| |  | | | | | | | | | Hello!
This week, China, Britain and Brazil are putting the extra sunshine and heat to use as they all seek to expand and develop their solar power ventures. Before we dive into the nitty gritty, I too will be seeking to bask in the sun during a break. But I will be back on Sept. 7 with all the latest ESG news.
Now, let’s get to it. China's industry ministry issued a notice to promote and optimize the development of the country's photovoltaic industry, while energy infrastructure company Orion-E has reached an agreement with energy trader Bolt to build solar photovoltaic plants in Brazil and Britain's Octopus Energy Group bought a 24% stake in large-scale battery developer and solar power company Exagen. Elsewhere, a model released on Thursday showed that Australia will have to invest in solar, offshore wind and carbon capture and storage at unprecedented speed to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
China's industry ministry said there was an "urgent need to deepen industry management," due to supply and demand mismatches, severe price fluctuations and hoarding in the supply chain of the photovoltaic industry. The ministry also sent a warning against market monopolies and encouraged development of power and storage projects. The expansion of solar power projects in the region comes as extreme heat in China played havoc on some areas this week, with authorities across the Yangtze river basin scrambling to limit the damage from climate change on power, crops and livestock.
Over in Britain, Octopus Energy Group bought a 24% stake in large-scale battery developer and solar power company Exagen through a new renewables fund, it said. The Exagen stake is the debut investment for the Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), which is managed by Octopus Energy Generation and has earmarked 220 million euros ($218 million) for solar, onshore wind and energy storage projects in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. The agreement also covers the purchase of three solar farms including battery storage with a combined 400 megawatts (MW) of capacity, Octopus Energy added.
Meanwhile in Brazil, Orion-E has reached an agreement with energy trader Bolt to build solar photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), a company executive said. The solar venture is expected to cost around 3.2 billion reais ($627.49 million) in investments and will be located in several Brazilian states, including Minas Gerais, Hugo Albuquerque, Orion-E's chief communications officer, told Reuters in an interview.
And last but not least, the Net Zero Australia project found the country will need about 40 times the total generation capacity in today's national electricity market to achieve the net zero goal by 2050, including 1,900 gigawatts (GW) of solar and 174 GW of onshore and offshore wind capacity. That level of capacity would require five areas nearly the size of Ireland each across northern Australia to house solar arrays teamed with electrolysers to produce green hydrogen for export, the project found in interim findings for a study due to be completed in 2023. | | | | | |  | | | | Smoke and steam billows from Belchatow Power Station, Europe's largest coal-fired power plant operated by PGE Group, near Belchatow, Poland November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mark Harrison, UK head of dcbel, a Canadian-based home energy company | | | | “With energy prices so high, solar power has become an increasingly popular feature of UK households, with findings from Solar Energy UK earlier this year revealing that the UK’s residential solar PV market has grown almost 300% compared to pre-COVID 2019 levels.
“The development of Vehicle to Grid (V2G) bi-directional charging technology – which allows EV batteries to store solar PV energy and send it back to the grid when demand is high – will encourage EV users to invest in integrating solar with their home EV charging, thereby powering their vehicles with ‘free’ 100% renewable solar energy. This technology also allows consumers to take control of their energy use: an increasingly appealing proposition given the current energy crisis.
“However, to facilitate the rising adoption of V2G technology, the grid must innovate. Although the UK has led the world with several trials which have demonstrated the positive potential for consumers, the infrastructure currently in place is not up to speed.
“In the meantime, homeowners should call on an interim generation of energy management technology which will enable them to power their homes and EVs in the same way as V2G without exporting to the grid – and this is called Vehicle to Home (V2H) bi-directional charging.” | | | | | | | | | | | French multinational bank BNP Paribas has appointed Peter Zink Secher in a newly created role as head of ESG ratings advisory, EMEA. Secher joins BNP Paribas from Nykredit, a Denmark-based financial services provider.
E-Tech Resources, a Canadian rare earth element development company, has appointed professor Frances Wall as a director. Wall replaces Ed Loye on the board of directors, who will remain as a technical consultant. Wall is professor of applied mineralogy at Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter. Frances has over 30 years’ experience in linking exploration stage studies to responsible sourcing. | | | | German multinational conglomerate Siemens AG has appointed new leaders to its sustainability and investor relations departments. Eva Riesenhuber, currently head of investor relations, will assume the role of global head of sustainability. Eva Scherer, currently chief financial officer of the rail infrastructure and software business units at Siemens Mobility, will be the new head of investor relations.
Jenny Bofinger, currently head of sustainability for Siemens AG, will be joining the board of the newly formed International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The ISSB is an independent body to ensure increased transparency and comparability of environmental, societal and governance (ESG) reporting. | | | | | | | | “For an organization called the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), a minimum aspiration should be to remove the plastic waste it produces itself. Instead, many members are choosing to invest heavily in the expansion of plastic production, while failing to fund even meager recovery and recycling targets through the coalition.” | | | | John Willis, director of research at Planet Tracker, a UK-based non-profit financial think tank | | | | | | | • | Government officials, EV company executives are to speak at World's NEV forum on Aug. 26, the highest level government-backed industry forum in China. | | | | | • | Riyadh will host the Jimmy fashion International event, which will feature cultural, local and international fashion designers on Aug. 26. | | | | | • | Read our Reuters report on Aug. 30 how the fast-warming Arctic, boreal forest fires are setting new emissions records. | | | | | • | The prime ministers of Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Denmark, Lithuania's president and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet on Aug. 30 at the Danish Baltic Sea island Bornholm to discuss the development of offshore wind amid the region's bid to become independent from Russian energy. | | | | | | | | | We think you may like these: | | |
| | | Reuters Daily Briefing | | | | All the news you need to start your weekdays. | | | | Subscribe | | | | Reuters Power Up | | | | Find out everything you need to know about the global energy industry and the forces driving the transition to renewable fuels. | | | | Subscribe | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
