From the OPIS Renewable Energy, Solar, Biofuels and Carbon Editorial Teams
New Zealand is continuing to advance its international climate cooperation efforts as a way to potential cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to meet its climate targets, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts told OPIS in an interview on Aug. 20.
"We're looking for opportunities to work with other countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, on how we can achieve a win-win... in decarbonization and emissions reduction," said Watts on the sidelines of the Carbon Forestry 2024 Conference in Rotorua.
He noted that New Zealand has progressed green economy agreements or Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with jurisdictions including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, and California, and is working closely with Pacific neighbors. New Zealand is seeking to expand its international green economy deals, including potentially with India and China, Watts said.
"The MOUs we have in place provide a pathway to enter into Article 6 agreements," Watts said. "New Zealand needs options to meet its 2030 NDC target, and that's very much front of mind for us, and is very challenging and difficult."
Under the Paris Agreement, New Zealand has committed to reducing net emissions by 50% below gross 2005 levels by 2030 as part of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Meeting the NDC requires significantly deeper emissions reductions than the current domestic targets. New Zealand has previously estimated a shortfall of around 100 million metric tons (mt), necessitating offshore mitigation, with associated costs potentially scaling into the billions.
Panelists at the conference also earlier highlighted uncertainty around the government's strategy to close the gap between the domestic emissions budget and the NDC target, especially concerning the emissions trading scheme's (ETS) role. In a 2023 report, the government had said it was exploring options such as offshore mitigation activities, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific, and
linking the ETS to international markets that meet integrity standards.
While Watts did not provide a specific timeline or details on the government's strategy, he noted the importance of adding more substance to the agreements "as soon as practical". The government is first seeking to publish its second domestic emissions reduction plan by the end of 2024.
Domestically, Watts addressed recent adjustments to the ETS, where the government has significantly reduced the supply of New Zealand Units (NZUs) available for auction from 2025. This decision announced Aug. 20 aims to correct an oversupply that has led to depressed carbon prices and bring stability to the market, and saw units rally in price the days after.
"The key aspect is that we've got certainty in the market and that investors that are investing in asset classes such as forestry have a degree of certainty around what's going to happen in the future," Watts told OPIS. "It's a positive thing... in a macroeconomic environment where there's a lot of uncertainty."
OPIS assessed the NZU at a five-month high of NZ$61.13/mt ($38.02/mt) on Aug. 26, up 10.7% week-to-week as market participants reacted to the announcement.
New Zealand stakeholders have largely welcomed the government's decision to reduce auction supply, as OPIS reported, though some note outstanding concerns about the role of forestry NZU supply in the ETS. Clarity on land-use policies that could restrict the type of forestry that can enter the ETS stands as a
fundamental issue to be addressed, sources indicated.
The Carbon Forestry 2024 Conference was organized by Innovatek on Aug. 20-21.
($1 = NZ$1.61)
Reporting by Melissa Goh, mgoh@opisnet.com
Editing by Lujia Wang, lwang@opisnet.com
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India has installed a record 15 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity in the first half of 2024, an increase of 282% year to year, the highest half-yearly and annual installations to date, due to the commissioning of several previously delayed projects, according to research company Mercom India on August 22.
The Country added 5 GW of solar capacity in quarter two, an increase of 170% year to year from 1.8 GW, but down 49% quarter to quarter from 9.9 GW. According to Mercom, 4.3 GW of large-scale solar projects including 1.8 GW of open access projects were commissioned in Q2. Although large-scale capacity additions rose 191% year to year, they fell 55% quarter to quarter.
The reimposition of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) from April 1 had impacted several open access projects in addition to grid connectivity and transmission infrastructure delays during the second quarter. Moreover, Q1 solar installations had surged ahead of the ALKMM reimposition, Priyadarshini Sanjay, Managing Director at Mercom India said. The states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka led large-scale solar capacity additions in Q2 contributing 30%, 22% and 21% respectively of total quarterly installations.
India's cumulative installed solar capacity reached 87.2 GW as of June 2024 with utility-scale projects making up 87% and rooftop solar 13%. Solar comprises 19.5% of India's installed power capacity and made up 44% of the Country's total installed renewable energy capacity. The states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka led the country's cumulative installed large-scale solar capacity at 29%, 15% and 14% respectively.
India has a large-scale solar project pipeline of 146 GW with another 104 GW of projects tendered and awaiting auction as of June 2024, but challenges arising from transmission infrastructure constraints particularly in Rajasthan remain, although hybrid and energy storage projects which utilize the same transmission lines may reduce these challenges, Sanjay said.
According to Mercom, 41.4 GW of tenders were announced in the first half of 2024, an increase of 51% from 27.5 GW year to year although in Q2, 10.7 GW of tenders were announced, down 22% from 13.6 GW year to year and 65% quarter to quarter at 30.7 GW. The drop in the volume of tenders announced in Q2 could be a result of the delay in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) releasing the bidding trajectory for the year, and concerns over tepid response and higher bids after the ALMM reimposition, Sanjay said.
A total of 31.8 GW of projects were auctioned in the first half of 2024, an increase of 321% year to year from 27.5 GW over the same period last year, although in Q2, 6.7 GW of solar projects were auctioned, consistent year to year but down 73% from 25.1 GW quarter to quarter, according to Mercom.
India has set a goal of achieving 500 GW of renewable installed capacity, including 270 GW of solar capacity by 2030, according to the MNRE. In recent years, India has been building up its local solar supply chain capability. The Country has more than 50 GW of total ALMM listed module capacity which meets the Bureau of Indian Standards and MNRE's efficiency criteria.
Reporting by Serena Seng, sseng@opisnet.com
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Swiss manufacturer Meyer Burger has announced it is not moving forward with the development of a 2 GW cell factory in Colorado, saying the plans are "no longer financially feasible."
The company's German cell plant, previously slated for retirement, "will continue to form the backbone of Meyer Burger's solar cell supply," the company said in a statement Monday.
The company said it will now return its focus to its new 1.4 GW module plant currently ramping up in Goodyear, Arizona. A tentative plan for a 0.7 GW expansion there has also been shelved but "remains an option."
Continuing to supply Goodyear's production lines with cells produced in Germany is "the most economical option" in the current market, Meyer Burger said.
The Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (PTC) established by 2022's Inflation Reduction Act has led to many announcements of new solar module and cell factories in the U.S., but a handful of those cell plant plans have since been walked back, with manufacturers citing financial difficulties.
"The debt financing previously sought through the monetization of 45X tax credits will continue to be pursued on a reduced scale, tailored to module production in the U.S.," Meyer Burger said.
When its Colorado Springs cell plant was initially announced in the summer of 2023, Meyer Burger expected to have it up and running by the end of this year. In a June press release announcing the start of production at the Arizona HJT module plant, the company said updated timing for the cell plant was contingent on closing of 45x financing.
As a result of this "revised strategy," a partnership with an unnamed U.S. technology company, first teased in a June press release, has fallen through. The company expected to finalize the agreement by the third quarter of this year, in what was aimed at developing "a solar module that is manufactured in
the U.S. with an increasing share of domestic components."
It's unclear how the mothballed plans could complicate other contracts. In June, Meyer Burger announced a three-year offtake deal with a "major U.S. energy company" to buy up to 1.75 GW of modules starting in early 2026. A two-year extension option would become effective upon the completion of the cell plant's financing, Meyer Burger said.
Reporting by Colt Shaw, cshaw@opisnet.com
Editing by Aaron Alford, aalford@opisnet.com
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Carbon credit issuances from nature-based projects registered with Verra have fallen sharply so far this year, with REDD+ taking a greater hit than removal project types like afforestation and coastal environment restoration, records show.
Since the start of 2022, Verra-registered REDD+ projects issued over 110 million credits. So far this year, Verra has issued 4.2 million credits after issuing over 44.7 million credits in 2023.
REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
By comparison, Verra-registered removal projects like afforestation, reforestation and revegetation and Blue Carbon projects, which restore coastal environments, produced 22.58 million credits since 2022, including 2.38 million credits so far this year. In 2023, Verra issued over 8 million removal credits.
Toronto-based Carbon Streaming has signed streaming agreements with numerous nature-based carbon projects, including both REDD+ and ARR initiatives. During a second-quarter earnings call Wednesday, Carbon Streaming interim Chief Executive Officer Christian Milau attributed slow issuances to backlogs at Verra.
The accusation is a common refrain among developers and investors, but a Verra spokesperson recently told OPIS that fewer projects have requested issuances this year and that previous backlogs had been cleared.
A range of quality exists among nature-based removal projects, as it does with REDD+, but ARR and Blue Carbon credits tend to command higher values. OPIS has heard trades of volumes of 2,000 REDD+ credits or more ranging from $1/mt to $12/mt in recent weeks. By contrast, trades for ARR and Blue Carbon credits were heard between $5/mt and $30/mt.
OPIS calculated the REDD+ Vintage 2021 Credits Average at $8.56/mt on Monday. Blue Carbon V21 and ARR V21 Credits Averages were calculated at $31.202/mt and $21.677/mt, respectively.
Milau, speaking on the earnings call, said carbon markets had been difficult to predict in recent years and that investors are looking primarily for high-quality nature-based removal credits.
Carbon Streaming's investment strategy "is starting to prove out," Milau said. "The focus on good quality projects recently with scalable growth, removals, Article 6 and some committed offtakes I think is the way forward here."
"We have to also remember, long-term removal projects take some time to gestate and get to the cash flowing stage," Milau continued. "So I think it would be naïve of us to completely ignore the avoidance market. I do think in the long term, cashflow from removal projects will be superior and they have a longevity potentially that some of the avoidance projects don't have. But that business also can't just wait the 5 to 7 years it takes a tree to grow."
Reporting by Henry Kronk, hkronk@opisnet.com
Editing by Jeremy Rakes, jrakes@opisnet.com and Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
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China-based solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer Beyondsun Green Energy has begun operation at its new intelligent manufacturing facility, the first in Zhongwei City, Ningxia, producing the company's first N-Power-Pro series N-type TOPCon photovoltaic module, Beyondsun said on August 1.
The facility at an investment of 3 billion yuan ($417.75 million) will be built in two phases. Phase one involves the establishment of a 3 gigawatt (GW) high-efficiency N-type TOPCon module production plant, while Phase two involves the establishment of a 2 GW high-efficiency Heterojunction (HJT) module production plant, a 3 GW aluminum alloy frame production line, and a 3 gigawatt hour (GWh) energy storage battery production line.
This is the first time the company has expanded its manufacturing facilities, since the company ramped up its module production capacity to 3.6 GW and launched N-type high-efficiency TOPCon modules in 2022, according to the company's website. Beyondsun currently has a module production capacity of 5
GW.
According to industry sources, new production facilities that have come on-stream in recent months have added pressure to a solar industry struggling with overcapacity and low prices. In the first half of 2024, China added about 21.5 GW of new module production capacity with more than 10 GW of new plants expected to come online in the second half of the year, an industry source said.
The new production facilities in addition to capacity expansions by module manufacturers this year have led to intense price competition amongst module manufacturers, as they compete for new orders resulting in TOPCon module monthly average prices falling to $0.097 per watt peak (wp) in July, down 14.2% from January, according to OPIS data.
As competition intensifies and profit margins shrink, coupled with the high capital expenditures and slow growth returns of investing in new manufacturing facilities, several new projects have been put on hold or divested as solar PV manufacturers chose to conserve cash and focus resources on weathering a market storm. According to the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA), about 20 GW of new module capacity was put on hold in the first half of 2024.
The weak demand and sluggish growth in the module industry has a more pronounced negative impact on the cells industry as several cell manufacturers put on hold or terminated new capacity expansion plans amid the supply glut in both the cells and module sector, a market source said.
Jiangxi Haiyuan Composites divested its investment in the 15 GW N-type high-efficiency cells and 3 GW high-efficiency module production facility in Chuzhou City earlier in March. The project was slated to produce 10 GW of high-efficiency cells in Phase one and 5 GW HJT cells and 3 GW high-efficiency modules in Phase two. Jiangxi Haiyuan Composites divested 100% of the equity of its wholly-owned subsidiary Chuzhou Saiwei Energy Technology to Zhejiang Aixu Solar Technology for 38 million.
In March, Lingda Group terminated its investment in the 20 GW high-efficiency cells production facility in Tongling. The project was originally slated to produce 10 GW of TOPCon high-efficiency cells in Phase one and 5 GW TOPCon high-efficiency cells and 5 GW HJT cells in Phase two.
In August, East China Heavy Machinery Company announced that the company's board of directors reviewed and approved the proposal to terminate the investment in the construction of the Bozhou 10 GW N-type high-efficiency solar cell production base project due to the downturn in the PV industry.
As the solar PV industry struggles under the weight of overcapacity, capacity expansion projects that are in stages of construction are left with little choice but to soldier on. These projects that come on-stream in the next few months will be competing in a very saturated market with low profit returns, sources said. More capacity expansion projects are expected to be put on hold in the coming months as the industry waits out the PV market downturn.
Reporting by Serena Seng, sseng@opisnet.com
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The Washington state Office of Financial Management estimates $3.8 billion in lost revenue from canceled emissions allowance auctions through fiscal years 2025-2029 if citizens vote to repeal the
state's cap-and-invest program in November, according to a new fiscal impact statement released this week.
The Washington Secretary of State published the statement along with new ballot materials this week for the vote on Initiative 2117 in November, which would repeal the state's cap-and-invest emissions
trading program if passed.
Initiative 2117 would also prohibit the state from enacting other similar emissions allowance trade systems if passed. The citizen-led initiative to the legislature collected signatures in 2023, the cap-and-
invest program's inaugural year, and was certified in January to appear on the general election ballot.
According to SurveyUSA polling results published this week by the Seattle Times, 48% of likely Washington voters were "certain to vote yes" on Initiative 2117 while 34% of respondents were "certain to vote no," and 18% were "not certain." SurveyUSA polled 708 likely voters from July 10-13.
The fiscal impact statement released this week detailed potential reductions to state expenditures and revenues from carbon allowance auctions under the initiative.
"If approved by voters, Initiative 2117 will reduce state revenue from carbon allowance auctions by $3.8 billion and reduce state expenditures by $1.7 billion between the effective date of the initiative and June 30, 2029," according to the statement.
If successful, the initiative's effective date would be Dec. 5, meaning the fourth quarterly Washington Carbon Allowance auction scheduled for Dec. 4 would no longer take place, the report stated.
Auction certification and other processes would extend past the date Initiative 2117 potentially would take effect, the Office of Financial Management said.
"Under the initiative, the last auction would take place on September 4, 2024," the statement read. "The three remaining auctions scheduled in state fiscal year 2025 would be canceled."
The cap-and-invest auction 7 on Sept. 4 will offer 7.94 million WCAs during the current portion, without an advance offering. The previous auction on June 5 sold out of 7.8 million V23 and V24 WCAs and settled at $29.92/mt. The auction did not sell out of the advance portion of V27 allowances.
The fiscal impact report noted reduced funding would go to projects and programs including "transportation emissions reduction, transit, pedestrian safety; ferry and other transportation electrification; air quality improvement; renewable and clean energy; grid modernization and building decarbonization; increasing the climate resilience of the state's waters, forests and other ecosystems; fire prevention and forest health; and restoring and improving salmon habitat."
The six quarterly and two allowance price containment reserve WCA auctions have generated $2.15 billion in funds since the cap-and-invest program began in 2023, according to the state Department of Ecology.
"The 2024 supplemental transportation, operating and capital budgets identify which programs and projects would and would not be eligible for this funding if the initiative passes," according to the
statement. "Spending authority of $1.7 billion in state fiscal year 2025 would no longer exist because the budget appropriations would be eliminated along with repeal of the accounts."
The report also said under the initiative, Ecology would undertake rulemaking from 2025-2027 to "repeal Climate Commitment Act rules and to amend rules regarding greenhouse gas emission
reporting."
WCA secondary market prices deflated during the first 2024 quarter following news of the Initiative 2117 appearing on ballots in the fall.
OPIS WCA assessed prices in 2024 bottomed out on March 15 at $29.50/mt for December and $27.80/mt for the prompt month before slowly regaining ground.
Washington state, California and Quebec in late March announced they were working to link carbon markets. Ecology held a listening session Monday on environmental justice and the potential linkage
of cap-and-invest to California and Quebec's joint carbon market.
Ecology staff earlier this month reiterated a potential linkage agreement could be enacted by late 2025.
The Secretary of State this week also published a ballot measure Explanatory Statement and Public Investment Impact Disclosure.
Initiative 2117 will appear on the ballot as written: "Initiative Measure No. 2117 concerns carbon tax credit trading. This measure would prohibit state agencies from imposing any type of carbon tax credit trading, and repeal legislation establishing a cap and invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This measure would decrease funding for investments in transportation, clean air, renewable energy, conservation, and emissions-reduction. Should this measure be enacted into law?"
Reporting by Slade Rand, srand@opisnet.com
Editing by Mayra Cruz, mcruz@opisnet.com and Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
© 2024 Oil Price Information Service, LLC. All rights reserved.
Reports and announcements published over the last week have crystallised both the challenges facing the buildout of carbon capture storage (CCS) projects in the UK, but also how the technology retains widespread political support, including from the country's newly elected government.
The British government and carbon capture use and storage (CCUS) project developers in the UK are just weeks away from making final investment decisions to take CCUS projects forward, but the timetable for their completion is slipping and "numerous technical issues remain", the country's official
spending watchdog warned last Tuesday.
The National Audit Office, which scrutinises government spending on behalf of the UK's parliament, noted that the government's language about delivering the first wave of CCS projects hinted at likely delays.
The British government had originally aimed to have two 'Track-1' CCS clusters in the northwest and east of England operational by the end of 2026, with a target of capturing and storing upwards of 15.5 million metric tons of carbon per annum under the North and Irish Seas. However, that ambition has already been scaled back to storing 8.5 million mt/year at a later date, the NAO said.
"By May 2022 [the UK's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)] was working towards the Track-1 clusters starting operations by the end of 2027, which remains its target. More recently, DESNZ has adapted this target to 'support' two clusters by the mid-2020s, indicating that it expects them to
begin operating later," said the NAO report.
Those Track-1 clusters are the HyNet cluster, which includes a project to capture emissions from the Essar Oil-operated 200,000 barrels per day Stanlow oil refinery, and the East Coast Cluster, which would capture emissions from the Phillips 66-operated 221,000-b/d Humber refinery and the Prax-operated
113,000-b/d Lindsey refinery. The two clusters include several other CCS projects.
"DESNZ is currently considering whether achieving [final investment decisions] across all eight [CCS] projects by September 2024 is feasible. It therefore expects to achieve FID with at least some of the Track-1 projects by September 2024, with the rest reaching FID in 2025," the public spending watchdog said last week.
The NAO suggested that staggering the delivery of projects in the clusters had both potential advantages and disadvantages in achieving value for taxpayer investments: "It could lead to fewer projects making use of common transport and storage infrastructure. But it may also lead to earlier [emissions] reductions...In addition, DESNZ considers this approach may prevent more mature projects needing to retender contracts if they are delayed by waiting for other projects to be ready to take final investment decisions."
Delay to CCS Projects Could Boost Carbon Prices
The British government has set a target to capture 20-30 million mt of carbon by 2030, with four clusters operational by the end of the decade. Meeting that goal would result in the capture of carbon equivalent to a quarter of the 96.8 million mt emitted last year by installations and airlines subject to the UK's Emissions Trading System.
Capturing upwards of 30 million mt of carbon every year would consequently put a significant dent in demand for UK emissions allowances (UKA), the pollution permits which must be purchased by industrial emitters covered by the cap-and-trade ETS.
But delays in bringing CCS projects online could have expensive ramifications later in the decade and into the 2030s for those emitters, especially polluters that are unable to pass the full cost of carbon onto end-consumers. In that CCS-delayed scenario, demand for UKAs will be higher than expected, while the
number of annual allowances available for purchase in the ETS will have shrunk.
Although British carbon prices have been in the doldrums for more than a year -- OPIS assessed the benchmark December 2024 UK emissions allowance at £39.375 ($50.51) on Monday, down from the record settle of £97.75 on August 19, 2022 -- most analysts forecast that prices will be in triple digits by the end of the decade. Such a price would force the country's largest installations to spend almost half a billion pounds a year on UKAs if they do not decarbonize.
Technical Issues Highlighted by Report
The NAO report warned that significant practical challenges must be addressed to deliver CCS in the UK.
"Numerous technical issues remain...Pipelines need to be built to connect [CCS facilities] to onshore terminals and then to undersea sites," the NAO said, adding that there was "uncertainty" about "how effective the solvents that projects will use to capture carbon will prove and whether proposed storage
areas are viable."
The nation's official spending watchdog also examined the institutional capacity of the British government to negotiate effectively with project developers, pointing out that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero had struggled to meet recruitment targets for its CCUS Directorate employees.
"When the Directorate was established, 51.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff -- less than half the 103.5 FTE that DESNZ assessed it would need for 2021-22 -- were in post," said the NAO. "DESNZ considers this difference reflects the time it takes to fill vacancies. The number of staff required increased sharply,
particularly as Track-1 negotiations started. By 2023-24 DESNZ calculated that it needed 206.5 FTE, compared to a staffing level of 144.5 FTE at the start of that year."
The report did not look at whether construction contractors undertaking CCS projects might also face staffing-related issues. The UK has a "tight labor market" ExxonMobil's senior project manager Brian Talley told OPIS in April, while many industry insiders have said that demands on contractors are likely
to rise because of other energy transition-related projects.
Alex Milward, director of carbon capture utilization and storage at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, told OPIS during COP28 in Dubai at the end of last year that the government is alert to the possibility of worker-related issues causing delays.
"I think there is obviously a potential bottleneck which we're working extremely hard [to avoid]," said Milward, referring to the skills base. "We map where we think the pinch points are and where the capacities are...Certainly if there is a critical element in the supply chain that's not there, then the
whole program can get [backed up], so we're monitoring it very closely and hopefully avoiding the bottlenecks," he added.
In response to the NAO report, Ruth Herbert, chief executive officer of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association which advocates for the technology's development across Europe, said: "The NAO has noted that completing negotiations to support the Track-1 [CCS cluster] projects will be a very significant milestone in signalling the programme's commercial feasibility and the government's commitment to CCUS. We are pleased that due to continued investment from industry, Track-1 financial investment decisions are on track to be taken by September. Keeping to this timetable will demonstrate to investors that the UK is an attractive location for the net zero industries of the future."
"CCS on power generation is set to play a key role in enabling the Net Zero Power target and industries across the UK, such as cement manufacturing, hydrogen production and energy from waste are relying on the deployment of carbon capture to reduce their emissions," Herbert added.
Political Support Remains after Change of Government
The UK's general election on July 4 resulted in the Labour Party coming to power, but it is not obvious that there will be any change of approach to CCS from the new government in the short-term.
One of the new government's first announcements referenced forthcoming investment in the technology through a partnership between Great British Energy -- a new state-owned company with £8.3 billion of public money -- and the Crown Estate, which manages the £16 billion property land and seabed portfolio of the British monarch. The partnership "will also help boost new technologies such as
carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, wave and tidal energy," the announcement said, without offering further details.
The previous Conservative government pledged £1 billion in 2020 to help develop four CCS clusters by 2030, and it went further in its budget of March 2023 by pledging £20 billion of support over a 20 year period.
OPIS asked the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero last week if the new government will maintain that commitment.
"We are taking immediate action to implement our plan for clean power by 2030, while continuing to develop cutting-edge technologies like carbon capture, usage and storage, which the NAO recognises will help to decarbonise our economy," a spokesperson for DESNZ said in response.
"This technology is vital to boost our energy independence...The initial cluster projects are nearing the first financial investment decisions this year, which are expected to create jobs and bring in billions of public and private investment into our industrial heartlands," the government added.
Although Rachel Reeves, the new chancellor in charge of the UK's public finances, put a few large transport infrastructure projects on ice on Monday, there was no suggestion that the Labour party's support for CCS will change. CCS projects also command strong backing from trade unions affiliated with Labour, and several members of the new cabinet were photographed before the election visiting CCS project exhibitions at business and political conferences.
Reeves has backed the development of the technology in several public statements, noting at a business conference on February 1 this year that C-Capture -- a CCS technology company developing amine- and nitrogen-free solvents -- is located in her own Leeds West constituency and "at the frontier
of the energy transition,"
On a visit to the company's premises last year, Reeves hailed "the incredible work taking place [at the site] on carbon capture and storage. It's these types of businesses that show the huge potential we have as a region and a country to be a world leader in the industries of the future."
Reporting by Anthony Lane, alane@opisnet.com
Editing by Yazdi Merchant, ymerchant@opisnet.com
© 2024 Oil Price Information Service, LLC. All rights reserved.
Major listed solar manufacturers in China are expecting net losses for the first half of 2024 after price drops across the solar supply chain wiped out net profits made a year ago, according to company
announcements over the past week.
Longi Green Energy Technology, among the world's top three solar module sellers, is expecting a net loss of 4.8 billion yuan ($673 million) to 5.5 billion yuan for 1H-2024, a sharp reversal from the 9.18 billion yuan net profit it made a year ago.
Tongwei Solar, a major polysilicon manufacturer who is also a top five module seller, expects a net loss of 3 billion yuan to 3.3 billion yuan for 1H-2024 after having reported a net profit of 13.27 billion
yuan a year ago.
JA Solar, another top five module seller, expects a net loss of 0.8 billion to 1.2 billion yuan compared to net profit of 4.8 billion yuan over the same period.
TCL Zhonghuan, a major wafer producer that also sells modules, is expecting a net loss of 2.9 to 3.2 billion yuan for the first half of the year compared to a net profit of 4.53 billion yuan a year ago.
All four companies attributed the reversals to imbalances in supply-demand fundamentals and the resulting price falls across the solar supply chain.
JA Solar, Longi and Tongwei all noted that their module sale volumes rose sharply from a year ago but net losses were incurred nonetheless due to the severe price falls.
Prices of polysilicon in the Chinese domestic market averaged 53.528 yuan per kilogram (kg) during the first half of this year, just slightly over a third of the 180.584 yuan/kg averaged a year ago, according to OPIS data.
Prices of FOB China Mono Perc modules meanwhile averaged $0.108 per watt peak (wp) during the first half of this year, less than half the $0.227/wp a year ago.
Because supply in the market has been far outpacing demand, Longi also expects to set aside a high provision for inventory impairment.
The manufacturers did not say when they expect the market malaise to end.
But TCL and Longi said they would work on releasing new products and using advanced manufacturing methods to gain competitive advantages.
($1 = CNY 7.13)
Reporting by Hanwei Wu, hwu@opisnet.com
Editing by Chuan Ong, cong@opisnet.com
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