5 spunti per approfondire (29/2023)

La rubrica settimanale con i consigli di lettura di RivistaEnergia.it, dall’Europa e dal mondo. Forse non le notizie più eclatanti, ma proprio per questo interessanti da approfondire. Settimana 29/2023

“UK efforts to boost renewable energy have suffered a major setback after one of the country’s biggest offshore wind farm projects was halted due to surging costs. Swedish energy group Vattenfall on Thursday said it had suspended development of its 1.4GW Norfolk Boreas wind farm after costs on the project rose 40 per cent. Increased cost was putting “significant pressure on all new offshore wind projects”, the company said, adding that it would “not take an investment decision now” on the project and would book an impairment charge of SKr5.5bn ($537mn). “What we see today, it simply doesn’t make sense to continue this project,” said Vattenfall’s chief executive Anna Borg.”

UK renewable energy plans hit after developer halts 1.4GW wind farm project
Articolo – Financial Times

“The global energy crisis is proving a boon to the liquefied natural gas sector, but Sub-Saharan African LNG projects are striving to overcome major challenges in order to stake their place in the global market and avoid becoming stranded assets.Industry analysts believe this African region’s LNG sector is in a race against time to monetise its significant gas resources due to the challenges presented by energy security, Europe’s decarbonisation drive and a wave of competing LNG supplies set to enter the market from Qatar and North America.UK-based consultancy Wood Mackenzie estimates Sub-Saharan Africa hosts around 20 trillion cubic metres of natural gas, so a lot is at stake for the region’s governments.”

Energy crisis puts Sub-Saharan LNG on the spot
Articolo – Upstream Online

“Imposing and managing economic sanctions is a game of smoke and mirrors. Nothing is what it seems, and policy often bends markets in perverse ways to achieve political aims. Nowhere is that truer than in the global oil bazaar of 2023. US and European policymakers are trying to achieve seemingly contradictory goals: reduce the oil income of Russia, Venezuela and Iran while preventing an oil price rally. So far this year, the sanctions regime has achieved its objective of hurting the Kremlin, halving its oil revenue from a year ago, at the unacknowledged cost of bolstering Iran and Venezuela. But the path forward is likely to get choppier, with the outcome deeply unpredictable.”

The Smoke and Mirrors of Western Oil Sanctions
Articolo – Bloomberg

“I’d like to get all the gas emissions off the highways of the world,” said John Goodenough, one of the Nobel-prize winning scientists who developed the lithium-ion battery four decades ago, during an interview in 2018. Goodenough died on June 25th before his dream could become reality. But governments around the world are scrambling to make it so, with remarkable results. Global sales of electric cars quintupled between 2019 and 2022, surpassing 10m units last year. Yet the speed of the transformation is running into supply constraints and geopolitical headwinds. The supply of the minerals required to make lithium-ion batteries must grow by a third every year this decade to meet the estimated global demand. Tens of millions of batteries will be needed in America alone to meet its ambition to ensure half of all American vehicle sales involve electric vehicles by 2030. And yet its great rival, China, is by far the biggest processor of battery metals, producer of battery cells and manufacturer of finished batteries.”

A battery supply chain that excludes China looks impossible
Articolo – The Economist

“A new global gas market is taking shape after last year’s crisis. Given this, responsible producers and consumers must reconsider their approaches to supply security and flexibility, cooperating even more closely,” said Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s Director of Energy Markets and Security. “Meaningful efforts are also needed to reduce the carbon footprint of gas supply chains, including through greater use of low-emissions gases. I look forward to discussing these topics with market players in Tokyo this week.” The IEA’s latest assessment of market dynamics shows gas markets have moved towards a gradual rebalancing since the start of the year. High inventory levels at storage sites in key Asian and European markets provide grounds for cautious optimism ahead of the 2023-24 winter heating season in the Northern Hemisphere. If injections continue at the average rate observed since mid-April, EU storage sites will reach 90% of their working capacity by early August and could be filled close to 100% by mid-September. However, full storage sites are no guarantee against market volatility during the winter.”

Closer dialogue between producers and consumers needed to ensure security of gas supply
Report – IEA

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