The French oil and gas company’s partners in Block 20/11 are Petronas Angola E&P and Sonangol Pesquisa & Produção with stakes of 40% and 20%, respectively. The remaining 40% interest is owned by TotalEnergies’ subsidiary TotalEnergies E&P Angola Block 20, which is the operator of the concession.

Located 100km off the coast, and in a water depth of 1,700m, the Kaminho project is said to be the first large deepwater development in the Kwanza basin.

The deepwater project involves the conversion of a very large crude carrier (VLCC) to a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, which will be linked to a subsea production network.

Angola Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil & Gas Diamantino de Azevedo said: “This partnership is for us of extreme importance, as it creates a joint operating entity between Sonangol and TotalEnergies in production phase.

“It is also relevant that the contracts signed today include national companies and contribute to local content with more than 10 million hours of work to be performed by local companies”.

According to TotalEnergies, the all-electric FPSO will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate routine flaring. Associated gas will be reinjected fully into the reservoirs, said the company.

The production at the Kaminho deepwater project is slated to commence in 2028, with an expected peak production of 70,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

The offshore oil project would involve more than 10 million man-hours in Angola. This will be primarily for offshore operations and construction at local yards.

TotalEnergies chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: “Building on our pioneering spirit and our long-term partnership with Angola, we are pleased to launch the Kaminho project along with our strategic partners, Sonangol and Petronas, and the strong support and confidence of the Angolan authorities.

“This project, which leverages innovation to fit with our investment criteria – breakeven under 30 $/b and carbon intensity of 16 kg CO₂e/boe – will become our seventh FPSO in the country and the first-ever development in the Kwanza basin.”

Separately, TotalEnergies has awarded three new contracts worth $3.7bn to Saipem pertaining to the Kaminho project.

Under the first contract, Saipem will deliver the engineering, procurement, construction, transportation, and commissioning of the Kaminho FPSO vessel.

The second contract covers the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the same FPSO vessel for a firm period of 12 years. It can also be extended by an additional eight years.

Saipem’s scope for the third contract encompasses the engineering, procurement, supply, construction, installation, pre-commissioning, and assistance for the commissioning and start-up of a subsea, umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF) package.

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Being developed at Haibin harbor in Lianyungang city, the pilot project entails an investment of CNY9.88bn ($1.38bn). It is said to become the largest offshore solar farm in China.

The solar farm will comprise an energy-storage facility with a capacity of 400MW. Its solar panels will cover an area of 18.8km^2.

The Chinese offshore solar project is being constructed in the warm seawater area designated for China National Nuclear Power’s nuclear power station in Tianwan.

An area of the water is used for the nuclear power plant’s warm water discharge, while the neighbouring space is designated for the offshore PV construction. The project is divided into two parts, namely offshore and onshore, reported Global Times.

The offshore section includes solar power generation, with the produced electricity sent to the onshore step-up substation through an overhead corridor bridge. It will then be integrated into the state grid following voltage adjustment.

According to the publication, the onshore energy storage project is in its last phase of construction and is likely to be completed and operational by the end of June 2024.

The offshore solar project will be linked to the state grid in September 2024 and its full capacity is slated to be connected next year.

The project is expected to produce 2.23 billion kilowatt-hours of power during its lifespan of 25 years. This clean energy produced will address the annual production and life requirements of 230,000 people.

Furthermore, the solar project is estimated to offset carbon dioxide emissions by 1.77 million tons per year as well as save approximately 680,000 tons of standard coal.

CNNP, has been quoted by South China Morning Post, as saying: “Upon completion, it will cross couple with the nuclear power station, forming a 10GW large-scale clean-energy production base.”

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The move comes after the implementation of dedicated site policing and the conditional confirmations from all members of the Ethiopian gold project’s finance syndicate.

KEFI Gold and Copper has scheduled early works for the Tulu Kapi project until September this year.

These include completing preparations for community resettlement, detailed engineering for procurement, conducting community consultations on social development plans, and undertaking recruitment and other organisational development activities.

This will be followed by major works, including procurement and fabrication of plant, site earthworks, grade-control drilling, mining, and definitive feasibility study (DFS) on underground mine, from October 2024.

The company also aims to satisfy all conditions required for closing the project financing.

KEFI Gold and Copper executive chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said: “Our launch timing is fortuitously coinciding with the improved conditions in Ethiopia and all-time high gold prices.

“Tulu Kapi’s high grade and high process recovery, combined with our project design, has resulted in a robust set of economics for long-term operations which should support further exploration and development along with good opportunities to continue supporting local social development projects such as the already provided local school and water supply.”

The company holds a 95% stake in the Tulu Kapi gold project. The remaining 5% free-carry interest is held by Ethiopian government.

Last year in April, KEFI Gold and Copper signed the final umbrella agreement for project financing of the Tulu Kapi project. It outlined the roles of all syndicates, finance conditions, and conditions precedent to final formal approval being granted.

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GBN is a so-called ‘arms-length’ body (i.e. directed by but separate from the government) intended to boost the delivery of new nuclear. The body has been launched with interim chair Simon Bowen and chief executive Gwen Parry-Jones and its ‘sponsoring department’ is the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

Key among GBN’s activities will be support for new small modular reactor (SMR) designs and a site selection process for SMR projects. It began the process of identifying SMR technologies to be supported with market intelligence gathering about reactor designs, which concluded in June 2023. That was followed in July with the launch of a £20bn competitive process to select SMR Technology Partners to design, develop, manufacture, supply, install and commission “various products, equipment or services related to the key plant required for SMR nuclear generation, including but not limited to reactor, steam generation, turbine, electrical generation, as well as the integrated design of these component parts”.

The Technology Partners will be responsible for “delivery to site of a designed and tested solution, a complete set of interface specifications, and installation and commissioning of the solution”. A tender for Technology Partners opened on the government portal, closing on 23 August. Effectively the tender is a ‘down-selection’ of technologies, which GBN said would be completed in Autumn 2023. GBN says it may make up to four awards, depending on the quality of tenders, as well as affordability and value-for-money considerations.

The Procurement Process will take the form of a Competitive Procedure with Negotiation. Applicants who pass the qualification stage will be invited to submit an initial tender. Up to four applicants will be invited to negotiate following evaluation of initial tenders, after which they will be invited to submit a ‘best and final offer’.

The next phase will launch “as quickly as possible”. This will be a contract notice setting out an intention to enter into a development contract with successful bidders. They will be offered:

• Funding to support technology development and site-specific design
• A close partnership with GBN, which will be ‘ready and able to provide developer capability’. GBN initially intends to establish project development companies, with developer capabilities.
• Support in accessing sites.

Up to 50% co-funding will be available through GBN on commercial terms to support Technology Partners in developing a generic design solution for Final Investment Decision (FID) by 2029.

GBN said in the tender that it is looking for a site-agnostic technology that may be deployed across sites with varying ground conditions and cooling options. Sites will include at minimum all those identified for nuclear deployment in the 2011 National Policy Statement for Nuclear Power Generation. GBN will award a two-stage contract (design and supply) for a Site Specific Design Solution. The supply stage is conditional on the exercise of an option by GBN and for a first-of-a-kind project in the UK will include manufacture, supply, installation, provision of fuel assemblies and supporting maintenance services up to and including the first refuelling outage.

Discussing the launch of GBN in his regular planning blog, Mustafa Latif-Aramesh, partner and parliamentary agent at law firm BDB Pitmans, said: “In stark terms, this will mean that the government is finally putting money where its mouth is for small and nuclear reactors.”

He said the government should “throw resources at updating the National Policy Statement for Nuclear” in advance of its 2025 publication target, and explicitly confirm that nuclear projects outside of existing or decommissioned nuclear sites can progress.

More investment in large and advanced units

Just days after launching GBN, UK DESNZ confirmed a £170m ($217m) investment of previously allocated funding for development work on Sizewell C. The investment – part of a £700m ($894m) investment scheme announced in November 2022 – will help fund Sizewell C’s continuing development so it can reach the point of a final investment decision, including preparing the site for future construction, procuring key components and expanding the workforce.

DESNZ said the investment would “help attract potential private investment into new nuclear projects”. Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said the planned EPR at Sizewell C “represents the bridge between the ongoing construction of Hinkley Point C and our longer-term ambition to provide up to a quarter of the UK’s electricity from homegrown nuclear energy by 2050”.

The UK government also announced funding for three research projects for so-called advanced modular reactors (AMRs), whose high-temperature operation means they can provide heat for hydrogen and other industrial uses while generating power. They are:

• Up to £22.5m ($28.7m) to Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation UK in Warrington to further develop the design of a high-temperature micromodular reactor.
• Up to £15m ($19m) to the National Nuclear Laboratory in Warrington to accelerate the design of a high-temperature reactor, following its success in Japan.
• Up to £16m ($20.4m) to the National Nuclear Laboratory in Preston to continue to develop the capability to manufacture the coated-particle fuel that is suitable for high-temperature reactors.

GBN launch has mixed reaction

The UK’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is an ‘arm’s length’ body that describes itself as “the government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects”. In its Annual Report on Major Projects 2022-23, published on 20 July, the IPA chose to highlight Great British Nuclear.

The IPA held an Opportunity Framing workshop as part of the establishment of GBN aiming to drive consensus among key stakeholders, accelerate strategic decision making and define actions around GBN’s structure, scope and purpose. The IPA said it identified critical success factors, including the potential funding model and capability building, and aligned key stakeholders to a high-level decision roadmap and claimed that “by investing key stakeholders in the journey early on, the programme has been set up for success, ready to move forward in a joined-up way to achieve its vision”.

However, MPs on the Select Committee on Science, Innovation and Technology were doubtful GBN had the strengths claimed by the IPA.

Select Committees are cross-party groups of set up to scrutinise the work of government departments and also conduct ad-hoc inquiries in their sectors. The committee’s report, Delivering Nuclear Power, was also published in July and it warned that “the role of the recently launched Great British Nuclear is unclear beyond its initial task of running a selection between competing SMR developers.”

The committee warned that the government’s stated target of 24GW of nuclear-generating capacity by 2050 and its ‘aspiration’ to deploy a new nuclear reactor every year were “more of a ‘wish list’ than the comprehensive detailed and specific strategy that is required to ensure such capacity is built”. The committee’s chair, Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, was supportive of the government as it identified nuclear power as an important contributor to meeting electricity needs. But he said that achieving 24 GW of nuclear power by 2050 “would be almost double the highest level of nuclear generation that the UK has ever attained. The only way to achieve this is to translate these very high-level aspirations into a comprehensive, concrete and detailed Nuclear Strategic Plan which is developed jointly with the nuclear industry, which enjoys long-term cross-party political commitment and which therefore offers dependability for private and public investment decisions.”

The repeated requirement from witnesses across the nuclear industry was for a much clearer and more concrete strategic plan than currently exists. The committee sought fast action: it recommended that a comprehensive Nuclear Strategic Plan should be drawn up, consulted upon and agreed upon before the General Election due to be held next year.

The report said that for 70 years since the UK built its first civil nuclear reactor in 1956, “Britain’s nuclear energy policy has been characterised by intermittency”. Of the latest initiative to build 24GW of nuclear, including small modular reactors (SMRs), it said “targets are not a strategy”. An Energy Security Strategy  published in March 2022 was followed by  an Energy Security Plan in March 2023. But “Even taken together, the 2022 Energy Security Strategy and the 2023 Energy Security Plan, do not amount to the comprehensive, detailed and specific strategy that we believe is required if the Government’s aspirations are to be delivered.”

Some progress has been made. The committee report said, “A common theme of evidence to our inquiry was ambiguity as to what GBN’s role would be.” Interim chair of GBN Simon Bowen told the MPs that GBN requires statutory powers and they will be granted as part of the Energy Bill now under parliamentary scrutiny. The committee said, “ We are pleased to see this progress, as during our Inquiry the government had not been able to provide us with any clarity on GBN’s role or how it would be set up. But “there is still ambiguity over what GBN’s exact remit will be in the future, beyond running a SMR competition.”

Giving evidence to the committee Professor Grubb, University College London, said GBN “appeared to have multiple yet conflicting roles”.

After Simon Bowen was appointed as industry advisor to the proposed GBN in April 2022, his team was tasked with determining the scope and structure of the body. A report presented to the then-Prime Minister in September 2022, which included 25 recommendations for GBN remains unpublished.

The Select Committee wants the government to set out a comprehensive statement of GBN’s remit, operational model and budget, and its intended role with respect to ministers and government departments. Within this, the government should clearly define what the role for GBN will be on supporting new nuclear projects beyond the initial SMR competition.

The Committee said that although GBN had been tasked to run an exercise to choose between alternative SMR propositions (as above), “At this stage, it is unclear what contribution the government expects SMRs to make to its 24GW target”. It called for the Nuclear Strategic Plan to answer key questions on:

• What deployment of SMRs it wants to see, if any?
• What technologies and vendors it intends to deploy, and whether they will be from a single supplier or multiple suppliers?
• What sites should SMRs be located at?
• What financial model would be used to pay for the contribution of SMRs to electricity supply?

It said, “Each of these questions will require a clear answer if vendors are to be able to take decisions on whether and when to take the next steps towards eventually deploying SMRs.”

This article first appeared in Nuclear Engineering International magazine.

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DoD awarded the financing under the Defense Production Act (DPA) battery grant programme.

The financing will be matched with a $43m investment by South32, to support the activities that will help advance the domestic production of battery-grade manganese.

Hermosa is a polymetallic development with zinc-lead-silver sulfide deposit, a battery-grade manganese deposit, with the potential for further polymetallic and copper mineralisation.

Located in a historic mining district in the Patagonia Mountains of Southern Arizona, Hermosa is the only US project to produce, zinc and manganese, two federally designated critical minerals.

South32 Chief Executive Officer Graham Kerr said, “The Department of Defense funding will help support the development of the Hermosa project’s battery-grade manganese deposit.

“The only advanced project in the United States that has demonstrated through a pilot testing program that it can produce battery-grade manganese from a domestic ore source.”

The DoD funding will help South32 advance battery-grade manganese production at Hermosa, to market in North America, including DoD-designated end-users.

Also, the funding is expected to create a cost-effective domestic option for manganese products within the electric vehicle battery supply chain that is currently dependent on imports.

Hermosa project is adopting sustainability and advanced technology in its underground mine design, through power supply from renewable energy and all-electric underground mining fleet.

The manganese deposit would have a lower carbon footprint than other methods to produce battery-grade manganese such as the Electrolytic Manganese Metal (EMM) production process.

The project, with a surface footprint of 750 acres is expected to use around 75% less water than other mines in the region, minimising environmental impact.

Furthermore, the project is expected to support the local economy, create up to 900 jobs and support investment across surrounding communities for decades.

Hermosa president Pat Risner said: “This project represents an opportunity for the United States to create domestic supply chains for the minerals and metals important to national security.

“The Department of Defense funding will help develop this critical resource on a timeline that matches that urgency.”

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The British oil and gas exploration and production company plans the drilling of the offshore development in the first half of 2025. Following the drilling, the Belinda field will be tied back to the Triton floating production storage and offloading (FPSO).

Located in Block 21/30f around 6km southeast of the Triton FPSO, the offshore field was discovered in 1990 and appraised in 2016. It is being developed as a single well tieback to the Triton FPSO.

According to Serica Energy, the Belinda field holds estimated proven and probable reserves of nearly 5 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) which represents 80% oil.

Production from the field is slated to begin in Q1 2026 upon the completion of the tie-back work to the Triton FPSO.

The Belinda field is the fifth well in Serica Energy’s Triton area drilling campaign which started last month using the COSLInnovator drilling rig. The area consists of eight producing oil fields.

They are namely Evelyn, Clapham, Pict, Bittern, Guillemot West, Guillemot Northwest, Gannet E and Saxon. All of the producing wells are designed to improve production through the Triton FPSO.

Serica Energy chairman and Interim CEO David Latin said: “We are delighted to have received approval to develop Belinda. This will build on our strong track record of delivering growth and adding value through investment in our assets.

“We have further potential projects in our portfolio which we continue to assess, including the possible re-development of the Kyle field, which could, like Belinda, be another low emissions tie-back candidate to the Triton FPSO.

“We look to the UK government to implement tax and licensing arrangements that support investments like Belinda, thereby creating UK jobs, earnings and tax receipts instead of increasing reliance on energy imports.”

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Under the terms of the agreement, the Spanish electric utility will pay Avangrid’s shareholders $35.75 per share to buy out the remaining shares of Avangrid, which is a renewable energy developer based in Connecticut.

The consideration represents a premium of 11.4% over the closing price of Avangrid common stock on 6 March 2024 and a 15.2% premium over the volume-weighted average price of Avangrid common stock over the 30 trading days.

Currently, Iberdrola holds around 81.6% of Avangrid’s capital.

Through the acquisition, Iberdrola aims to expand its presence in the networks sector within the US. Iberdrola is prioritising growth in markets having robust credit ratings and in regulated sectors such as networks.

Upon the completion of the transaction, a formal request will be submitted to delist Avangrid shares from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Presently, Avangrid has $44bn in assets and operates in 24 US states. The company focuses on two primary business areas, which are networks and renewables.

In the networks sector, Avangrid supervises eight electric and natural gas companies, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England.

Simultaneously, in the renewables sector, the company oversees a diverse portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the US.

Avangrid CEO and president Pedro Azagra said: “We are excited about Iberdrola’s continued investment in Avangrid and commitment to the United States.

“As a wholly-owned member of the Iberdrola Group, we will continue to serve our customers and build our renewable energy assets work to achieve our vision to lead the clean energy transition with a strong commitment to sustainability, community, governance, and our employees.”

Subject to customary conditions, including shareholders and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Maine Public Utilities Commission and the New York Public Service Commission approvals, the deal is expected to be complete in Q4 2024.

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Located nearly 85km northwest of Borkum and approximately 110km west of Helgoland, the offshore wind project represents an investment of close to €2.4bn.

Once operational, the He Dreiht project will generate sufficient clean energy to deliver electricity to 1.1 million households. The annual yield of the offshore wind farm, which will feature 64 Vestas V236-15 wind turbines, is expected to be 3.6 billion kWh.

The German offshore wind farm is owned 50.1% by EnBW, while a partner consortium consisting of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP and Norges Bank Investment Management holds the remaining 49.9%.

EnBW secured the contract for the He Dreiht offshore wind project back in 2017 during the first offshore auction held in Germany.

The company plans to install the first foundations in the seabed in the coming few days by utilising the Thialf floating crane.

Besides, the foundation installation works will continue into the summer. The wind turbines and cables are being manufactured simultaneously and are scheduled to be installed and laid in early 2025.

The He Dreiht offshore wind farm is slated to achieve full operations at the end of 2025. Dutch-German grid operator TenneT is anticipated to link the wind farm to the grid by leveraging an offshore converter station and two high-voltage DC export cables.

EnBW CEO Georg Stamatelopoulos said: “EnBW will play its part in further accelerating the energy transition in Germany, which is why it wants to invest a total of 40 billion euros in the energy transition by 2030 – the lion’s share of it in Germany.

“We are investing around 13 billion euros alone in constructing wind farms and solar parks as well as flexibly controllable and hydrogen-ready gas power plants. Our aim is to be a climate-neutral company by 2035.”

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Built 13km to 24km off the northern coast of France, in the Normandy region, the French offshore wind project represents a total investment of approximately €2bn.

It features 71 offshore Siemens Gamesa turbines, each with a generation capacity of 7MW.

The Fécamp offshore wind farm is expected to generate clean energy enough to supply electricity to approximately 770,000 people. This is equal to 60% of the annual power consumption of the Seine-Maritime department.

Besides, the French offshore wind facility will contribute towards the country’s energy transition goals. France aims to attain a 33% share of renewable energy in its energy mix by the end of this decade.

EDF Group chairman and CEO Luc Rémont said: “This new low-carbon electricity production facility would not have been possible without close, ongoing dialogue with elected representatives and local authorities, environmental associations, fishermen, economic players and local residents.

“The development of the Saint-Nazaire and Fécamp offshore wind farms has led to the emergence of a new industrial sector in France, essential for the development of future wind farms, in particular our Calvados, Dunkirk and Manche Normandie projects.”

The Fécamp project has generated around 3,000 jobs in the Normandy region for its construction. It has also created 100 local jobs for its operations.

The first energy production from the French offshore wind farm was achieved in July 2023 and wind turbine installation was completed in March this year.

Enbridge power president and corporate strategy executive vice president Matthew Akman said: “The successful completion of the Fécamp Offshore Wind Farm marks a significant milestone for Enbridge and our project partners.

“Following the successful completion of Saint-Nazaire in 2022, Enbridge continues to advance the development and construction of several offshore wind projects in France, including the Provence Grand Large floating offshore wind project, and the Calvados, Dunkirk and Normandy offshore wind projects.”

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STRUCINSPECT, a Viennese start-up founded in 2019 as a joint venture between PALFINGER AG, VCE and the ANGST Group, operates what it claims is the world’s first Infrastructure Lifecycle Hub for digital infrastructure inspection and lifecycle management. It is now partnering with Voith Hydro to make the digital assessment and tracking of hydropower dams easier and safer.

A web-based collaboration platform is the core of STRUCINSPECT’s portfolio and combines technologies and functions to maintain bridges, tunnels, and dams in a safe, sustainable, and resource-saving manner. It uses data collected by drones to efficiently visualise and analyse them with the help of artificial intelligence and other technologies such as building information modelling or augmented reality. Based on a set of configurable technology modules, STRUCINSPECT develops individual business solutions together with its customers in order to capture and precisely record inspection data, process it efficiently and use it for effective maintenance decisions.

In future, digital inspections will be performed in shorter intervals with less manual effort. Even the smallest changes will be identified by AI-assisted damage detection. This analysis serves as a base for engineers’ maintenance decisions and focuses their precious resources on exactly this core element. It can mean that maintenance and inspection become more precise and efficient, downtimes are reduced, and the performance of the plant is ensured.

While the solution is already applied in the transportation infrastructure sector the immense potential for hydropower dams is now on the rise. Voith Hydro sees great value in the offering for operators worldwide as there are thousands of dams with an average age of 50 years and many other assets like penstocks, powerhouses and tunnels that this technology can be used at.

“STRUCINSPECT’s digital inspection technology opens up the opportunity to offer new services globally,” Riedel says.

Pilot study

In a pilot project in 2022, the 72-year-old Scottish power plant Clunie was put through its paces. In terms of capacity and size, Clunie is described as being at the heart of SSE Renewables’ chain of power plants between Dalwhinnie, Rannoch and Pitlochry. So far, the inspections at Clunie are carried out twice a year in the form of walk-throughs of the entire structure but problems can occur if damages are not spotted during such manual inspections.

“This is where the advantages of our digital inspection technology come into their own,” emphasises Albert Karlusch, Managing Director of STRUCINSPECT.

“We are excited about the new opportunities this technology brings and happy with the two companies we have on board for its implementation,” says Stephen Crooks, renewables civil engineer at SSE Renewables which is taking a leadership role when it comes to digital inspection.  “With this approach, we have all data managed centrally and generate measurable business value out of it.”

This article first appeared in International Water Power magazine.

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