Weekend press round-up: £1.7bn plan for Swansea renewable energy project

In our latest review of sector coverage in the national media, a Welsh company will lead on plans to build a £1.7 billion renewable energy project on Swansea’s water front. Elsewhere, there are reports of a clash between two multi-billion-pound net zero schemes in the North Sea.

Renewable energy: £1.7bn plan for Swansea led by Bridgend’s DST

A Bridgend company is leading plans to build a £1.7bn renewable energy project on Swansea’s waterfront.

The Blue Eden scheme includes a tidal lagoon and floating solar panels.

This is the third proposal to develop a tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay, and would include a battery factory and a data centre run on renewable energy.

No tax payers’ money would be needed, according to the consortium, but consent will be required from the Welsh government for the energy projects.

The international consortium is led by DST Innovations, which makes industrial batteries in the United States.

Blue Eden would be developed in three phases over twelve years, starting in 2023 with 1,000 jobs making high tech batteries for energy storage.

That would be followed by construction of a floating solar energy farm in the Queens Dock area and large data centre powered by an uninterruptable source of renewable energy, which would be a UK first.

The heat generated by the computer servers in the centre would then heat 5,000 new eco-homes along the waterfront.

There would also be an oceanic and climate change research centre and 150 floating houses, as seen in the Netherlands.

The project hopes to support 16,000 jobs across the Swansea Bay city region in the long term.

Swansea council’s leader Rob Stewart said: “I’m delighted that an international consortium led by a Welsh company has developed our Dragon Energy Island vision into a ground-breaking project that delivers so many benefits and builds on the council’s ambition to become a net zero city by 2050.

“Cooperation and support will be required, trying to make sure the permissions and the consents that are needed are in place.”

Mr Stewart explained that Blue Eden had signed a memorandum of understanding with Associated British Ports and were in discussions with them about acquiring land.

The projected energy output of the tidal lagoon and floating solar panels are just under 320 megawatts each, which means Welsh government would be responsible for giving consent to these elements.

BBC

Crown gives go ahead to rival ‘net zero carbon’ North Sea schemes

A clash between two multibillion pound “net zero carbon” schemes is brewing in the North Sea after the Queen’s property manager granted development rights for one patch of seabed to two different projects at the same time.

The crown estate will earn millions of pounds after agreeing to lease an area off the Yorkshire coast to the latest phase of the giant Hornsea offshore windfarm, as well as to a scheme led by BP which plans to begin storing carbon dioxide under the seabed. This has prompted concern that the giant wind turbines could interfere with seabed sensors for the carbon storage project.

The carbon capture scheme was granted “fast-track status” by the government as part of the long-awaited net zero strategy it set out earlier this week, meaning developers will need to begin trapping, piping and storing carbon beneath the North Sea from a cluster of nearby factories by the mid-2020s.

The crown estate granted the East Coast Cluster project an agreement in 2013 to lease the plot while it develops plans to capture emissions from factories in the Teesside and Humber industrial clusters and store the carbon securely beneath the seabed.

It had already auctioned off the right to develop an offshore windfarm on an area that sits above the carbon capture site in 2010. The windfarm rights were later bought from the consortium by Danish developer Orsted in 2015 to host part of its Hornsea windfarm which will include 180 turbines on a plot which is 190 square miles.

The green developers are in early talks to find a way to “coexist” in close quarters but have no firm plans to manage the clash, and face a tighter deadline to find a solution due to the East Coast Cluster’s fast-track status.

“Put simply, the crown estate has been a bit greedy and leased one area to two projects at the same time,” said an industry source involved in one of the schemes.

The source said it would be “incompatible” for both projects to move ahead based on their existing plans because the foundations of the giant offshore wind turbines would be in the way of crucial seismic monitoring stations on the seafloor which are needed to detect and prevent emissions leaks from underwater carbon stores.

The crown estate declined to comment on the sums it would be paid by the low-carbon developers.

A spokesperson said that some “co-location” of offshore projects may be necessary as the government pursues its net zero strategy and “should be considered”.

The crown estate opened an industry forum over the summer to facilitate discussions which would help “fit more clean energy technology and infrastructure” into the North Sea “without unintended consequences”.

“The seabed is a finite resource which is more in demand than ever before, and so as these technologies scale up to support a low-carbon economy, we recognise that, at times, some co-location may be necessary,” the crown estate spokesperson said.

The Guardian

All-women investment trust plans £150m solar panel float

An investment trust is planning to raise £150 million from a flotation in what is thought to mark the first time that a company has listed in London with an all-female board.

Atrato Onsite Energy, which will invest in solar panels on the roofs of big commercial buildings, will have a three-strong board led by Juliet Davenport, 53, the founder of Good Energy, the Aim-listed renewable power supplier. Faye Goss, 45, previously a top property lawyer at Tesco, and Marlene Wood, 59, a veteran of listed trusts, will also be directors.

The company is set to announce its proposed initial public offering today, when it will tap into two increasingly important trends in the City: growing demand among fund managers for green investments; and the drive to increase diversity at the top of businesses.

The trust will be managed by Atrato, the London-based investment firm that also runs the Supermarket Income Real Estate Investment Trust that was listed on the stock exchange in 2017 and has a market value of about £1 billion.

It will invest in solar photovoltaic systems that are installed on top of properties such as warehouses and factories. The power generated by the panels will be sold to the occupants of the buildings, providing them with a green source of power that also avoids energy losses through the grid. The trust will target an 8 per cent to 10 per cent total annual return to investors.

If the listing succeeds, it is believed that it will be the first time that a company has floated in Britain without a male director.

The Times

UK’s first ‘gigafactory’ set for huge expansion

The Chinese company behind the UK’s only “gigafactory” is planning a huge expansion of the project and looking to spin off its electric vehicle battery division as it builds its European business.

Zhang Lei, chief executive of Envision, said the Sunderland facility’s annual capacity would eventually rise to 38 gigawatt hours, enabling the site to produce batteries for hundreds of thousands more electric cars each year.

The plans would mark a steep increase from the 1.7GWh capacity at a smaller existing plant and 11GWh when the site’s new plant is due to open.

Production from the first phase of the Sunderland plant expansion is set to start in 2024 as part of a partnership with Nissan UK.

Envision’s $2.4bn gigafactory in Douai, France, in partnership with Renault, is also due to open in 2024.

Zhang said the company was in talks with global carmakers to supply batteries from the two sites. Envision also has battery plants in Japan, the US and China.

“The electric car has become the starting point for the green industrial revolution,” he told the Financial Times.

He added that the Shanghai-based company, which is China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, would “definitely” list its global battery business. “It could be soon,” he said. “It’s all on the board decision. We have a very international board.”

China’s battery companies are expanding rapidly in Europe, as the continent’s largest carmakers pledge to spend billions to switch their fleets to electric cars. CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, as well as fellow Chinese groups SVolt Energy and Guoxuan, are all building battery plants in Germany.

Shares in CATL have risen 68 per cent this year, valuing the business at Rmb1.38tn ($216bn), as investors bet on the global transition away from fossil fuels.

The existing Sunderland factory, which makes batteries for the Nissan Leaf, was acquired by Envision Group when it bought Nissan’s battery business, AESC, in 2019. The new factory will be completely powered by renewable energy.

Zhang said the company was looking at locations for new gigafactories in Europe and was considering investing in battery materials such as lithium to secure supplies.

“We are planning that — we are talking to a few companies,” he said.

Financial Times

Small firms back working from home to cut their energy bills

Almost a third of small business owners are contemplating shutting their offices and asking staff to work from home to deflect soaring energy prices.

Energy bills are set to go up because of rising gas prices on the global market that have put many energy suppliers out of business.

Research from Smart Energy GB, a smart meter company, found that 30 per cent of firms had considered temporarily closing their offices. “Small businesses are the beating heart of the British economy but it is clear concerns about energy use are affecting how many will continue to operate this winter,” said Iagan MacNeil, Smart Energy GB’s head of policy.

Statistics revealed that 62 per cent of small businesses were worrying about rising energy costs and whether they would affect their ability to operate in the months ahead. Nine in ten said they were trying to become more energy-efficient in an effort to stay afloat.

Last week The Times reported that a rise in wholesale energy costs above the government’s price cap would cost suppliers up to £5 billion, putting more at risk of failure. Fifteen suppliers have already gone under because the price cap stops them from passing on higher energy costs to retail customers.

Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power, warned that the number of suppliers could fall from sixty to six, reducing the “room for price competition” needed to give consumers competitive pricing.

The pre-Christmas period is usually a busy time for small businesses, such as boutiques, family stores and speciality outlets and, coupled with the shift to online retailing, the energy crisis has added further pressure to what is already a beleaguered sector.

A total of 57 per cent of employees said they were doing their bit to save money for their employer by saving energy, although 60 per cent said they charged their phones in the office to reduce expenditure at home.

A spokesman for Smart Energy GB added: “Whether it’s turning off unused equipment or ensuring your bills are accurate, it all adds up. But the solution needs to be a collaborative approach with everyone playing a part.”

The Times

Utility Week’s weekend press round-up is a curation of articles in the national newspapers relating to the energy and water sector. The views expressed are not those of Utility Week or Faversham House.