Arigna Group’s Post

From your summary so far the main thing i take away is potential for growth and expansion but slow progress at what seems to have been a conference with a lot of the key players in attendance. looking forward to the next update

It was great to attend and speak at the Irish Bioenergy Association (IrBEA) conference last Thursday, October 10th in Royal Marine Hotel. I was speaking in my capacity as Chairman of Arigna Group, which has the largest operating biochar facility in Europe. The focus of my presentation was the challenges and opportunities of transitioning from coal to a sustainable fuel and carbon sequestration. Here’s a quick summary of some of the key takeaways from other speakers (first of two posts).   Sean Finan of IrBEA, pointed out that biofuels account for 58% of all renewables across the EU but get far less attention relative to solar and wind. He also emphasised the importance of enforcement of existing regulations with regard to source of feedstock. Minister Ossian Smyth said Ireland is at the bottom of the EU bioenergy league tables at 5% of total energy versus a European average of 25%. He also said the Renewable Heat Obligation regulations were delayed until the end of the year and revealed that the RHO requirement would be 10% phased in over three years. Tom Egan of Bord na Móna, gave a presentation on the impressive conversion of the power plant in Edenderry from burning peat to 100% biomass, 80% of which is sourced locally. David Kelly of Gas Networks Ireland, outlined the enormous potential of biomethane pointing out that currently 2/3 of all gas is used in the generation of electricity. There is a huge opportunity for biomethane to replace this gas. However, significant challenges remain in developing the biomethane industry and long-term operational supports are required to give certainty to producers. Gert-Jan Nabuurs of Wageningen University & Research, gave a detailed and informative presentation on the role of forests and land in sequestering carbon. The message was that land, and forests are one of the biggest but most uncertain carbon sinks and climate change is significantly impacting the ability of both to sequester carbon. Paddy Phelan of South East Energy Agency, gave an example of the difficulties experienced in bringing projects to fruition. He highlighted the tension between bringing local communities along the journey while getting things done. Karen Doyle of Gas Networks Ireland, pointed out that domestic gas use is a relatively small part of current gas demand, and that power generation and large companies are the main users. Her view is that large gas users will use green hydrogen but without a significant wind sector producing cheap energy, there will be no green hydrogen. John Walsh of ESB, said that their goal was to be net zero by 2040 and the single biggest challenge is to bring the society on the decarbonisation journey. #biochar #sustainability #renewableenergy #bioenergy #biogas #biomethane #biofuels #circulareconomy #bioeconomy

Welcome to energy sector in Namibia: Namibia is undergoing a significant energy transformation, with biomass, oil and gas, and green hydrogen emerging as key components. Biomass energy, derived from organic materials like plant waste, holds considerable potential for Namibia, as it can help manage agricultural and organic waste, reduce environmental pollution, and contribute to rural electrification and economic development. However, developing efficient conversion technologies and establishing supportive policies and infrastructure are essential for scaling up biomass energy production. Oil and gas, which have long been central to Namibia's energy sector, provide a significant source of revenue and energy security. However, the global shift towards renewable energy and the urgent need to combat climate change present challenges for the oil and gas industry. Namibia needs to adopt a multi-faceted approach, including investing in cleaner extraction technologies, implementing strict environmental regulations, and shifting investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy projects. Green hydrogen, produced by electrolyzing water using renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, represents a promising avenue for Namibia's energy future.

🍃 Last week, Latvia was the first #EU Member State to celebrate its 2024 National #BioenergyDay!   📅 With 136 days, August 16, 2024, marked the day on which #Latvia could begin relying on #bioenergy for the rest of the year.   🔗 How is this possible? Find out more on Bioenergy International ! Latvian Biomass Association LATbio Adven – The leading partner in the energy transition

Great panel talking about the challenges involved in driving the energy transition including views from Professor Jim Skea of the IPCC, Ross Bruton of The Carbon Trust, Shannon Smith of Chestnut Carbon, Emin Batur Dizdar of Ratio Energy and Øistein Jensen of Odfjell SE moderated by Mike Hemsley of the Energy Transitions Commission. In order to get to the energy transition then you need to significantly scale up renewables, battery storage, biofuels, hydrogen, CCUS and sidecar carbon capture.This brings with it several challenges: 1. We have been enormously successful in building renewables but concentrated in developed world - Europe, US and Asia - what is now required is the globalisation of that. 2. Energy demand is going to be extremely important - transportation, buildings. 3. The “net” in net zero - won’t get to net zero without taking carbon out of the atmosphere. Approximately 50-70% of technology required to meet the challenge is still in early stage of development. Another element discussed was nature-based solutions - a scalable carbon removal solution, trees. So how does the hard to abate sector such as shipping? At the moment the focus is on alternative fuels which has itself several factors that prove challenging. Other sectors where difficulties exist in the areas such as steel and cement which will still be required and are open to global competition. While there is a lot going into innovators, the challenge comes during the de-risking scale up stage. Policy still needs to catch up and value chains still need to be setup to scale and commercialise these technologies. Therefore one key challenge is the systems-level thinking. One of the issues is that there is no set price of carbon across the globe and hence there is uncertainty meaning each company is working on its own plans at its own pace. The dynamic of a voluntary carbon market is making it challenging to get the progress required and hence the question is raised around the role of regulation. So what else is holding the uptake back? The scale to decarbonise even a single hard-to-abate sector would require such an off-take of non-fossil fuel energy that there would be none left to decarbonise any other. That competition requires greater central coordination. In order to regulate global shipping it goes that the IMO as part of the UN construct. This provides an opportunity and challenge. There are also bilateral opportunities for creating changes such as a green corridor but this still requires a price on carbon that allows the carbon pricing to create a CfD to support investment in the additional cost of fuel. The difficulty is that if such carbon taxes go into general government spending rather than directly back into the transition. There needs to be a greater cooperation and engagement between the public and private sector all the way through the innovation cycle including governments, VCs, institutional investors and corporates. CEN-ESG #innovation

The municipality of Besse-et-Saint-Anastasie (63) decreases its heating costs by 25% by integrating into the #biomass heat network, thanks to collaboration with Hellio and L.E. Énergies. L’article France: Besse-et-Saint-Anastasie Reduces Its Heating Bill by 25% Thanks to the Biomass Network est apparu en premier sur energynews.

The South Island is charting a path towards a low-carbon future, as detailed in EECA's new South Island Regional Energy Transition Accelerator (RETA) report. The report consolidates insights from six regional studies, highlighting opportunities for medium to large businesses to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy and enhance energy efficiency. Key takeaways: ➡️ Industrial sector transformation: The South Island's industrial sites, which currently account for nearly 80% of New Zealand's coal and 11% of LPG use, contribute 28% of the country’s process heat emissions. The report underscores the potential for these sites to transition to renewables, aligning with decarbonisation goals and cost reduction. ➡️ Financial and environmental benefits: The report provides comprehensive information for businesses considering process heat decarbonisation. The transition to clean technologies is financially viable over the long term, with potential cost savings and emissions reductions achievable through collaborative regional efforts. ➡️ Electricity network planning: Electricity Networks Aotearoa Chief Executive, Tracey Kai, highlighted the importance of thorough planning and collaboration for successful fuel-switching projects. “Switching large industrial businesses from coal and gas to electricity requires thorough planning and dedication from the businesses, and ideally, a close working relationship with the lines companies providing them with electricity.” ➡️ Biomass potential: The report also highlights the significant potential of biomass as a renewable fuel source, with up to $605 million in wood residues from South Island forests available over the next 13 years. The transition to biomass has already been successful in 52 South Island schools, reducing emissions and supporting sustainable forestry practices. To date, the RETA initiative has evaluated nearly 600 projects aimed at reducing fossil fuel use and emissions in the South Island, with approximately 100 fuel-switching projects already completed or planned. If all 600 projects were to be implemented, these efforts are projected to cut long-lived emissions by 6.2Mt by 2037 above the ‘business as usual’ scenario. EECA's Richard Briggs had this to say, “While we see momentum building, there is more work to do,”. “This report provides the information to enable businesses and regions across New Zealand to move faster to transition to a low emissions economy and take advantage of the opportunities that emerge with clean energy and clever technologies.” For more detailed insights and the broader decarbonisation pathways, access the full RETA report here: https://lnkd.in/gPEs23Uz

🎱 etasca’s 8 🎱 – Weekly Roundup 1️⃣Topsoe's HydroFlex™technology has been selected by Guangxi Hongkun Biomass for a 300 000 ton SAF project in China. The project will convert feedstocks such as vegetable oils, fats, and greases into sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel. The project is the first time the technology has been deployed in China. Production due in 2026. 2️⃣Belgium has appointed Fluxys Hydrogen, a subsidiary of gas pipeline firm Fluxys, as operator for the development and management of a hydrogen transmission grid in Belgium.  Supported by EU funds and due to lay first pipelines in key industrial zones. 3️⃣Uniper and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have signed a MoU to bring 140 000 tons of green hydrogen annually to Germany from 2028. Production will come from the 1GW HØST PtX Esbjerg Project in Denmark to Germany via a new hydrogen pipeline. 4️⃣Factorial Energy Inc (a US based solid state battery company) and LG Chem (South Korean chemical company) have signed a MoU to accelerate the development of solid-state battery materials. The two companies have agreed to further technology licensing and material supply to maintain a strategic partnership. 5️⃣Hydrom in Oman has signed two green hydrogen projects in Dhofar worth $11 billion, aiming to produce 1.4 million tons per year of green hydrogen by 2030. The projects involve partnerships with EDF S.A., EDF Renouvelables, Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., Yamna Co Ltd, Actis, and Fortescue. 6️⃣bp has signed an eight year offtake with Circtec along with €12.5 million funding. This will finance Circtec’s Dutch plant expansion to facilitate the production of 54 000 tonnes a year of pyrolysis fuel and 15 000 tons of pyrolysis naphtha. Once constructed this will be the largest fully continuous pyrolysis plant globally. 7️⃣enfinium, the Energy from Waste (EfW) operator has announced plans to remove 1.2 million tons of carbon across the UK, backed by a £1.7 billion investment. Their strategy involves deploying carbon capture and storage technology to achieve net zero emissions by 2033. CEO Mike Maudsley highlighted the potential of carbon capture, stressing collaboration with governments for emissions reduction and green growth. 8️⃣The inaugural EU Hydrogen Bank auction for renewable hydrogen concluded. Seven winning projects will collectively receive €720 million over 10 years. The auction was oversubscribed by over 15 times and with the bidders securing premiums of around €0.37-0.48 per kg well below the €4.50 per kg ceiling set. Awarded projects: eNRG Lahti project - Nordic Renewables Gas Oy, Finland - 90MW El Alamillio H2 project - Benbros energy SL, Spain - 60MW Grey2Green - II - Petrogal Brasil S.A. , Portugal - 200MW Hysencia, Spain - Angus - 17MW Skiga - Fuella, Norway- 117MW Catalina - Renato and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Spain 500MW MP2X - MadoquaPower2X, Spain 500MW Congrats to all involved. Encouraging sentiment from Maroš Šefčovičč!

“'Europe's largest' | Solar developer plans giant 800MW green #HydrogenToMethanol plant” “Ansasol intends to produce one million tonnes of #renewablemethanol by 2029” 3 April 2024 - Rachel Parkes “A German-Spanish #solar and #renewablehydrogen developer has unveiled plans to build a massive 800MW #greenhydrogentomethanolplant in southern Spain producing one million tonnes per year of #greenmethanol by 2029.” “Ansasol intends to have the first phase of the MetGreenPort plant in the Port of Huelva producing 150,000 tonnes of green #methanol from renewable hydrogen — and #carbondioxide sourced from nearby industries — by 2027.” “But it then plans to increase the size of MetGreenPort by more than a factor of six within two years, scaling up to one million tonnes by 2029 with a total #electrolysis capacity of 800MW, which would make it by far the biggest green methanol project in Europe.” “The methanol would be made with renewable hydrogen produced at the plant — with an implied electrolyser size of about 120MW for the first phase.” “However, the company has not revealed how much either phase of the plant will cost to build, nor how it is being funded or where it intends to market the methanol. Ansasol had not responded to Hydrogen Insight’s requests for comment at the time of publication.” “Nor is it clear whether the #carbonmolecule needed to make methanol from green hydrogen will be #biogenic (ie, sourced from #biomass ), which has a bearing on whether green methanol produced at the plant would qualify as a #renewablefuel of #nonbiologicalorigin (#RFNBO) and therefore be eligible for EU subsidies.” “The EU’s Delegated Acts on #RFNBOs only permit the use of #industrialprocesscarbon in #syntheticfuels until 2041, around 14 years into the lifetime of the plant.” “Late last year, Spanish oil giant Cepsa and Danish developer C2X unveiled a €1bn ($1.07bn) green methanol plant in in Huelva with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tonnes, with a final investment decision scheduled for 2025.” “And Danish wind developer Orsted is currently building Europe’s largest green methanol plant, the 50,000-tonnes-a-year FlagshipONE in Sweden, backed by funds from the Bill Gates-backed venture fund Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, which last year bought a 15% equity interest in the facility.” “Methanol is a #basechemical used in vast array of processes and products, but it is also touted for use as a fuel, especially in the #shippingindustry .” https://lnkd.in/gZQaz5uw Source- original post Read all my posts #MariusPreston