In focus: Governments around the globe embracing renewable energy revolution

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to disrupt the global energy supply, leaders around the world are scrambling to fill the supply chain gaps. The governments are also bundling an array of ambitions, actions, and aspirations with an aim to achieve their net-zero targets. The week behind us saw many nations hammering out plans to tap into renewable energy options to cope with the global energy crisis.

Today, as we are celebrating another Earth Day trying to save our planet from pollution and climate change, there are good reasons to believe that the upheaval brought by Russia’s war will speed up the transition to clean energy.

As countries around the world are coming up with new energy policies to accelerate the clean energy transitions, Germany has started reassessing its security of energy supply.

With this in mind, the government has started discussions with the Dutch company ONE-Dyas about a possible natural gas extraction from a cross-border deposit in the North Sea between the Netherlands and Lower Saxony.

The field is located in Dutch waters c.20 kilometres north of Borkum, Rottumerplaat and Schiermonnikoog and lies approximately one and a half kilometres from German waters. An important element of the project is the fact that the platform is expected to run entirely on wind energy as it will be connected to the nearby German wind farm Riffgat, enabling emissions reduction.

Furthermore, Germany’s government has reportedly allocated billions of euros to set up floating LNG terminals in the country.

The funds will be used to operate the terminals located in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven. The projects will make it possible for ships to deliver LNG directly to Germany via the floating terminals. The first deliveries are expected in the next 2022-2023 winter season.

Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe), a non-profit environmental and consumer protection association, has criticized the recent move by the government, warning that this could become “a fossil trap”. According to this association, more transparency is needed with the new strategy with LNG terminals.

The government’s decision came as part of the efforts to become independent of Russian gas as quickly as possible. The officials also emphasized that this can only be an interim solution and not a permanent one because “we want to phase out gas in the medium term”. Further talks about a permanent terminal are being held with RWE and Brunsbüttel.

As for the shipping sector, the Dutch government has revealed new investments for inland shipping. The Nationaal Groeifonds, an initiative of the Dutch Ministries of Economic Affairs & Climate Change and Finance, is investing in Zero Emission Services (ZES) to speed up the implementation of ZES’ system solution.

With the “Green Deal Zeevaart, Binnenvaart en Havens”, the Netherlands has committed to reducing the CO2 emissions of the Dutch inland shipping fleet by 40% to 50% in 2030 compared to 2015. 

Meanwhile, another European country, Denmark, has decided to speed up its renewable energy production and temporarily boost its gas output from the North Sea fields in a push to secure independence from Russian fossil fuels.

Furthermore, the Danish government aims to harvest the full potential of offshore wind and accelerate the production of renewable energy on land. According to Denmark’s Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Utilities, a provisional estimate shows an initial demand for at least 35 GW of offshore wind from the Danish parts of the North Sea.

This is approximately the same amount of offshore wind energy that was installed on a global level in 2020.

On the other side of the world, Brazil is reviewing 55 offshore wind projects totalling more than 133 GW. The projects are currently undergoing a licensing process to obtain environmental investigation authorization.

Three oil majors TotalEnergies, Shell, and Equinor are also interested in developing projects in the largest country in South America. The companies have 40,450 MW of offshore wind capacity planned in the country across 15 projects.

Kyrgyzstan is also exploring the development of renewable energy opportunities, including floating solar and hydropower, as well as onshore solar PV projects. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with UAE government-owned Masdar, the country will look into opportunities for projects with a potential capacity of up to 1GW. Kyrgyzstan is targeting reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 44% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.