The power industry briefing
The latest news, trends, and data you need to know about this month
News in Numbers
$526m
Shell Energy Operations and Infrastructure Capital Group will purchase online energy retailer Powershop Australia in a deal valued at $526m.
455MW
OX2 has signed an agreement to build and sell a 455MW onshore wind farm in Lestijärvi, Finland, to a consortium of Finnish energy companies for $732m.
2.2GWDC
Intersect Power has secured a $2.6bn financing commitment for a solar and energy storage portfolio, which includes 2.2GWDC worth of late-stage solar projects with 1.4GWh of total storage.
35 billion kWh
Sberbank has agreed to provide an $800m loan to Akkuyu Nuclear to build the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey, which boasts an annual capacity of 35 billion kWh.
2034
Equinor and Korea East-West Power will develop 3GW of offshore wind capacity in South Korea, ahead of a government target of 60GW of renewable power by 2034.
Project updates
Siemens Energy has secured a $1.1bn turnkey construction contract from Gás Natural Açu to build a 1.7GW combined cycle power plant in Brazil. The plant will be built as part of GNA II, an integrated liquefied natural gas to power project, at Port of Açu in Rio de Janeiro.
RWE has selected SMA Solar for supplying its technology to integrate and control the charge and discharge of lithium-ion battery racks for its two power storage facilities in Lingen and Werne. The storage facilities will have a combined output of 117MW.
Nofar Energy has signed an agreement with Polish independent power producer Electrum to build 1.25GW of renewable energy capacity in Poland. The companies will create a joint venture to initiate, develop and maintain photovoltaic and wind energy projects.
Spanish energy company Iberdrola has begun construction works on the 800MW Vineyard Wind I offshore wind farm in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind will operate the facility, which is located 24km from the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
Further reading
The UK gas price and petrol crisis
In the past few weeks, UK utilities have reached crisis point over the price of gas. Consistent rises in wholesale prices have made their business unprofitable, with no ability to pass costs on.
The chain of events begins with the pandemic, and the fall in wholesale energy prices that came with it. As Covid-19 hit the UK, the country’s gas and electricity use fell sharply. This mirrored low demand in other countries, and when met with overproduction from oil and gas companies, prices plummeted.
Smaller energy firms took this opportunity to lower prices, in an effort to attract new customers. This meant lower profit margins than large companies, which barely changed their tariffs.
Read more: Power Technology
