Author: Arnes Biogradlija

The CEO of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, Philippe Kavafyan, has been elected to chair the European Wind Energy Organization, WindEurope, for the next 18 months. Signalling the increasing importance of offshore wind in the wind industry in Europe, Philippe Kavafyan, CEO of MHI Vestas, was elected by the association’s Board of Directors as Chair of WindEurope. Since April 2018, Mr. Kavafyan has been CEO of MHI Vestas and has improved the company into the leading manufacturer of pure play offshore wind turbines. MHI Vestas is involved throughout Europe and maintains production facilities in both Denmark and the United Kingdom, as…

Global finance to developing countries in support of clean and renewable energy reached USD 21.3 billion in 2017. This almost doubles the level from 2010 when international financial flows were at USD 10 billion, according to latest figures of a new indicator under the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG). The new indicator, jointly monitored by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), tracks global capital flows to developing countries in pursuit of affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. By tracing international financial flows to developing countries, the new SDG7 indicator…

A total of 280,000 new shares in Minesto were subscribed to by senior executives in Minesto through the exercise of PO4 series warrants. As a result, all issued PO4 warrants in Minesto have been exercised and through the warrant program the company will add approximately SEK 7.4 million ($833k) in proceeds. PO4 is one of three Minesto employee warrant systems that were accepted at the 2019 annual general meeting of the company. A total of 280,000 PO4 series warrants have been issued, all of which were acquired in August 2019 by senior executives at Minesto. The right to subscribe for…

National Grid Ventures, the commercial development arm of National Grid plc, and Dutch Transmission System Operator TenneT have announced a cooperation agreement to explore the feasibility of connecting Dutch and British wind farms to the energy systems of both countries via subsea electricity cables called interconnectors. The development would be the first of its kind for the UK and the Netherlands in the North Sea. The UK and the Netherlands have both established ambitious targets to expand offshore wind capacity in the North Sea, with the UK government recently announcing it was targeting 40 gigawatts by 2030, whilst the Dutch…

Dogger Bank Wind Farm and GE Renewable Energy have signed contracts confirming the 13MW Haliade-X turbine for the Dogger Bank A and Dogger Bank B phases of the world’s largest offshore wind farm. The contract award, which is subject to Dogger Bank A and B reaching Financial Close, includes an order for 190 Haliade-X 13MW offshore wind turbines to be installed off the north-east coast of England, split evenly at 95 turbines for each of the first two phases of Dogger Bank Wind Farm. The installation of these turbines will be the first time a 13MW Haliade-X is installed in…

Canadian Solar has sold the Suffield Solar project to BluEarth Renewables. Currently under construction in southeastern Alberta, the project will have a capacity of 23 MWac/32 MWp, and will be one of Alberta’s largest solar PV facilities. Direct Energy will buy the Suffield facility electricity when it is operational later this year. With nearly one million private, business and wholesale clients in Alberta, Direct Energy is one of the largest energy and energy-related service providers in North America. The Suffield facility was awarded funding for cutting-edge developments in renewable energy technology through the Emerging Renewable Power Program of Natural Resources…

‘Green Hydrogen for Scotland’ –a collaboration between ScottishPower Renewables, BOC –a Linde company and ITM Power –brings together industry-leading names in the renewables and clean fuel industries to deliver a ‘end-to-end’ market solution for vehicle emissions reduction through green hydrogen supplies. Hydrogen fuel is produced by a chemical process known as electrolysis, using an electrolyser to remove hydrogen from water, which is especially necessary for larger vehicles. The proposed ‘Green Hydrogen for Scotland’ designed facilities would ensure that zero emission fuel is readily available to organisations such as local authorities and others with heavy duty vehicle fleets. The first initiative…

New research reveals that polymetallic rocks located on the deep-sea floor can supply hundreds of millions of tons of heavy-duty battery metals to store energy and power electric vehicles (EVs) with much less effect on the atmosphere than to extract the same metals from the earth. The peer-reviewed research, published in the ‘Journal of Cleaner Production’, is a comparative life-cycle assessment of EV battery metal sources, quantifying direct and indirect emissions and destruction of carbon sequestration services performed in the mining, processing and refining of battery metals. The carbon intensity of manufacturing metals such as nickel has led to increased interest…

Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) has advised National Westminster Bank (NatWest) as lenders of the £30 million portfolio of UK rooftop and ground-mounted solar PV projects run by Innova Energy (Innova) with a total installed capacity of 57 MW. This is the first project financing undertaken by NatWest using SONIA (Sterling Overnight Index Average), which is being introduced as part of the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) transformation, a phase that has been under progress for a number of years and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 with the release of LIBOR. NatWest was the leading…

A recent Hitachi ABB Power Grids study indicates that the North American energy industry’s future is undeniably green. Titled ‘North America Power Reference Case: Spring 2020,’ the study forecasts that renewable energy production will see double-digit growth in the next 25 years. The report is based on data gathered by the intelligence service of the business organization, Velocity Suite, informed by its proprietary capacity expansion model, and its well-established cost model of PROMOD production. Renewable energy and natural gas are projected to dominate North American power generation for the next two decades, powered by declining capital costs and conflicting federal,…