As the first Tesla cars are rolling off the production line at the new Gigafactory near Berlin, the US carmaker helps accelerate Germany’s move to e-mobility in order to wean itself off fossil fuel imports. Energy minister Robert Habeck underlined: “We can not only replace [Russian] oil with different oil, but we can electrify.”
Fitch Ratings has more than doubled its forecast for prices at Europe’s benchmark gas trading hub TTF to $20 per thousand cubic feet (mcf), reflecting the risk of a halt in Russian supplies and the struggle of EU importers to secure alternative volumes in a tight market. Over in the US, Henry Hub prices are fairly unaffected.
Rapid renewables build-out, paired with energy storage, is seen as the only way to make Europe truly energy independent. Some 420 GW of additional solar PV capacity could be deployed in the EU by 2030, balanced by flexible gas power units, with excess energy stored for later.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has agreed with the Uniper to study the transport of hydrogen to Germany, using Hydrogenious’ Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) technology. Joined by JERA Americas, the parties seek to scale up LOHC tech to ship hydrogen worldwide.
European gas companies struggle to source enough additional LNG to fulfil the Commission’s plan of reducing Russian gas supplies by 102 bcm before year-end. Persuading Asia to use more coal could free up around 50 Bcm of LNG, analysts reckon, though it would be cheaper if EU power generators switched from gas to coal and nuclear instead.
Energy-related CO2 emissions have risen to their highest-ever level, as the global economy rebounded strongly from the pandemic and relied heavily on coal to power that growth. Fuel-by-fuel analysis by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that global CO2 emissions surged 6% in 2021 to 36.3 billion tonnes, more than offsetting the pandemic-induced decline.
Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Pramac to reuse electric vehicle batteries for stationary energy storage as the British carmaker targets Net Zero by 2039. The off-grid energy storage system is based on lithium-ion nickel-manganese-cobalt battery cells, taken from Jaguar I-PACE cars. It has a capacity of up to 125 kW, charged by solar panels.
Germany’s minister for economic affairs Robert Habeck has entered an energy partnership with Qatar, paving the way for LNG importers to fine-tune contract details. Bracing for a period without Russian gas, Berlin is considering all options – LNG but also extending the lifetime of coal- and nuclear power plants, scheduled to close this year.
San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), a regulated utility servicing 3.7 million people, has ordered a 10 MW/ 60 MWh energy storage from Mitsubishi Power for its Pala-Gomez Creek project. The battery, due operational in early 2023, will help SDG&E prevent outages at times of peak demand and ensure grid reliability while maximising the use of renewables.
Following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake near Fukushima, some 6.5 GW of large-sized coal and gas power capacity has been shut down, leaving 2.2 million Japanese households in the dark. PowerRT monitoring platform shows that several LNG-fuelled power stations – like Futtsu – seem to fill the demand gap of about 2 GW, caused by the coal power outages.
Population growth and rapid urbanisation has doubled electricity demand in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 15 years, with solar PV and energy storage installations set to reshape the region’s power sector. Wood Mackenzie said it would cost an estimated $350 billion to electrify the region by 2030, with service providers advised to focus on off-grid solutions.
MAN Energy Solution has commissioned a new 51 MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Frankfurt (Oder). The town’s municipal utility invested nearly €60 million in the new facility which replaces an older, lignite-burning plant and helps save 50,000 metric tons of CO2 annually.
Italy, Germany, as well as Czechia, Romania and Bulgaria have suspended plans to phase-out coal power in order to wean of their reliance on Russian gas imports. Several Czech utilities already switched from gas back to coal, while RWE as well as Vattenfall, EnBW and Steag review decommissioning timelines for coal-fired power plants in Germany.
The project pipeline for new electrolyser capacity in Europe has increased to over 6 GW – a staggering 375%, or 4.4 GW, rise of ventures meant to come online by the end of 2024. But only few projects will go ahead, Delta-EE warns, unless developers and project sponsors get more clarity this year on national subsidies schemes and funding support.