needed to bring about an energy turnaround in this sector and it’s a topic that has moved higher up the political agenda again since Dieselgate, and with growing calls for a rapid introduction of electromobility. In Germany, the Working Group on Energy Balances (AG Energiebilanzen) has calculated the final energy consumption of 728 TWh by the transport sector in 2016. Data from the German Environment Agency (UBA) reveals that over 90 percent of fuel deployed is derived from mineral oil. World-leading experts meeting in a parallel forum at the 15th International Conference on Renewable Mobility will analyse biofuel trading worldwide, examining various perspectives on requirements, the current state of play and forecasts.

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Renewable Future Challenges UK And Germany To Build Flexibility In Power Systems

A new economic study highlights that future energy systems in the UK and Germany, with very high levels of variable renewable generation, must be complemented by flexible resources, including energy storage. The study was released by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). “This study highlights a seismic shift in how power systems will operate in the future. As wind and solar become the cheapest options for power generation, the race is on to develop and deploy the flexible resources that will complement them,” said Albert Cheung, head of global analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

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Vestas Boosts Presence In Spain. Seals Agreement To Build 5 New Wind Parks

At WindEurope 2017 in Amsterdam, Vestas and Gas Natural Fenosa has sealed an agreement to build 86 MW of wind energy across five new wind parks in Spain. The wind parks will be Vestas’ first projects derived from Spain’s latest auctions held in May. Commissioning and installation of the wind turbines is expected for the second half of 2018. The renewables branch of Gas Natural Fenosa, one of the leading utilities worldwide, has installed more than 400 MW of Vestas’ turbines in Spain, the latest installed in 2016.

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Pico Alto Highlights The Increasing Significance Of Geothermal In Energy Mix

The inauguration ceremony of the Pico Alto 4 MWe geothermal power plant was held recently in the stunning scenery of the Terceira Island, Azores. The plant is now providing a sustainable, reliable source of electricity to 56,000 inhabitants and meeting up to 10% of the island electricity needs. Marco Bonvini COO of EXERGY stated, “we are very proud of the successful completion of this challenging project. It represents a great example of how innovation in greentech can provide sustainable solutions. We see many opportunities to apply the technology in remote environments and Pico Alto is a good starting point and an excellent reference.”

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Vestas, Fortum Lead Expansion Of Wind Energy In Huge Russian Electricity Market

Following the success of Vestas and Fortum Energy in Russia’s first wind energy auction, the two companies have entered into an agreement, engaging Vestas to supply its 4 MW platform for wind energy projects in Russia, the world’s fourth-largest electricity market. With this, the companies hope to lead the expansion of wind energy in Russia. They will work with local partners to establish a strong local manufacturing and supply chain capacity; and Vestas will also provide its considerable experience to build up and establish high standards for the relatively young Russian renewables sector.

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FutureLearn, InnoEnergy Team Up On Clean Energy, Smart Grids, Blockchain And PV

FutureLearn, the leading social learning platform, has announced a new partnership with InnoEnergy, Europe’s sustainable energy engine supported by the EIT. The partnership will see InnoEnergy host a range of new online education courses in the sustainable energy sector, including blockchain technology, smart grids and solar photovoltaics, on the FutureLearn platform. The massive open online courses (MOOCs) are aimed at cleantech industry professionals, and members of the public can also register. Designed to equip participants with the knowledge and skills required to develop new innovations in sustainable energy, the first courses are focused on a range of topics that are set to dominate the innovation agenda over the next few years, including blockchain, smart grids for smart cities and the business potential of solar photovoltaics.