Energy_sector
Major Massachusetts offshore wind project no longer viable
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Both developers are asking state regulators to pause review of the contracts. Increases in interest rates, supply chain constraints and inflation have significantly increased the expected cost of constructing the project. They suggest tax incentives and an increase of prices under the power purchase agreements to make the projects viable again.
Poland chooses USA to build its first nuclear power plant
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Poland has chosen Westinghouse to build its first nuclear power plant. Poland is planning to spend $40 billion to build two nuclear power plants with three reactors each, the first one to be launched in 2033 and the second one in 2043. Nuclear power plants will replace the ageing coal-fired plants in a country with some of the worst air pollution in Europe.
Netherlands, Spain, France and Poland will quit the ECT
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Italy withdrew in 2016. The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) protects energy investments by foreign companies. Three energy groups are suing three European governments over the closure of coal power plants. Spain is sued by renewable energy companies after it reduced the subsidies. A process to “modernise” the pact has been under way since 2018.
Hydrogen is starting to look like an economic bubble
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Just replacing the H2 made from natural gas and coal with green H2 would require 143% of all the wind and solar installed globally to date. Add shipping, steel and energy storage, and it would require five times all the existing wind and solar installations – and that is before decarbonising the electricity supply or hydrogen use in heating and road transport.
European wind industry struggling with rising costs
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Wind turbine manufacturers cut jobs as supply chain woes and higher prices for key materials bite. Turbine prices are locked in by customers years in advance. It is difficult for manufacturers to pass on higher costs. They are at risk of losing market share to Chinese competitors. New capacity added this year globally will be 94-95 GW the same as 2021.
Hydrogen electrolyser makers will go bankrupt amid oversupply
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Expand too slowly and manufacturers risk losing out on gigascale orders; expand too fast and risk failing to sell equipment from expensive gigafactories. A glut will make some manufacturers bankrupt, according to Norwegian analyst Rystad Energy. The demand will hover around 30-40% of the available production capacity between 2024 and 2030.
UK electricity prices now th most expensive in Europe
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UK day-ahead power prices tripled to record levels as tight generation margins combined with soaring power import, natural gas and carbon prices. The UK's coal phase-out and low wind generation have exposed the market to rising gas prices. Adding to the strain of coal closures has been the UK's ageing and inefficient nuclear power plants.
Shutting gas supply to Europe would spell Gazprom’s end
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Former Naftogaz chair Andriy Kobolev says that if Russia cuts off gas supply to Europe this winter, it will be the end of Gazprom’s presence in European markets. Russia wants to remain Europe’s primary gas supplier. It is now burning gas, because it cannot reduce output. Shutting down a shaft means a 50% lower output when extraction resumes.
Indian scientists extract record uranium from seawater
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Uranium reserves of 7.6 million tons are on a course to reach exhaustion within a century. The Indian institute IISER was successful in extracting uranium from seawater, which contains 1,000-times more uranium than conventional sources. The challenge was to capture it cost-effectively. They managed to capture 95% of uranium within two hours.
EDF cuts output at nuclear power plants as rivers get too warm
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Company says it is reducing production for few hours where possible as ability to cool plants with river water is restricted. However, half of EDF’s 56 nuclear reactors are offline due to planned maintenance and work to repair corrosion which was delayed by the pandemic. France is relying on expensive imports from the neighbouring countries.
Texas wind power is failing right when the state needs it most
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A scorching heat wave is pushing the Texas grid to the brink. Power demand is surging as people crank up air conditioners. But wind speeds have fallen to extremely low levels and that means the state’s fleet of turbines is at just 8% of their potential output. Texas may be America’s oil and gas hub, but it’s also long been the country’s biggest wind-power state.
EU demand reduction needs to cope with Russian gas cuts
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The share of the EU's gas supply provided by Russia dropped to 20% in June 2022. The gap of over 300 TWh in the first 6 months of 2022 compared to 2021 has been filled mostly by 240 TWh of additional imports of LNG. Because the internal gas market is not perfectly connected, countries will need to reduce their gas consumption by 0-54%.
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