Browsing: Europe

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has secured investment from the Scottish National Investment Bank and the Nuclear Liabilities Fund for the 500 MW Devilla battery energy storage project in Fife, highlighting the growing role of large scale storage in maintaining grid reliability as fossil fuel generation declines.

Europe’s electric vehicle transition is increasingly becoming a question not only of transport emissions but of electricity system economics. A new study by Fraunhofer ISI for Transport & Environment (T&E) estimates that weakening EU electric vehicle targets could require the equivalent of 150 additional peaking power plants to compensate for lost flexibility from EV batteries.

Renewable energy developer Sunly and Rolls-Royce Power Systems have signed agreements to develop four utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Latvia with a combined capacity of 490 MWh.

Engineering company Studsvik has submitted plans for between 600 MWe and 1,400 MWe of new nuclear capacity near its Nyköping headquarters, while the Swedish government is preparing to increase state involvement in a separate small modular reactor (SMR) project at the Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant site.

Producing one kilogram of hydrogen through conventional electrolysis requires approximately 9 kilograms of water, creating additional pressure on freshwater supplies as electrolyzer deployment expands. UK-based Hychor, a spin-off from the University of Aberdeen, is developing a seawater-based hydrogen production system designed to address this limitation by eliminating the need for freshwater treatment before electrolysis.

The global chemical industry is increasingly shifting from pilot-scale circularity initiatives toward securing commercial volumes of recycled feedstocks, with BASF and Texas-based Encina strengthening their partnership around chemically recycled benzene production.

In Tarragona, Spain, a proposed green hydrogen facility backed by H2PRO and Sun Systems Group aims to connect renewable electricity generation with one of Europe’s largest industrial clusters, targeting the decarbonization of chemical and petrochemical operations.

The UK green hydrogen sector is moving from policy development toward commercial execution, but the transition remains dependent on securing investment, reducing technology risk, and establishing reliable demand. A new partnership between Protium Green Solutions Ltd and ITM Power highlights the industry’s current focus: combining project development expertise with electrolyzer manufacturing capabilities to advance industrial scale hydrogen production.

As demand for electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure, battery storage, advanced electronics, and artificial intelligence systems accelerates, critical minerals are increasingly becoming the foundation upon which decarbonization strategies depend.

Georgian officials have now indicated that a parallel green hydrogen pipeline is under consideration, potentially expanding the strategic scope of the Green Energy Corridor and positioning the region as a future exporter of both renewable electricity and low-carbon fuels.