Daily Energy News
Policy & Regulatory
Poland unveils its recovery and resilience plan
5 May 2021
Poland has submitted an official recovery and resilience plan to the European Commission. The country has requested a total of €23.9bn in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and €12.1bn in loans. The plan includes measures to reduce the share of coal in the energy mix to 56% in 2030, increase the use of renewables and reduce energy consumption.
The European Commission approves Denmark’s €400m renewables support scheme
5 May 2021
The European Commission has green lighted, under EU state aid rules, a €400m scheme to support power generation from renewables in Denmark.
French National Assembly passes Climate and Resilience bill
5 May 2021
The French National Assembly has voted the «Climate and Resilience Bill», which aims to help the country reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The Climate and Resilience bill includes measures such as limiting the most polluting vehicles in urban areas, introducing ecotaxes on truck transport, and capping rent on insulated housing. It will now head to the Senate.
South Korea launches auction for 2 GW of solar capacity
4 May 2021
The South Korean Energy Agency has initiated a tender for 2,050 MW of solar capacity, which will be allocated across 5 project categories: installations of less than 100 kW; projects ranging from 100 to 500 kW; PV arrays with a capacity between 500 kW and 1 MW; solar parks with an installed power of 1 to 20 MW; and, for the first time, solar power plants exceeding 20 MW in size. The selected projects will sign a 20-year fixed rate contract under South Korea’s renewable energy certificate (REC) mechanism in August 2021 and will sell electricity to local power distributors.
Belgium plans to tender 2.3 GW of gas-fired capacity in 2021
4 May 2021
The Belgian Council of Minister has approved the legal framework to organise the country’s nuclear phase-out in 2025. The bill, which establishes the Capacity Remuneration Mechanism (CRM), envisions a system of electricity capacity auctions to phase out nuclear power in 2025 and decides on the auction volume necessary to compensate the nuclear shutdown: Belgium plans to auction 2.3 GW of new capacity in October 2021, corresponding to two to three gas-fired power plants. The scheme must be cleared by the European Commission under the EU State aid rules.
Companies
TVA (US) will stop 7 GW of coal-fired power capacity by 2035
5 May 2021
The US state-owned power utility Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plans to phase-out coal-fired power generation by 2035. The group is expected to shut down four coal-fired power plants, with a combined capacity of more than 7.1 GW: Shawnee (1,575 MW) in Kentucky, and Cumberland (2,600 MW), Gallatin (1,255 MW) and Kingston (1,700 MW) in Tennessee.
Energy Prices & Taxes
The European Union carbon price reaches €50/t
5 May 2021
The price of benchmark European Union Allowance (EUA) has reached €50/t, the highest EU carbon price since the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was launched in 2005. The Benchmark December 2021 price has increased by around 50% since early 2021, in a context of strengthened EU climate policies and rising demand from financial investors anticipating a further price increase.
Infrastructure & Investments
ACWA Power signs deal to build a 1.5 GW wind project in Uzbekistan
5 May 2021
ACWA Power has signed an implementation agreement with the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan to build a 1.5 GW wind project in Karakalpakstan, in western Uzbekistan. The Saudi energy group is already developing the 1,500 MW Sirdarya CCGT power project in Uzbekistan, which entered construction in January 2021.
Cameroon and Congo select China Gezhouba Group to build Chollet dam
5 May 2021
Cameroon and Congo have selected China Gezhouba Group to build the 600 MW Chollet hydropower project and associated transmission lines under a BOT (build-operate-transfer) contract. The binational project was endorsed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2010 and will be located on the Ngoko river, about 126 km from the town of Moloundou (East Cameroon) and 70 km upstream from the locality of Ngbala (North-West Congo).
Vestas will supply turbines for Neoen’s 404 MW wind project in Finland
5 May 2021
Neoen has selected Vestas to supply wind turbines and turnkey solutions for its 404 MW Mutkalampi onshore wind project in western Finland. Earlier in April 2021, Neoen reached financial close on its fully-owned €478m project; MEAG, a Munich Re company, will provide a €290m debt facility. The project should be fully operational in 2023.The project will supply Nobian (previously Nouryon), Philips and Signify through five 10-year corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs), for a combined capacity of 251 MW.
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