AMAZON STARTS USING RIVIAN VANS

US online retail giant Amazon has commenced using electric delivery vans made by Rivian, signalling the beginning of a massive shift to clean up the delivery of the company’s 2.5 billion packages a year.

The Rivian vans are the first of a massive 100,000 unit order from Amazon in 2019, which was timed with the retail giant’s Climate Pledge in which it invited companies to commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris accord.

To put that number in context, at the end of 2019 Amazon had just 30,000 vans in its North American operations according to Bloomberg.

In 2019 Amazon also led a $US700 million ($A920 million) investment round in Rivian, which is also developing an all-electric SUV and ute (pickup), the latter of which the company’s CEO RJ Scaringe shared as he drove it in the snowy mountains outside Los Angeles on Sunday. Link - more like this (Amazon) - link

HYZON MOTORS MERGER

Hyzon Motors Inc., a fuel cell truck startup, has agreed to go public via a merger with Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The special purpose acquisition company has held discussions about raising new equity to support the transaction that values the combined entity at more than $2 billion, some of the people said, requesting anonymity because the talks are private. A deal could be announced within the next week.

Representatives for Hyzon and Decarbonization Plus declined to comment. Shares of the SPAC pared a gain of as much as 26% in early trading Friday, trading up 18% to $16.25 as of 10:22 a.m. in New York.

Decarbonization Plus, a vehicle sponsored by an affiliate of private equity firm Riverstone Holdings and led by Erik Anderson, raised about $226 million in an October initial public offering. It said at the time it wanted to find a target “whose principal effort is developing and advancing a platform that decarbonizes the most carbon-intensive sectors.” link

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LIL LIL

LENNY KRAVITZ - LOW

 

STEVE GARDNER - OXFORD

Do you know Steve Gardner?

The one that worked at Music Market in Smelly Alley in Reading in 1983. Steve lived in Oxford with his partner Lynn who worked at Frank Coopers Jams.

If you are this Steve Gardner or you know how/where to contact him, please leave a comment below - thanks.

H2 - BIGGER IS BETTER

Hydrogen fuel cells are controversial—several automakers, including Daimler, Honda, GM and Volkswagen, have abandoned the technology, while Toyota continues to pursue it. 

Hydrogen opponents cite its inefficiency relative to batteries, and question the wisdom of building a complex and costly new infrastructure. 

On the other hand, many believe that hydrogen may have a role to play in industrial processes, and for powering heavy-duty vehicles, including ocean-going ships and aircraft.

Many articles in the mainstream media, however, ignore the controversy—for example, a recent article in the New York Times depicts hydrogen fuel cells as a proven technology that only needs to be scaled up to be a viable alternative to internal combustion. ABC News also recently ran a rapturous rhapsody hyping hydrogen as the fuel of the future - Link

UK SEABED LICENCE SALE

The Queen and the Treasury are in line for a multibillion-pound bonanza from renewable energy, after a major auction of seabed plots for windfarms off the coasts of England and Wales attracted runaway bids.

The crown estate, which manages the monarch’s property portfolio, holds exclusive rights to lease the seabed around the British Isles. With its first auction of windfarm licences in a decade understood to have reached record highs, the Queen’s income is expected to leap by at least £100m a year, while the takings will generate over £300m a year for the Treasury.

Two windfarm sites within the Irish Sea have reportedly attracted the most frenzied bidding, with energy firms offering to pay as much as £200m for each – a total revenue of £400m a year. Awards for another three areas have yet to be decided. The licences are for 10 years, meaning the auction will raise at least £4bn over a decade - Link

WALTZINBLACK

GBP 6.5 BILLION EAST ANGLIA HUB

ScottishPower Renewables has selected Siemens Gamesa as the preferred bidder to supply and install 14+MW wind turbines for its GBP 6.5 billion East Anglia Hub programme offshore the UK.

More than 200 next-generation 14+MW turbines are planned for East Anglia ONE North, TWO, and THREE projects in the southern North Sea – collectively known as the East Anglia Hub, Iberdrola, the parent company of ScottishPower Renewables, said.

The two companies have agreed to work together ahead of the next Contracts for Difference auction – scheduled for later this year – to optimise the projects, with the ambition of then signing turbine supply and installation agreements - Link

POWERPASTE

Fraunhofer researchers have presented a magnesium-based "Powerpaste" that stores hydrogen energy at 10 times the density of a lithium battery, offering hydrogen fuel cell vehicles the ability to travel further than gasoline-powered ones, and refuel in minutes.

Typically, of course, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles carry their H2 fuel in gaseous form, stored in tanks at pressures around 700 bar (10,150 psi). 

These tanks are fairly large and heavy, which counteracts one of hydrogen's key advantages over today's lithium batteries – its higher energy density. The high pressures involved also make hydrogen an impractical option for powered two-wheelers like motorcycles and scooters.

But a team based at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden have come up with an interesting new way to store and carry hydrogen energy, in the form of a magnesium hydride-based "Powerpaste" that stores the hydrogen in a chemical form, at atmospheric pressure, ready for release when needed - Link

VESTAS CIRCULAR ECONOMY

A turbine production plant owned by energy giant Vestas will now be powered using an environmentally-friendly source of gas, according to a new deal announced on Monday. 

A biogas facility off the south coast of England will soon provide electricity to a factory operated by the Danish company, in what will be the latest example of how the idea of a “circular economy” is being embraced by big business.

In a statement Monday, Earth Capital said its portfolio company, Black Dog Biogas, would send power to the Vestas factory, which manufactures blades for offshore wind turbines. Both sites are located on the Isle of Wight - Link

BIDEN CANCELS KEYSTONE XL OIL PIPELINE

(Bloomberg) --Three million miles of natural gas pipelines criss-cross the U.S., and the fight against climate change could render them all obsolete.

The last two weeks alone illustrate the stakes. President Joe Biden canceled the permit for the $9 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline on his first day in office, a clear signal any new fossil fuel pipeline project in the U.S. will face long odds. 

His climate envoy, former Secretary of State John Kerry, warned that natural gas pipelines could become “stranded assets” within 30 years as the administration seeks to end carbon emissions from power plants. And NextEra Energy Inc. wrote off $1.2 billion of its investment in the Mountain Valley gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia, which has been tied up in regulatory and legal delays.

So pipeline owners are eyeing another, possibly future-proof fuel: hydrogen.

Unlike natural gas, hydrogen can be burned without pumping carbon dioxide into the air. Run it through a fuel cell to generate electricity and the only waste is water; produce hydrogen using electrolyzers powered by solar plants or wind farms and it becomes a way to store massive amounts of renewable energy—far more than any of today’s batteries can hold. And the best part for pipeline companies: getting it where it needs to be, in bulk, could require the same basic infrastructure that now carries natural gas - Link

SCANIA DITCHES HYDROGEN

Where will hydrogen fit in the clean transport mix? Not in trucking, says one of the world's largest heavy duty vehicle manufacturers, which is scaling back its fuel cell big-rig research and development operations in favor of battery-electric power.

Hydrogen is definitely happening. It's a convenient (if inefficient) way to store, transport and export clean energy, it offers huge energy density advantages for zero-emissions aviation and shipping, and many folk are expecting it to find a compelling use case in long-distance trucking, where its quick refilling ability can keep big rigs on the road longer than battery trucks that need to plug in and charge for long periods.

But Sweden's Scania, the world's tenth-largest trucking company, thinks otherwise. Having already launched both battery and fuel cell trucks, the company has announced it's committing to batteries, citing hydrogen's wastefully inefficient use of renewable energy, as well as additional system complexity, cost, safety and ongoing maintenance factors - Link - more like this (Sweden) - link

WORTHY OF NOTE (Scania is part of the VW Group) - link

SPAIN'S TALGO VITTAL-ONE

Spain’s first green hydrogen-powered prototype train which is expected to be ready in 2023 will feature Hexagon Purus technology.

Being developed by train manufacturer Talgo, and called Vittal-One, the train will serve as a blueprint for how hydrogen technologies could be implemented in the Iberian Southwest.

Hexagon Purus has been selected to supply high pressure cylinders for the prototype train.

“There are more than 10,000 diesel trains in operation across Europe that will need to be replaced over the next 15 years,” said Michael Kleschinski, Executive Vice-President of Hexagon Purus.

“For distances between 400-800 km, hydrogen-powered trains are a smart solution to reduce local emissions without incurring the high cost of electrifying the tracks.”

“We are excited to help develop the solutions needed for this ground-breaking move in public transit.” - Link - Joanna Sampson - link - more like this - link

ITM COMPLETES H2 GIGAFACTORY

ITM Power completes the world’s first hydrogen gigafactory.

Clean fuel firm ITM Power has completed the ITM Gigafactory at Bessemer Park and production has started in the world’s first hydrogen gigafactory.

The Sheffield-based energy storage firm is the world’s leading hydrogen electrolyser manufacturer. Hydrogen electrolysers convert water into liquid hydrogen, which is vital for the UK's renewable power infrastructure.

Elsewhere, ITM said its motive division has agreed a fuel contract with National Express for 20 buses in Birmingham.

The news came as ITM announced a 16 per cent increase in income to £4.4m in the six months to October 31 - Link