Sept 17 – The European Commission’s latest 2030 Target Plan stipulates a 55% cut in emissions by 2030, compared to 1990-levels. The lobby group COGEN Europe stressed the importance of combined heat and power generation (CHP) to reach that goal, calling for more stable policies and supportive regulation.

Sept 17 – Britain’s prime manufacturer Rolls-Royce confirmed it is looking to strengthen its balance sheet, possibly by disposing of ITP Aero which his hoped to generate proceeds of more than £2bn over the next 18 months. Further cost cutting is meant to deliver £1 billion and revamping of the company’s Civil Areospace business should save another £1.3 billion.

Sept 16 – China’s GDP is forecast to grow 1.8% this year as the economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. The government slashed electricity tariffs to support manufacturing but the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warns of mounting credit risk for banks. Fiscal revenue pressure also intensifies as 1.5% of China’s GDP growth in the first half of 2020 was based on bond-funded investment by local governments.

Sept 15 – Colruyt Group (Eoly), Parkwind and Fluxys aim to spend up to 35 million Euros to develop a green hydrogen plant in Zeebrugge, Belgium, by 2023. The plan is to convert off-shore wind energy into green hydrogen which can then be injected in the high-pressure natural gas transmission grid.

Sept 14 – Global markets for unconventional gas, mostly developed by shale fracking, is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 7% to reach $ 41.76 billion by 2024. According to Technavio, the Americas region will remain dominant with an 87% market share as hydraulic fracturing technologies evolve. Top players in the market are BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, PetroChina, Gazprom, Shell, Santos, Saudi Arabian Oil Co., and YPF.

Sept 11 – Two Italian energy companies, SNAM and Saipem, have agreed to develop initiatives for green hydrogen production and transport, as well as for carbon dioxide capture, transport and reuse or storage (CCRS). The move supports the European Commission’s Hydrogen Strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Sept 10 – MAN Energy Solutions and Wasco have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote and commercialize Power-to-X (PtX) projects in South-East Asia. The technology in question converts electricity into carbon-neutral synthetic fuels, gas or liquid, for use as a clean, carbon-neutral energy source.

Sept 9 – Romania’s state gas company Romgaz has agreed to build 200 MW power generation capacity with the privately-owned Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) which is controlled by the local businessman Gabriel Comanescu. The project entails a 150 MW gas-fired power plant and a 50 MW solar photovoltaic park, to be built on the site of a disused coal power plant in southern Romania.

Sept 8 – More energy is used per person for transportation in U.S. states with low population density. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA), people in geographically large states with small populations, such as Alaska, Wyoming and North Dakota, are useing twice as much energy for transportation than the U.S. average on a per capita basis. That’s in stark contrast to states with higher population density, such as Rhode Island and New York.

Sept 7 – Mitsubishi Power, part of MHI, and various Japanese energy companies have set up the so-called ‘Kobe/Kansai Hydrogen Utilization Council’ to develop new utilization methods and establish a regional hydrogen supply chain. The aim is to help Japan shift to a carbon-free, hydrogen-powered society by 2030.

Sept 4 – Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) has setup new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Perth, Australia, and named Nick Carter as managing director of the region. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, the engineering company is also establishing or expanding operations in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, China and India.

Sept 3 – Striving to meet 2030 emission targets, the Germany government is increasing its renewable energy targets while adjusting the grid to accommodate a greater influx of fluctuating power supply. The draft reform of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) stipulates raising the solar photovoltaic capacity to 100 GW (up from 52 GW today), onshore wind capacity to 71 GW (from 55 GW), offshore wind to 20 GW and biomass to 8.4 GW.

Sept 2 – Worley, a global engineering company headquartered in Australia, has established a new emissions baseline for FY2020 after having acquired the energy, chemicals and resources division of Jacobs Engineering Group. Setting out a net zero road map, Worley said its focus is on reducing energy usage and emissions intensity through substitution with low-carbon energy options.

Sept 1 – In the United States, gas-burn by electric power generators has reached a daily record high of 47.2 billion cubic feet (Bcf) on Monday, July 27, largely due to high summer temperatures. On the same day, gas-fired generation in the Lower 48 states hit an all-time high of 316 gigawatts (GW) in the late afternoon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Hourly Electric Grid Monitor.

Aug 28 – Demand from US liquefaction plants plunged days before Hurricane Laura’s anticipated landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border, pulling down US gas prices by over 1%. After landfall on Thursday near Cameron as a Category 4 hurricane, Laura is now moving northward. Sempra had declared force majeure on the Cameron Interstate Pipeline just hours after a controlled shutdown of the three-train Cameron LNG. Cheniere suspended operations at its five-train Sabine Pass and declared force majeure on the Creole Trail pipeline.

Aug 27 – Transportation company Mammoet has trucked components to upgrade the Kossodo thermal power plant over a 1,400km distance all the way from the Port of Takoradi in Ghana to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Manufactured by MAN Energy Solutions in Germany, the equipment consisted of three 325 ton engines, three 59t generators, two 80t transformers and three 16t turbo chargers. The upgrade is aims to increase the capacity of the Kossodo power plant by almost 20 percent, doubling the number of customers to 1 million.

Aug 26 – The market for gas turbines for the oil and gas industry is forecast to grow at a rate of 3.5 percent over the next few years, despite the Covid-19 related slump in economic activity. Smaller in scale, these gas turbines can be used both for generating electricity alongside drilling rigs as well as for mechanical drive applications. Key turbine suppliers in this segment are GE, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Solar Turbines, Kawasaki HI and Ansaldo.