Page 174 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΣΕΠΤΕΜΒΡΙΟΣ 2022

ENERGY & NATURAL RESOURCES

at least October will provide further relief. By ing nuclear reactors, which have been granted
end-June, around 150 mb of the volumes commit- permission by regulators to restart after the
ted through IEA collective actions and individual Fukushima disaster.
IEA member SPR sales had yet to find their way Like many other countries, Japan has been facing
to the market. With OECD industry stocks still the problem of a significantly more expensive
some 290 mb below their five-year average, such and difficult energy supply since Russia’s war in
builds could help ease market tensions. But with Ukraine began six months ago.
supply increasingly at risk of disruptions, another The Japanese archipelago is primarily energy
price rally cannot be excluded. dependent on fossil fuel imports, so it seeks to
strengthen its renewable energy sources.
GREEN LIGHT FOR LARGEST US
OFFSHORE WIND FARM CANADA AND GERMANY SIGN AGREEMENT
Virginia State has given the green light to ON GREEN HYDROGEN
Dominion Energy’s 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Off- The governments of Canada and Germany
shore Wind (CVOW) project. signed a cooperation agreement on producing
and transporting renewable (or green) hydrogen
during Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Canada
in August.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck and
Canadian Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson
signed the agreement at a ceremony in Ste-
phensville, Newfoundland, in the presence of
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau spoke of a “historic step towards our
common future” in his speech. “Our goal is clear:
to work towards the first exports of Canadian
hydrogen to Germany by 2025,” said the Cana-
dian prime minister.
For his part, the German chancellor stated that the
agreement would upgrade the cooperation between
the two countries to a more “strategic level”.
Newfoundland in Canada is considered a favour-
able location for renewable hydrogen produc-
This offshore wind farm will be the largest proj- tion, as it is often windy and sparsely populated.
ect of its kind in American waters and will consist Pure hydrogen (renewable or green hydrogen) is
of 176 wind turbines. As of 2026, the wind farm produced through the electrolysis of water and
will be capable of producing enough energy to the use of electricity from renewable sources and
meet the needs of 660,000 homes per year. emits no greenhouse gases during its production.
The project’s budget is $9.8 billion, and the Currently, the cost of producing renewable
offshore wind farm is expected to help Virginia hydrogen is higher than buying natural gas, but
residents to save approximately $3 billion during experts believe that green hydrogen can reduce
its first ten years of operation. energy bills in the medium term.
German energy companies Eon and Uniper have
JAPAN RE-EMBRACES NUCLEAR POWER announced they had signed an MoU with Can-
The Japanese government plans to return to ada’s Everwind on the sidelines of German-Ca-
nuclear power by significantly boosting its nadian talks aimed at importing large-scale
nuclear power sector. This controversial sector renewable hydrogen from Canada by 2025.
was hit badly by the Fukushima disaster in 2011 At the same time, the two companies are seek-
but is back in the spotlight due to worldwide ing an agreement to purchase annually up to
energy tensions. 500,000 tonnes of ammonia – the chemical used
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently in hydrogen transport.
announced that he would begin consultations A green hydrogen and ammonia production plant
on the possible construction of next-genera- will be built in the Point Tupper village in the
tion nuclear reactors, which marks a U-turn in Canadian province of Nova Scotia. “The facility
government policy since the Fukushima crisis. is at an advanced stage of development, and
The Japanese Prime Minister also said the gov- commercial operation is expected to begin in
ernment intended to maximise the use of exist- early 2025,” according to Eon.
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