⚡UK’s first all-electric EV Charging Station is now open, Yara’s zero-carbon Ammonia plans, & Walkers cutting CO2 by 70% from Beer & Crisps production
By: Jakub Rzeplinski
Tags: Ammonia, Electric Vehicles, Beer, Electric Car, Hydrogen

Good evening The Carbon Cut Readers! Today’s highlights include:

The UK’s first all-electric car charging station opened today near Braintree in Essex. The location consists of 36 electric vehicle chargers, delivering up to 350kW of power. That’s enough to provide 200 miles of range in 20 minutes

Yara ASA aims to cut all CO2 emissions from a major ammonia plant in its native Norway by 2026 as it seeks to produce fertilisers and fuel for the shipping industry that are carbon free

Australian and Japanese companies are studying plans to capture carbon dioxide from industrial emitters in Asia and store it under the ocean floor off the coast of Australia

Why The World Can’t Quit Fossil Fuels

The potential future of carbon-free energy is taking shape in an unlikely place: the Texas oil patch

NextEra’s wind and solar farms, now scattered across about half the U.S., produce enough juice to power Greece. The company has plans to nearly double its renewable capacity — enough turbines and panels — to power 11 million homes

and Beer and Crisps used to help tackle climate change as Walkers has adopted a technique it says will slash CO2 emissions from its manufacturing process by 70%.

Announcement from the Editor: owing to a packed travel schedule over the next couple of weeks — which would be quite hectic under normal circumstances and more than likely will be made even more so by the ongoing covid19 restrictions on international travels — as well as the subsequent holiday season, The Carbon Cut will be published on a weekly basis up until the New Year when we will return to the daily format.

And as always, if anything pops up I can be reached via replying to this email.

- Jakub

⛽ NEW FUELS

💧 Hydrogen

1️⃣ Switching all boilers to hydrogen ‘is impractical’ — Chris Stark, chief executive of the UK’s Climate Change Committee, said that converting all gas heating systems to clean-burning hydrogen was “unwieldy and impractical” because of the difficulty of producing enough of it.

2️⃣ Japanese companies form industry group to support hydrogen supply chain — Japanese companies including Toyota Motor Corp have established a new organisation, the Japan Hydrogen Association, to promote the creation of a hydrogen supply chain in the country, its board member companies said on Monday. The move comes as Japan targets the creation of a commercial hydrogen fuel distribution chain by around 2030 to cut carbon emissions, and follows Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s declaration of an ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral in 2050.

3️⃣ Bulgaria targets 1.1GW green hydrogen capacity by 2030 — Bulgaria is planning to develop a hydrogen roadmap targeting 1.1GW of green hydrogen production capacity by 2030, according to a report presented by Angel Popov, deputy transport minister during European Hydrogen week. The country plans to produce hydrogen by electrolysis using renewable sources and sets a goal of installing additional 800MW wind and 280MW solar capacity by 2030, according to the report.

4️⃣ Denmark and Norway team up to build world’s largest hydrogen ferry — Several shipping and energy firms have banded together to build a ferry capable of transporting 1,800 passengers between the two Scandinavian capitals. The vessel, which will be named Europa Seaways, will be powered by zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells. The hydrogen will be produced in Denmark using offshore wind power, meaning it will be ‘green hydrogen’ rather than grey or blue, which involves using fossil fuels in the production process.

5️⃣ ‘Green fuels will float many boats’: hydrogen platform could help offshore wind crack Asia, says developer — Ability to produce H2 and ammonia at sea to meet local demand could make turbines more viable in region.

6️⃣ Snam and Linde join forces on European hydrogen projects — Snam has reached a deal with U.S.-German industrial gasses group Linde to develop clean hydrogen projects in Europe, the Italian gas infrastructure company said on Monday. The two companies will together develop technologies in the sector and invest in commercial projects to produce, distribute, compress and store the gas.

7️⃣ Equinor, RWE join 10GW Dutch green hydrogen scheme — Equinor and RWE have joined the NortH2 green hydrogen project, which aims to use offshore wind off the Dutch coast to produce 4GW of the gas by 2030 and 10GW-plus by 2040. NortH2 was launched in February 2020 by Shell, Groningen Seaports, Gasunie and the province of Groningen. The project plans to complete a feasibility study by 2021, with the aim to start development activities in the second half of the same year.

❄️ LNG & Natural Gas

1️⃣ INPEX signs MoU on LNG supply from Abadi LNG Project — INPEX Corporation has announced that, through its subsidiary INPEX Masela, Ltd., and on behalf of its joint venture partner Shell Upstream Overseas Ltd., it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PT Perusahaan Gas Negara Tbk (PGN) concerning the domestic LNG supply from the Abadi LNG Project. Discussions will now commence regarding sales and purchase of the LNG supply from the project to PGN, the largest national gas company which owns and manages the majority of domestic gas infrastructure and is responsible to carry out a gasification program in Indonesia.

2️⃣ German LNG demand for transport more than doubles — Sales of LNG as a fuel for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in Germany more than doubled in January-September from the whole of 2019, gas industry group Zukunft Erdgas said.

🚘 Mobility — EVs, Batteries & Fuel Cells

1️⃣ Toyota establishes new European Fuel Cell Business Group — Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has established a new European Fuel Cell Business Group to support and stimulate growth in the hydrogen sector with like-minded partners. Based in Brussels, Belgium the group will strengthen the business case for hydrogen and support its introduction into mobility and other fields, making it accessible to new commercial partners.

🦠 Synthetic Fuels, Ammonia, Methanol & BioFuels

1️⃣ The business case for methanol — Wide availability, easy handling and storage and recent adoption of IMO interim guidelines as a marine fuel have all increased methanol’s attractiveness to shipowners as a pathway to decarbonisation.

☀️ RENEWABLE GENERATION & SUPPLY

🔋 Energy Storage

1️⃣ California utility strikes 590MW storage deals — Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed long-term contracts for four energy storage projects totalling 590MW. One deal is with NextEra Energy for the 325MW Desert Peak battery development, which is due online in August 2023. A second is with Recurrent Energy for the 200MW Crimson facility, which is expected to be operational by August 2022. The other two are a 60MW project being developed by 174 Power Global and Hanwha Group and a 5MW behind-the-meter facility produced by Sunrun, expected online in August 2022 and 2023, respectively.

💨 Wind Power

1️⃣ Banks unveils 300MW Bodinglee plans — Plans for the 300MW Bodinglee onshore wind farm in Scotland have been unveiled by Banks Renewables in a scoping report submitted to South Lanarkshire Council. Banks said the wind farm, which could see £300m investment, would be the UK’s third largest by electricity generated and feature 60 of the latest, most efficient turbines available.

2️⃣ ‘Offshore wind development cannot be decided in a Parisian office’ — Nation to launch 1GW Normandy auction far from shore to avoid conflicts with fishermen threatening to block nearby project.

3️⃣ Europe’s ports play a key role in delivering the Green Deal — Offshore wind today represents 2% of EU power demand. Europe now has a total installed offshore wind capacity of 20.4 GW (July 2019). This corresponds to more than 4,800 grid-connected wind turbines in 106 offshore wind farms across 11 countries. Offshore wind is expected to grow up to 90 GW in the next decade to comply with Europe’s environmental goals and National Energy and Climate Plans. This nearly four times the current installed capacity and will require the doubling of annual installations rate as from 2025.

♻️ CARBON CAPTURE & CIRCULAR TECH

🔄 Recycling, Waste & Circular Tech

1️⃣ Oil refineries see profit in turning kitchen grease into diesel — Companies that refine crude oil into fuel are increasingly aiming to make a renewable version of diesel that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions without requiring families and businesses to invest in expensive new vehicles and factory gear.

2️⃣ Household waste could power off-grid UK homes via bio-LPG, report shows — A new report by a UK trade association for the LPG industry has outlined how a green future for off-grid homes and businesses can be powered by household waste, wood biomass, and used cooking oil (UCO). The report by Liquid Gas UK (LGUK), developed independently by bioenergy experts NNFCC, outlines the possible supply chain routes to create a thriving bio-LPG production industry in the UK, providing a green fuel solution for the 2.5 million off-grid homes and businesses.

🏦 POLICY & INVESTMENTS

📜 Policy

1️⃣ Carbon neutrality: China sowing seeds of change to meet 2060 target — The nation, already the biggest global producer of hydro, wind and solar power, will have to curtail most fossil fuel production and drastically install more equipment to harness nature’s energy to meet the 2060 carbon neutrality goal pledged by President Xi Jinping to the United Nations General Assembly in September.

2️⃣ UK launches offshore wind environment initiative — The Crown Estate and UK government have today launched a new offshore wind partnership to protect and restore the country’s marine environment as it seeks to chart a course towards net-zero emissions by unlocking the green energy potential of the UK seabed. The partnership, called the ‘Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme’, will gather and harness data and evidence to drive forward the growth of the sector in the UK.

3️⃣ MP calls on Government to back Hydrogen project ‘Hynet’ — The Hynet North West project is a complete hydrogen project that incorporates Carbon Capture, hydrogen production and delivery and as such, is currently the most fully developed hydrogen project in the UK. A collection of world-leading organisations have come together to develop HyNet North West. The hydrogen network, a world first, will produce, store and distribute hydrogen to decarbonise industry, flexible power generation, transport and heat across the North West of England and North Wales. Together with carbon capture and storage (CCS), these technologies have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 10 million tonnes every year by 2030 — the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road.

4️⃣ Warning over Irish 2030 climate targets — The Irish Wind Energy Association has warned that more action is needed over the next two years if Ireland is to reach its 2030 climate action targets.

💰 Investments & Funding

1️⃣ Germany’s EWE frees up $8.5 billion to move away from fossil fuels — German utility EWE, in which French private equity group Ardian holds 26%, will invest 7 billion euros ($8.5 billion) to expand into renewables and become carbon neutral by 2035, it said on Monday. More than half of the funds will be spent on the expansion of energy networks and on clean energy such as onshore wind farms and hydrogen for industrials. About 1 billion euros will go into digitalisation, EWE said.

📈Pricing & Trading

1️⃣ Argus launches first Asian renewable diesel and SAF prices — Global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus has launched the first renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) prices for Asia. These prices are designed to meet the growing need for greater transparency in renewable fuel markets as countries in the region seek to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. China, Japan and South Korea have set ambitious decarbonisation targets in the past two months. And a number of private-sector companies have announced that they will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. As these countries and companies move away from fossil fuels, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), or renewable diesel, is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to traditional petroleum diesel. Renewable diesel can be blended into the existing petroleum diesel pool or used as a substitute.

2️⃣ Norwegian shipowners say CO2 levy for shipping is a necessity — The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association makes a clear announcement that shipping will not succeed in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions without a CO2 levy. What the IMO is currently working on is not sufficient, CEO Harald Solberg tells ShippingWatch.

3️⃣ UK ‘should reform green electricity tariffs’ — Many energy suppliers in the UK retail market are offering 100% renewable tariffs while providing close to zero support for clean power generators, according to a report by Good Energy. The report — ‘Renewable Energy Tariffs: The Problem of Greenwashing’ — said because of a loophole in the rules some energy suppliers can sell green tariffs and not have to buy any green power for customers. Green Energy said that instead of buying renewable power, suppliers are able to buy second-hand certificates for as little as £0.1.

⚙️ OTHERS

🧭 General

1️⃣ Energy Espionage Is Threatening The Renewable Boom — The Norwegian counterintelligence service PST has sounded the alarm over industrial espionage by Russia, China, and other countries looking to glean secrets from Norway’s petroleum industry. But it’s also warned that the country’s renewable energy sector could soon become the target of cyberattacks by foreign spies.

2️⃣ The case for going all-in on renewables — (Oz) Current perceptions of renewables have been driven by the need to address climate change, a narrow view that overlooks benefits such as reducing our reliance on imported energy and creating thousands of high-tech jobs. As countries grapple with the outwardly ineffective efforts to pass climate change-specific legislation, Australian policymakers should clearly define a credible connection between climate action and its benefits in improving energy security and the economy, to gain the public support needed to succeed.

🏭 Emissions

1️⃣ Volkswagen : No Difficulties With CO2 Targets From 2022 — The car maker’s management recently said that it expects to miss emission targets by around one gram in 2020.

2️⃣ Alberta set to retire coal power by 2023, ahead of 2030 provincial deadline — In 2014, 55 per cent of Alberta’s electricity was produced from 18 coal-fired generators. The Alberta government announced in 2015 it would eliminate emissions from coal power generation by 2030.