The Briefing on Power
The latest news, trends and data from the power industry
In Data:
power in numbers
7.5MW
In July, solar additions in the UK slumped, with just 7.5MW of new solar capacity installed.
4.9million km2
The UK Government’s Road to Zero strategy, which aims to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040, is expected to drive significant growth in the electric vehicle market.
38 years
The average age of the 97 US nuclear power plants is 38 years old - as the fleet ages, concerns grow as to how they will be replaced, and whether it will be with nuclear power, renewables or fossil fuels.
£3.4m
Orbital Marine Power has been awarded £3.4 million by the Scottish Government to build the world's most powerful floating tidal turbine, in a win for the tidal energy sector.
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$4.4bn
The Adani coal mine would be ‘unviable’ without $4.4bn in subsidies from the Australian Government according to a new report. The controversial Carmichael coal mine is set to receive subsidies, favourable deals and tax concessions for over 30 years.
in the news:
top projects kicking off this month
SGS is expanding in Europe following trial
Scottish software company Smarter Grid Solutions (SGS) is expanding into Europe following successful trials with a German utility company. They demonstrated the potential of ‘dynamic curtailment’, which reduces the small amounts of electricity produced by renewable energy generators such as solar parks or wind farms if too much power is pumped into the grid.
EGP has started construction of new solar plant in Chile, Campos de Sol
Enel Green Power’s (EGP) subsidiary Enel Green Power Chile has started the construction of its new 382MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in the Atacama region. The new solar plant, called Campos del Sol will cost $320m. Once fully operational in 2020, the facility is expected to generate approximately 1,160GWh of clean energy per year and will have the capacity to offset nearly 900,000t of carbon emissions.
ExxonMobil enters into an agreement with Mosaic Materials to advance CCS
US-based energy company ExxonMobil has entered an agreement with California-based materials start-up Mosaic Materials to explore the advancement of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. It will evaluate opportunities for industrial uses of Mosaic Materials’ unique CCS process at scale, which uses porous solids known as metal-organic frameworks to separate carbon dioxide from air or flue gas.
Mergers and acquisitions:
this month’s top power deals
Vestas to sell majority stake in Romanian windfarms
Danish wind energy company Vestas Wind Systems has agreed to sell its majority stake in three windfarms in Romania. The 80% stake in the Pantelimon, Pegasus, and Apollo windfarms will be sold to an unknown buyer for around $150m (€136m). Vestas expects that the deal will take place in the next eight to ten weeks as it still needs approval from the Romanian Competition Council.
Shell to buy Australian energy company ERM Power
Global energy company Shell has agreed to a Scheme Implementation Deed (SID) to buy Australian energy company ERM Power for A$617m ($417m), it will be conducted through Shell’s subsidiary Shell Energy Australia Ltd. The deal values ERM’s shares at A$2.465 each and will allow the company to pay its shareholders an ordinary dividend of A$0.045 and a special dividend of up to AUS$0.085 per share.
Rolls-Royce in talks about buying French nuclear business
British engineering company Rolls-Royce is reported to be in talks with French company Framatome over the sale of its French nuclear business. Framatome is a subsidiary of EDF, France’s leading utility company. The Financial Times reports that this was due to Rolls-Royce reshaping its operations and estimates the value of its French assets to be £200m. The company’s French business makes instruments to monitor radiation and temperature for nuclear reactors around the world.
GlidePath Power Solutions acquires North Texas windfarms
GlidePath Power Solutions, a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, has acquired a 149MW portfolio of windfarms in North Texas from Exelon Generation for an undisclosed sum. The acquired portfolio consists of eight distributed wind energy projects located north of Amarillo serving the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) market.
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