The news and analysis you need from the-week-that-was in the global renewable energy industry with Recharge’s weekly Agenda
As head of Enel Green Power, Antonio Cammisecra leads one of the world’s biggest buyers of onshore wind turbines, and the Italian utility’s global head of power generation has some strong views on the relationship between the land-based and offshore arms within the big-three OEM giants.
Cammisecra reckons the two are like “enemies in the same company” and should bury their internal rivalries and learn from each other.
The Enel executive offered his opinions during a briefing in which he also revealed that the Italy-based global renewables giant expects to begin green hydrogen production from one of its plants within a year.
The future is floating
We’re already used to the idea of wind breaking free from its foundations and sailing off into deeper waters, but floating solar is rapidly staking its own claim as the next big thing in global renewables.
That claim strengthened this week as Recharge reported how a clutch of energy big hitters, including EDF, Equinor and EDP, joined a new industry group to help floating PV reach a potential that’s seen as terawatt-scale.
Floating wind, meanwhile, is cracking on with its own revolution. The trio of floating wind power units making up the pioneering WindFloat Atlantic (WFA) array are now all moored at the project’s deep water construction site in the Portuguese Atlantic.
Recharge also reported how a floating, rather than fixed-foundation, project is tipped to lead the way in Japan’s landmark new wave of offshore wind auctions, while floating technologies took the lion’s share of a new $10m US R&D pot.
Shell’s massive revamp plan
Recharge carried an exclusive report on how oil giant Shell is preparing a massive revamp to position itself for a clean-energy future, as the world’s fossil giants’ transition plans continued to make headlines.
Fellow supermajor BP was also in the news, as CEO Bernard Looney said wind would “unquestionably” form part of a future more heavily focused on low-carbon electricity, while one analyst said Norway’s Equinor should consider splitting off its renewables arm from its core oil & gas business.
