🥃 $4.3 billion in offshore wind

Good Morning. This is the Sunya Scoop. The newsletter that takes energy transition news and turns it into an easy-to-read email for you.

Here’s what we have for you today:

• German EnBW commits to $2.6 billion offshore wind farm

• Reuters op-ed on India’s energy transition

• JERA to acquire Belgian offshore wind platform for $1.7 billion

• GE and Svante collaborating on carbon capture tech

• BHP to trial carbon capture with Chinese steel

• Concerns in Southpole’s carbon credits

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BOURBON MADNESS

Ready for a new kind of madness? This March, forget about basketball and join us for Bourbon Madness!

• We've selected an Elite Eight of the finest bourbons in the world and pitted them against each other in a bracket-style tournament that will leave your taste buds begging for more.

• Cast your votes, sip your favorites, and let's see which one comes out on top. It's Bourbon Madness, and it's time to get sippin'!

You’ll be entered to win the winning bottle if:

1. you’re at least 21 (don’t think that’s an issue for this audience)

2. you vote in all polls in all 3 brackets - Elite Eight, Final Four, Championship

3. you have completed the Gentleman’s Agreement ( or Lady’s Choice). If you haven’t seen it, scroll down to the “Share Sunya Scoop” section towards the end of this newsletter

The Final Four will be announced in Thursday’s edition.

RENEWABLES

German EnBW commits to $2.6 billion offshore wind farm

• German utility EnBW has committed to building its 2.4 billion euro He Dreiht offshore wind farm, which will have an installed capacity of 960 MW and is expected to be operational by the end of 2025, generating electricity for 1.1 million households.

• EnBW has sold 49.9% of the project to a consortium of Allianz Capital Partners, Danish investor AIP Management and Norges Bank, which will each take a 16.6% stake.

• Norges Bank will pay around 430 million euros, marking the third direct investment by the fund in a renewable project, following deals for a Dutch wind farm with Orsted in 2021 and part of Iberdrola's Spanish solar and onshore wind portfolio in January.

• EnBW has secured 600 million euros in long-term funding from the European Investment Bank and signed power purchase agreements with Fraport, Evonik, Salzgitter AG and Bosch, accounting for 335 MW, with talks with other firms underway.

ENERGY TRANSITION

Reuters op-ed on India’s energy transition

• India boosted its solar capacity by 28% in 2022, installing 13.9 GW of new solar capacity and outpacing European heavyweights like Germany.

• India's wind capacity also expanded by 1.8 GW in 2022, pushing the country's combined solar and wind capacity up by 17.5% within a year.

• Despite its rapid green energy momentum, India's utilities struggled to keep up with the country's growing energy demand and had to crank up coal use to record highs.

• India's heavy power generation from coal emitted close to one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and placed India as the third-biggest fossil fuel polluter from power generation after China and the US.

• India's plan to integrate growing volumes of natural gas into its power mix while reducing coal consumption has been delayed due to the lack of gas availability within India in recent years.

• The delays in developing gas pipeline networks and regasification terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports started to reduce gas availability within India in recent years, forcing utilities to burn growing volumes of coal to meet rising energy demand needs.

• High and volatile global natural gas and LNG prices since 2020 have further trimmed India's gas supplies lately, reducing the share of natural gas in electricity generation to the lowest in over 20 years.

• This has forced utilities to burn through coal at a record pace, straining the country's domestic coal supply system and pushing coal imports to historic highs.

• While coal remains the primary source of baseload power, the vast majority of future electricity supply capacity in India will be dedicated to renewables to meet its target of sourcing half its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

RENEWABLES

JERA to acquire Belgian offshore wind platform for $1.7 billion

• Japan's JERA to acquire Belgium's largest offshore wind platform Parkwind for $1.7 billion.

• The acquisition will add four offshore wind farms in Belgium and a new wind farm being built in Germany to JERA's renewable portfolio.

• JERA aims to increase its renewable power assets to 5 GW by March 2026 through new development and acquisitions.

• The deal is to be closed later this year, pending approvals.

• Virya Energy will study the possibility of reinvesting in a minority stake in Parkwind's Belgian wind farms.

• Parkwind runs 201 turbines off the coast of Belgium with a capacity of 771 megawatts and has another 1.1 GW in development worldwide.

• JERA is selling its 44% stake in the Formosa 3 wind project off the central-western coast of Taiwan while keeping its exposure to the Formosa 1 and 2 projects.

• Colruyt, the Belgian group that controls Virya, cited the energy market situation and public plans to support the green transition as reasons for the sale.

CARBON CAPTURE

GE and Svante collaborating on carbon capture tech

• GE Gas Power and Svante will collaborate to develop solid sorbent-based carbon capture technology for natural gas power generation applications.

• GE has made an equity investment in Svante as a part of Svante’s US $318-million Series E fundraising round in December 2022.

• The collaboration is aimed at decarbonizing natural gas-fired turbines in a cost-effective, environmentally responsible manner.

• GE's commitment to carbon capture includes Svante agreement and internal investment to complement internal carbon management research.

• Svante's carbon capture filters are made by coating solid adsorbents, including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), onto thin sheets of laminate that can be used in multiple applications for capturing CO2 at refineries, cement, steel, aluminum, lime, boilers, pulp & paper, and more.

• The JDA between GE Gas Power and Svante will focus on further development and commercialization of novel solid sorbent technologies to provide carbon-free electricity in the future through the deployment of projects across gas-fired power generation facilities.

CARBON CAPTURE

BHP to trial carbon capture with Chinese steel

• BHP and HBIS have agreed to trial carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies at the Chinese firm's steel mills.

• The project will develop and test technologies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and explore options to use captured CO2 to produce products and to store CO2 in waste slag.

• The trials will be funded with up to $15 million over three years.

• China is the world's top steel producer, and its steel industry accounts for around 15% of total carbon emission across the country.

• Both BHP and HBIS aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

CARBON MARKETS

Concerns in Southpole’s carbon credits

• Reported by Bloomberg - South Pole, the leading seller of carbon offsets, is accused of exaggerating the impact of its forest-protection projects, including its biggest moneymaker, the Kariba project in Zimbabwe.

• Recent financial details revealed that most of Kariba's €100 million in proceeds went to South Pole and Carbon Green Investments, not the rural communities fighting deforestation.

• The uncertainty about South Pole's flagship project could impact how companies try to reduce their emissions.

• South Pole helps corporate clients measure supply chain emissions and reduce carbon footprints, which has been lucrative.

• Carbon offset projects often fall short on "additionality."

• The Kariba project generated and sold credits for saving trees that weren't under threat, and South Pole and CGI keep a significant portion of the project's proceeds, raising concerns among customers.

• The reluctance to push for higher quality offsets is hindering the potential of carbon offsets to become an important tool to slow climate change.

This is the latest news around allegations in the nature-based carbon offset market.

With a rising number of concerns of integrity in Latin American, Asian and African projects underpinning this new but opaque market, we imagine that engineered solutions and US projects will receive a premium.

That's a wrap for today. If you like what you read, send to a friend.

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.