In new research published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, they show that electrifying Ukraine’s steel sector to have near zero emissions would generate $164 billion worth of additional gross value added, compared to a pathway based on traditional coal-based steelmaking.

Electrifying eastern Ukraine’s coal-fired forges to run on low carbon renewables could radically also shift the nation’s steel industry from the coal fields of the Donbas towards western and southern regions, and accelerate economic growth.

Robust production of green steel would have ripple effects across Ukraine’s entire economy, argues lead author Dr Alli Devlin, from Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science

“The vast destruction of Ukraine’s iron and steelmaking assets represents a stark opportunity to rebuild a thriving industrial sector which is independent of fossil fuels”, writes Dr Devlin.

“Ukraine is well positioned to supply European green steel markets, which will provide employment throughout the value chain, and deliver returns to the economy well beyond the original investments.”

Steel makes up a big chunk of Ukraine’s economy. Before Putin’s psychosis, its 21.4 million tonnes produced in 2021 ranked Ukraine as the world’s 14th biggest producer.  But its steel is among the world’s dirtiest, with 2020’s 48 Megatonnes of CO_{2 equivalent}, making up 15% of the country’s entire carbon emissions.

Ukraine wants to join the Eurpoean Union. When it succeeds, it will become subject to the trading block’s EU Green Deal’ target, which mandates for steel at near zero emissions by 2030.

Curiously, south Wales nurtured eastern Ukraine’s early history of producing iron, then steel in industrial volumes, first for Imperial Russia, then for the Soviet Union.

Donetsk, capital of the Donbas coalfield, was named Yuzovka for nearly 50 years until 1919, in honour of Merthyr Tydfil-born John Hughes. Hughes was the forgemaster who sailed from Britain in 1869with over 100 of his countrymen, miners and skilled iron smelters, to set up one of Imperial Russia’s first high-volume iron furnaces.

A Welsh-speaking community in eastern Ukraine with an English-language school and churches dedicated to saints David & George, prospered until 1919. In that year Russia’s new Bolshevik government nationalised the town’s iron works, forcing many families to return to Wales.

So great was Donetsk’s affinity with Britain that, after Putin’s annexation of the Donas region in 2014, locals even jokily campaigned to have Britain assume sovereignty of the city, in view of the region’s debt to John Hughes.

In their new paper, Dr Devlin & colleagues suggest new electrified steel mills should be situated close to cross-border rail hubs and close to the best sources for solar & wind energy.

This strategy would significantly increase demand for land and sea transport services, re-routing them towards Western/EU markets, and also create new demand for the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia for fossil-free fuels.

The report lays out an investment bill of $62 billion over 20 years for Ukraine’s full recovery in steelmaking: $46bn for renewable energy kit, $7bn for energy storage, and $9 billion for electric furnaces. Based on recent performance, the team believe every $1 invested in Ukraine’s basic metals industry would yield an additional $3.28 elsewhere in the economy.

The World Bank estimates that Ukraine’s full post-war recovery and reconstruction needs will require $486 billion.

The Oxford paper says Ukraine’s green steel requirements amount to only 6% of the country’s total $486 bn post-war reconstruction bill, as calculated by the World Bank for the nation’s first decade free of Russian attack.

Ultimately, says the paper, Ukraine could provide the world’s template for the urgently needed transition towards low-emission steel . Now comprising around 8% of total global emissions, steel ranks top of all human production sectors, at 2.8 Gigatonnes of CO₂ per year. In comparison, air transport accounts for only 2.5%.

The war-ravaged country last year outranked England in the new capacityof onshore wind capacity which it commissioned.

With prospective international donors and private investors gathering in Berlin today and tomorrow for the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 , the Oxford researchers hope that green steel will be high on the agenda.

“This research is not just another feasibility study”, declared report co-author Dr Vlad Mykhnenko, the university’s associate professor of sustainable urban development.

“It is a call to action for steelmakers, investors, and politicians to ensure that after the war we really build back better.

“Green steel would become a sustainable growth promotion machine for Ukraine’s post-war development, and would generate almost twice as much economic growth than the traditional coal-based steel. This means more income and higher living standards for all Ukrainians”.

Through its research commercialisation arm Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the number one filer of patents among Britain’s universities.  It’s ranked first in Britain too for commercial spin-offs, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of those have sprung into life since 2019.

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Eickholt will step down on 31 July and leave the company on 30 September, the parent company Siemens Energy announced this morning. He was appointed the turbine maker’s head only in April 2022, with a brief to reverse cost over-runs and to repair fractured supply chains.

Replacing the 62 year old will be Vinod Philip, 50, head of global functions at Siemens Energy. Philip currently oversees a palette of functions including IT, purchasing, innovation, logistics and project management.

Today’s announcement by the parent makes no mention of Tim Dawidowsky, appointed as Siemens-Gamesa’s chief operating officer in 2022, within two months of Eickholt’s arrival.

Under the pair’s tenure, Siemens Gamesa has continued to struggle with quality issues and sustained financial losses.  Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch today absolved Eickholt from blame for the former, declaring that “the causes of the quality problems did not fall under his tenure”.

Bruch said that Eickholt’s departure was part of the company’s multi-year restructuring plan as “the time has now come for a generational change at Siemens Gamesa”.

Continuing losses at the turbines division dictates the sharpening of strategy identified in today’s overhaul. While continuing to make larger maritime structures, it will now target developers and generators operating onshore farms in stable regulatory environments, chiefly in Europe and the US. Break-even by 2026 is the financial goal, to be followed by profit margins topping 10% at an unspecified date.

Although its plan meentions unspecified job cuts, the parent Siemens Energy reaffirmed its commitment to both maritime and onshore turbines, allaying concerns of potential divestment or closure of wind business segments.

The parent confirmed that coastal factories making maritime – and thus bigger – turbines in Cuxhaven, Aalborg and Le Havre will continue to ramp up their capacities, a move the parent sees as essential.

Continuing disruptions to production and resulting flaws led to financial setbacks for Siemens Gamesa in 2023, including a loss of €4.6bn (£3.94bn). At the time, Bruch said: “The strong performance of our other business areas gives me confidence in our company’s ability to put businesses back on a strong footing.”

Siemens Energy’s shares surged 13% on today’s announcement.  At group level, it declared expectations of better profit margins, and adjusting its 2024 projections for sales to rise as much 12% during the year.

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Energy Systems Catapult was launched in 2015 by Innovate UK, the arms-length governmental body steering marketable scientific research.

The Catapult has since built a team of nearly 300 experts across energy technologies, including engineering, consumption, financial & commercial management and energy policy. It draws on sector-leading test facilities & modelling tools, as well as data amassed in more than 500 research projects.

Dr Cocker’s 28 years of industrial experience includes spells with innovators and some of the UK’s biggest energy companies.  In the past decade he chaired both the Energy Innovation Centre and the Energy & Utilities Industrial Partnership.

He said: “The Catapult has created an impressive track record helping promising clean technology businesses to bring innovative energy products and services to market.

“With just 26 years left to hit our Net Zero target, this is an incredibly important and exciting time. We are seeing companies aiming to transform the energy system, making the transition to a zero-carbon economy easier, cheaper, more accessible, and simpler for consumers.

“There are a host of economic opportunities that innovators – large and small – can seize as we make the move to Net Zero. I look forward to helping the Catapult team to support these talented innovators to reshape the sector.”

The Catapult’s chief executive Guy Newey said: “Tony will be a fantastic addition. He brings a wealth of sector experience and expertise that will help bolster our mission to accelerate Net Zero energy innovation.

Dr Cocker will step into the role previously held since 2015 by Nick Winser CBE. The departing boss said: “Energy Systems Catapult has come so far since it was founded. We have helped deliver economic growth, supporting hundreds of companies to create new products and services that will be key to getting us to Net Zero.

“In our work in Local Area Energy Planning or Warm Home Prescription, we have ignited a spark in the innovation space to create a better approach that benefits both consumers and innovators

Based in Birmingham, Energy Systems Catapult is part of a network of nine world-leading technology and innovation centres. It fosters collaboration between industry, government, research organisations and academia.

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Cable maker XLCC has signed papers to turn EdF’s defunct, decommissioned former nuclear plant at Hunterston, on the Ayrshire coast, into Europe’s biggest fabrication spot for high value, long distance DC cables, or ‘interconnectors’ as the jargon calls them.

Demand is booming worldwide in the cables business.  XLCC reckons its revamped factory will need up to 900 top-skilled staff.  Now it is setting up a centre to train them.

The manufacturer has signed a lease on premises in Irvine, north Ayrshire, to house a dedicated hub for passing tech savvy to the next generation.  Primed with its first students – pictured, the training hub will be in full swing by June.

Underpinning XLCC’s ambitions is its relationship to Essex-based Xlinks, the giga-project using £16 Billion from investors including Octopus Energy and its boss Greg Jackson among others, to port current from southern Morocco’s solar & wind farms via four 3,000 kilometre DC links under the Atlantic littoral, linking with Britain’s National Grid on landfall in north Devon.

Xlinks announced last month that industry alumnus James Humfrey is to be its new CEO.

XLCC’s lease on its 12,500 sq ft training site in Irvine was secured with the support of Scottish Enterprise, which provided a £200,000 grant towards its fit-out. The new centre will be XLCC’s main training hub for its cable jointer apprentices and workers in the Hunterston factory.

The specialist firm says the training centre’s location offers chances to develop relationships with employers in Scotland’s industrial south-west. These, says XLCC, can benefit to become the foundation of its preferred suppliers when the Hunterston factory reaches peak output later this decade.

The first cohort of the cable-maker’s skilled tradesfolk for tomorrow began their courses in October. Apprentices are working toward NC, HNC or HND in Electrical Engineering accreditations, depending on previous qualifications, and on day release. The course has been designed in partnership with Ayrshire College.

Recent board level appointments at XLCC include engineering leader Vegar Syrtveit Larsen’s arrival as its chief technology officer.

Company operations director Alan Mathers said: “The Irvine facility gives us a platform to deliver a very high standard of training for our apprentices, with a focus on cable jointing.

“We are proud to be playing a central role in stimulating economic growth in north Ayrshire and making a positive difference to community life.”

Adrian Gillespie, CEO of Scottish Enterprise, said: “We continue to work closely with XLCC as it seeks to address the growing global demand for HVDC subsea cables, themselves crucial for the energy transition. The establishment of this new Training Centre is an important milestone as the company seeks to deliver its ambitious plans for Scotland, by helping to ensure it has the highly skilled workforce it needs now and in the future.

“This transformational project also provides significant economic opportunities for the local supply chain in Ayrshire and beyond.”

Frank Mitchell, chair of Skills Development Scotland, said: “Ayrshire has a long and proud history of passing on skills through apprenticeships. In investing in these fantastic new facilities, XLCC are offering future generations of local talent a direct route into high-quality enduring careers. This project demonstrates the value that forward-thinking employers place on apprenticeship pathways, generating the skills needed to deliver a Zero Carbon future”.

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Start-up high voltage cable-maker XLCC has brought appointed the Norwegian national, pictured, who was most recently building advanced systems at rival cable-maker Nexans.

Aiming to manufacture a world-beating 4,000 kilometres a year of sub-sea connectivity at peak on the Ayrshire’s coast, the firm will also manage laying, protecting and repairing cables.  Production is forecast to begin in 2026, and the facility is expected to support 900 local jobs when fully operational.

Larsen’s appointment follows last month’s selection of  Trevor Nash and Patrick Beringer as the cable-maker’s chief commercial officer and general counsel respectively.

Among XLCC’s most important clients will be Xlinks, the Essex-based venture aiming to deliver its £16 billion project importing solar PV and wind-generated clean electricity to Devon over a 3,800 kilometres subsea link from the deserts of southern Morocco.  The two companies have adjacent registered addresses in a Billericay office complex.

Xlinks counts among its investors both Octopus Energy. The supplier’s boss Greg Jackson also participates privately.

While at Nexans, Larsen led teams of up to 1,000 professionals. XLCC says he commands unparalleled expertise in HVDC technology and the nuances of scaling high-impact technical projects worldwide.

About his new role, Larsen said: “Joining XLCC represents a significant milestone in my career. I am passionate about leveraging my global manufacturing and technical insights to revolutionize the renewable energy landscape with cutting-edge HVDC cable solutions. I look forward to driving XLCC’s mission forward, alongside a talented team, to strengthen the renewable energy supply chain.”

The cable-maker’s CEO Ian Douglas said: “Vegar’s arrival at XLCC brings us not only his exceptional technical skills but also a wealth of strategic industry insights”.

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The firm today appointed energy engineers Worley to oversee design of the Padeswood factory’s conversion in north Wales, in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group.

Converting the producer to CCUS is earmarked to sequester as much as 800,000 tonnes of CO2 every year, nominally equivalent to taking nearly a third of a million cars off British roads.

The partners’ work on their front end engineering & design (FEED) contract will support Heidelberg towards a final investment decision, with conversion scheduled to begin early next year.

Cement production is highly carbon-intensive, and hard to abate with renewable energy or other low CO₂ sources.  Heidelberg look on CCUS as essential to reducing their product’s harmful emissions.  It is already working to convert its plant in Brevik, Norway to the protocol.

The Flintshire plant has been selected by the UK government as a Track 1 carbon capture project, a cornerstone venture within the north west’s HyNet industrial cluster.  Planning approval and financing grants are yet to be secured.

After natural gas is burned in making the cement, captured carbon dioxide will be pumped more than 32km through HyNet’s pipeline, to a store 1 km below the seabed of Liverpool Bay.

Heidelberg’s outline assumption is Padeswood’s CCUS stack will create over 50 fulltime jobs at the plant, and clear a trail to thousands more in UK carbon neutral cement.

Its UK CEO Simon Willis said: “This is a decisive next step in our plans to install carbon capture technology at Padeswood.  Once operational, it will provide Net Zero building materials for major projects across the country, enabling us to help decarbonise the construction industry and meet our ambition to become a Net Zero business.”

Worley’s team will carry out the engineering design through its teams based in four UK cities.  Marino Barbi, the company’s senior UK vice president, said “Padeswood is a landmark project in the UK’s decarbonisation strategy and aligns with our commitment to contributing to a more sustainable world.”

“Securing this contract is not only testament of the strength of our relationships with Heidelberg Materials UK and MHI but also reflects our execution of the pre-FEED and our team’s expertise in delivering FEED services for first of a kind CCUS facilities”.

Heidelberg Materials UK has committed to reaching net zero carbon by 2050.

Its CEO Simon Willis said: “This is a decisive next step in our plans to install carbon capture technology at Padeswood. Once operational, it will provide net zero building materials for major projects across the country, enabling us to help decarbonise the construction industry.

More details on the £400 million Padeswood conversion are here.  Heidelberg Materials was known until 2007 as Hanson.

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Contestants in the Local Industrial Decarbonisation contest submitted their ideas over three months last summer.

Run in partnership with new technology promoters Innovate UK, today’s awards deliberately seek to favour small businesses operating outside Britain’s main industrial centres, as they adopt lower-carbon techniques. D-ESNZ officials estimate such companies account for 55% of the country’s industrial emissions.

Today’s winners include ventures centred on:

• Shoreham Port Industrial Cluster, an established hub – pictured – with 175 businesses based on 110 acres. These will explore ways to reduce emissions and improve local air quality by working with local authorities
• The Industrial Decarbonisation office for Northern Ireland (ID-NI), which will develop plans to help local businesses increase their productivity, at the same time cutting emissions
• Decarbonising the Midlands Aerospace Cluster (DMAC), who will work with key players in the region’s aerospace supply chain, identifying manufacturing processes that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and potential solutions.

Lord Callanan, minister for energy efficiency and green finance, announced that new government money today becomes available under the IETF for more small enterprises wishing to follow suit, by swapping energy expertise in clusters.

“With over £190m available for businesses to make the move to cleaner, cheaper energy – and with 12 projects benefiting directly today – we are delivering the support they need to decarbonise,” said the minister.

Over 150 projects have already benefitted from IETF grants, the minister noted.

From sponsors Innovate UK, competition director Bryony Livesey said:

“Today’s announcement shows the keenness of businesses to collaborate on plans to decarbonise by forming local industrial clusters and working together to drive down emissions”, she said. “This is a crucial step in tackling decarbonisation at dispersed sites on the UK’s journey towards net zero by 2050”.

More details here.

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The partners’ low carbon network will heat ovens and provide power for food manufacturers collocated on a  2 million square foot business campus in the east Midlands city.

Industrial cooks and food processing firms pile on the calories with their giant energy appetites. Heating and cooling, in support of prepping, storing and processing ingredients, in heating spaces and ovens and keeping their output edible, all add to food-makers’ energy girth.

SmartParc’s carbs-shedding, energy-sharing recipe is first to use wind and solar electricity within its industrial sheds to foster its food-making tenants’ sustainable production.

The Derby scheme incorporates industrial ammonia chillers and heat pumps, which will pass clean energy through 9.8km of cooling pipes across the estate. The equipment will enable a diversified cold glycol cooling duty of 11MW, at -6°C.

Next, by capturing waste heat from the refrigeration plant, clean power of up to 10MW will supply water heated to 72°C across the park.

Carbon savings approximating to 27,000 tonnes every year this decade are likely to result from the cooling loop alone.  Adding in the heat network, a further 3,500 tonnes per year is on the cards, avoided when compared to gas boilers. The upside is potentially double that total.

Though sounding daunting to lay ears, ammonia employed to chill the innovative network cannot ramp up global warming, in contrast to climate-harming synthetic hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in conventional large-scale cooling.

Veolia designed the DerbySEGRo pipe network. The firm will operate heating, cooling and high voltage distribution across the 155-acre site. Its agreement for client SmartParc includes managing metering and billing, and round-the-clock engineering support.

John Abraham, the combine’s chief operating officer for industrial energy, observed: “Reducing the carbon footprint of food production is of key importance as we advance to Net Zero.

“Veolia’s work on this new state of the art site highlights what can be achieved today. By collaborating with food manufacturers we can implement innovative solutions that both support essential food production, and deliver major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions”.

Phil Lovell, Abraham’s equivalent at the estate developer, responded:  “SmartParc are excited to be delivering this pioneering energy solution at SmartParc SEGRO Derby, the first of its kind in the food industry.

“The heating and cooling network is a critical part of SmartParc’s sustainable, collaborative model for food production”, Lovell went on. “The pipe network and energy centre we have completed will benefit all tenants on the park, ensuring significant carbon reductions and cost savings.”

Veolia has set itself a goal to become the benchmark company for ecological transformation. Working on five continents, through its complementary work in waste, energy and water, the group designs and deploys solutions contributing to a radical turnaround of the planet’s current malaise. In 2022, the group produced 44 terawatt hours of energy and recovered 61 million tonnes of waste. It also provided 111 million people with drinking water and 97 million with sanitation.

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The city’s Blackburn Meadows renewable energy park is home to pioneering innovations headed by E.ON, assisted by Chesterfield Special Cylinders, the University of Sheffield’s Energy Institute  and partners across the region.

The project explores ways to generate green hydrogen, for use by the city’s steelmakers and south Yorkshire’s energy-intensive industries.

Strong desire from steelmakers has been unearthed in the project’s early stages to find a cleaner alternative to natural gas in firing forges and industrial processes.  Operational findings from the trial’s three first manufacturers is that sustainable hydrogen maintains output quality, at the same time cutting emissions by 41.8% against natural gas.  The three debutant manufacturers are on course to save 3,500 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

£1 million of Government funding , from D-ESNZ’s £ 1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) backs the Yorkshire partners’ desk assessment of commercial and engineering needs in generating, transporting and using hydrogen, as well as developing its commercial offer to industrial customers. If that is successful, the next stage will be a technical pilot project at the Blackburn Meadows sewage processor site, on the city’s fringes at Tinsley.  Expansion could follow, if the project is taken forward to a full commercial demonstration.

E.ON leads the initiative alongside Chesterfield Special Cylinders, Glass Futures, University of Sheffield Energy Institute and Sheffield Forgemasters.

Chris Lovatt, E.ON’s UK Solutions’ chief operating officer, said: “Hydrogen will play a significant role in our energy future, mainly powering energy-intensive industries and long-distance transport. It sits alongside the drive for heat pumps meeting domestic heating needs and a greater role for district energy schemes in urban areas.

“The first stages of our trial show the technology works and can support the industry’s needs for alternative fuels as well as Sheffield’s wider sustainability ambitions. We know there are challenges to overcome before this becomes a viable solution for industry but the success so far has been rewarded by further funding from Government to explore the potential of green hydrogen as a solution for Sheffield’s world-renowned steelmakers.”

From Sheffield Uni’s Energy Institute, Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian responded: “We are thrilled that this project has received funding from the UK Government to progress to a second stage.

The work we’re doing for this project at our Energy Institute, including computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) modelling and in-depth hydrogen research, will help bring us a step closer to vital industrial decarbonisation and beyond.

 “It is increasingly important to get the technological solutions we need to reduce emissions right first time, so carrying out these detailed and industry-supported projects at the University of Sheffield Energy Institute means we can test, scale and ultimately implement these alternative solutions as efficiently as possible.”

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Energised with the sum stumped up by the eight-year Faraday Battery Challenge, the project – labouring under the moniker DEBUT-WM – or the even worse Digital Enhanced Battery Ubiquitous Training-West Midlands –  yokes experts from arguably Britain’s most automotive-friendly universities, local government and industry to deliver pioneering level 2 and level 3 training.

University College Birmingham, WMG at the University of Warwick, Cranfield University and commercial firm RAVMAC will jointly deliver it, supported by partners including Jaguar Land Rover. DEBUT-WM runs for 18 months, starting next month.

The project leader Rosa Wells heads University College Birmingham’s School of Engineering, Digital & Sustainable Construction.

She said: “DEBUT-WM is vital in supporting our region, as well as contributing towards wider Net Zero ambitions. As a university that delivering education from apprentice to postgraduate level, we are in a unique position to lead this project, providing a sustainable training model that meets the needs of learners, employers, wider industry and our region”

The programme will offer an ambitious blend of traditional physical training alongside advanced immersive digital technologies such as augmented, virtual and mixed reality.

Learners will be taught skills across battery manufacturing, repairing, recycling and reusing that will support them in roles such as technicians, production, maintenance, engineering and quality assurance.

RAVMAC are Alvechurch-based advisors on digital-enhanced manufacturing, including for vehicle and transport engineering.  Technical director Mark McNally observed: “DEBUT-WM builds on established leading regional technical expertise and capabilities.

“Our digital learning environments will be core to the design of the training programme, enabling learners to navigate the whole battery manufacturing process.”

As part of DEBUT-WM, the partners will target industry organisations, functions and individuals directly involved in fostering a workforce’s  expertise in relation to batteries.

The programme will use kit and knowledge developed by Warwick Uni’s WMG unit, already used in cutting-edge battery research, in manufacturing and in wider electrification.   These dovetail into broader accreditations provided by the National Electrification Skills Framework, an initiative spearheaded by WMG. Learners will thus acquire marketable, recognised skills in electrification systems.

WMG’s dean Professor Robin Clark said: “Up to 91% of all automotive manufacturing roles require some electrification training. The electrification revolution is expanding at pace to sectors such as rail and aerospace.

“With up to 80% of Britain’s workforce for 2035 already in work, the filling of electrification roles will depend on us delivering higher level skills through training programmes such as DEBUT-WM.”

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street chipped in: “This is a project with tremendous potential – supporting our region’s priorities whilst ensuring local people have the skills they need to succeed and secure high quality job opportunities in the months and years ahead. Together, we can offer the chance for residents to up-skill in preparation for the jobs and economy of the future.”

DEBUT-WM has established the Battery Training Advisory Group (BTAG) to input into the ongoing development, delivery and future of the programme.

Other partners include the West Midlands Combined Authority, Microsoft, Delta Cosworth, Manufacturing Technology Centre, and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology.

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The revival in homegrown production of PV cells & modules is seen by the EU Commission as a key technology enabling its Green Deal Industrial Plan, revealed in February as the trading bloc’s answer to President Biden’s green-focused Inflation Reduction Act.

While the continent produces globally successful wind turbine manufacturers such as Vestas and Siemens Gamesa, Europe’s solar constructors have recovered only slowly from a decade of inroads by Chinese manufacturers.

Growing concerns over that country’s exploitation of slave workers among its oppressed Uighur minority have added recent urgency to a revival in strengthening European solar manufacturing.

In 2012, the Commission won a legal victory over Chinese solar suppliers when Europe’s highest commercial court bowed to German pressure and imposed a price floor on imports, at the time worth £18 billion a year.

Anti-dumping tariffs, renewed in 2015 and 2017, were gradually lowered over subsequent years to zero.

Today’s news comes from an alliance of solar-supporting manufacturers which the EU Commission assembled last December.

The European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA) collected output statistics from over 20 new PV industry projects. They reveal Europe is expected to beat the EU’s Green Deal Industrial ambitions of 30 GW in PV manufacturing capacity goal by 2025.

The body is in the middle of launching industry-level actions seeking success for the sector. Over 120 organisations from 17 countries have been recruited to progress the streamlining of European solar output, tackling areas such as quality criteria and market access, supply chain challenges, skills development and finance.

Kerstin Jorna, the EU’s Director-General for the internal market & and SMEs, commented: “The Commission strongly supports Europe’s mission to boost solar PV manufacturing.

“As set out in the Net-Zero Industry Act, our goal is to overcome regulatory obstacles that hinder the expansion of net-zero technologies, with solar PV being a vital component, ultimately enhancing the EU’s energy resilience and competitiveness.

Harmonising permits for PV gigafactories and smaller PV manufacturing facilities are key. That what the Net-Zero Industry Act sets out to promote. We must capitalise on this new policy framework.

For the solar manufacturers, Javier Sanz, head of the ESIA, added:  “We are thrilled to witness the strides made by the EU Solar PV industry alliance, as we unveil our action plans.

“The alliance’s members have shown immense dedication and a spirit of collaboration, all of which are propelling a renaissance within the solar PV industry in Europe.”

Trade curbs following Brexit mean British-owned PV firms face obstacles in moving goods, workers and capital between EU states.

Oxford Perovskite, pioneers of the world’s most powerful solar cell, already manufacture exclusively near Berlin.  Last month the company’s co-founder CTO Dr Chris Case criticised Britain’s unfavourable investment environment for solar PV and low-carbon technologies.

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The Sheffield-based manufacturer is finding it hard to shift from an experimentation phase to generating profits, Schulz told investors today.

He began an operational review last month, on arrival from German industrial gas giant Linde, ITM’s equity partner in hydrogen catalyser innovation.

Lower sales from contracts and higher than anticipated losses would feature in results for the full year to this coming April, Schulz warned.  Interim results will be declared on 31 January.

“This is the challenge I was expecting when I joined ITM” said Schulz. “For us to develop from an R&D and prototyping entity, to a mature delivery organisation, we require firmer foundations”.

Measures included in  the review include rationalising the firm’s products around a core more closely linked to its proprietary proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology.  Capital spending will be pulled back, as the company prepares for manufacturing at scale.

“Our twelve-month plan will make ITM a stronger, more focused and highly capable company”, Schulz sought to assure investors.  “The large-scale opportunities in the market are yet to come, and by putting these foundations in place ITM will be ready for the significant market demand ahead of us.”

Linde holds 16.2% of ITM Power, having built its stake since 2019. Their joint ventures include ITM Linde Electrolysis Ltd.

ITM has been expanding rapidly, while still burning cash. Interim results for the six months to last January showed the firm’s pipeline of electrolysers grew more than fourfold year on year, to 86 MW.

In March, Motive Fuels, ITM’s unit which builds and operates green hydrogen refuelling stations, formed a joint venture with trading behemoth Vitol, designed to scale up of production of green hydrogen sold to transport operators.

Today’s closing price of 91.3 pence on AIM implies a market cap for ITM Power of around £640 million.

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Softening its reliance on the carbon-heavy gas, and switching to 100% renewable energy this decade, are ambitions behind the US-owned firm’s decision. Commercial terms of the PPA (power purchase agreement) were not disclosed.

Earlier this month, Yorkshire-based Carlton confirmed plans for production on a site in Park Road, Barrow of up to 3,500 tonnes a year of hydrogen electrolysed from water with renewable electricity.

Subject to planning consent and further financing, Carlton says the £40 million plant can be pumping the low-carbon gas to industrial consumers like K-C and haulage firms as early as 2025.

Assembled by Carlton, a regional public-private consortium embracing Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, Cadent Gas, regional DNO Electricity North-West and Barrow Borough Council is behind the infrastructure proposal.

As one of Britain’s first hubs for the synthesised gas, Barrow Green Hydrogen’s implications extend beyond Park Road, embracing customers across the North and into Scotland. Kimberly-Clark is the first of a hoped-for string of energy-intensive users – including hauliers – looking to switch to hydrogen to fuel their operations.

Kimberly-Clark and Carlton Power will work together to obtain grant funding and operational financial support for the Barrow project from D-BEIS. An application is intended before December.

Last month D-BEIS published the next steps in its Hydrogen Investment Package and the opening of Strand 3 of the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Hydrogen Business Model.   The model is critical to ensuring both investors’ confidence and reassurance to offtakers like Kimberly-Clark on the future price of hydrogen.

Soft, strong – and very Lanarkshire

The two companies will also work together on various economic, technical, and engineering aspects of the scheme, as well as consultations with local and national stakeholders.

Known for its moisture-retaining brands including Huggies, Scott and WypAll, Kimberly-Clark in November signed a PPA which will decarbonise approximately 80% of its UK electricity supply, by virtue of funding a new 50MW wind farm to be built by Octopus Renewables Investment Trust at Cumberhead, Lanarkshire.

The new onshore farm could be generating early next year, providing power for K-C’s three factories in Cumbria and north Wales, plus distribution centres in Chorley and Northfleet.

Welcoming today’s deal, Oriol Margo, the paper-maker’s sustainability leader for Europe said; “This project will reduce reliance on natural gas across our UK manufacturing facilities by up to 30%.

“It is an exciting opportunity and demonstrates how cooperation among a wide set of stakeholders from business and government is critical to making green hydrogen commercially viable.”

Eric Adams, Carlton Power’s hydrogen projects director, echoed his client: “We are delighted to have entered a commercial agreement with Kimberly-Clark”.

“The development of green hydrogen projects like our Barrow hub is critical”, Adams continued, “if major energy users like Kimberly-Clark are to decarbonise their operations. At a regional level, our scheme forms part of Cumbria’s Clean Energy Strategy. It’s a catalyst to establish a hydrogen economy and drive the decarbonisation of local industry”.

Pictured, a happy nose-wiping client of Kimberly-Clark.

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Metallurgists Pensana intend their £163 million new factory on the Saltend Chemicals park in Humberside’s free port to re-process recovered magnetic rare earth oxides.

Up to 12,500 tonnes of oxides per year – half of them rare metals such as neodymium and praseodymium vital to low carbon power generation and transport – is intended to flow late next year from the factory.  It will employ over 120 people directly, with as many as 500 during construction.

Production at that level would see Pensana at Saltend supplying over 5% of world demand by 2025. The plant is one of only three of its type outside China, and only the first such separation facilities to be built in the past decade. EV builders and turbine makers have flagged interest.

Pensana’s factory at Saltend benefits from the Automotive Transformation Fund, Whitehall’s £1 billion pot designed to prime private investment to clean up road transport.

Energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was present at today’s ground-breaking ceremony. He used the occasion to launch the government’s strategy on critical minerals.  It builds on the government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan, published twelve months ago.

The business and industrial strategy panjandrum declared: “Pensana’s breaking ground today has been made possible in part through government support.

”It  shows how our plans to secure an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK continues to gain momentum”, said Kwarteng. “This incredible facility will be the only of its kind in Europe and will help secure the resilience of Britain’s supplies into the future”.

Britain’s first strategy on critical minerals will, in Kwarteng’s view, help in developing robust supplies of minerals that are key to the country’s economic success and national security, by supplying key industries such as automotive and defence”.

The Humberside plant will also processing material including sulphates from Pensana’s mine in Angola.

The firm has in the past cited observers’ fears that China’s dominance of rare magnetic metals may slow decarbonisation in the rest of the world, if Beijing prioritises decarbonisation at home.

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Defying the continuing pandemic, the year’s installation of 25.9GW across 27 EU member states plus Norway raced 34% ahead of 2020’s connections, a rate surprising even the trade body.

The previous annual record, 21.4GW of new capacity installed in 2011, is relegated to a time when now-dwindling direct subsidies ruled much of Europe’s renewables landscape.

Germany emerges from the lobbyists’ EU Market Outlook 2021 as Europe’s biggest solar market this year, with 5.3GW of new capacity. Spain takes second place on 3.8GW. The Netherlands installed 3.3GW, Poland 3.2GW and France 2.5GW.

Rich streams of investment linking PV farms to utility-scale storage, allied to rising generation efficiencies and innovations such bi-facial, dual-facing panels, pushed Europe’s photovoltaics this year to their ever-warming place in the sun.

Only shortages in supply chains, logistics problems, project implementation delays and consequent product price hikes prevented higher totals, the report indicates.

In future expansion foreseen under the report’s medium-growth scenario, Ireland’s predicted surge of 120% year-on-year to 2025 tops the EU league, albeit from the continent’s lowest deployed PV base, now only 100MW.   But even mature solar markets like Germany, Spain and France are predicted to post compound growth in generating power, averaging 20% each year till mid-decade.

In Britain, trade body SolarEnergyUK is asking D-BEIS to guarantee policies smoothing the path to 2.6GW of new capacity every year this decade, up from around 14GW now.

Tripling the UK’s total towards the 40GW judged necessary by the Climate Change Committee, scientific advisors to the government, will require compound annual growth of 11%.  Ambitious in Whitehall’s terms, that’s still around half the growth predicted this decade by SolarPower Europe for markets already ahead of Britain, such as Germany and Spain.

Is China’s hold on solar manufacturing weakening?

Manufacturing capacity for solar components among the EU 27, plus Norway hollowed out in the past decade, since Brussels accused China of endemic dumping during trade disputes in the early 2010s.  But SolarPower Europe’s analysts say that corner is now turned, with increased investment in higher-value solar PV kit and a quest for shorter supply chains driving recent European growth.

A total of nine inverter manufacturers, including Germany’s SMA and Austria’s Fronius, account for around half the production jobs in EU solar, the researchers calculate.

In polysilicon purifying, Wacker Chemie in Germany is the EU’s only significant producer, its output of 60 tonnes translating into over 20GW of cell or module products per year.

Solar cell production capacity stands at only 0.8GW across the EU.  But since 2020, cell-makers Meyer Burger in Germany and Entel in Italy have between them opened 0.3GW of new production. Both have announced further expansion, together targeting 10GW by 2027.

Shocks over dominant Chinese solar manufacturers using slave Uyghur labour from detention centres in Xianjiang province, as evidenced in a Sheffield Hallam University study in May, receive no mention in SolarPower Europe’s report.

But at the time the Brussels-based body and its British counterpart SolarEnergyUK were both quick to issue statements of concern, pledging both organisations’ members to step up transparency disclosures shedding light labour used in component origination and supply.

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