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[sarkasm] 11/11/2020 02:19

An Oil Market Recovery Is On The Horizon
By Cyril Widdershoven - Nov 10, 2020, 7:00 PM CST
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The major participants at ADIPEC 2020’s ADNOC Trading Forum expressed a wide range of sentiment, but the general message was one of caution or even outright pessimism when it came to oil price movements. The Virtual Conference, which was held in Abu Dhabi, was dominated by three main topics, the impact of COVID-19, global oil and gas demand destruction, and the U.S. election results. With a wide range of speakers including representatives from Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC, the major storage company VITOL, Japanese company ENEOS, Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), and OMV amongst others, the forecasts for 2021 were plentiful and varied. The main takeaways for observers were that markets may be growing increasingly optimistic about a COVID recovery, but oil prices are unlikely to see a real recovery before the end of 2021. Oil market fundamentals are very weak at the moment and even if a COVID-19 vaccine is produced, the impact on fundamentals will be slow. Furthermore, any oil market recovery could easily be halted by a change in the strategy of OPEC+ or any other supply increase before demand picks back up. According to Energy Intelligence, Platts and Argus, the overall expectation for oil prices in 2021 is in the high $30s to mid $40s per barrel. In a panel with Martin Fraenkel, Euan Craik, and Alex Schindelar, all three industry leaders agreed that they expected a more optimistic situation in 2022. The three oil analysts emphasized that much will depend on the success of tackling COVID globally and the resilience of the market in the face of a possible supply boost.

Russel Hardy, the CEO of Vitol, argued that 2020 has shown how resilient the hydrocarbon sector still is. Despite the major breakdown of demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hardy claimed that Vitol has been able to ride out the storm and is fully prepared for 2021. While a combination of negative prices, demand destruction, and a storage glut means that a return to normal is still a long way away, an industry recovery is well and truly underway. Kajo Fujiwara, the Executive Officer of Crude Trading and Shipping for Japanese company ENEOS emphasized that “work continued even in COVID time”. He said that was particularly difficult as a state of emergency had been put in place in Japan as its refineries were forced to cut, exports decreased and margins were very low. The company’s investment plans were also altered as several projects were delayed. In H2, however, ENEOS saw refinery runs increase and signs of demand recovering.

Related: This Just Became The World's Largest Gas Hub

When asked about ADNOC Trading, Khaled Salmeen, the Executive Director, stated that the company “has not stopped doing what we wanted to do….we wanted to go strong on trading and we are as ADNOC Global Trading is going to go live in the coming weeks”. When asked about the impact of COVID on trading, Salmeen stated that for his company it had been an opportunity, as working on risk management and pricing has allowed the company to become more resilient. ADNOC Trading is developing well, with the crude book having gone live in September and the products book via Global Trading set to go live in the coming weeks. ADNOC is now starting to train and support the next generation of traders in the UAE. An ADNOC Trading official added that ADNOC Trading plans to set up representation internationally, including in the U.S. As well as trading, Salmeen confirmed that ADNOC Trading is also looking at entering the shipping space. ADNOC has always been an FOB seller. Shipping is now going to be a major part of the company. The cost of both second hand and new vessels in the current climate is extremely attractive for those with capital.

Overall it was a mixed takeaway from the event. COVID is once again hovering over markets with a second round of lockdowns in the EU, and price volatility has increased. For some, such as Hardy, real optimism could return to markets in H1 2021. There doesn’t seem to be any significant demand increase set to take place in winter and even if a COVID vaccine is produced, the real impact won’t be felt in the market before end H2 2021. At the same time, all participants agreed that the OPEC+ strategy is one of the major factors to watch. Vitol expects normal stock levels by Summer 2021, but even that will depend on OPEC+ strategies. New additional production, such as from Libya or Iran, could set markets back. A return to normal stock levels would see prices rising at the end of 2021. Hardy is cautiously optimistic but admits that it all depends on a continuous flow of “good news”. The Vitol official expects oil prices to recover to the high 40s or even the 50s in H1 2021, although any demand reduction would hurt that prediction.

When asked about Biden, Hardy said that any U.S. supply response would be price related. He stated that if Biden rejoins JCPOA and Iranian oil flows again, prices will be hit hard. He doesn’t expect the Biden Administration to have much of an impact on U.S. shale production though. While new regulations would impact production by increasing overall costs, the sector itself is largely non-political.

Even the oil and gas situation in Asia remains unclear. According to ENEOS’ Kajo, the COVID impact is still very much being felt. While the economies have suffered less than their western country parts, the impact on demand is still tangible. She said that China’s demand is healthy, but other countries such as Japan and India are still suffering. In Japan, refining margins are still suffering as JET demand is very low, and export markets are yet to recover. When asked about a possible Peak Oil demand scenario in Japan, the ENEOS official said that COVID has moved it forward dramatically.

By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com

[sarkasm] 09/11/2020 06:31

Australia Could Lead The $11 Trillion Hydrogen Boom
By Alex Kimani - Nov 08, 2020, 6:00 PM CST
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Back in July, the European Union unveiled a hydrogen strategy that immediately captured the imagination of the renewables world and was hailed as the most ambitious hydrogen plan ever. The EU's ambitious new hydrogen strategy laid out plans to install 40 gigawatts of electrolyzers within the region's borders and also support the development of another 40 gigawatts of green hydrogen in nearby countries that have the capacity to export the regional powerhouse. The EU is an economic and political union of 27 European countries.

However, a single country could soon rival an entire regional bloc ...

The Australian government has announced that it will fast-track the development of some of the world's largest wind and solar projects geared towards the production of green hydrogen.

Last week, Canberra announced that it had awarded "major project status" to the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH). The move will accelerate the development of 15,000MW wind and solar power for the production of hydrogen and ammonia for export to the Asia-Pacific region with plans to scale that up to 26,000MW, making it the largest of its kind in the world.

Green hydrogen

AREH's project director Brendan Hammond says the 15,000MW project is AREH's first, with plans to expand it to 26,000MW of hybrid wind and solar that will power electrolyzers for the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia.

The first phase of the Kalbarri project aims to blend the hydrogen directly with natural gas due to the challenges of transporting raw hydrogen. To illustrate its true potential, consider that at full capacity, AREH could generate up to 100 terawatt-hours a year, or nearly 40% of Australia generated 265 terawatt-hours last year.

Related: U.S. Oil Rig Count Rises During Election Week

AREH has an important precedent: The UK became one of the first countries to successfully implement grid injection of hydrogen, essentially blending hydrogen gas with natural gas in a 1:4 ratio. That might sound modest, but actually is the highest in Europe. A 20% volume blend allows customers to continue using their existing natural gas appliances with no need for major adjustments. ITM Power estimates that a natural gas/hydrogen blend of similar proportions rolled out across the entire country could save up to ~6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year, comparable to taking 2.5 million cars off the roads.

Australia plans to complete this phase of its green hydrogen strategy in just two years.

AREH's second phase will involve compressing and supercooling hydrogen just like we do with LNG then exporting it to Asian nations like Singapore, Korea, and Japan. This phase could kick off in about four years and take another three years to fully ramp up production.

The third phase of the project actually is the most exciting: Using green hydrogen to manufacture green steel for export. The global steel industry accounts for ~7% of global carbon emissions, giving you an idea of how polluting this sector is. But more and more customers are expected to start demanding green steel made from renewable energy much the same way global customers have started demanding cleaner natural gas.

In a clear sign of the times, French power company Engie SA ENGI was recently forced to abandon a multibillion-dollar contract to export LNG to the U.S. due to pressure by the French government on environmental concerns. This could very well become a standard requirement for the vast fossil fuel ecosystem.

Japan's Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain

The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) is a joint Japanese-Australian project that aims to produce plentiful, affordable fuel for Japan.

A big chunk of Australia's hydrogen exports will head to Japan, a country whose mountainous terrain and extreme seismic activity render it unsuitable for the development of sustainable renewable energy. The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain will attempt to establish a durable supply of liquid hydrogen from Australia, to be used as fuel in Japan. However, this hydrogen will be the grey type because it will be extracted from lignite, aka brown coal.

Germany's cabinet recently committed to invest €9B (about $10.2B) in hydrogen technology in a bid to decarbonize the economy and cut CO2 emissions. The government has proposed to build an electrolysis capacity of 5,000MW by 2030 and another 5,000MW by 2040 over the following decade to produce fuel hydrogen.

This is just the latest evidence that the hydrogen economy is finally ready to take off, with Middle East countries well endowed with high solar insolation; coal-rich countries like Australia, gas-rich countries like Russia as well as highly industrialized energy-importing countries in Asia and Europe all expressing a keen interest in hydrogen.

Overall, the hydrogen marketplace is on track to hit $11 trillion. Investors are loving it, and the game is on to find the best places to part your hydrogen money.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

[waldron] 06/11/2020 17:39

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 39.55 -2.85%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.08 -2.63%
Natural Gas NYMEX 3.07 -0.45%
(WTI) 37.235 USD -3.07%

FTSE 100
5,910.02 +0.07%
Dow Jones
28,388.37 -0.01%
CAC 40
4,960.88 -0.46%
SBF 120
3,921.18 -0.49%
Euro STOXX 50
3,204.05 -0.30%
DAX
12,480.02 -0.70%
Ftse Mib
19,688.07 -0.22%



Eni
6.542 -0.82%


Total
27.63 +0.45%


Engie
11.035 -1.87%

Orange
9.426 -1.46%


Bp
199.86 -0.39%

Vodafone
105.04 -1.00%

Royal Dutch Shell A
1,008 +0.02%



Royal Dutch Shell B
970 +0.30%

Tullow Oil (TLW)
18.105 -0.265 (-1.44%)

[sarkasm] 06/11/2020 12:34

Engie SA said Friday that in mid-September it signed a 15-year contract with representatives of the French region Centre-Val de Loire to renovate the energy systems of 62 schools and the regional contemporary art fund.

The French energy company said the program represents a total investment of approximately 32 million euros ($37.9 million). Renovation works will start at the end of 2020 and take two years to be completed.

The project will allow a reduction in the buildings' energy consumption by more than 30% and cut carbon-dioxide emissions by nearly 35%, Engie said.



Write to Giulia Petroni at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2020 07:17 ET (12:17 GMT)

[ariane] 05/11/2020 12:03

French methane gas objections thwart $7bn US LNG contract
The French government last month forced national power generation firm Engie SA to delay signing a potential $7bn deal with US company NextDecade over environmental concerns about its US shale gas. Other LNG importing countries may follow France's lead

04 Nov 2020

Eric Watkins @EricWatkins_ [e-mail]

The delay underlines concerns among some US natural gas exporters that the regulatory rollbacks by the Trump administration are making it harder to sell their product overseas as a cleaner alternative to oil or coal

[ariane] 04/11/2020 08:19

04 November 2020 - 08:15AM
Dow Jones News



French Power Company Drops U.S. LNG Deal


Engie's decision to halt negotiations with LNG exporter NextDecade follows reports of pressure from the French government over methane concerns.

[waldron] 30/10/2020 19:12

ENGIE acquires Hills of Gold wind farm in Australia for $528m

PowerWindProject

By NS Energy Staff Writer 30 Oct 2020

The project, which is in its planning stage, will have a capacity of 420MW after its completion
windmills-5643293_1920 (4)

(Credit: Ed White from Pixabay)

ENGIE Australia & New Zealand has announced the acquisition of the Hills of Gold wind farm development near Nundle, New South Wales, Australia, for A$750m ($528m).

The project, which is in its planning stage, will have a capacity of 420MW after its completion.

Following the acquisition of the project company Wind Energy Partners, ENGIE ANZ will develop and operate the Hills of Gold wind farm.

ENGIE ANZ’s asset development general manager Andrew Kerley said: “The Hills of Gold Wind Farm is a quality project that adds renewable energy to the national grid, while also creating local economic activity during construction and operation of the 25-year lifespan of the asset.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity of building the Hills of Gold Wind Farm and to working with the local community to unlock the benefits of renewable energy development.”
Hills of Gold wind farm to feature 70 turbines

During the construction phase, the project is expected to create 215 direct jobs and about 430 indirect jobs.

Upon entering into operations, it will create about 30 permanent jobs and 50 indirect jobs.

The Hills of Gold wind farm will feature about 70 wind turbines, each of which will have a generating capacity of up to 6MW per unit.

In addition, the project will include a 33kV/330kV onsite substation that will be connected to the existing 330kV TransGrid Liddell to Tamworth overhead transmission line network via a dedicated transmission line from the wind farm.

In 2019, ENGIE developed and commissioned the 119MW Willogoleche Wind farm near Hallet, approximately 160km north of Adelaide, Australia.

Willogoleche is Engie’s second wind farm in Australia following the 46MW Canunda wind farm, which has been operational since 2005.

[waldron] 30/10/2020 17:37

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 37.53 -1.60%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.02 -0.71%
Natural Gas NYMEX 3.30 -0.57%
WTI 35.315 USD -2.40%


FTSE 100
5,577.27 -0.08%
Dow Jones
26,365.21 -1.10%
CAC 40
4,594.24 +0.54%
SBF 120
3,640.89 +0.46%
Euro STOXX 50
2,958.21 +0.13%
DAX
11,556.48 -0.36%
Ftse Mib
17,958.69 +0.48%
Índice Bovespa
94,372.62 -2.29%
S&P ASX 200
5,927.6 -0.55%


Eni
6.011 +1.57%

Total
25.82 +2.75%



Engie
10.385 +1.12%

Orange
9.63 +0.31%

Bp
196.6 +1.62%

Vodafone
103 -0.48%

Royal Dutch Shell A
965.4 +3.51%


Royal Dutch Shell B
929 +3.42%

Tullow Oil (TLW)
19.865 0.69 (3.60%)

[la forge] 30/10/2020 12:00

OFFSHORE ENERGY


GTT posts nine-month revenue jump

October 30, 2020, by Adnan Bajic

French liquefied natural gas containment system specialist, GTT, reported a 53.1 per cent jump in its nine-month revenue.
GTT posts nine-month revenue jumpCourtesy of GTT

GTT’s revenue for the first nine months of 2020 reached €305.6 million ($356.7 million). This compares to €199.7 million in the corresponding period in 2019.

Commenting on the results, Philippe Berterottière, chairman and CEO of GTT said, “with a total of 38 orders booked since the start of the year for all segments taken together, GTT’s commercial activity continues to progress at a firm pace, and LNG demand is maintaining its upward trend, driven by Asia.”

He noted that revenues for the first nine months of 2020 fully benefited from the flow of orders over the last two years and are sharply up.
LNG carrier orders riding high

In addition to the 12 LNG carriers booked during the first half of the year, further six orders were booked in the third quarter of 2020.

Including an order for ten ice-breaker LNG carriers announced today, GTT has taken in a total of 28 orders for LNG carriers since the start of 2020.

GTT’s core business activity is, therefore, at a sustained level, the company said in its statement.

The company further added that the Technical Assistance and Licensing Agreement (TALA) signed at the end of June with Russian shipyard Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex (Zvezda), for the construction of LNG carriers incorporating GTT membrane tank systems, led already to orders for 15 ice-breaker LNG carriers.

At the end of the third quarter, September 30, 2020, the order book, excluding LNG as fuel, stood at 135 units. The order book includes 108 LNG carriers, 10 VLECs, 5 FSRUs, 2 FSUs, 1 FLNG, 3 gravity-based structures (GBS), and 6 onshore storage tanks.

Looking ahead, GTT noted that given the size of the backlog, and assuming there are no major delays or cancellation of orders, GTT confirms its 2020 full-year revenue between €375 and €405 million.

[ariane] 26/10/2020 20:00

Oct 26, 2020

ENGIE is supporting the Rwanda government’s goal to achieve 100% access to electricity for its people by 2024 through pioneering innovations. ENGIE Energy Access (formerly ENGIE Mobisol) is the leader in Rwanda’s solar home systems market, having installed a capacity of 3.3MW in the country that brings power to 162,500 rural beneficiaries. ENGIE Africa is putting in place a pilot with OffGridBox to provide purified water, power and Wi-Fi to offgrid communities in Kigali.

ENGIE Energy Access is a result of the successful integration of ENGIE Mobisol, Fenix International and ENGIE PowerCorner into a single entity; which is now one of the leading off-grid, Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) and mini-grid solutions provider in Africa, bringing decentralized electricity to more than five million people in nine countries – Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique.

With 11 shops spread throughout Rwanda that have sold almost 40,000 SHS since 2014, ENGIE Energy Access implements effective last-mile distribution. It employs 325 people in Rwanda, both directly and indirectly, and maintains excellent after-sales service through its all-in-one PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) software solution, Paygee. This inhouse-designed innovation helps the underserved to create valuable credit history through affordable Mobile Money payments, leading to a more positive socio-economic future.

TO read more on Engie Africa’s project, visit www.engie-africa.com.



Source: AE Africa

[la forge] 25/10/2020 07:33

The Guardian
Investors fear there'll be no bright post-Covid dawn for oil majors
Jillian Ambrose
Sun, 25 October 2020, 1:05 am CEST·3-min read

The oil market may have heaved itself out of the darkness of “Black April” but investors are far from convinced that major oil companies will walk away unscathed from the coronavirus pandemic.

Royal Dutch Shell and BP will both face investors this week with quarterly financial results that will deliver profits well below those achieved a year ago, against a backdrop of tumbling share prices and rising Covid infections across major economies.

On Tuesday, BP is expected to report an underlying loss of $120m for the last quarter, according to analysts’ estimates. This would be a major improvement on its underlying loss of $6.7bn in the second quarter, following heavy writedowns on the company’s exploration business, but would still be well below the $2.3bn third-quarter profit reported in 2019.

BP’s announcement will come days after its share price fell below 200p a share for the first time since 1994, and months after the company cut its dividend for the first time since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and set out plans to cut 10,000 jobs.

In the same week, Shell is expected to reveal a modest underlying profit, of $146m, for the third quarter, according to analysts, after plunging to a loss of $18.4bn for the second quarter. This is still a fraction of the $4.76bn profit recorded in the same quarter last year, and follows the company’s decision to cut 9,000 jobs and reduce the dividend for the first time since the second world war.

This trend is expected to be followed across the world’s oil companies, tracking the fragile and uncertain recovery of global oil markets amid a second wave of coronavirus infections. The price of oil reached an average of $43 a barrel in the third quarter – stronger than the average of $30 a barrel in the second quarter, when US oil prices fell below zero for the first time in April – but still well below the $62 a barrel price that prevailed in the third quarter a year ago.

[waldron] 23/10/2020 17:33

Brent Crude Oil NYMEX 41.96 -1.11%
Gasoline NYMEX 1.13 -1.39%
Natural Gas NYMEX 3.22 -1.26%
WTI 40.129 USD -1.02%

FTSE 100
5,860.28 +1.29%
Dow Jones
28,252.21 -0.39%
CAC 40
4,909.64 +1.20%
SBF 120
3,894.66 +1.14%
Euro STOXX 50
3,198.86 +0.91%
DAX
12,645.75 +0.82%
Ftse Mib
19,215.9 +0.73%



Eni
6.444 +1.62%

Total
28.08 +1.67%


Engie
11.365 +1.38%

Orange
9.518 +1.86%

Bp
205.5 +2.04%

Vodafone
112.6 +3.53%

Royal Dutch Shell A
971.8 +2.47%


Royal Dutch Shell B
940.6 +2.84%


Tullow Oil (TLW)
21.63 1.83 (9.24%)

[la forge] 22/10/2020 15:14

French government blocks 'dirty' LNG

By KELSEY TAMBORRINO

10/22/2020 10:00 AM EDT

Editor’s Note: Morning Energy is a free version of POLITICO Pro Energy's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day’s biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.
Quick Fix

— The French government blocked a $7 billion LNG deal between Engie and a U.S. gas supplier over concerns that West Texas gas was too dirty.

— President Donald Trump and Joe Biden will lock horns on climate and energy policy during the final presidential debate tonight.

— Two Democratic committee chairs in the House are in tight reelection races that have potential implications for climate and energy policy.

WELCOME TO THURSDAY! I'm your host, Kelsey Tamborrino. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's Tonya Parish was the first to name Abraham Lincoln, the first member of the Republican Party elected U.S. president. For today: What presidential candidate famously asked voters, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Send your tips, energy gossip and comments to [e-mail].

Check out the POLITICO Energy podcast — all the energy and environmental politics and policy news you need to start your day, in just five minutes. Listen and subscribe for free at politico.com/energy-podcast. On today's episode: Trump, Biden and Nord Stream 2
Driving the Day

FRANCE SAYS MAIS NON TO LNG DEAL: The French government blocked trading firm Engie from signing a potential $7 billion deal with a U.S. liquefied natural gas company last month over concerns that its U.S. shale gas was too dirty, two people familiar with the situation told POLITICO's Ben Lefebvre. The 20-year contract would have delivered LNG from NextDecade's planned Rio Grande export facility in Brownsville, Texas.

What happened: The French government, which is a part owner of Engie, stepped in to tell Engie's board of directors to delay — if not outright cancel — any deal out of concern that U.S. natural gas producers emit too much methane at the West Texas oil and gas fields that will supply the NextDecade plant, said Lorette Philippot, head of private finance campaigns for French environmental group Les Amis de la Terre. The incident was first reported by a French news site but independently confirmed to POLITICO.

"It could still be signed in the coming weeks," Philippot said. "But what is sure is the political, reputational risk around the validation of the contracts is one of the elements there. The climate impacts played a role."

In the backdrop: The European Union has sought a European Green Deal to combat climate change, and the European Commission has singled out energy imports as a major source of methane emissions. The news also underscores a growing concern among some U.S. natural gas exporters that the regulatory rollbacks pushed by the Trump administration, as well as the industry's overall failure to rein in emissions, are making it more difficult to sell their product overseas as a cleaner alternative to oil or coal.

"We're probably going to go from trade war to carbon trade war pretty seamlessly in the next 10 years," said Kevin Book, director of analysis firm ClearView Energy. "Whatever you think is going to happen on climate, you have to predicate it against that."

Consider this: A recent international survey by Pew Research Center found the largest ideological gap on natural gas use in the U.S. Eighty-eight percent of conservatives support using more natural gas, while 45 percent of liberals said the same.

[waldron] 22/10/2020 11:51

Engie to supply renewable power to Chilean wastewater treatement firm
The Monte Redondo wind park in Chile. Image source: Engie Energia Chile SA

October 22 (Renewables Now) - Engie Energia Chile SA has signed a four-year agreement to supply 100% renewable power to Chilean wastewater treatment company Tratacal SA.

Under the terms of the contract, Engie Chile will supply 10 GWh per year to meet the customer's demand in the Calama commune, the Chilean subsidiary of France’s Engie SA (EPA:ENGI) said on Wednesday.

Thank to the agreement, Tratacal will now be able to avoid the annual emission of approximately 14 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).

The contract complements Tratacal's own photovoltaic (PV) plant, which supplies 1 MWh of clean electricity to the company.

Two years ago, Tratacal set a target of powering its operations with 100% renewable energy and this new contract with Engie has allowed the firm to achieve the long-awaited goal, general manager Victor Ramirez Figueroa, noted.

[florenceorbis] 22/10/2020 09:14

Engie unveils hydrogen-based energy storage for Greek microgrid
October 22, 2020


A hydrogen-based energy storage system has been completed at the Agkistro microgrid in Greece in the EU REMOTE project.

The storage based on Engie EPS’ proprietary technology consists of a hydrogen ‘power-to-power’ system made by an electrolyser, converting electricity into hydrogen (power-to-gas), and a fuel cell system, converting stored hydrogen back to electricity (gas-to-power).

The system will benefit from the continuous availability of renewable hydroelectric energy that allows to minimise the power-to-gas sizing, while covering peak load request and guaranteeing back up energy thanks to the 500kWh hydrogen storage equivalent net energy.

Commissioning and site acceptance testing have been completed successfully.

“With the finalisation of the Agkistro’s plant, our hydrogen proprietary technology is now proven in four continents as the only available option to make microgrids 100% green,” states Carlalberto Guglielminotti, CEO and General Manager of Engie EPS.

“For the future, we are also targeting utility-scale opportunities as system integrator and technology provider.”

Hydrogen storage demonstrations

The Agkistro microgrid is one of four demonstrations in the EU supported REMOTE (Remote area Energy supply with Multiple Options for integrated hydrogen-based Technologies) project. The four-year project started in 2018 aims to demonstrate the feasibility of hydrogen-based technologies for renewable energy storage in isolated and off-grid areas.

The Agkistro microgrid in northern Greece close to the Bulgarian border is an isolated grid application in partnership with the Greek renewable energy supplier Horizon S.A. The microgrid will supply an energy independent agri-food processing unit using part of the energy generated from Horizon’s nearby hydroelectric plant to produce hydrogen, which will then be stored and used for power generation when needed.

The other isolated microgrid demonstration in REMOTE is taking place on Froan Island in Norway and comprises a hybrid system with solar PV and wind and residential and fisheries industrial loads.



The two off-grid configurations are at Ginostra on Stromboli Island in southern Italy where Enel Green Power is demonstrating a PV, hybrid battery-hydrogen storage system and Ambornetti in northern Italy where also a hybrid system is being implemented with biomass as one of the generation resources.

The hybrid approach provides both short and long term storage options such as daily delivery from the batteries and seasonally from the hydrogen.

[misca2] 20/10/2020 17:57

U.S. broadens sanctions against Russian gas pipeline project
Oct. 20, 2020 10:22 AM ET|About: Public Joint Stock Company ... (OGZPY)|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

The U.S. State Department has broadened the scope of sanctions targeting the Gazprom-led (OTCPK:OGZPY) Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which is 100 miles short of completion beneath the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany.

New State Department guidelines expand upon last year's measure, saying sanctions would apply to companies providing services, facilities or funding for "upgrades or installation of equipment" for vessels that would work on Nord Stream 2.

Last year's sanctions against companies providing deep-sea pipe-laying vessels caused the project's key ship to depart, and the new guidance takes aim at the Russian ship that some U.S. officials tracking the project believe Nord Stream 2 has selected as a replacement vessel.

Gazprom's Nord Stream 2 partners are Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), Germany's Uniper (OTC:UNPPY) and BASF (OTCQX:BASFY), Austria's OMV (OTCPK:OMVJF) and France's Engie (OTCPK:ENGIY).

The expanded sanctions are the latest obstacle for the project, following the poisoning of Russian opposition political figure Alexei Navalny in August, which raised calls within Germany to distance itself from it.

[gibbs1] 17/10/2020 07:41

Codelco launches first electric mining truck for local industry

Published by Jessica Casey, Editorial Assistant
Global Mining Review, Friday, 16 October 2020 16:30

The El Teniente Division of Codelco with the presence of the Minister of Mining, Baldo Prokurica, the Minister of Economy, Lucas Palacios, the Executive President of Codelco, Octavio Araneda, and the CEO of Engie Chile, Axel Levêque, has debuted the first electric mining truck in Chile's mining industry.

The mining equipment comes from German brand Scharf and will operate within this operations’ centre in a joint project with the Engie company, which will be in charge of data monitoring and load management. It is the first versatile electrical equipment to cover extensive stretches, both outside and inside the El Teniente underground mine.

The new truck, an equipment for mining use adapted with a 100% electric power train which helps move all of the diesel, is due to begin its industrial test stage in which it is planned to validate its operation in terms of power, resistance and energy consumption in underground mine and high mountain industrial road conditions.

Prokurica commented: “We want to congratulate the effort that the administration of Octavio Araneda, Codelco's Executive President, is making with electromobility. It is a commitment that Chile has made and that demonstrates it by being one of the countries that has more electric vehicles in collective locomotion. Its incorporation into mining also generates important benefits. Electromobility is pure Chile because the vehicles have 4 times more copper and use lithium batteries that contain cobalt.”

Given that this type of truck is one of the most used vehicles in the national mining industry – only Codelco has more than 1300 diesel version mining trucks – this experience will promote a market for the development of this type of low-emission equipment.

“At Codelco, we are taking the first steps in a great revolution that is taking place worldwide, which is electrification. We have defined a path towards increasing the incorporation of electric energy. We have a road map for underground mining projected to 2030, in which the majority of production equipment will be electric. Codelco is transforming itself and an important part of that process is innovation and technological development that goes hand in hand with sustainability,̶1; added Araneda.

“Mining activity has been one of the engines that has sustained our economy in these difficult months. Without stopping, even increasing its production; with strict compliance with the established protocols, the sector has managed to push the car of our economy. When things they are done well, with the commitment of the companies and their workers, we can get ahead,” said Palacios, highlighting the leading role of the main Chilean state company and of the entire mining industry in the reactivation of the economy, which around the world has been hit by the current health crisis. Codelco’s annual investment in structural projects is US$20 000 million (2019 – 2028), generating employment and extending the useful life of its deposits between 40 – 50 years.

Currently, a large part of the electromobility solutions available in the market are not necessarily designed for large mining conditions, so it is necessary to develop pilot experiences to collect operational data and strategic designs that allow determining the requirements for a future massive implementation in tasks.

“We are focused on developing solutions that contribute to greener and carbon-neutral mining. Our relationship with Codelco is long-standing and we have always been co-designing energy alternatives to make your business more efficient and sustainable. Today we advance in this pioneering pilot in mining operations, which we are betting will open doors for a new phase of green mobility in the industry” added Leveque.

Autonomy, recharging times, vehicle wear, user experience and driving safety are some of the aspects that will be monitored during the 12 months that are contemplated for the industrial test of this truck, in order to determine and identify the conditions that allow scaling this type of technology in the state company.

In 2018 Codelco began the development of electromobility pilots with a pioneering plan for testing electric vehicles in service in the Northern District. This programme made it possible, for the first time, to face electric vehicles in real conditions of a mining operation in order to validate technological, business and sustainability variables, in addition to understanding the technology and identifying the challenges to extrapolate, incorporate and scale it to other processes . The positive results obtained led the company to advance in two lines: passenger transport and equipment in operating areas.

Codelco was the first mining company in Chile to test an electric bus in its operations, both in the El Teniente Division and the Chuquicamata Division, which allowed the incorporation of buses for the transport of passengers in different geographical conditions, from the arid and wide desert to the roads. mountain ranges with high slopes and cold in the central zone. In addition, due to the complexity and specificity of underground mining, the state-owned mining company worked on the transformation of the first electric minibus from diesel equipment, a vehicle that has operated inside the El Teniente underground mine.