Canadian infrastructure giant Brookfield and the investment fund Temasek are in talks to take over Neoen, in a deal valuing the French company at €6.1bn. Neoen has 8 GW of wind, solar and battery projects up and running or under construction, and 20GW under development. Brookfield is a major renewable developer with a pipeline of about 157GW.

In May 2023, the contract for the power station was signed with the US consortium Westinghouse-Bechtel. The capacity of the three reactors will be 3750 MWe. Geological surveys are expected to last until the end of the year. The commissioning of the first unit is planned for 2040. By 2045, nuclear will account for 20% of Poland's electricity generation.

US wind power slipped in 2023 due to weaker-than-normal Midwest breezes despite the 6.2 GW added capacity, showing the challenge of integrating volatile renewable energy sources into the grid. The capacity factor for the country’s wind fleet (how much energy it’s generating versus its nominally possible output) declined to an eight-year low of 33.5%.

Sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) impose penalties on borrowers when they fail green goals, but they don't need to invest the money into green projects. Enel missed its 2023 GHG emissions target and will pay €83 mln more on the €10 bln worth of SLBs. It’s the most significant penalty yet in a market whose first bond was issued by Enel in 2019.

The project called “Green Volt” off the coast of Scotland will include 35 floating turbines with the nominal output of 560 MW and will provide electricity primarily to offshore oil and gas platforms. The project owners are Flotation Energy and Vargronn. The current biggest development, off the coast of Norway, has only 11 turbines and 88 MW nominal output.

New York State ended talks with developers for three offshore wind power projects after GE Vernova offered smaller turbines, because its 18 MW units are not available. Authorities said this "materially altered" the plans. Supply chain problems and rising interest rates are forcing project cancellations and billions in writedowns by developers.

US-backed company Verde will invest $1 bln in a disused Romanian mine and new processing facilities. It intends to start production in2027 and reach 90,000 tonnes a year, half of EU's needs and 9% of global production. Over 90% of EU’s magnesium (crucial for making lightweight aluminium alloys used in cars and packaging) is imported from China.

During Europe’s energy crisis, Steag was asked to bring five of its coal-fired power stations back online and the Federal Network Agency now wants them to remain on standby until 2031 to help keep the lights on. Steag can claim reimbursements from the grid operator, but cannot sell the electricity on the market. This is not economically viable.

In 2021, Us scientists produced more energy from fusion than the reaction consumed. A third of 39 fusion companies said commercial viability would be demonstrated between 2031 and 2035. One obstacle will be the lack of readiness in supply chains to provide the engineering, materials, and expertise required to roll out a fusion solution at scale.

Extra regulatory requirements, fewer financial incentives and the risk of being accused of greenwashing reduce clients' interest in sustainability-linked loans (SLL), which fell even more than green loans. EU's new rules require companies to back every sustainability statement. Even clean energy companies prefer to get funding through regular debt.

The EU installed 16 GW of new wind capacity in 2022, but should be building over 30 GW a year to meet its own 2030 targets. It is expected to install 98 GW by 2027. 75% of that will be onshore, while the UK is leading in offshore wind installations. Wind energy generation in Europe has increased from 370 TWh in 2018 to 489 TWh in 2022.

In Spain, wind parks aged 15 or older are half of the 30GW total. Their lifespan is 20 years. They are in prime sites with the strongest winds. Replacing them with bigger wind mills increases generation, but is costly. Replacing just blades, gearboxes and generators is cheaper. The internal rate of return of new projects in Spain has plunged to 6%.