pwr_january-2024 - 15

GLOBAL MONITOR
the World Nuclear Exhibition in late November
in Paris, France. EDF at present
is building six new EPR2 reactors
in its home country of France, along
with two new EPRs at the Sizewell
site in the UK. EDF also is working on
projects in Poland, the Czech Republic,
and India. " We are counting on an accelerated
rate of construction capacity
for large reactors to [build on] what we
have today, that is to say one or two
per decade ... and gradually increase
to one or even 1.5 per year, " Remont
said at the conference, noting the accelerated
rate is planned " during the
next decade. " Remont said EDF's plan
will rely on " standardization on a large
scale, " with new construction focused
initially on Europe. He said the company
is ready to explore " what the partners
we work with want " in terms of
technologies and locations.
Wärtsilä Supplying Equipment for
Indonesian Power Plants. Technology
group Wärtsilä in late November
announced it would supply the generating
sets for two Indonesian thermal
power plants. The order has been
placed by KEPCO E&C, a member of
the consortium of KEPCO E&C-Adhi
Karya, which will build the plants for Indonesian
state-owned utility PLN. The
equipment will be used at the Sumbawa-2
plant on Sumbawa, an Indonesian
island, along with the Tobelo plant in
North Maluku province. Each plant will
feature three Wärtsilä 31DF dual-fuel
engines, with total power generation
capacity of 30 MW. The units initially
will burn a mix of 35% biofuel and 65%
diesel, in line with Indonesia's biodiesel
program. Wärtsilä said the engines
will be capable of switching to run on
natural gas in the future. The Wärtsilä
equipment is scheduled to be delivered
during 2024, with the two power plants
expected to become fully operational in
spring 2025.
Africa. Officials
Germany Will Finance Projects in
in Germany said the
country will provide €4 billion ($4.3 billion)
to finance the development of
renewable energy in the 13 African countries
that are members of the " Compact
with Africa " initiative, a program
launched by the Group of 20 (G20) organization
of countries. German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz said the aim of the investment
is " to achieve a climate-friendly
energy supply. " Officials involved in the
investment include governmental representatives
along with executives from
the World Bank Group, International
January 2024 | POWER
Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization,
and the African Development
Bank. The money will help finance energy
infrastructure projects, including hydrogen
production, along with solar and
hydropower. Officials said Africa is particularly
focused on producing hydrogen to
help decarbonize maritime transport and
heavy industry. The funding also is expected
to help support increased access
to electricity on the African continent.
Ikea Owner Buys Stake in Swedish
Offshore Wind Projects. Ingka Investment,
the investment arm of Ikea
owner Ingka Group, announced it has
agreed to buy a 49% stake in two Baltic
Sea offshore wind projects in Sweden
from OX2. The deal, unveiled in late November,
involves projects that combine
offshore wind power generation with
hydrogen and e-fuel production. OX2
said it will receive an initial payment of
about $22.3 million for the stakes in the
Pleione project, located east of the Baltic
Sea Island of Gotland, and the Neptunus
project southeast of the southern Swedish
province of Blekinge. The installations
have combined generation capacity
of 2.4 GW.
Group Lists 10 Leading Global Solar
Developers. France-based TotalEnergies
is the leading global solar energy company
in terms of installed capacity, according
to a December-released report from
Mercom Capital Group. The clean energy
communications and research firm in
its " Annual Global Report, " which looks at
installations with more than 1 MW of generation
capacity, said six of the top 10 solar
power developers are based in Europe,
with three in North America, and one in
Asia. Developers needed to have projects
in at least two countries to be considered
for the ranking. TotalEnergies has total
capacity of 41.3 GW either operational,
under construction, or with a power purchase
agreement (PPA) in place. Adani
Green Energy, an India-based renewable
energy developer, ranked second
with 18.1 GW, followed by Canada-based
Brookfield Renewable Partners with 18
GW. The top 10 developers accounted for
145 GW of capacity based on the ranking's
criteria, which includes 49.5 GW of
projects in operation, 29.1 GW under construction,
and 66.2 GW in the PPA-contracted
pipeline. Other major developers
listed in rankings are Italy's Enel Green
Power; Lightsource bp, based in the UK;
U.S.-headquartered AES Renewables;
France-based EDF Renewables; Invenergy,
based in the U.S.; Spain's Iberdrola;
and Germany's ib vogt.
www.powermag.com
Australia Secures Investment in Concentrated
Solar Power. EDF Australia
in December announced a €10 million
($10.75 million) commitment to Vast
Renewables Limited, an Australian renewable
energy company focused on
concentrated solar power (CSP) energy
systems that generate zero-carbon, utility-scale
electricity and industrial process
heat. The companies said they will partner
to develop CSP projects that will further
Australia's transition to cleaner forms of
energy. Vast's proprietary CSP v3.0 technology
has received significant support
from the Australian Renewable Energy
Agency, which announced approval for
funding to support the construction of
Vast Solar 1 (VS1), a planned 30-MW CSP
plant with 288 MWh of thermal storage
in Port Augusta, South Australia.VS1 will
be co-located with Vast's planned Solar
Methanol 1, a world-first green methanol
demonstration plant led by Vast and German
integrated energy giant Mabanaft.
UAE-Based Group Invests in UK Renewable
Energy Projects. Masdar,
based in the United Arab Emirates, announced
it would invest more than €11
billion ($11.8 billion) into the UK's renewable
energy sector, including the purchase
of a 49% stake in RWE's 3-GW
Dogger Bank South (DBS) offshore wind
project. The deal is part of the UAE-UK
Sovereign Investment Partnership, created
to invest in technology, infrastructure,
and the energy transition. The deal
is expected to be completed in the first
quarter of 2024. The DBS offshore wind
project, sited about 62 miles off the northeastern
coast of England, will be divided
into two sites, the DBS East Array and the
DBS West Array. Each location will have
1.5 GW of generation capacity, and cover
about 193 square miles. Germany-headquartered
RWE will have a 51% share in
the project and continue to lead the development,
construction, and operation
of the wind farms. Construction of DBS is
expected to begin by year-end 2025. The
current timeline calls for the project to
be fully commissioned by year-end 2031.
Officials said they expect about 800 MW
will be available as soon as 2029. RWE
has said the company will invest $59.63
billion worldwide in offshore and onshore
wind, solar energy, batteries, flexible generation,
and hydrogen projects between
2024 and 2030. The company said it expects
to have more than 65 GW of renewable
energy generation capacity installed
by the end of 2030. ■
-Darrell Proctor is a senior associate
editor for POWER.
15
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