Italian developer Renantis has secured a 10-year power purchase agreement to supply power from its Åliden wind farm in Sweden to plastic cap producer United Caps.
United Caps has agreed to buy around 40% of the electricity produced by the 46.8MW wind farm, which is located in the Vasternorrland region of northern Sweden.
Renantis was formerly known as Falck Renewables. Toni Volpe, CEO of Renantis, said: "This is our second corporate PPA to close in Sweden and is another important step to contract our energy consistently under long term power purchase agreements in line with our strategy of value creation."
Goldwind was the world's largest turbine maker in 2022 with 12.7GW commissioned, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has reported.
The Chinese manufacturer beat Vestas (12.3GW) to the top spot, with GE Renewable Energy (9.3GW) and China's Envision (8.3GW) completing the top four. Siemens Gamesa and Mingyang were joint fifth in the rankings with 6.8GW each.
However, BNEF also warned that "alarm bells should be ringing" for the industry because of the slow growth of the sector. The research also showed that the majority of commissioned wind capacity in 2022 was onshore (89%), with commissioning of new offshore projects falling 46% year-on-year to 9.1GW.
The European Parliament and European Council have reached a deal to prompt ships in Europe to use more environmentally-friendly fuels. The deal sets a target for ships to use 2% renewable fuels by 2034; and for ships to cut emissions by 2% by 2025 and 80% by 2050.
Cement manufacturer Lafarge has signed a ten-year power purchase agreement with RWE Supply & Trading for electricity from the 132MW Windfarm Polska III project near Gdańsk, Poland. The deal is equivalent to around 20% of Lafarge's electricity needs in the country. Windfarm Polska III is owned by Stadtwerke München.
Floating wind firm BW Ideol is in talks to raise €40m from ADEME Investissement to support development activities. The deal involves BW transferring its co-development project portfolio to a new subsidiary, in which ADEME will invest an initial €16.7m and a subsequent €23.3m.
Iberdrola's Brazilian subsidiary Neoenergia has committed to build a 600MW wind and solar complex in Brazil's Paraíba state. This is set to be made up of 15 wind farms with a combined 136 turbines in the Chafariz wind complex; and two solar farms in the Luzia plant.
German utility EnBW has taken a final investment decision to build the €2.4bn 960MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. A consortium of Norges Bank Investment Management, AIP Management and Allianz Capital Partners has agreed to buy a 49.9% stake in the development. Construction is scheduled to start next year and commissioning is due in 2025.
US zinc-air battery storage system manufacturer Zinc8 Energy Solutions has been issued tax-exempt revenue bonds for a value up to US$10 million by the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency (UCIDA).
The proceeds will be used for the buildout and completion of Zinc8's first commercial manufacturing facility in Ulster County, New York. Specifically, the funds will be used for the acquisition of machinery, equipment and improvements to the facility.
The mission of the UCIDA is to advance the job opportunities, “general prosperity and long-term economic vitality” of Ulster County residents by using tax incentives, municipal bonds and other forms of financial assistance to “foster the creation and attraction of new business and the retention and expansion of existing business”.
Nestlé has agreed a deal with Enel North America that will see the food and drink company become the sole tax equity investor in Enel's 208 MWdc Ganado solar-plus-storage project in Jackson County, Texas.
The project is expected to become operational in Q2 2023.
Marathon Capital advised Nestlé on its investment. CCA Capital LLC acted as advisor to Enel.
The Irish Government has unveiled changes to its second offshore wind tender that the industry said have created “massive levels of uncertainty”. We look at what this means for the up-to-80GW of offshore wind projects in development in Irish waters.
Ireland is planning a second auction for its 5GW-by-2030 offshore target
But rule changes are leading to uncertainty for offshore wind developers
Industry warns that timelines are tight and it cannot risk further delays
The Republic of Ireland wants 5GW of offshore wind in its waters by 2030. Until a fortnight ago, it looked like it was on track to achieve this.
Around 88% of that capacity (4.4GW) should be covered by Ireland’s first offshore wind tender, which is being held under the offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS 1). This started in December and is set to conclude this June.
But you don’t have to be mathematically-minded to realise there is a shortfall, even assuming all those phase one projects secure a route-to-market and the necessary development permits to be operational by 2030. Ireland needs a second tender, and quickly, with a process that developers and investors are already comfortable with.
That is where things get tricky. On 10th March, the Irish Government set out its plan for the ORESS 2 tender and threw firms’ investments into disarray. The change has “created massive levels of uncertainty among international investors and the global supply chain”, according to Noel Cunliffe, CEO of trade body Wind Energy Ireland.
Radical overhaul
The Irish Government is planning to launch ORESS 2 by the end of 2023. This was due to be developer-led, which means that companies believed they would be able to secure government backing for projects wherever they were in Irish waters.
That is no longer the case. In its ‘Policy Statement on the Framework for Phase Two Offshore Wind’ on 10th March, the government clarified that offshore development is due to be focused on Offshore Renewable Energy Designated Areas. This is under provisions for Designated Maritime Area Plans in the Maritime Area Planning Act.
This means state agencies have to define offshore development zones where wind farms can be built. This immediately rules out of contention a chunk of the offshore wind projects in development in Irish waters, which RenewableUK said last month amounted to 56.4GW capacity and which others have put as high as 80GW.
These areas will also need to go through potentially lengthy public consultation and environmental assessment processes. This needs to happen quickly if areas are to be designated so developers can prepare projects for a tender start in the next nine months. It looks unlikely. For example, Wind Energy Ireland said state agencies are “grossly under-resourced and will struggle to deliver in time unless the right people with the right skills are put to work on it as soon as possible”.
In theory, it makes sense for the Irish state to identify sites where it wants offshore development, but this could have happened years ago. There is also the potential damage to Ireland’s reputation as a safe haven for investors, which are notoriously unhappy about dealing with countries that change the rules at short notice. And this can only delay vital investments in the Irish offshore wind supply chain.
Those offshore areas are set to be designated based on where likely available grid capacity can be found onshore. But until developers and investors know where the zones are likely to be, there is little incentive for them to put investment into projects that may fall outside the zones. Firms must pick where to focus in a global market.
“We are effectively being told to stop developing offshore wind energy and wait for further decisions at a point when we have no time to lose,” said Cunliffe.
Potential zones
One area transmission operator EirGrid has already identified is off the south coast of Ireland with the potential to accommodate 700MW of offshore wind, split into two 350MW sites. The Irish Government has also committed to an ORESS 3 tender that would focus on 2GW of floating wind farms off Ireland’s south and west coasts, but it added that it only expected those projects to be in development by 2030.
However, it has not given clarity over where the other offshore zones are likely to be.
This could put at risk the government’s long-term targets to grow Irish offshore wind capacity to 20GW by 2040 and more than 37GW by 2050. It also launched a public consultation last month on the draft of Ireland’s Second Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan, which is due to close to submissions on 20th April.
It is hard for investors to deliver on those targets when the rules are again in flux.
Global wind capacity grew 9% to 899GW in 2022 with 75GW new installations, the International Renewable Energy Agency has reported. However, this growth was dwarfed by the 192GW of solar capacity added globally last year.
Ørsted has picked Norway's Havfram Wind to install turbines at the 231-turbine 2.8GW Hornsea 3 project in UK waters. Installation is due to begin in autumn 2026.
In recent weeks, Danish utility Ørsted has warned the offshore wind project is "at risk" due to soaring costs, and last week said it was "disappointed" that it did not receive additional financial support in the UK Budget.
Fintel Energija has picked Chinese turbine maker Zhejiang Windey as preferred supplier for the 854MW 112-turbine Maestrale Ring onshore wind farm in Serbia. Windey has also secured a 10-year servicing deal.
Spearmint Energy has acquired a 900 MW portfolio of Texas battery energy storage assets collectively known as Nomadic.
Nomadic, which consists of three projects each with a target capacity of 300 MW, was acquired from “one of the largest developers and operators of clean energy projects in the United States”, according to a statement.
Located in Cooke, Galveston, and Brazoria counties, the Nomadic portfolio – with a capacity of up to 2,000 MWh – will serve Texas’ ERCOT power market, which has seen a significant increase in demand for renewable energy generation projects following ‘Winter Storm Uri’ in 2021 and the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The first project within the Nomadic portfolio is anticipated to reach notice to proceed in early 2024 and begin commercial operation within 12-18 months.
UK-based gravity storage company Gravitricity has signed a “memorandum of cooperation” with Czech energy data modelling company Nano Energies, which will provide flexibility aggregation services for a Gravitricity storage facility in the Czech Republic.
Gravitricity says its system can “not only choose the weight of the weights it lowers and lifts but also repeat the processmultiple times or, conversely, stop the weights halfway, which depends on how much of an energy surplus or deficit the network has”.
Nano Energies has calculated that the optimal power output of the technology is 4MW, which is enough to power 16,000 homes.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and GreenIT have unveiled plans for three floating offshore wind projects totalling 2GW in Italian waters. GreenIT is a 51:49 joint venture of Eni arm Plenitude and CDP Equity.
Despite warnings that lithium supplies will not be able to keep up with future demand, imminent improvements in lithium-ion battery design mean reliance on the metal could be greatly reduced
Global lithium demand projected to reach 3m tonnes by 2030
But advancements in lithium-ion battery design could mean less lithium needed
Critics argue lithium supply warnings aim to ‘discredit’ renewable energy and electric vehicles
Much has been written about how limitations on lithium supplies could potentially restrict the wider deployment of battery storage. However, is there a possibility that future lithium demand is being significantly overestimated?
It has been predicted that - with battery-use soaring due to the rapidly growing electric vehicle and energy storage industries - demand for lithium will reach 1.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) by 2025 and more than 3 million tonnes by 2030, according to the World Economic Forum.
To put this in context, the world produced 540,000 tonnes of LCE in 2021. Based on the World Economic Forum’s projections, production needs to triple by 2025 and increase nearly six-fold by 2030.
Will lithium mining have to increase?
Understandably, this has led to concerns that lithium will simply not be able to be mined fast enough to meet the rising demand. A report by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) concluded that current production of minerals such as lithium is not high enough to meet projected demand, while current global reserves are not large enough to meet consumption targets.
As a result, the argument goes, mining activity will have to increase substantially in order to source the elements needed for the types of batteries that are currently most widely used, that is lithium-ion batteries.
The GTK report said that current production rates of metals like lithium, nickel and cobalt are much lower than the level that will soon be required, though it acknowledged that this assumption was based on “very preliminary calculations”. “It is equally apparent that current global reserves are also not enough,” the report said. Consequently, this would mean that there would have to be a sharp increase in the number of mines in operation in a short period of just a few years.
Opposition to mining
The problem is that there is certain to be considerable opposition to any increases in mining activity due to environmental concerns. Lithium mining, for example, can cause air contamination and soil degradation. The large amount of water used in lithium extraction has also led to water-related conflicts involving communities in Chile, for example.
It’s certainly a bleak scenario. And yet, there is an argument that projections showing future lithium demand are overestimating - perhaps by as much as 100 per cent - how much of the metal will be needed to satisfy, say, the electric vehicle and energy storage industries. It should be noted, of course, that batteries only account for 74 per cent of lithium use, as the graphic below shows.
Source: Visual Capitalist, taken from United States Geological Survey
By definition, projections made now do not take into consideration potential advancements in lithium-ion battery technology. Indeed, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a US nonprofit aiming to “radically improve” America’s energy practices has stated that “technologies collectively doubling lithium-ion batteries’ energy density could enter production by 2025”. Essentially, the RMI’s argument is that “projections based on old energy densities substantially overstate needed mining”.
Battery cell density increasing
It’s certainly true that gradual improvements in lithium-ion batteries’ composition, manufacturing, design, controls, and recharging has meant that, over time, they have become able to store considerably more energy per unit of materials. For example, between 2010 and 2020, lithium-ion battery cell densities almost tripled. As the RMI has highlighted, lithium-ion battery cells’ 89 per cent price drop over the same period is “ due partly to their more-frugal use of materials”.
When digesting projections of future lithium demand, it’s important to keep in mind expected increases in lithium-ion battery density, and consequently the associated decrease in the amount of lithium required to manufacture batteries. It should be noted that battery performance improvements are frequently outpacing forecasts.
Attempt to discredit renewable energy and electric vehicles?
The RMI suggests that claims that indicate it is “immensely destructive if not impossible” to find enough minerals to make enough batteries to meet the need of a global fleet of electric vehicles are part of a campaign to “discredit renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other elements of the climate-saving energy transition”. It’s undoubtedly an assertion that would provoke vociferous debate. Meanwhile, some cynics would argue that manufacturers of storage systems that utilise alternatives to lithium-ion batteries have an interest in propagating theories about imminent lithium supply shortages.
Given the considerable environmental damage that can be caused by lithium mining, it is of course vital that any such activities are kept to a minimum. However, expected advancements in lithium-ion battery design mean that, in the coming years, demand for lithium could be significantly lower than current projections indicate.
Japanese utility JERA has agreed to buy Belgian developer Parkwind from Virya Energy for €1.55bn. JERA and Virya are exploring the possibility of Virya buying a minority stake in Parkwind's Belgian projects. The deal is due to close this year.
Saudi energy developer ACWA Power has signed three power purchase agreements and investment agreements with Uzbekistan’s joint-stock company (JSC) National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (NEGU) and Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, which will result in the development of 1.4GW of solar photovoltaic projects and 1.5GWh of battery storage capacity.
The agreements cover three solar photovoltaic projects n Tashkent and Samarkand and three battery energy storage systems in Tashkent,Bukhara and Samarkand.
The Tashkent projects will include a 400 MW PV plant and 500 MWh of battery storage, while two 500 MW PV projects and a 500MWh storage system will be developed in Samarkand. Another 500 MWh storage project will be located in Bukhara, which will include overhead transmission lines to help dispatch power to the grid.
Corio Generation, Vårgrønn and Å Energi have set up a joint venture company called Brigg Vind to target growth in the Norwegian offshore wind market. The company is set to bid in the country's upcoming Nordsjø II offshore wind tender in the North Sea.
The Dutch government is planning a tender to find a developer for a 500MW green hydrogen production facility in the North Sea linked to offshore wind. It wants the project to become operational in 2031.
Brookfield Renewable is set to take full control of X-Elio by buying the 50% of the company it didn't own from joint venture partner KKR. X-Elio was set up in 2005 and KKR originally invested in 2015, with Brookfield buying a 50% stake in 2019.
