Top 10 International Energy Stories of 2023: The Next Part
6. Energy transition in Europe and the U.S. blocked Trade barriers cause concern
Although the global installed capacity of renewable energy is growing rapidly, but the development of clean energy industry in Europe and the United States is frequently blocked, the supply chain problems continue to rattle the European and American countries "nerve".
High cost, equipment supply chain disruption led to Europe and the United States wind turbine manufacturers into a loss-making quagmire, slow expansion of production capacity, triggered by the United States, the United Kingdom offshore wind power project encountered one after another developers quit.
Solar energy field, the first eight months of this year, Europe's 15 major producers produced a total of 1 GW solar modules, only 11% of the same period last year.
At the same time, there are EU officials openly "put words", to open countervailing investigations against Chinese wind power products. The United States enacted the "Inflation Reduction Act" is to limit foreign photovoltaic products into the U.S. market, slowing down the U.S. solar power project investment, construction and grid speed.
Cope with climate change, realize the energy transition can not be separated from the global cooperation, Europe and the United States is bent on setting up trade barriers in fact, "the damage is not good for oneself". Only to keep the global market open, in order to jointly promote the cost of wind and light down, to achieve a win-win situation.
7. Demand for key minerals surges, security of supply a concern
The upstream development of key mineral resources is unprecedented. Explosive growth in the application of clean energy technologies has led to a surge in demand for key minerals represented by lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper, and the scale of investment in the upstream of key minerals has grown by leaps and bounds, and countries have significantly accelerated the pace of development of local mineral resources.
Taking lithium raw materials as an example, global lithium demand grew about three times between 2017 and 2022, cobalt demand grew 70%, and nickel demand grew 40%. Huge downstream demand has generated enthusiasm for upstream exploration, salt lakes, mines, seabed and even volcanic craters have become resource "treasure land".
It is noteworthy that several key mineral producing countries around the world have chosen to tighten their upstream development policies. Chile issued a "national lithium strategy", will set up a state-owned mineral company; Mexico through the proposal of nationalization of lithium resources; Indonesia to strengthen the control of state-owned nickel resources. Lithium resources account for more than half of the world's total amount of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, three countries are exchanging more and more closely, "lithium ore OPEC" is about to emerge.
Key mineral resources have become the "new oil" in the energy market, and the security of mineral supply has also become the key to the steady development of clean energy, and it is imperative to strengthen the security of key mineral supply.
8. The nuclear controversy continues with some abandoning it and others promoting it.
In April this year, Germany announced the closure of the last three nuclear power plants in its territory, officially entering the "nuclear-free era", which has become a landmark event in the global nuclear power industry. Germany's "abandonment of nuclear" is mainly due to concerns about the safety of nuclear power, which is also the main dilemma facing the global nuclear power industry. Earlier this year, the United States operated more than half a century of the Monticello nuclear power plant also shut down due to safety issues.
The high cost of new projects is also a "roadblock" on the road to nuclear power development. The serious cost overruns of Unit 3 and Unit 4 of the U.S. Vogtle nuclear power plant project are a typical case.
Although there are many challenges, the clean and low-carbon nature of nuclear power generation still allows it to be active on the world energy stage. This year, there have been serious nuclear power accidents in Japan, in order to stabilize the power supply, announced the restart of nuclear power plants; the most dependent on nuclear power France announced that it will be in the next 10 years for the local nuclear power industry to provide more than 100 million euros in grants; Finland, India, and even the United States have said that they will vigorously develop the nuclear power industry.
Clean and low-carbon nuclear power has always been regarded as an important hand in addressing climate change, and how to develop nuclear power with high quality has become an important issue in the current world energy transition.
9. Oil and gas has seen a number of mega-mergers, and the fossil era is not yet over.
The largest U.S. oil company ExxonMobil, the second largest oil company Chevron, as well as Occidental Petroleum Corporation this year have carried out large-scale mergers and acquisitions, the three heavy acquisitions make this year's large-scale mergers and acquisitions in the North American oil and gas industry totaled 124.5 billion U.S. dollars. The industry is expected to oil and gas industry, a new wave of mergers and acquisitions.
In October, ExxonMobil announced a nearly $60 billion all-stock acquisition of U.S. shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources, which since 1999 has been the largest acquisition deal. Chevron announced in the same month a $53 billion all-stock acquisition of U.S. oil and gas producer Hess, also its largest acquisition ever, and in December, Occidental Petroleum announced a $12 billion acquisition of a U.S. shale oil and gas company.
As large oil and gas producers continue to expand their upstream footprints, a new wave of consolidation will see more and more energy companies step up their competition for the best oil and gas assets to ensure a stable supply for decades to come. While there is an ongoing debate about whether "peak oil demand" is upon us, it is certain that the "fossil age" is not over.
10. Coal Demand Reaches New Highs, Historical Inflection Point May Be Coming
In 2023, global coal demand will reach a new record high, totaling more than 8.5 billion tons.
Overall, the emphasis on clean energy at the policy level has slowed down the growth rate of global coal demand, but coal is still the "ballast" of many countries' energy systems.
From the market situation, the coal market has basically come out of the epidemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict and other factors triggered by the period of sharp fluctuations in supply, the global average coal prices have fallen. Supply-side view, Russian coal by the European and American sanctions, more "discount price" into the market; Indonesia, Mozambique, South Africa and other coal-producing countries exports have risen, of which, Indonesia's coal exports close to 500 million tons, a new record high.
In the view of the International Energy Agency, by countries to reduce carbon process and policy, global coal demand or has reached a historic turning point, with the growth rate of renewable energy installed more than the growth rate of electricity demand, coal power demand or downward trend, coal consumption of fossil fuels is expected to appear "structural" decline.