ClimateHub Insights Newsletter #2

Hey! Welcome to the ClimateHub newsletter - your summary of what's happening inside the climate tech community, and how we are progressing to reach Net Zero in 2050. New to ClimateHub? Try out previous posts and our website.

STATE OF NATION

• In February, CO2 emissions price exceeded the threshold of 100 EUR/t.

• Market players do not seem concerned about the embargo on Russian oil products (perhaps they already hedged that) and prices are around $80/barrel. OPEC continues to stick to its production targets.

• Gas prices are falling further, the TTF CAL24 has therefore plummeted to below EUR 60/MWh, and forecasts of colder weather should only have a limited impact on prices.

INDUSTRY FOCUS - COMMODITY TRADING

International commodity trading company Trafigura is facing more than $500 million of losses after realizing that the cargoes it bought didn’t contain the nickel they were supposed to.

How is that possible?

Commodities are typically a high-volume, low-margin business. Traders take out loans backed by the product’s collateral. Collateral is supported by paper records — warehouse receipts and shipping documents recording details like quantity, quality, ownership, and location of the goods. Such papers can be faked creating fraud opportunities.

Nickel is a precious metal, a key element of batteries, and a vital part of the electric vehicle value chain. A single container can potentially be worth $500,000. Trafigura bought a such container and was hoping to sell that in the port of Rotterdam. However, when the container was inspected, it turned out, it was full of much lower-value metals.

How can that impact the future?

Trafigura is one of the largest commodity trading houses in the world so such incidents will not go unnoticed. In the word case, it could cause a crisis of confidence in commodity markets and supply chains. Banks can lose confidence and be warier in lending cash. That could cause liquidity issues.

How can we avoid such incidents?

One solution could be for the industry to go digital. Better tracking and monitoring tracing could ensure trust and tracing of what happens to the minerals on their path from the mine to the factory. Digitalization reduces risks, cuts costs, and saves time.

INVESTMENTS & PARTNERSHIPS

• [RENEWABLES] Petronas, through its new green arm Gentari, is acquiring renewable energy assets in Australia and Taiwan, including Wirsol's Australian solar PV portfolio and a 29.4% stake in the Hai Long offshore wind project in Taiwan. These acquisitions will help Gentari reach its goal of 30-40 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. Other oil and gas E&P companies have taken a similar approach, with Equinor and Repsol acquiring renewable energy portfolios and TotalEnergies and Shell forming joint ventures. Last year, E&Ps traded 145 GW of renewable energy capacity globally

• [EV CHARGING] Tesla has announced that it would open parts of its proprietary superchargers to the other EVs. Fast chargers like the Supercharger can repower a vehicle in about 30 minutes but are in short supply across U.S. highways. Tesla already has a network of more than 17,700 fast chargers. Tesla will open at least 3,500 new and existing chargers to all types of EVs by the end of the year. What for? Tesla's decision will make the company eligible for billions of dollars in federal funds, which are intended for the development of a nationwide network of fast EV charging stations.

• [CARBON] Venture funding for startups focused on carbon and emissions-related technology was $13.8B in 2022, just shy of the sector's record-setting total of $14.1B in 2021. This indicates continued strong investor interest in the carbon technology industry, which has helped companies overcome the funding slowdown. Check our latest blog post on what to focus on while selecting carbon accounting software.

CLIMATE TECH SOLUTION IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Part of the bp family since 2017, ONYX Insight is an award-winning global, renewable, technology business. The company brings unbiased predictive analytics underpinned by real-world engineering expertise to owners and operators of renewable energy assets via 7 global offices and 10 patents. Its solutions deliver increased energy production and reduced operations & maintenance costs, enabling wind turbine operators to minimize unplanned downtime and maximize investment returns.

• Onyx Insight provides a suite of products for wind turbine fleet management

• At its core, is the AI HUB that centralizes all your data streams into one integrated O&M platform. The AI HUB empowers owners/operators to maximize power output and reduce OPEX, consistently driving down LCoE fleet-wide.

• AI HUB is powered by Onyx’s two sensing solutions - ecoCMS, which in essence is a vibration monitoring hardware as well as ecoPITCH - an innovative sensor system for monitoring pitch bearings.

• ecoCMS provides additional insights over classical SCADA data and lets you detect typical turbine failures modes such as rotor imbalance, main bearing pitting, or blade icing.

• In 2022, GE Renewable Energy has selected ONYX Insight as the sole provider of condition monitoring solutions for its onshore wind turbines

• Onyx Insight monitors 10000+ wind turbines, in 30 different countries, taking part in over 75 GW of due diligence projects.