Renewable Eng. Share Discussion Threads

[sarkasm] 05/11/2020 10:26

UPSTREAM


Tullow sets sights on renewables to power delayed Kenya oil project

Power for South Lokichar to be sourced from wind and geothermal schemes via Kenya grid

5 November 2020 8:00 GMT Updated 5 November 2020 8:00 GMT

By Iain Esau
and Xu Yihe
in London and Singapore

London-listed Tullow Oil is considering plans to source back-up power from onshore wind and geothermal assets in Kenya to support South Lokichar

[ariane] 03/11/2020 08:00

the scotsman


North Sea shift to net zero to generate 40,000 jobs and £20bn a year
The North Sea’s transition to “net zero” could lead to 40,000 jobs and a £20 billion annual boost for the UK economy, a top think-tank today claimed.

By Scott Reid

Tuesday, 3rd November 2020, 7:12 am

The Policy Exchange think-tank paper identifies six priorities for developing the North Sea.




The report from the Policy Exchange suggests that energy industries such as wind and hydrogen could deliver £20bn per year in gross value added (GVA) by 2050. It argues that this could lead to a net increase of 40,000 jobs, even after the long-term decline in the North Sea oil and gas industry is factored in.

The think-tank identifies six priorities for developing the North Sea, including coordination and marine planning “to avoid over-crowding and inefficient uses of the seabed”, as well as “more consistent and clearer” environmental regulations.

The paper, titled The Future of the North Sea, also calls for new support and funding for low-carbon technologies, including hydrogen, floating wind turbines and carbon capture and storage.

The report from the Policy Exchange argues that the transition could lead to a net increase of 40,000 jobs, even after the long-term decline in the North Sea oil and gas industry is factored in.

The report from the Policy Exchange argues that the transition could lead to a net increase of 40,000 jobs, even after the long-term decline in the North Sea oil and gas industry is factored in.

Cross-border collaboration to help the UK work with other countries on joint projects such as interconnector cables following Brexit is also seen as a key priority.

Will Nicolle, lead author of the paper, said: “The Prime Minister has said he wants the UK to be the ‘Saudi Arabia of wind power’. To achieve that, we’ll need a strategic approach in an increasingly crowded space.

“To reach Net Zero, we need new frameworks and funding for things like hydrogen and carbon capture. The North Sea is absolutely central to that whole mission.

“Our research shows there’s a huge prize in terms of new jobs and local economic development. This means that the North Sea could hold the key to Boris’ Levelling Up agenda too.”

Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, who wrote the foreword for the paper, said: “This report sets out some of the challenges and opportunities for the North Sea and coastal communities like mine in the Tees Valley.

“We know that development in the North Sea needs to be properly planned so that we can maximise the opportunities and jobs that come from Net Zero.

“It is also crucial that local people benefit from the transition to Net Zero, so I’m pleased to see that Policy Exchange has recommended community benefits funds for new offshore wind farms, among other investments that would help us to make the most of this economic boost.

“If we do not set in place the right policies and public investments then the north east of England and the east coast of Scotland will suffer economically as oil and gas declines, while the UK will miss its Net Zero target.”

The report calls for a series of measures to deliver on the six priorities including the setting up of a “UK Seas Authority” to help plan best use of marine resources, along with a minister for North Sea development.

Dan Roberts, director at Frontier Economics, said: “Frontier Economics was delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to the thinking in this Policy Exchange report.

“Activities related to the North Sea will be critical to achieving Net Zero, and can also play a major role in driving future economic activity. We look forward to seeing government action in the areas highlighted by the report.”

[waldron] 30/10/2020 19:11

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.

[maywillow] 08/10/2020 12:11

Floating wind farm coming to French Med in 2022
A new floating wind farm in the French Mediterranean is one of many planned in French seas by 2030. Experts say the technology has “infinite potential”.

8 October 2020
The new floating wind farm will be installed 18km from the coast in Occitanie
By Joanna York

Energy company Total announced yesterday (October 7) that it is taking on a 20% investment in an experimental, off shore windfarm project called EolMed.

The wind farm will be installed 18km from the coast near Porte-la-Nouvelle (Aude, Occitanie), and will contain floating wind turbines that are 150 metres high, with blades 100 metres long.

The 15-megawatt turbines are five times stronger that their on-land counterparts. Qair, a specialist in renewable energy that is running the project, hopes

[ariane] 07/10/2020 07:49

Press Release



Total (Paris:FP) (LSE:TTA) (NYSE:TOT) becomes a 20% shareholder in the Eolmed floating wind farm pilot project, located in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Gruissan and near Port-La-Nouvelle (Occitan region).



Attributed in July 2016, this 30 megawatts (MW) project will accelerate the development of a floating wind technology. Together with Qair, the historical developer and majority shareholder of the project, and its local partners, Total brings its experience in the conception, deployment and exploitation of offshore installations throughout their life cycle.



Total is thus continuing to reinforce its position in the emerging sector of floating offshore wind, in which it wants to be one of the world leaders. Today, the Group is present in South Korea with a portfolio of 2 gigawatts and in the United Kingdom with the 100 MW Erebus project, which has just been granted exclusive development rights for its area.



Julien Pouget, Director Renewables of Total, stated: "This announcement once again demonstrates the Group's ambition and willingness to innovate in the field of renewable energies. Floating offshore wind is a very promising segment in which Total notably brings its extensive experience in offshore projects. Together with our partner Qair, we have the necessary resources to meet the technological and financial challenges that will determine our future success. I am delighted that Total can contribute to the emergence of this new sector in France. "



"The Eolmed project is at the heart of the Occitanie Region's strategy for the development of renewable energies, actively supported by local partners. It also demonstrates Qair's ambition to become a major player in floating offshore wind energy in Europe. By joining forces with a renowned French industrial partner for this innovative project developed by our teams since 2016, Qair is strengthening its technical expertise for the realisation of the Eolmed project and for future floating wind projects." adds Louis Blanchard, CEO of Qair.



Total, renewables and electricity



As part of its ambition to get to net zero by 2050,Total is building a portfolio of activities in electricity, renewable in particular, that could account for up to 40% of its sales by 2050. By the end of 2020, Total's gross power generation capacity worldwide will be around 12 gigawatts, including about 7 gigawatts of renewable energy. With the objective of reaching 35 GW of production capacity from renewable sources by 2025, Total will continue to expand its business to become one of the world leaders in renewable energies.



About Total



Total is a broad energy company that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and electricity. Our 100,000 employees are committed to better energy that is more affordable, more reliable, cleaner and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, our ambition is to become the responsible energy major.

[sarkasm] 06/10/2020 02:48

Boris Johnson to announce green package to support offshore wind farms

The Prime Minister will pledge that offshore wind will produce enough electricity to power every home in the country by 2030



ByPippa CrerarDaily Mirror Political Editor

02:32, 6 OCT 2020


Boris Johnson will today announce a green package to support offshore wind farms to help the UK meet its climate targets.

The Prime Minister will pledge that offshore wind will produce enough electricity to power every home in the country by 2030.

He will allocate £160 million to upgrade ports and infrastructure in coastal communities like Teesside and Humber in Northern England.

This new investment will create 2,000 jobs in the short term and help support tens of thousands more, the Government said.

The UK’s offshore wind capacity currently provides 10% of electricity demand and is the largest in the world.

Mr Johnson wants to support new wind farm technology in the North Sea so they can be built in deeper waters where the winds are strongest.

At the Tory party’s virtual conference, he will say: “Our seas hold immense potential to power our homes and communities with low-cost green energy and we are already leading the way in harnessing its strengths.”


The PM is expected to unveil a much bigger green infrastructure package later this year after the jobs furlough scheme comes to an end.

There will be a new focus on hydrogen-fuelled trucks, trains and aircraft, retrofitting homes and more money to be spent on carbon capture and storage technology.

The UK has pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050, one of the most ambitious targets in the world.

Mr Johnson wants the U.K. to become the world leader in low-cost clean
power generation, with offshore wind powering every home in the
country in ten years’ time.

“You heard me right. Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker,
your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle – the whole lot of them
will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that
blow around these islands,” he will say.


“As Saudi Arabia is to oil, the UK is to wind – a place of almost
limitless resource, but in the case of wind without the carbon
emissions and without the damage to the environment.

‘I remember how some people used to sneer at wind power, twenty years
ago, and say that it wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. They
forgot the history of this country. It was offshore wind that puffed
the sails of Drake and Raleigh and Nelson, and propelled this country
to commercial greatness.“

[sarkasm] 06/10/2020 02:17

independent


Offshore wind to power every house in UK by 2030, Boris Johnson pledges

Kate Devlin
Whitehall Editor
3 hours ago
10 comments

Offshore wind will power every house in the country within a decade Boris Johnson has pledged as he promised to make the UK a world leader in green energy.

In his speech to the Conservative party virtual conference the prime minister will say he wants the UK to lead the globe in low-cost clean power.

As he fights accusations his government is not doing enough to head off economic catastrophe this winter, Mr Johnson will talk of a green industrial revolution that in the next 10 years will create hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs.

The amount of money involved - such as £160m for ports and factories to manufacture the next generation of turbines - is small in comparison to the many billions spent battling the coronavirus crisis in recent months.

But Mr Johnson will say he wants to help those facing the loss of their livelihood because of the Covid-19 by investing in the jobs of the future.

He will say: “We believe that in 10 years’s time offshore wind will be powering every home in the country, with our target rising from 30 gigawatts to 40 gigawatts.

“Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle – the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands.”

He will say that as Saudi Arabia is to oil, the UK is to wind “a place of almost limitless resource, but (in this case) without the carbon emissions and without the damage to the environment”.
✕

“I remember how some people used to sneer at wind power 20 years ago, and say that it wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding. They forgot the history of this country. It was offshore wind that puffed the sails of Drake and Raleigh and Nelson, and propelled this country to commercial greatness. This investment in offshore wind alone will help to create 60,000 jobs in this country – and help us to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

The government is facing calls to intervene amid warnings of mass redundancies later this year. The furlough scheme, which has seen the government pay the wages of millions of workers, is due to come to an end this month.

The Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, bowed to pressure last month to announce a “winter economic plan”, which will see the Treasury continue to pay a smaller portion of a worker’s salary, as long as they return part-time.

But experts warn the move will still leave employers paying staff for work they are not carrying out and make it attractive to cut worker numbers.

[the grumpy old men] 02/10/2020 11:41

UK Government reps 'discussing potential COP26 sponsorship deals with oil majors'

2 October 2020, source edie newsroom

Despite a promise to ensure that COP26's corporate sponsors are "making real contributions" to climate action, government representatives have reportedly been in discussions with some of the world's highest emitting firms, including Equinor, BP and Shell.


In emails and meeting notes published today (2 October) after a freedom of information request by campaign group Culture Unsustained, it is revealed that BP set up four separate meetings to discuss potential sponsorship in March. Attendees included representatives of the COP Unit, including event President and Business Secretary Alok Sharma.

Then, in May, Equinor and the COP Unit met, the government told Culture Unsustained. The group was provided with meeting notes revealing that an Equinor representative asked: “If I was to ask you – ballpark – how much money would you like from us, for what, and with what visibility for us, what would you say?”

The information disclosed also revealed that Shell first expressed interest in “partnering221; with the Government on COP26 in July 2019 – two months before the UK received the formal backing of all UN member states to host the conference.

All of the meetings and emails were held and sent before the COP Unit made a public commitment to only sign sponsorship deals with businesses with “strong climate credentials”. The note defined “strong credentials” as net-zero targets underpinned with “credible̶1; plans to achieve them, such as science-based targets.

While BP, Shell and Equinor do have climate targets, they have been broadly criticised.

Equinor is aiming to reduce the net carbon intensity of its energy by at least 50% by 2050, against a 2019 baseline, across all Scopes. It has not set any numerical, time-bound targets on degrowth for its oil business or outlined its specific plans for dealing with residual emissions.

Shell, meanwhile, is aiming to deliver net-zero emissions across all Scopes by 2050. While the plan is regarded as one of the strongest in the oil and gas sector, the firm is the world’s seventh-largest corporate emitter of carbon dioxide equivalent and has relied heavily on offsetting in the past.

BP first announced a net-zero target in February and was met with accusations of greenwashing. It has since outlined plans to reduce fossil fuel production by 40% by 2030. Pre-pandemic, it was planning to grow its production of oil and gas by about a fifth by 2030, against a 2018 baseline.

Culture Unsustained’s co-director Chris Garrard said that by allocating money that could be spent on shifting to renewable energy for event sponsorship, fossil fuel firms indicate that they are “more bothered about looking green than genuinely shifting their businesses away from fossil fuels as the climate emergency - and the Paris Climate Agreement – demands”.

One of 350.org’s senior campaign specialists Clayton Thomas-Muller, who has attended many previous COPs as a representative of Canada’s indigenous Pukatawagan Cree Nation, called the role of big oil in previous summits “destructive and problematic”.

“These companies paint themselves as good corporate citizens when, in truth, they're directly responsible for the global climate crisis and catastrophic impacts on local ecosystems, Indigenous peoples and their rights,” Thomas-Muller said.

“Big Oil must not be allowed to participate in any context that skews or creates confusion about the fact they will soon be held accountable in courts of law around the world.”

On his latter point, two major oil pipeline projects in North America were ordered to cease in July, with courts citing climate and human rights concerns. With around half of global GDP now covered by net-zero targets, the number of legal cases against high-carbon projects – and rates of wins for green groups – are widely expected to rise.

Industry response

Responding to the documents published by Culture Unsustained, a BP spokesperson said the company will only “support the COP26 process” if it is “helpful to the UK government and the broader UNFCCC [United Nations framework convention on climate change] process.”

The spokesperson said the firm believes its climate targets are in line with the requirements for sponsorship set out by the COP Unit.

Equinor’s press spokesperson Erik Halaand issued a statement highlighting the company’s involvement in the UK’s offshore wind sector, including the Dogger Bank wind farm,

The statement argues that Equinor “fully supports” the Paris Agreement and the UK Government’s ambition for COP26, including its vision to encourage other nations to set legally binding net-zero targets. This support can be seen, Halaand argues, through the firm’s investments in renewables, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage.

A Shell spokesperson said: “We have never asked to be a sponsor of COP26. We make no apology for being part of the conversation about meaningful change to the energy system – business must be part of the solution.”

Sarah George

[waldron] 01/10/2020 20:25

BP must make ‘significant investments’ to meet 2030 low-carbon energy targets

Features & AnalysisPowerFossil Fuel / Coal and Gas

By James Murray 01 Oct 2020

The British multinational oil and gas company is aiming to achieve 50GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade
Equinor renewables

BP has a long history in renewables investments after it became the first of the “Big Oil” companies to commit significant capital into clean energy projects (Credit: Needpix.com)

BP must make “significant investments” in renewable energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in order to meet its 2030 low-carbon energy targets, says an industry analyst.

As part of its commitments, the British multinational oil and gas company is aiming to achieve 50 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity and 30 million tonnes per annum of (tpa) of LNG by the end of the decade.

This comes as major oil firms have started pumping billions into renewables in a bid to help clean up the economy and look towards a potential future beyond high-polluting fossil fuels amid intensifying pressure from investors for companies to take action on environmental issues.

But data and analytics firm GlobalData believes that BP’s capital available for investment activity will be challenged as “market weakness dents cashflow” from its “core hydrocarbons business”.

Daniel Rogers, oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, said: “BP has proven its willingness to invest big outside its core business, but will continue to rely on hydrocarbons as the cash cow for future investments.

“The current market fundamentals reduce the profitability of BP’s core business, potentially shrinking its pool of capital available for future low-carbon acquisitions.”


BP has a long history of making renewable energy investments

BP, short for Beyond Petroleum, has a long history in renewables investments after it became the first of the “Big Oil” companies to commit significant capital into clean energy projects, such as wind and solar, from 1980 onwards.

But, in the aftermath of the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill incident in the Gulf of Mexico, the London-headquartered firm was forced to close most of its previous green energy investments, believed to be worth about $8bn to $10bn.

Despite that, the company still has more than 2.2GW of wind capacity in the US and, in 2017, it spent $200m on acquiring a 43% stake in Lightsource, which has rebranded to Lightsource BP and is Europe’s largest solar power project developer.
Lightsource BP solar
Lightsource BP is Europe’s largest solar power project developer (Credit: Flickr/Dept of Energy Solar Decathlon)

BP also acquired Chargemaster, the UK’s leading network of charging points, for $160m – which could well be an astute purchase as Britain looks set to ramp up its plans to phase out fossil fuel vehicles by 2030 to speed up the transition to electric vehicles.

But, in the meantime, the move has also allowed the oil firm an opportunity to combine Chargemaster’s 6,500 charging points network with its 1,200 petrol stations.

Looking towards the future, Bernard Looney, who was confirmed as BP’s new CEO earlier this year, has outlined his vision for the oil major to “reimagine energy” and become a net-zero emissions company by 2050.


Equinor deal secures BP an “entry into the offshore wind sector”

With a combined installed renewable power capacity of 2.3GW, BP is currently leading the way amongst the major international oil companies, according to GlobalData.

The analyst said its recent deal with Norwegian state-owned energy firm Equinor “secures entry into the offshore wind sector” with a capacity addition of 2.2GW once complete.

The $1.1bn agreement saw BP purchase 50% of the non-operated interests in the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind assets on the US east coast.

GlobalData’s Rodgers said BP’s current project pipeline will increase its capacity by 6.5GW, but that this is still short of its 2025 ambition to reach 20GW.

He added: “As BP will leverage off its core hydrocarbons business to fund its investment strategy, weakened oil and gas prices will put pressure on the company’s capital availability necessary to meet its low-carbon energy ambitions.”


LNG will continue to play a “major role” in BP’s low-carbon energy

But for Rodgers, it isn’t just renewables that will help shape the company’s future.

“LNG will continue to play a major role in BP’s low-carbon energy and electricity goals, and it is targeting significant growth in the sector,” said Rodgers.

“In its current equity LNG portfolio, BP is forecast to reach 16 million tpa in capacity by 2025, while relying on merchant volumes for the rest of the targeted amount.”

He believes the delay of the African Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project – in partnership with Bermuda’s Golar LNG – was a “major blow”.

BP was expected to receive the floating LNG facility on the maritime border between Mauritania and Senegal in 2022, but following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, it submitted a force majeure in March to delay the delivery by a year.

Upon receiving the facility, the firm is expected to charter it for 20 years to liquefy gas, but Rodgers claims any further delays could hinder its chances of achieving the 2025 LNG target.

He added: “Future developments in Mauritania and Senegal will be the cornerstone of the company’s growth opportunities but will hinge on investment decisions going ahead in spite of a potentially oversupplied LNG market going into the late 2020s.”

[adrian j boris] 27/9/2020 08:25

OFF SHORE ENERGY BIZ

Smulders, ENGIE start working on Hollande Kust Noord offshore substation
Smulders, ENGIE start working on Hollande Kust Noord offshore substation

Business developments & projects

September 25, 2020, by Adrijana Buljan

The joint venture between ENGIE Solutions and Iemants, a subsidiary of Smulders, has cut the first steel for the topside of the offshore transformer station for the Hollandse Kust Noord wind farm zone in the Netherlands.

The joint venture partners, together with TenneT representatives, officially marked the beginning of works at a steel cutting ceremony at Iemants’ facility in Arendonk on 24 September.

Earlier this year, TenneT selected the ENGIE Fabricom – Iemants joint venture to construct the offshore substation for the Hollandse Kust Noord wind farm in the Dutch North Sea through a European tender procedure.

The joint venture is also the preferred contractor for TenneT’s Hollandse Kust West Alpha and the Hollandse Kust West Beta platforms.

The pieces that were now cut for the Hollandse Kust Noord topside are nodes and PRSs, which are the first building blocks for the topside. Steel fabrication will now continue at the Smulders’ facilities in Arendonk and Balen in Belgium.

The fabrication of the jacket foundation will start in November.

Assembly of the topside will start in October and then it will be transported to the ENGIE Solutions yard in Hoboken for final assembly in February 2021.

The outfitting, commissioning and testing of the topside will take place from June 2021 until May 2022.

Offshore installation of the jacket foundation is scheduled to take place in October 2021, while the topside will be installed offshore in mid-2022.

The Hollande Kust Noord offshore wind project will be built by the CrossWind consortium between Shell and Eneco, which won the tender in July.

The wind farm will feature 69 Siemens Gamesa 11 MW wind turbines and is set to become fully operational in 2023.

[waldron] 16/9/2020 16:59

BP Plans 20 GW In Renewable Capacity By 2025
By Charles Kennedy - Sep 16, 2020, 10:30 AM CDT

BP plans to have 20 GW of solar and wind generating capacity in its portfolio by 2025 as part of a strategy announced earlier this year. The strategy would see BP with 50 GW in renewable capacity by 2030—a goal that chief executive Bernard Looney has argued was both realistic and achievable.

The company already has 20 GW of capacity under development, according to its executive vice president of gas and low-carbon energy, Dev Sanyal. Finished projects, however, are only about 2.5 GW. Most of the capacity in the pipeline is solar, accounting for 83 percent of the total, due to its faster trip from concept to construction.

In fact, until very recently, BP only had solar capacity in its portfolio. Last week, however, the supermajor announced a $1.1-billion deal with Norway’s Equinor for 50 percent of its offshore wind assets in the United States: Empire Wind off Long Island and the Beacon Wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.

Empire Wind alone will have a capacity of 2 GW while Beacon Wind will have a capacity of 2.4 GW. Equinor will remain operator of the assets. For BP, the move is yet another part of its strategy to transform from an oil company into an integrated energy company with a focus on clean energy generation. As part of this transformation, BP will reduce its oil production by as much as 40 percent by 2030.

BP is quite upbeat on renewables. In the 2020 edition of its Energy Outlook, the company forecast that new solar and wind power additions could reach 550 GW over the next 15 years. BP seems set on building a substantial portion of that total and reaping the benefits despite some doubts that it would be able to make returns on renewable energy that are as good as it makes on oil.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

[sarkasm] 15/9/2020 19:29

BP’s Clean Energy Push Starts With Five-Year Dash on Solar, Wind

Laura Hurst and William Mathis, Bloomberg News








Solar panels which form part of a Lightsource BP smart home solution sit on a flat roof at a residential property in Dorking, U.K., on Friday, May 3, 2019. Companies like Lightsource, in which British oil major BP Plc holds a stake, are trialing smart systems in people’s homes that will that will do everything from generating solar power, storing it and managing consumption. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Solar panels which form part of a Lightsource BP smart home solution sit on a flat roof at a residential property in Dorking, U.K., on Friday, May 3, 2019. Companies like Lightsource, in which British oil major BP Plc holds a stake, are trialing smart systems in people’s homes that will that will do everything from generating solar power, storing it and managing consumption. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc’s journey from oil major to clean energy giant will start with a five-year sprint to dramatically boost wind and solar power.

By 2025, the company intends to have approved more than 20 gigawatts of renewable energy projects, an eightfold increase from 2019, Dev Sanyal, BP’s executive vice president of gas and low-carbon energy, said in a online presentation on Tuesday.

Most of that would be solar — putting BP on a par with today’s biggest generator of electricity from the sun. The company also plans big investments in wind, following on from last week’s $1.1 billion deal with Equinor ASA.

“With falling costs comes real growth,” Sanyal said. “Renewables have become the fastest growing source of energy and we see this continuing over the next decade and beyond.”

This rapid expansion would just be the start of the London-based oil giant‘s transformation into a low-carbon integrated energy company. Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney has pledged to eliminate all net greenhouse gas emissions from BP and its customers by 2050.

A series of presentations this week aims to show he can achieve this while still delivering competitive returns. Investors may need some convincing, after seeing their dividends cut in half last month.

Trading Gains

BP’s in-house trading operations are at the heart of Looney’s pledge to move away from fossil fuels without sacrificing profits. Renewable energy projects typically gives returns of 5% to 6%, Looney said, but the company’s expert traders can add about 2 percentage points to that.

Lightsource BP, which currently manages about 2 gigawatts of solar plants, is already achieving returns of 8% to 10% and “we actually believe it can do better,” Looney said. Access to low-cost funds, and integration with the rest of BP and its project management experience can boost returns, said Sanyal and Looney.

BP will gradually expand its electricity trading over the next five years, increasing the amount of power it buys and sells annually by about 40% to 350 terawatt hours.

Of the 20 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity BP intends to begin developing over the next five years, 83% will be solar, 15% wind and 2% bio-energy, Sanyal said.

That much solar would give BP about the same capacity as is currently owned by the world’s biggest operator, China’s State Power Investment Corp. Ltd, according to data from BloombergNEF.

Solar power will be crucial for achieving the breakneck pace of growth BP laid out. It is relatively quick to install, taking as little as 18 months from concept to construction, Sanyal said. That’s much faster than massive offshore wind farms, which can take a decade to plan and construct.

By 2030, BP plans to have taken the final investment decision on 50 gigawatts of low-carbon energy capacity, and be trading 500 terawatt hours of power each year.

On bio-energy, the company says it will more than double its 2019 production to 50,000 barrels a day by 2025, and 100,000 by 2030. These fuels will help sectors that are hard to electrify, like aviation, marine and heavy goods vehicles, Sanyal said.

BP currently makes biofuels in a joint venture with Bunge Ltd. in Brazil, produces biogas in the U.S. and processes some renewable fuels within its refining portfolio.

“We see these businesses as generating returns of around 15% or higher,” Sanyal said. “It competes well within our disciplined financial framework.”

(Adds comments on bio-energy in final three paragraphs.)

[the grumpy old men] 14/9/2020 13:39

Up to 550GW new solar and wind capacity could be added each year by 2030

By Jules Scully Sep 14, 2020 11:26 AM BST 0


Aided by falling production costs and policies encouraging a shift to green energy, renewables’ share of the global energy mix could soar from 5% in 2018 to almost 60% by 2050, BP has said in its latest energy outlook report.

The oil and gas major has considered three scenarios that explore different pathways for the global energy system to 2050. In its ‘rapid transition’ and ‘net zero’ scenarios, the average annual increase in solar and wind capacity in the next 15 years could be as high as 350GW and 550GW respectively. However BP's most ambitious scenario - 'net zero' - suggests annual wind and solar deployment could rocket to just below 1TW by 2035 - 2040. Since 2000, the average annual growth is said to have been around 60GW.

Even in its ‘business as usual’ case – which assumes that government policies, technologies and social preferences continue to evolve in a manner and speed seen over the recent past – the 235GW average annual rate of solar and wind capacity construction over the outlook is still considerably higher than past rates.

In all three scenarios, emerging economies account for most of the expansion in renewable energy, driven by stronger growth in power generation and by the increasing share of renewables in power, especially at the expense of coal.

However, the advances in solar and wind generation in the 'rapid transition' and 'net zero' cases is followed by a subsequent slowing as the costs of intermittency associated with greater penetration of renewables is reflected in the pattern of capacity additions, which peak around 2035 before dropping sharply. BP said this hump in the pattern of new additions raises the risk of excess capacity within the renewables supply chain.

In the two cases that feature a more rapid renewables shift, a significant amount of solar and wind energy is predicted to be used to produce green hydrogen, with this share increasing to as much as one-third of total installed capacity by 2050.

The outlook reveals that the rising role of renewable energy comes at the expense of hydrocarbons, with coal consumption declining significantly in all three scenarios and never recovering back to its peak level of 2013.

All three cases see oil demand falling over the next 30 years. The report notes the level of oil demand in both rapid and net zero does not fully recover from the sharp drop caused by COVID-19, implying that 2019 levels of 100 million barrels a day will be the peak for consumption.

BP CEO Bernard Looney said the new energy outlook was instrumental in helping the company develop its net zero strategy. ‎“Even as the pandemic has dramatically reduced global carbon emissions, the world remains ‎on an unsustainable path. However, the analysis in the outlook shows that, with decisive ‎policy measures and more low carbon choices from both companies and consumers, the ‎energy transition still can be delivered,” he said.

After increasing its stake in global solar developer Lightsource BP to 50%, BP earlier this year announced plans to become net zero by 2050 as it looks to amass a 50GW renewables portfolio in the next ten years. The company is looking to increase its annual investment in low-carbon generation from its current US$500 million level to US$5 billion by 2030.

[waldron] 09/9/2020 15:10

OFF SHORE ENERGY


Offshore wind ENGIE Fabricom studying monopiles at mystery UK offshore wind farm
ENGIE Fabricom studying monopiles at mystery UK offshore wind farm

Project & Tenders

September 9, 2020, by Nadja Skopljak

ENGIE Fabricom has secured a contract to analyze the current performance and suitability of monopile foundations at an undisclosed offshore wind farm in the UK.

ENGIE Fabricom said it is carrying out cathodic protection and pH monitoring of the internal water within over 50 monopiles at a wind farm located on the east coast of England for “one of the UK’s largest offshore wind companies”.

Monitoring equipment is being lowered into each monopile’s foundation internal water, after which the measurements are analyzed.

The company will later issue a report outlining a series of recommendations to the client which will be underpinned by the DNV specification for cathodic protection.

In addition, ENGIE Fabricom will complete external foundation inspections, including boat landings, ladders, and platforms to investigate any potential structural or coating issues.

This will be conducted in tandem with the cathodic protection and pH monitoring works.

[sarkasm] 01/9/2020 12:08

SSE PLC said Tuesday that it has agreed to sell its 25.1% stake in the Walney wind farm, offshore U.K., to Greencoat UK Wind PLC for 350 million pounds ($467.9 million)

The FTSE 100 energy company said the deal is part of a program to sell non-core assets with the intention of generating GBP2 billion by the fall of 2021. Walney--which is operated by 50.1%-owner Oersted AS--falls into that category, SSE said.

SSE said this program will support its GBP7.5 billion five-year capital expenditure plans to invest in core strategic assets as part of its transition to net zero emissions.

Greencoat UK Wind, a London-listed renewable infrastructure fund, separately said Walney is a natural addition to its portfolio of operating U.K. wind farms and increases its net generating capacity to over 1 gigawatt for the first time.



Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 01, 2020 06:41 ET (10:41 GMT)