Latest news with #decarbonisation
Times
10 hours ago
- Business
- Times
Ineos hits out at government ‘madness' after green subsidy is pulled
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's chemicals giant Ineos has accused the government of 'madness' over plans to effectively punish it for making one of its major plants more environmentally friendly. Ineos Acetyls, which makes the acetic acid used in food production, medicines and synthetic fibres, spent more than £30 million switching the fuel source at its factory in Hull from natural gas to low-carbon hydrogen. The move has cut its carbon emissions by 75 per cent. However, the Environment Agency has said that, rather than support the move, it would cut Ineos's carbon subsidies, costing it £23 million over the next three years. Ineos Acetyls chief executive David Brooks said: 'We are being punished for doing the right thing. We've delivered on decarbonisation, exceeding our expectations, and this is the response we get.' He added that he was fighting competition from imports from China, which use cheap, coal-fired energy to produce acetic acid with a carbon footprint eight times greater than his Hull plant. 'It feels like, instead of fighting our competitors, we're fighting our government,' he said. The factory is already lossmaking, he said, and the Environment Agency's decision meant he was having to pause all further investment decisions. The site employs more than 300 workers. The facility was opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1981, but the agency had decided to reclassify it as a 'new-build' factory as a result of the improved process. This means it will not receive its allowances from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) until 2028. Under the ETS, industrial plants are gifted allowances by the Environment Agency to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gases, beyond which they have to buy credits. The idea is to incentivise polluters to emit less. However, the agency's stance on Ineos Acetyls means that, for the next three years, it will have to buy all of its allowances on the market, which at present prices will be approximately £23 million. Ineos has been appealing to the Environment Agency, which operates the ETS system and is run under the umbrella of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Officials from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, the Department for Business & Trade and the Treasury, as well as the devolved governments, are also involved, Brooks said. 'It's a civil service soup of decision-making and it's very difficult to see who is actually making the decisions around this. 'So we're frustrated to get to the right people to talk to, we're frustrated it's taking so long to get what we believe is a slam dunk, and we're frustrated it's such a battle to get people to see common sense.' He described the Environment Agency's reaction as 'computer says no' because the Ineos technology is new. Ineos shut its refinery in Grangemouth after spending three years trying to obtain government subsidies to keep it open. Its decision to halt further investment in the Hull plant comes as Britain's biggest bioethanol plant nearby, owned by Associated British Foods, is threatened with closure after the US-UK trade deal allowed tariff-free US ethanol to enter the UK. The MP in Ineos Acetyls' neighbouring constituency, Kingston upon Hull West & Haltemprice, where many of the plant's workers live, is Emma Hardy, parliamentary under-secretary at Defra. Brooks said he had written to her and been told the decision is 'in the system'. Brooks has a meeting with officials from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero and the Department for Business & Trade this week, but Defra and the Environment Agency are not due to attend. The Environment Agency said it was the regulator for the UK ETS Scheme and was supporting the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero in its discussions with company representatives about activities at the site. On Saturday afternoon the Environment Agency contacted The Sunday Times again and said Ineos would continue to receive free allowances. It said that Ineos needed to provide 12 months of activity data under the new, cleaner technology for its allowances to reflect the switch.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Australian government loans $100m to install EV chargers and solar panels at Bunnings and Officeworks stores
Wesfarmers has secured a $100m loan with the government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation to install more solar panels, batteries and EV chargers at its Bunnings and Officeworks stores. The chief executive of the CEFC, Ian Learmonth, said he hoped the financing package at the high-profile stores would help create a 'ripple effect' through the commercial sector, where the uptake of rooftop solar has been slower than across residential properties. The financing package, to be paid back by Wesfarmers over seven years at a competitive interest rate, would help accelerate the group's decarbonisation plans, Learmonth said. 'As a leading Australian company with these household brand names, we can provide them with competitive finance that's allowing them to meet a business case to deliver roof top solar, battery storage, various energy efficiency initiatives and putting EV chargers in,' he said. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'There is potential growth in the commercial and industrial sectors. When people see Bunnings and Officeworks doing this, it adds a ripple effect where other large companies can be influenced by seeing what these companies are doing, and seeing their car parks with EV chargers.' He said large industrial roof spaces had not been as well utilised with solar panels as households, sometimes because either structurally the roofs were not strong enough, or agreements were complicated between tenants and building owners. He said: 'This is a great opportunity where we have the owner and operator – Wesfarmers – that we can work with.' The CEFC, with access to $32bn of government money, is a green bank that provides financing and loans to accelerate decarbonisation. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Australia's retail sector accounts for half of the energy use of all commercial properties and 5% of the country's emissions. CEFC said the solar and battery installations could also help to stabilise the country's electricity grid. Storing solar electricity in batteries to use in evening peaks, for example, can help even out power demand at times of higher electricity use. The executive director at the CEFC, Richard Lovell, said: 'By focusing on using its existing building assets to support renewable energy generation and energy storage, which are crucial for energy demand management, Wesfarmers continues to execute its active decarbonisation strategy to reduce its direct emissions.' Bunnings, Officeworks and WesCEF all have targets to reach net zero direct emissions by 2030, and to use 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2025. Wesfarmers will also use part of the CEFC finance to fund a study at its chemicals, energy and fertiliser business, WesCEF, into decarbonising the production of sodium cyanide – a chemical used in gold production. Work to install and upgrade facilities at Bunnings and Officeworks sites is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Wesfarmers chief financial officer, Anthony Gianotti, said the company welcomed the backing of the CEFC. 'We have long managed our businesses with climate and carbon awareness and we are committed to continuing to take action to reduce our impact on the environment.'
The National
2 days ago
- Business
- The National
UK drops mega-project to transport energy underwater from Morocco
The UK has decided to abandon a mega-project intended to bring solar and wind energy from Morocco for use by domestic consumers. It stepped back from a plan to transmit power generated in Tan-tan province in Morocco's south through what would have been the world's longest underwater power cable and is pivoting to other projects seen as less risky, British energy officials said. The British government, which is aiming to largely decarbonise its electricity sector by 2030, said it would no longer support the £25 billion ($33 billion) scheme due to a 'high level of inherent risk, related to both delivery and security". It said it believed domestic projects could offer better economic benefits. "The government has concluded that it is not in the UK national interest at this time to continue further consideration of support for the Morocco-UK Power Project," energy department minister Michael Shanks said in a written statement to parliament. He added the project did not clearly align strategically with the government's mission to create home-grown power in the UK. The project had originally been designated by the previous Conservative government as being of "national significance" but faced funding and regulatory hurdles. The Morocco-UK Power Project was announced by British company Xlinks in 2021 as part of a drive to create a global energy grid and ship power from places where it is cheap to produce to high-demand markets. Xlinks said the scheme would provide an equivalent of 8 per cent of Britain's current electricity needs, or about seven million homes. According to Xlinks, the project would have lowered wholesale electricity prices by 9 per cent and reduced the UK sector's carbon emissions by about 10 per cent. 'There are stronger alternative options that we should focus our attention on," Mr Shanks said, noting the inherent risk for taxpayers and consumers. The UK relies heavily on natural gas for its energy needs and aims to generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. It closed its last coal-fired power plant last year and offered some financing to a string of wind, solar and energy storage projects to help meet its goal. Such large-scale infrastructure projects typically rely on some government support or fixed prices per megawatt-hour. Xlinks had sought government backing with a 25-year contract guaranteeing a fixed price for the electricity, and has already received loans from investors including France's Total Energies and development bank Africa Finance Corporation. Xlinks board chairman, former Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis, said the company would continue pursuing the project despite the government's decision. 'We are hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed," he said, noting the company believed its project would offer electricity at cheaper rates and more quickly than other proposals, including to expand nuclear power. 'Over £100 million from leading energy sector players has already been spent on project development and demand from lenders to participate in the construction phase is greater than we require," he said. "We are now working to unlock the potential of the project and maximise its value for all parties in a different way." The Xlinks scheme is one of several projects that reflect how European countries are looking to North Africa for clean energy, testing whether it is cheaper to generate renewable power in ideal conditions far away and ship it, or to produce it domestically. The project would transmit electricity through nearly 4,000km of underwater cables encased in protective plastic and steel, with minimal transmission loss. If completed, it would be the world's largest interconnector, though smaller subsea cable networks already link the UK to neighbouring European countries. In addition, transmission projects in Tunisia and Egypt aim to link solar and wind farms to Italy and Greece. Britain is one of the leading players in renewable energy in Europe due to onshore and offshore wind power but still trails behind Scandinavian countries, which draw a large part of their electricity from wind and hydroelectric dams. The UK has set a target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels and is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050. The government recently pledged more than £30 billion to relaunch nuclear power as an essential step for energy security and its climate ambitions.
Mail & Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
The rise and roadblocks of South Africa's green hydrogen economy
Green hydrogen is hydrogen gas made from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power. (File photo) Africa is uniquely positioned to become a major player in President Cyril Ramaphosa stated this in his Green hydrogen is hydrogen gas made from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power. It is 'green' because its production does not create pollution or carbon emissions, unlike other types of hydrogen produced from fossil fuels. According to Ramaphosa, green hydrogen is a way to 'marry our continent's mineral riches with our renewable energy endowments' to decarbonise particularly heavy industries, to create jobs, to stimulate investment and to unlock inclusive growth across the various borders. However, While the government continues to tout the economic potential of green hydrogen, including job creation, industrialisation and GDP growth, the coalition said that community organisations want full transparency, proper consultation and evidence of tangible benefits on the ground. In his speech, Ramaphosa noted that there are more than 52 large-scale green hydrogen projects that have been launched across Africa. To date, South Africa has invested more than R1.5 billion into its Hydrogen South Africa programme. A These include the cost factor, capital intensity and the high costs of financing relative to other energy sources, such as natural gas. H2Watch said that, in 2023, civil society had tabled its 'However, fears such as redirection from communities of water resources, displacement, destruction of marine life, environmental harm, lack of consultation and public resources being funnelled into risky, export-driven projects loomed larger.' After the release of the 'Over the last few years, we have seen the green hydrogen bubble bursting, both here and abroad,' noted Fatima Vally, the director of programmes with Vally said that a number of the green hydrogen developments that former minister of public works Patricia de Lille designated as special infrastructure projects in December 2022 'have either stalled or been paused'. H2Watch said that in an April 2024 letter to Macua, AngloAmerican indicated that 'a decision was made to demobilise the In July last year, the developer Enertrag, that was to establish an Mail & Guardian's enquiries. H2Watch said that, in an email response in March, a Sasol official reportedly stated that while green hydrogen 'represents a credible and potentially lucrative industrial horizon for South Africa in coming decades (particularly as a mid-horizon export sector and as a long-horizon replacement for gas), green H2 will not be imminently economical and will not solve our near-term transition challenge'. Matebello Motloung, Sasol's group media relations manager, told the M&G that it continued to view green hydrogen as a 'compelling, long-term opportunity for South Africa, essential both for sustainable industrialisation and for positioning the country as a global clean energy leader'. 'Our abundant renewable energy potential supports this vision. However, while we affirm that the narrative is correct, success depends fundamentally on timing.' The commercial-scale viability of most green-hydrogen applications is still several years away, Motloung said. 'That said, Sasol is taking deliberate steps — responsibly scaling up for when market, technology and regulatory conditions align, balancing carbon reduction with economic growth and shareholder value. 'A clear example is our Sasolburg facility, which is demonstrating renewables-powered electrolysis and low-emission hydrogen production at scale. This facility is laying the groundwork for a broader domestic green hydrogen economy.' Sasol remains firmly committed to green hydrogen, viewing it as a strategic, longer-term mission. 'We are pragmatic, recognising that full-scale, commercially viable deployment is some years ahead. We are investing now, with Sasolburg serving as a proof-point, and will continue to build the ecosystem. And we will scale in line with customer requirements.' According to the coalition, green hydrogen projects are stalling and not coming on stream. 'Unfortunately, government ministers and President Cyril Ramaphosa speak glowingly about green hydrogen projects, giving an impression that the developments are going ahead,' Vally said. 'Stonewalling and revelations that the projects were no longer proceeding is the response that community organisations that are part of … H2Watch have received when they enquired — away from the glare of the media — on what was happening in their localities.' The 'fragility' of South Africa's green hydrogen vision reflects global developments in the sector, H2Watch said. In Europe and Australia, green hydrogen projects have been delayed or scaled back due to high costs, weak demand and uncertain returns. Only about 10% of projects worldwide have reached a final investment decision. 'In China, electrolyser production is being cut due to oversupply and low market demand, raising doubts about the sector's near-term viability,' it said, noting that electrolysers are critical devices used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. The coalition maintained that unless corrected, the green hydrogen push threatens to replicate extractive, exclusionary development models witnessed in mining and large-scale renewable energy projects. Special economic zones — 'Worse still, civil society warns that South Africa may take on significant public debt to bankroll speculative projects that might never materialise. H2Watch is concerned that project announcements are always loud, yet the details — especially those affecting people's land, water and livelihoods — are not discussed openly.'
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Furnace fired up at £53m St Helens' sustainable glass factory
An experimental furnace that can make glass and other materials using lower carbon fuels has been fired up for the first time at a £54m research facility on technology developed by manufacturer Glass Future is being tested inside a building on James Roby Way, St Helens that was developed by the firm to carry out industrial trials. It is capable of producing up to 30 tonnes of glass per day, including flat sheets used for windows, as well as Kelly, CEO of Glass Futures Ltd said he hoped the centre would "become a beacon for decarbonisation in energy-intensive industries". The 165,000 sq ft (5,0292 sq m) site currently employs about 60 people, but the firm said there could be the potential for another 40 Kelly said he believed there was no other facility in the world that could produce the glass products using "such a wide range of sustainable fuel sources, including electric melting".Glass Futures is a not-for-profit company that has received funding from central Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, pressed the button to light the furnace said the launch showed St Helens was "again at the cutting edge of global innovation" after boasting nearly two centuries of industrial heritage. David Baines, MP for St Helens North, said it was "a milestone moment" for the borough, which had a 250-year history of glass research and Rimmer, MP for St Helens South and Whiston, described it as "a hugely exciting moment" for the town and a "huge step forward towards a sustainable future". Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
