TODAY: Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power secures fresh financing for Egyptian and Uzbekistani renewables projects
Good morning, friends. We hope you enjoyed your Eid break as much as we did. It’s a busy morning on the climate front in our region, so let’s dive right in.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- Saudi renewables giant Acwa Power received green loans totaling USD 123 mn from several multilateral lenders for its 200 MW solar farm in Egypt’s Kom Ombo and secured a USD 174 mn green loan from Asia Development Bank to help finance its two 500 MW wind farms in Uzbekistan.
^^ We have the details on this story and much more in the news well, below.
THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Climate campaigners blockade HQ of America’s largest banks to lobby for an end to fossil fuel investments: Climate activists staged sit-ins in front of the headquarters of Citibank, Wells Fargo, Chase, and the Bank of America to demand stronger climate action from the financiers and call for an end to fossil fuel development a day before the lenders’ annual shareholder meetings, which took place yesterday. Investment strategies for energy projects are typically rubber stamped during the annual meetings, and the campaigners’ protests were aimed at nipping new fossil fuel investments in the bud before the banks greenlight new oil and gas projects. A report released last week by Banking on Climate Chaos found that US banks extended credit lines totaling some USD 4.6 tn to finance the fossil fuel industry since 2016 alone.
The story snagged headlines yesterday: Reuters | The Guardian| Bloomberg | The Washington Post.
WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Oman’s state-owned Hydrom expects to seal several green hydrogen agreements worth USD bns over the next few months, Meed reports, citing a source familiar with the plans. Last month, Hydrom inked six binding term sheet agreements worth USD 20 bn with a number of companies from Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Japan, Singapore, Germany, India, Kuwait, and the UAE.
WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Crossing fingers for green power from the North Sea? Seven EU nations — including France, Germany and the Netherlands — and non-EU countries Norway and the UK have signed a declaration aimed at expanding Europe’s offshore wind capacity up to a combined 120 GW by 2030, the declaration (pdf) signed on Monday during the North Sea summit in Belgium showed. The Ostend Declaration sees the countries pledging to build wind farms rapidly, develop “energy islands,” and work on carbon capture and renewable hydrogen projects in the region. The nine nations are seeking a combined North Sea offshore wind of 300 GW by 2050, a considerable increase from the current 25 GW. Among the planned projects is what would be the “world’s largest of its kind” power line between the Netherlands and Britain, according to a statement by the British government. The LionLink interconnector would, if completed, have the capacity to transfer 1.8 GW of electricity — enough to supply power to 1.8 mn homes once operational by the early 2030s. Europe is continuing its efforts to wean itself off Russian gas and slash the use of still-dominant CO2-emitting fossil fuels.
WATCH THIS SPACE #3- US solar tariffs could face veto from Biden: US President Joe Biden is threatening to veto congressional attempts to overturn tariff waivers on solar panels imported from Southeast Asia, according to a White House statement released on Monday. The White House said it “strongly opposes” the resolution and would veto it if it passes. The veto threat comes months after Biden waived tariffs on solar panels coming from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam “to ensure that Americans have access to reliable, affordable, and clean electricity,” according to the statement. However, the statement added that “given the strong trends in the domestic solar industry, the President does not intend to extend the tariff suspension at the conclusion of the 24-month period in June 2024.”
But why? Domestic manufacturers argue that the tariffs —- which Bloomberg estimated could be as high as 254% —- are necessary to compete with cheap panels made abroad. Chinese solar manufacturers were also believed to be evading the decade-old import duties after a US Commerce Department investigation found that the Chinese companies were directing their shipments through the four Asian nations before sending their goods to the US.
WATCH THIS SPACE #4- Only 10 automobile manufacturers could survive the intense competition in the global EV market over the next decade, Xpeng Vice Chairman Brian Gu told the Financial Times. Chinese car makers need to have annual sales of at least 3 mn vehicles to be among the EV battle survivors, Gu told the salmon-colored paper. “To be in that ‘3 mn club’ you cannot be a China-only player, you have to be a global player. We think in that scenario, maybe close to half your volume is coming from outside of China,” he said. He sees a “much more concentrated market” over the next five to 10 years, forecasting the number of car makers to be less than ten at the global stage at the time.
Speaking of EVs: UK carmaker Jaguar Land Rover plans to pour GBP 15 bn in investments for electric vehicles over the next five years, CEO Adrian Mardell told the Financial Times last week. JLR will double its investments and roll out seven new EVs, including a fully electric Range Rover in late 2024, Mardell said.
WATCH THIS SPACE #5- Xlinks holding its second public consultation for planned Morocco-UK subsea interconnector: UK-based renewables developer Xlinks — which is building a GBP 18 bn subsea powerline to transport 3.6 GW of clean energy from Morocco to the UK — kicked off the second round of public consultations for its 10.5 GW renewables project, according to a company statement released last week. The company is currently looking to secure building permits to lay underground, high-voltage, direct-current cabling as well as an alternating current converter station in Devon, UK. The second consultation is set to wrap up on 31 May.
WATCH THIS SPACE #6- The first 150 MW phase of Iraq’s interconnection project with Jordan will be launched at the beginning of June, Iraqi Electricity Ministry spokesman Ahmed Musa told the Iraqi News Agency last week. Work is still ongoing on other interconnection projects, including one to the GCC electricity grid through a connection point in Kuwait, and another to Saudi Arabia, Musa said. Construction on a fourth link with Turkey is now fully complete, but the project has not yet been launched as Iraq’s Electricity Ministry is yet to finalize the tariffs on transporting energy through the interconnection.
WATCH THIS SPACE #7- Spending on aviation infrastructure is necessary to reach decarbonization goals, a new white paper from the World Economic Forum (WEF) says. The aviation industry must make key investments in infrastructure if it hopes to reach its net-zero target by 2050, the paper said, explaining that hydrogen and electric aircraft will need 600-1.7k terawatt-hours (TWh) of clean energy by 2050. The estimated demand would require energy generated from 10-25 of the world’s biggest wind farms, or from a solar farm that is “half the size of Belgium”, the paper said. “Given that the share of aviation’s global warming impact is set to rise significantly if action is not taken, the sector must consider all the options available for decarbonization. This includes preparing to use aircraft that are powered by carbonfree fuels at scale,” said David Hyde, Aerospace Projects lead at WEF.
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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
Germany will host the first COP27 transitional committee workshop next Saturday and Sunday, 29-30 April in Bonn. The workshop will address climate-driven loss and damage impacts, will spotlight the findings of a report prepared by the UN on current funding arrangements for climate mitigation efforts, and bring together a host of international financial institutions to discuss pathways to upping funding capacity for climate-induced loss and damage.
Turkey is hosting the International 100% Renewable Energy Conference from 4-6 May in Istanbul. The event will bring together experts to discuss the integration of renewables, renewable energy technologies and applications, and the Roadmap to 2050.
The UAE is hosting the UAE Climate Tech forum on 10 and 11 May in Abu Dhabi. The event will gather over 1k policymakers, CEOs, experts, and investors to discuss collaboration on innovative technologies and economic opportunities in advancing decarbonization across all sectors.
The first MENA Solar Conference is accepting applications from published researchers specialized in PV technology until next Sunday, 30 April. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority will be hosting the conference from 15 to 18 November, in conjunction with the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition and the Dubai Solar Show 2023. Researchers can submit their papers here.
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