International Renewable Energy Agency

Mar 24, 2023

AGENDA | Our curation of the must-read news and analysis from the-week-that-was in the global renewable energy industry 24 March 2023 17:44 GMT Updated  24 March 2023 17:44 GMT The week ended with another of those big bang moments in the fast-expanding universe of floating wind power when Scotland unveiled the winners of its INTOG seabed leasing round dominated by plans to decarbonise offshore oil & gas production. The runaway winners were Cerulean Winds and the alliance of Flotation Energy and Vargronn, which can now advance plans to help shift green power to North Sea fossil assets under pre-lease exclusivity offers from the Crown Estate Scotland – barely a year after it set the floating sector alight with its giant ScotWind round. The two development teams are bullish about their prospects to help achieve that ambition, but as one leading analyst told Recharge , the challenges involve mean electrifying offshore oil & gas is “not for the faint hearted”. And there was little sympathy for the whole process from climate campaigners who judged the entire exercise little more than ‘greenwashing’ that “tinkers around the edges” of North Sea emissions reduction. The prospects of Chinese wind OEMs in international markets loomed large in Recharge’s reporting all week, not least when RWE CEO Markus Krebber warned the EU that the Asian giant’s offshore turbines might be the only game in town unless action was taken to spur the European supply chain. Article continues below the advert Proof that China’s turbine makers are these days about more than commodity machines at low prices came when Mingyang unveiled a large-scale blade fabricated almost entirely from recycled materials, the first such model in Asia. Security of supply has stolen most of the energy policy thunder since Russia invaded Ukraine, but the climate emergency came roaring back this week as the UN secretary general called on nations to speed up their net zero drives by 10 years to get the world’s emissions fight back on track. The good news came from the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) think-tank that there are no “fundamental barriers” to getting to net zero by 2050 – just the small matter of a $110 trillion investment bill. And confirmation that renewables are doing their bit came with news from the International Renewable Energy Agency of a near 10% expansion in green power facilities in 2022, despite the economic pressures linked to the global energy crisis. Recharge is part of DN Media Group. To read more about DN Media Group, click here Your data on Recharge Recharge is part of DN Media Group AS. From November 1st DN Media Group is responsible for controlling your data on Recharge. We use your data to ensure you have a secure and enjoyable user experience when visiting our site. You can read more about how we handle your information in our privacy policy . About DN Media Group DN Media Group is the leading news provider in the shipping, seafood, and energy industries, with a number of English- and Norwegian-language news publications across a variety of sectors. Read more about DN Media Group here . OK, I understand Privacy and cookies Recharge is part of NHST Global Publications AS and we are responsible for the data that you register with us, and the data we collect when you visit our websites. We use cookies in a variety of ways to improve your experience, such as keeping NHST websites reliable and secure, personalising content and ads and to analyse how our sites are being used. For more information and how to manage your privacy settings, please refer to our privacy and cookie policies.