European Commission approves Polish offshore wind scheme

The European Commission has given approval to a scheme to support offshore wind farms in Poland.

The scheme was approved under EU State aid rules with the aim of helping Poland achieve its renewable energy targets.

The programme, due to run until 2030, has a total maximum budget of €22.5bn ($27.5bn).

European Commission executive vice-president in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager said: “This Polish scheme is a very good example of how competition policy can enable [EU] member states to support green energy projects such as offshore wind farms.

“It gives the incentive to companies to invest in such green projects where they would otherwise not have invested.

“We hope that we will see many such initiatives in the future, which contribute to the EU’s Green Deal, without unduly distorting competition in the Single Market.”

For 25 years, the aid will be granted in the form of a two-way contract-for-difference premium, but only up to 100,000 full load hours for each installed megawatt.

The variable premium will be the difference between the reference price and the market price for electricity.

Iberdrola and Mitsubishi Power partner for renewable technologies

Spanish utility company Iberdrola and Japanese Mitsubishi Power have signed an agreement to jointly develop competitive, clean, and safe renewable energy technologies that promote the decarbonisation of industrial production in different regions around the world.

The companies' leaders have signed the co-operation agreement to identify opportunities for large-scale carbon-free renewable energy generation and storage projects for industrial use, one of the trickiest sectors to decarbonise.

The partners will form teams of experts to identify industrial-scale, carbon-free renewable energy generation and storage projects to drive the development of green hydrogen projects, battery storage systems, and heat electrification solutions in various regions.

Iberdrola director of Liberalized Business Aitor Moso said: “With the expansion of renewable solutions, such as the electrification of heat, battery storage, and green hydrogen in industrial manufacturing processes, we are putting our capabilities at the service of an urgent and common goal: to build a more sustainable and emissions-free economic model, offering development opportunities for industry and employment.”

With nearly 35,000MW of installed capacity, Iberdrola already has more than 20 years of experience in renewable energy. The company recently launched a major €150bn investment plan aimed to double network assets and triple renewable capacity.

ReNew Power to build solar cell manufacturing facility in Gujarat

Indian renewable energy company ReNew Power has announced plans to build a solar cell and module manufacturing facility in the state of Gujarat.

The greenfield facility will be developed in the Dholera Special Industrial Region (DSIR), located nearly 100km outside the city of Ahmedabad.

It will use monocrystalline passivated emitter & rear contact and large wafer technology to produce 2GW of solar cells and modules a year.

The state government has allocated 100 acres of land area for the project, ensuring enough space for future expansion. It is expected to begin operations in 2023.

ReNew Power founder, chairman and CEO Sumant Sinha said: “ReNew plans to manufacture both solar cells and modules in the Dholera manufacturing facility, with the goal of creating a globally competitive manufacturing unit.

“We are committed to India’s ambition of achieving 450GW of clean energy generation capacity by 2030, and we believe this manufacturing unit will play an important role in boosting India’s domestic manufacturing capacity for clean energy.”

The plant is expected to be vertically integrated for manufacturing solar components.

Its manufacturing capacity will reflect the company’s sustainability initiatives in order to create a ‘Green Factory’, ensuring that the manufacturing processes and supply chain are decarbonised.

RWE to establish airborne wind energy testing facility in Ireland

German energy company RWE has announced plans to establish a facility in County Mayo, Ireland, for testing the potential of new airborne wind energy (AWE) technologies.

The company has obtained planning permission to build the facility, with construction of the site infrastructure expected to begin later this year.

RWE Renewables Europe and Asia-Pacific Wind Onshore and Photovoltaic chief operating officer Katja Wünschel said: “The launch of an airborne wind testing site in Ireland is an early move for RWE into a new technology to generate green electricity.

“Our demonstration project will give us the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the technology being developed and to build valuable relationships with the pioneers and innovators of airborne wind.”

RWE’s first testing facility, which will be delivered in partnership with Dutch company Ampyx Power, is backed by the European Union’s Interreg North-West Europe funding programme.

Ampyx Power CEO Fabrizio Nastri said: “After 12 years of hard work and multiple generations of smaller prototypes, we are excited to start operating our technology demonstrator on a 150kW scale in Ireland in a real operational environment.

“Collaborating with RWE and incorporating their vast experience of wind energy into our product design is a big step toward commercialising our technology.”

The test centre will initially test, verify and demonstrate a 150kW demonstrator system, followed by a commercial scale 1MW system later.

UK to strip offshore wind subsidies from foreign supply chains

The UK Government has confirmed plans to remove subsidies for offshore wind development from companies unless they use British manufacturers.

Government ministers had previously proposed the measures as a method of developing the country into a ‘world leader in low-cost clean power generation’. While the UK has the most offshore wind generation of any country, most infrastructural developments have come from other European countries.

The new conditions of contracts would apply only to projects larger than 300MW. It comes alongside other changes to the country’s contract for difference (CfD) auctions, aiming to increase the amount of development funds spent in the country.

Initially, subsidy schemes would have assessed project supply chains at their date of commissioning. After consultations, this has changed to enforce assessment of supply chain implementation statements just before CfD payments begin. The UK’s next CfD auction is due in December.

British newspaper The Times estimated that developers currently spend approximately 30% of investment in UK offshore wind farms within the country. The country’s government aims to increase this to at least 60%. Ministers have said the changes would ‘harness innovation’ and ‘drive regional growth’. At the same time, renewable trade bodies have warned of ‘significant investment risk’.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously announced plans to grow UK offshore wind generation to 40GW by 2030. The outline plans included little detail, but suggested the goal could result in $28bn (£20bn) of investment in UK industry.

Plastic waste-to-energy tech is being unrolled in Hungary and Greece

Powerhouse Energy, a British sustainable hydrogen company, has agreed to sign a contract with UK-based technology company Hydrogen Utopia International (HUI) for the licence of Powerhouse’s Distributed Modular Generation (DMG) technology, which will convert waste plastic into energy, including hydrogen, across Greece and Hungary.

DMG is a new type of recycling technology, which produces a clean syngas used for power generation or as a source for hydrogen. The technology takes end-of-life plastics, which are introduced into a chamber at high temperature with an oxidising agent. The thermal conversion chamber operates in the absence of oxygen, so there is no burning as the plastics gasify.

Powerhouse Energy executive chair Tim Yeo says: “The process is controlled according to the feedstock to produce a clean syngas, generally free of contaminants. The syngas is further cleaned and then used to create electricity.

"Hydrogen is separated and we then have a fuel that can be used by HGVs. Two tonnes of hydrogen can be produced per day, which can fuel 60 lorries to travel 250-300 miles. Heat is also created in this process.”

The use of the DMG technology can provide a closed loop solution within local level communities for non-recyclable plastic waste, cleaning up oceans, and helping to accelerate the clean energy transition.

By operating in Hungary and Greece, two countries negotiating access to the EU’s Just Transition Fund, HUI hopes to accelerate deployment of the waste-to-energy technology.

The Just Transition Fund will provide financial support to EU member states as they move towards net-zero emissions, helping the EU become climate neutral by 2050.

Yeo said: “We are pleased to extend the countries in which it is intended HUI to help deploy our DMG technology to include Greece and Hungary.

"This is part of our long-term vision for rolling out sustainable hydrogen technology internationally. We believe this will accelerate the clean energy transition in Hungary and Greece and provide both countries with a solution to end-of-life plastic.”

Based on their population ratio, HUI will acquire exclusive agreements for Greece and Hungary for $304,300 with a 10% deposit.