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• 
  GE Vernova invests in Xlinks

  2 May 2024

  US-headquartered GE Vernova has invested $10.2m in Xlinks First, the investment company established by UK-based startup Xlinks to deliver the $18bn Morocco-UK power project.

  This investment equates to a minority shareholding in the company, which is developing a project comprising wind and solar generation as well as battery storage, with a total combined capacity of 3,600MW, to be transmitted from Morocco to the UK.

  Xlinks said the investment will “further accelerate delivery and buildout of the project”.

  GE Vernova joins at least four other investors in the project.

  Other investors include Africa Finance Corporation, which invested $14.1m in April; Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), $30.7m; the UK’s Octopus Energy, $6.23m; and France’s Total Energies, $25.4m.

  The planned electricity generation and battery storage facilities, located in south Morocco, will be connected exclusively to the UK via 4,000-kilometre high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) cables.

  In December last year, Xlinks signed a contract with Canada-headquartered WSP to provide technical advisory services for the project.

  WSP will support Xlinks with route optimisation, power systems and interface management for the plan to construct the project.

  The Morocco-UK power project entails building 10,500MW solar and wind farms in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oued Noun region and sending 3,600MW a day of energy exclusively to the UK via four 3,800-kilometre HVDC cables.

  The HVDC network is envisaged to run from the UK’s south coast, passing France, Spain and Portugal undersea and then onshore to a planned solar and wind energy project in Morocco.

  This renewable energy-sourced electricity amounts to nearly 8% of the UK’s current requirements, equivalent to powering 7 million homes by 2030.

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Awards buoy Oman’s green hydrogen strategy

  2 May 2024

  Oman has awarded two additional land blocks designed for the development of green hydrogen projects.

  The latest land block concenssions in Dhofar were awarded to two consortiums. One comprises a team of France's EDF Group and EDF Renewables, with partners Japanese Electric Power Development Company (J-Power) and the UK-headquartered Yamna Company.

  Another team comprises UK investment firm Actis and Australian metals firm Fortescue.

  This takes the total awarded land blocks through the public auction process spearheaded by Hydrogen Oman (Hydrom) to four, exclusive of the four legacy initiatives that were signed or agreed prior to the land auction programme.

  *Budgets are MEED estimates if not publicly disclosed  Sources: MEED, Hydrom

  A limited gas supply and network provides a strong incentive for Oman to build a green hydrogen-centric downstream sector that will seek to provide feedstock to domestic industrial plants as well as generate derivatives destined for the local and export markets.

  The country's stakeholders have put in place a strategy, including setting up an infrastructure company catering to these projects, with a target to generate 1 to 1.5 millon tonnes per annum (mtpa) of green hydrogen by 2030, and an ultimate goal to reach between 7.5 and 8.5 mtpa by 2050.

  The blueprint envisages a complete green hydrogen ecosystem, from the production of renewable energy, its distribution to electrolysis plants, hydrogen derivatives conversion plants all the way to storage and export terminals.

  The Omani ports' exsiting relationships with European stakeholders and a growing aliance with other countries could also help seal future offtake agreements for the planned facilities.

  As things stand, the consortiums that won the land auctions and the legacy initiative partners provide much gravitas to Oman's green hydrogen programme. They comprise energy old guards such as BP and Shell that are keen to decarbonise, private companies aiming to balance their investment portfolios with clean energy investments, and offtakers or trading companies that are grappling with net-zero targets.

  Yet the most obvious question remains. Given the eye-popping foreign direct investments these complex projects entail, it is likely that not all the planned projects will achieve final investment decision within three years, which seems to be the window required for the projects to start production before 2030.

  But like any emerging industry, the risks can only be properly assessed and mitigated as the first projects move toward the execution phase.

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Operationalise loss and damage fund says Al Jaber

  2 May 2024

  Steps must be taken to ensure a fully functioning Loss and Damage Fund, following an agreement at Cop28 to operationalise the fund, according to Cop28 President Sultan Al Jaber.

  “While delivering an agreement to operationalise the Fund at Cop28 was a huge breakthrough for climate progress more needs to be done,” Al Jaber said during the first board meeting of the fund on 30 April.

  The Loss and Damage Fund, which was first proposed in the 1990s, aims to help developing countries cope with the impact of extreme global warming events such as droughts and floods.

  Al Jaber cited the need to build a fully functioning fund, which will be endorsed at Cop29 in Baku, which will be “disbursing funds soon after and a Fund that delivers lasting, positive, socio-economic impact for decades to come."

  "While it took over three decades to establish this Fund, climate change has not stood still. Every region of the world is now vulnerable…the impacts of climate change are a clear and present danger to lives and livelihoods everywhere."

  Al Jaber’s message resonates closer home given the recent storms hitting the UAE, which brought some emirates to a standstill in mid-April.

  Heavy rainfall inundated Dubai and the Northern Emirates on 16 April, causing flooding and significant property and infrastructure damages.

  A total of $792m has been pledged for loss and damage funding arrangements – of which $662m has been pledged to the Fund to date – including a $100m contribution each from the UAE and Germany and $75m from the UK.   

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Norwegian firm to develop Oman wave energy project

  2 May 2024

  Oman's shipping and logistics firm Asyad Group has signed an agreement with Norwegian wave energy company Havkraft to explore the development of wave energy.

  It is the first project of its kind in the sultanate and across the region.

  Havkraft is known globally for pioneering technologies that enable the production of renewable electricity from wave energy.

  According to Havkraft Middle East adviser Matt Minshall, wave power has the potential to be the “most eco-friendly and cost-effective route to net zero”.

  Oceans cover 78% of the earth’s and waves have the potential for energy with the reliability of a constantly charged battery, and have remained untouched, according to Minshall.

  The Norwegian startup reached a breakthrough in 2013 when it successfully developed the Havkraft Wave Energy Converter (H-Wec), which is suited for "all types of wave climates globally."

  Since then, the company has launched several solutions, including the deployment of a floating power-plant powered entirely by wave energy.

  Havkraft envisages a supersystem – a combination of solar, wind and wave power – to achieve a more resilient and sustainable energy mix while reducing dependence on expensive storage.

  Photo: Asyad

  https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11732539/main.jpeg

  Jennifer Aguinaldo
• 
  Saudi Arabia foregoes April nuclear deadline

  2 May 2024

  

   

  Register for MEED's guest programme 

  The 30 April bid deadline for nuclear technology providers to submit bids for a contract to build Saudi Arabia’s Duwaiheen nuclear power plant project has passed without any clear indication of a new tender closing date, according to two sources familiar with the project.

  “The understanding is that the tendering process requires a level of [political] stability in the region. This seems like an automatic postponement for the project tendering process,” one of the sources said.

  Companies that have been invited and are expected to bid for the contract include:

  • China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC, China)
  • Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco, South Korea)
  • Rosatom (Russia) 
  • EDF Group (France)

  The project is in the so-called bid invitation specification stage, and there are no direct negotiations between the client and the potential bidders at this stage, MEED reported in July 2023.

  Saudi Arabia plans to build a large-scale nuclear power plant facility as part of its energy diversification agenda. 

  However, the ongoing conflict between Israel, Gaza and other neighbouring countries appears to be a major contributing factor in the extended procurement timeline of the Duwaiheen nuclear plant project.

  In October, an industry source said the ongoing conflict in Gaza is not likely to help advance negotiations between the countries with a key stake in the project.

  It is understood that Riyadh is using its nuclear power plant project, along with its plan to enrich uranium sources as part of its industrial strategy, as a bargaining chip with the US government. The White House is pushing for the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and opposed to uranium enrichment.

  A month before the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas started, it was reported that senior Palestinian officials were in Riyadh for talks with senior Saudi and US officials.

  According to a BBC report in September 2023, the Palestinians were negotiating for hundreds of millions of dollars and more control of land in the occupied West Bank in the event of a three-way deal between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US.

  On 14 October, Saudi Arabia suspended the talks on potentially normalising ties with Israel, which it never officially recognised as an independent state.

  Consultants

  Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company received three bids for the project management consultancy package for the nuclear plant project last year.

  MEED understands the following companies submitted proposals for the contract:

  • Atkins (UK/Canada)
  • Worley (Australia)
  • Assystems (France)

  Two of the three bidders have had previous engagements with the Saudi nuclear energy project. 

  2.8GW project

  The Duwaiheen nuclear power plant is expected to be procured using a traditional design-and-build model. 

  In September 2016, MEED reported that Saudi Arabia was carrying out technical and economic feasibility studies for the first reactors, and was also looking at possible locations for the kingdom’s first nuclear project, a 2.8GW facility.

  A site at Khor Duwaiheen, on the coast near the UAE and Qatari borders, was subsequently chosen for the first project.

  In March 2022, Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of a holding company – understood to be the Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company – to develop nuclear power projects in the country to produce electricity, desalinate seawater and support thermal energy applications.

  ---

  MEED's April 2024 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

  > GVT & ECONOMY: Saudi Arabia seeks diversification amid regional tensions
  > BANKING: Saudi lenders gear up for corporate growth
  > UPSTREAM: Aramco spending drawdown to jolt oil projects
  > DOWNSTREAM: Master Gas System spending stimulates Saudi downstream sector
  > POWER: Riyadh to sustain power spending
  > WATER: Growth inevitable for the Saudi water sector
  > CONSTRUCTION: Saudi gigaprojects propel construction sector
  > TRANSPORT: Saudi Arabia’s transport sector offers prospects

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  Jennifer Aguinaldo