Apr 02

A buyers strike by the country’s top two energy retailers is stalling the growth of the renewable energy industry just weeks after the government supported the sector by committing to leave the Renewable Energy Target (RET) relatively untouched.

Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s) are not being signed or offered to wind and renewable projects with some saying that the retailers will wait for the September election before committing to anymore renewable PPAs.

Many renewable projects under development (especially windfarms) have stalled at the PPA stage because they can not secure an agreement to sell the forecasted power to be generated from the proposed project (or negotiate a PPA to provide sufficient return on investment).

Without a PPA the projects can not secure project finance, reach financial close and construct the renewable project. The majority of the developers do not have the balance sheet to build the project without debt, nor the ability to trade 100% of what they produce (black & green energy) on the nation electricity market.

With the major retailers developing their own renewable projects, it is a buyers market for the top 2 or 3 with choices of developing their own renewable projects, offer PPA’s to other renewable project developers or buy RECs in the market to cover their requirements under the RET scheme.

Origin’s last renewable PPA was signed in May last year for the 270MW Snowtown II wind farm.

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Jun 06

O’Farrell abandons plan to cut solar tariff
WEEKS of campaigning by the solar energy industry and the threat of a backbench revolt have forced the Premier, Barry O’Farrell, to dump plans to cut the tariff paid to participants in the solar bonus scheme.

The state government enraged participants in the scheme last month with a decision to cut the tariff rate they are paid for generating electricity back into the grid from their solar panels from 60¢ a kilowatt hour to 40¢. At the time, the Energy Minister, Chris Hartcher, said it was necessary to rein in the cost of the scheme, which was unfunded by $759 million and had blown out by a total of $1.9 billion from initial estimates.

The solar energy industry launched a campaign against the plan and presented the government with figures that showed the cost of the scheme had been overstated by $230 million. The government is expected to release new figures that show the size of the total blowout in the scheme was about $1.44 billion.

Six Fold Green Energy Increase
The country’s Treasurer Wayne Swan has made a claim ahead of a key speech tomorrow, when he is expected to reveal the Australian government’s own detailed economic modelling of the impact of its planned carbon tax. Swan says “the introduction of a carbon price would result in renewable output rising six-fold over the next 40 years, while gas-fired electricity production would grow by 150%.

“Dirty energy will become more expensive and clean energy cheaper under a carbon price, creating the jobs of the future and helping to protect our environment and our economy,” the Treasurer writes in an economic bulletin ahead of his climate speech to the National Press Club.

Renewables currently account for 8.7% of total power production, with 21.7TWh of output in Australia in the 12 months to October 2010. Swan’s figures also suggest coal will remain a significant part of the Australia’s power supply for decades to come.

wind turbine

Clear Solar
ONE of Australia’s largest rooftop solar panel retailers, Clear Solar, has gone into receivership, costing 40 people jobs and prompting warnings from the industry of more closures in coming months.

Clear Solar, which boasts on its website to have done 10,000 solar installations and is a sponsor of the A-League side Melbourne Victory, called in administrators Pitcher Partners yesterday.

But household customers have been spared with Clear Solar being bought out by one of its creditors, the electrical wholesaler Middy’s, which guaranteed 500 outstanding contacts to install solar panels.

This comes a week after Origin Energy closed their Adelaide solar manufacturing plant which is being moved to the US.

Class II and Class III turbines
General Electric Acciona, and Suzlon Energy last week began selling wind turbines that generate power in more gentle breezes, aiming the product at largely undeveloped markets such as the U.S. southeast and inland Australia.

Manufacturers have been making towers taller, blades longer and lighter, and turbines more reliable since demand for wind energy in the U.S. dropped about 50 percent last year to 4,900 GW.

The push to improve turbine output and reduce the cost of energy may also help U.S. manufacturers compete against lower- priced wind products from new entrants in China, said Amy Grace, a New York-based analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“It’s a shift from turbine prices, which have been falling with increased competition, to the cost of energy over its lifetime,” Grace said in an interview. “Improving the efficiency by 1 percent can yield more profit over the life of a turbine more than offering a $100,000 discount on the price.”

Suzlon, India’s biggest wind-turbine maker, has lost 8.2 percent in the stock market this year. In comparison Alcobendas, Spain-based Acciona and General Electric, whose products and services are more diversified, have gained 37 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.

GE expects to sell 60 to 100 of the new 1.6-megawatt turbines this year, which have a 47 percent longer sweep that can generate up to 19 percent more power annually. Acciona and Suzlon have also improved their turbines to lower lifetime costs and reach new areas in the U.S. market.

To win customers for its newest turbines, Suzlon yesterday said it would finance installation of two of them in the Texas panhandle this August.

Kennedy Wind Farm
The 750MW Kennedy wind development is one of several major renewables projects near Hughenden, Queensland, that would benefit from the $1.5 billion proposed 1028km CopperString transmission line, allowing them to supply to Australia’s power network.

CopperString, a joint venture between CuString and Leighton Contractors, hopes to begin construction work in February 2012. The consortium says it has secured agreements with major energy users in northwest Queensland’s industrial Mount Isa region – thought to be mining groups Xstrata and BHP Billiton, and chemical company Incitec Pivot – and can now progress to the “final stages of development”, including design work and contract negotiations.

The project includes a 720km high-voltage main line between Townsville and the North West Queensland electricity supply system, and 210km of lines and substations to link remotely-located major energy users.

The transmission project’s progress was hailed as an “exciting development” by Kennedy’s developer Windlab, which says it is obtaining the remaining approvals for the wind farm needed ahead of a planned start to construction in mid-to-late 2012.

Windlab plans to develop Kennedy with the help of outside investors and sell a majority stake to a larger owner-operator in the later stages of the project.

Other renewables projects clustered around Hughenden include Windlab’s 300MW Kaiwedera solar farm and PhytoFuel’s biodiesel and biomass plant.

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May 18

Gamesa
Gamesa has agreed to supply $2 billion of wind turbines to Indian renewable-energy developer Caparo Energy Ltd. (CEL) in the nation’s largest order ever.

Spain’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer said it will deliver the 2,000MW of turbines by 2016 in a press release. Gamesa will supply its 850 kW G58 turbine to Caparo for the first 150 MW to be erected next year

Ramesh Kymal, managing director of Gamesa’s India unit, told a press conference in Mumbai. “We’ve received an upfront payment in line with normal commercial terms.”

In 18 months since entering India, Gamesa has become the third-biggest supplier after grabbing 10 percent of installations in the fiscal year ended March 31, according to the Indian Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association. Suzlon installed 41 percent of the 2,351 megawatts of new capacity followed by Enercon GmbH’s Indian unit with 21 percent.

Caparo Financing aims to develop as much as 5,000 MW of capacity in India by 2017. Chief Executive Ravi Kailas told reporters today that Caparo’s first 100 megawatts of capacity begin operating in June. It’s part of a $1.28 billion order for 1,000 MW of wind turbines placed with Suzlon in January.

Morgan Stanley (MS) is helping Caparo to raise mezzanine loans to fund 600 MW, the mezzine debt is a type of leveraged loan repaid after senior loans in a default.

gamesa wind turbine

NSW Solar Scheme Changes
ONE of Barry O’Farrell’s own MPs has accused him of causing ”deliberate and disproportionate harm” to participants in the solar bonus scheme, describing the state government’s decision to slash the rate paid to them as a ”betrayal”.

As the Premier faces a backbench revolt from MPs fielding angry calls on the issue, the upper house MP Catherine Cusack has written to Mr O’Farrell criticising him for breaking an election promise and claiming cabinet was briefed with material containing ‘’significant errors”.

The New South Wales Government announced that the state’s feed-in tariff, the Solar Bonus Scheme, has been closed to new applications effective 29 April. The solar industry has had a strong reaction to the announcement and over 1,000 people have protested it at a rally in Sydney on Wednesday 18 May.

According to the New South Wales Government, legislation will be introduced to Parliament as soon as possible to support the following changes:

  • The Scheme will be closed to new applicants effective midnight 28 April 2011
  • The 300 MW connected capacity limit will be abolished
  • All applications received by businesses before 29 April 2011 will be assessed and if eligible will receive Solar Bonus Scheme tariff payments
  • 20 cent tariff – Customers already receiving or who applied (but are not yet connected) for the 20 cent tariff rate before 29 April 2011 are not affected by the changes
  • 60 cent tariff – Customers already receiving or who applied (but are not yet connected) for the 60 cent tariff will receive a 40 cent tariff rate from 1 July 2011 for the remainder of the Scheme.

According to the Government, the changes are the result of discussions following the Government’s Solar Bonus Scheme Summit Stage One. The scheme has been closed to new entrants since April 28 but about 40,000 already in the queue will be allowed in on a rate of 20¢ per kilowatt hour. Apparently under the current scheme, about 120,000 households which have installed solar roof panels receive 60 cents for every kilowatt hour of electricity fed back into the grid.

The government argues it is necessary because the scheme is underfunded by $749 million. It plans to introduce retrospective legislation to cut the feed-in tariff rate, arguing it will save taxpayers $470 million.


Suzlon

Iberdrola has found that falling blades from a Suzlon wind generator at the U.S. Rugby wind farm was a one-off accident unrelated to the turbine’s history of cracked blades.

Iberdrola suspended operations at the 150 MW wind farm, North Dakota after blades from a Suzlon S88 turbine fell from their mount, the company said on March 21. The same model suffered cracked blades starting in 2007, which had prompted a $100 million global retrofit program by India’s largest maker of windmills for power production.

The accident at Rugby was caused by the failure of a bolt connecting the rotor assembly to the nacelle, the report said. Stress may have been put on the bolt because of a misalignment of the connecting surfaces between the rotor hub and mainshaft flange, it said.

Carbon Price
Confidential research, commissioned by Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, shows coal will remain the cheapest energy option unless the price reaches $40 a tonne.

The federal government has rejected the $40-a-tonne figure while the chamber says such a price is simply not affordable.

Mr Evans said of the Australia Business Council said “The economy isn’t strong enough to deal with a carbon tax and it makes a lot of sense that we shouldn’t move ahead of the rest of the world on this issue.”

A carbon price of $40 a tonne would do nothing to reduce energy prices because it would not encourage gas-fired power stations.

Combet
Environmentalists have targeted Climate Change Minister Greg Combet before today’s multi-party climate change committee meeting in Canberra. A concerted strategic campaign saw the minister’s parliamentary office take a steady flow of calls asking the Federal Government to show more interest in renewable energy as part of its carbon pricing plan.

Calls for renewable energy have intensified as speculation rises that as little as 5per cent of the carbon dollar raised through the tax will be allocated to the sector.

Environment groups are alarmed that big polluting companies will get the lion’s share of compensation under the policy.

Mr Combet gave little away yesterday, saying only that details of the carbon price along with household and industry assistance would be released in July as previously promised.

brown coal

Kojonup Wind Farm
The Wheatbelt town of Kojonup is set to become WA’s second biggest wind energy project.

A group of local Kojonup business people, through the company Moonies Hill Energy, wants permission to construct 74 wind turbines at a site called Flat Rocks, 30km south-east of Kojonup and 200km SSE of Bunbury. The project would cost around $500 million, have a generating capacity of 150MW.

Moonies Hill spokeswoman Sarah Rankin said that pending planning approval, construction was expected to start in 2013.

Epuron
A preliminary environmental assessment has been lodged by Epuron with New South Wales Planning for the Liverpool Range Wind Farm. Located between Cassilis and Coolah, covering an area 40kms east to west, by 50kms north to south. The proposed wind farm for the Liverpool Range in the Upper Hunter could have up to 550 turbines.

The Director-General of Planning has asked the company to also consider potential land use conflicts, including local gas and mining exploration leases, and whether a powerline should pass through a State Recreation Area to connect with the Wollar-Wellington transmission line.

A preliminary environmental assessment has been lodged by Epuron with New South Wales Planning for the Liverpool Range Wind Farm. Located between Cassilis and Coolah, covering an area 40kms east to west, by 50kms north to south. The proposed wind farm for the Liverpool Range in the Upper Hunter could have up to 550 turbines.

The Director-General of Planning has asked the company to also consider potential land use conflicts, including local gas and mining exploration leases, and whether a powerline should pass through a State Recreation Area to connect with the Wollar-Wellington transmission line.

nsw wind farms

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Apr 26

Siemens
Key components of one of the New Zealands’s largest and best performing wind farms are having to be replaced just two years after it opened. Meridian Energy says it has found five gear boxes on its 62-turbine Makara wind farm on Wellington’s south coast need replacing.

Maintenance manager Russell Thomas says the fault is with one of 14 bearings inside the gear boxes. The faults were identified during an end-of-warranty inspection of the wind farm. Mr Thomas says the problem is not a surprise or a concern and is something that has been seen in wind farms in New Zealand and internationally.

The manufacturer of the turbines, Siemens, will pay all the replacement costs. The end-of-warranty inspection is due to be completed by October.

National Power
The proposed $500M, 300MW Cattle Hill Wind Farm will be one step closer to approved shortly, when NP Power officially submits their final Supplementary Information document to the Tasmanian EPA in early May 2011.

In June 2010, the EPA received the Cattle Hill Wind Farm’s Development Proposal and Environmental Management Plan (DPEMP) for a Level 2C assessment, and has since requested additional information to support aspects of the project. Particular focus has been on the application of eagle collision risk modelling and its impact on the regional eagle population; however by mapping eagle utilisation and prohibiting turbine placement within areas of high collision risk, NP Power has achieved a significant reduction in these risks.

In the second half of 2011, NP Power Pty Ltd will finalise turbine selection and request proposals from contractors to award the ‘balance-of-plant’ contract by 1st Quarter 2012. They anticipate the two-year construction period to commence during the 2nd Quarter 2012 and employ 50-75 contractors.

At least 19 wedge-tails have been confirmed killed at the Woolnorth windfarm since it began operating in 2002.

Goldwind
Goldwind has won orders for its turbines from U.S. clients, helping the Chinese manufacturer expand in the second- biggest energy market and compete with GE.

Goldwind will supply five 1.5-megawatt direct-drive machines to wind farms in Ohio and Rhode Island, the Shenzhen- traded company said today in a statement. The Gilbane Building Co. will use three turbines at a Rhode Island project providing power to a wastewater treatment plant in Providence. V.H. Cooper & Co. Inc. will install the other two at a wind farm in Ohio.

Suzlon
Suzlon has won its fifth order from Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd in India, and instal and operate 50.4 MW windfarm by September.

Wobben Wind
Wobben Windpower, a unit of the German wind power equipment maker Enercon, will manufacture 161 concrete towers for wind projects in Brazil’s north.

Wobben has opted for concrete towers instead of the steel that’s used at most other Brazilian wind farms because they’re cheaper to make, which means you can build them higher and harness stiffer winds, he said.

Solar Millennium
Solar Millennium rose as much as 11 percent last week after the U.S Department of Energy offered a $2.1 billion loan guarantee that will underpin financing for two solar thermal plants in Blythe, California.

The guarantees, offered as conditional commitment by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, are the precondition for financing about 75 percent of the construction costs for the first two of four planned solar-thermal plants, Solar Millennium said in a statement last night.

The power plants each have a capacity to produce 242 megawatts and will cost about $2.8 billion in total, according to the statement. Solar Trust of America LLC, Solar Millennium’s Oakland, California-based unit, started building the parabolic trough power plants Blythe 1 and 2, at the end of last year.

solar thermal power

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Apr 19

Roaring 40s
Hydro Tasmania is to end its 6 year Roaring 40s wind farm development joint venture with China Light and Power (CLP).

Hydro Tasmania says there will be some redundancies (up to 40) as result of the announcement. Chief executive Roy Adair says the state-owned company remains committed to developing the Musselroe wind farm and he hopes construction will start on the project this year.

Under an agreement, the Roaring 40s assets will be divided with Hydro Tasmania taking ownership of the wind farms at Studland Bay and Bluff Point (previously known as Woolnorth) in Tasmania’s North-West together with a share of development opportunities, including Musselroe in the North-East.

CLP subsidiary TRUenergy will take over the South Australian wind farm at Waterloo and assume the Roaring 40s share in the Cathedral Rocks wind farm, as well as a share of mainland development opportunities.

This news comes after Liberal Opposition demanded to know if the State Government has already sold wind farming company Roaring 40s on earlier in April.

Liberal energy spokesman Matthew Groom told Parliament that Hydro Tasmania appeared poised to enter into a new agreement to develop wind and solar energy resources in Tasmania with another Chinese company, as recently announced to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The split will require approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

woolnorth wind farm

Transfield
Transfield Services, is feeling some local pressure on their proposed 74 turbine Mt Emerald wind farm near Atherton QLD. Transfield already has a wind farm at Windy Hill at Ravenshoe.

EDF
EDF Energies Nouvelles, has agreed to buy Mexican two wind projects totaling 324 megawatts in the south of Mexico. The first project 164 MW, Eoliatec del Istmo, and the second, 160MW Eoliatec del Pacifico.

woolnorth wind farm

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Mar 03

CBD
CBD Energy, won two contracts to set up 40 MW of solar farms in Italy, it said this week in a statement to the stock exchange. The value of the projects was said to be about A$185 million.

BlueScope
Bluescope’s delaying of the $1billion cogeneration plant will mean the termination of a greenhouse gas reduction deal between the company and the NSW Government. BlueScope Steel managing director and CEO Paul O’Malley has said the company’s financial situation does not allow the $1 billion investment in the cogeneration plant at Port Kembla.

The delay means a 2006 agreement signed with then premier Morris Iemma, under which the Government committed to advocating on BlueScope’s behalf against being charged for carbon emissions, will be terminated.

A condition of the deal was that the cogeneration plant be completed by the end of 2012. The deal committed BlueScope to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from Port Kembla to 2000 levels by the year 2025, but the company is now free of that obligation.

Acciona
Spanish renewable energy and engineering giant Acciona is seeking an alliance with a major industrial company in order to revive the fortunes of its Acciona Windpower turbine business, says chairman José Manuel Entrecanales.

Goldwind
Xinjiang Goldwind, fell the most in three weeks in Shenzhen trading after Citigroup Inc. recommended selling the Hong Kong-listed shares.

Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. won an order from AES Corp. subsidiary Mountain View Power Partners IV LLC. to supply 49 wind turbines for a wind power project in California. The turbines are scheduled to be delivered at the end of 2011.

goldwind

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Feb 22

Epuron
Epuron are bullish on the future of the Australian renewable energy industry. Epuron a unit of German solar company Conergy, said it plans a further three wind farms in Australia.

Epuron have submitted a development application for a proposed $300 million windfarm in close proximity to the proposed Suzlon/Windlabs Rugby windfarm near Boorowa in South West NSW. Epuron believe the proposed windfarm could have up to 80 - 110 wind turbines installed on the higher ridges and hill tops on the site.
The site covers numerous north south ridges running from Rye Park, south to the 330kV transmission line NE of Yass.

Also this month Epuron have a development application for the White Rock windfarm, 15km East of Glen Innes. The proposed project could have 80-100 turbines positioned on the higher ridges and hill tops from Grahams Valley Rd to the Gwydir hwy.

Epuron is also continuing works to gain development approval for the Liverpool Range windfarm project, in between Coolah and Cassilis in the upper hunter valley. The proposed project has had large numbers quoted such as up to 550 turbines and cost between A$1 billion and A$2 billion.

BP Solar
BP Solar and Madrid-based Fotowatio Renewable Ventures have book built a consortium of eight banks to help fund their $600+ million, 150MW Moree PV project, after the Australian government backed down on plans to cut funding for its Solar Flagships subsidy.

Transfield
Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund (TSI) has said this week it has a negative view of the short-term renewable energy certificate (REC) market. It is expected that Infigen’s interim 2010-11 results, to be delivered this Friday, will be depressed by the low REC price. The outlook for Infigen Energy, depends on the REC price given makes up approx 50% of the revenue stream from its Australian windfarms.

Huaneng Power
Huaneng Power has received local government approval for the Liaoning Changtu Taiping 50MW wind project worth approx 469 million yuan.

Gamesa
Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA will provide E.ON a test model of its G11X-5.0 megawatt turbine in 2012, as Spain’s largest maker of the machines builds a sea-based business to cater for demand in Europe.

Vestas
Vestas, said it has signed an agreement with WindPlus to deploy an offshore wind turbine with a full-scale semi- submersible floating structure.

India
India plans to continue offering a subsidy to wind farm developers which rewards them based on the amount of power they generate, government officials said.

“Generation-based incentive will continue” beyond March 2012, Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said last week.

epuron wind farms

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Feb 07

Chepstowe Wind farm
Planning Minister Matthew Guy has called in the proposed development at Chepstowe. Mr Guy said the project raised significant issues concerning the proximity of turbines to homes and the environmental effect on local brolgas.

The proposed 6MW Chepstowe wind farm is 34km west of Ballarat and is being developed by Future Energy. The assessment of development application for the wind farm was set for a VCAT hearing later this month after Future Energy claimed the Pyrenees Shire failed to determine the application in time.

Transfield
Transfield Holdings plans to expand its Solar power business in Australia. The company plans to take advantage of the majority stake it holds in the solar thermal technology company Novatec Biosol.

Transfield is in the running for the Solar Flagship funding for its proposed solar thermal project at the existing Collinsville Power station in northern QLD. The company is also looking at numerous smaller projects around Australia.

Turbine Manufacturer News
GE will start making wind power equipment in Turkey, vice chairman John Krenicki said.

Nordex rose as much as 6.4 percent in German trading after the wind turbine maker said order receipts increased in the fourth quarter, helping new business in 2010 grow.

Suzlon reported its fourth-straight quarterly loss, missing analyst estimates as a weaker euro devalued its overseas assets.

Repower nine-month net income fell to 26.2 million euros from 32.1 million euros, as revenue dropped.

solar

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Jan 27

Atlantis Resources
Atlantis will meet Australian investors next moth as it looks to raise $150 million next year. Atlantis is a tidal power technology provider and tidal farm developer.

Transfield
Transfield Services proposed Collector wind farm is feeling the heat of opposing neighbours after a billboard was erected on the Federal Hwy.

Netherlands
Van Oord Groep NV, the Rotterdam- based marine services company, agreed to build a 600-megawatt offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, the nation’s largest clean energy project.

Romania
Vestas has said that Romania has the greatest potential for growth for the wind energy industry in eastern Europe during the next five years.

Siemens
Siemens will work with Prysmian SpA, an Italian cable manufacturer, to install the 160-kilometer undersea line to connect a 288-megawatt wind farm, named DanTysk, with 80 Siemens turbines. Located near the German island of Sylt, with a forecasted operation date early 2014.

Abengoa
Abengoa, Spain’s biggest developer of solar-thermal power plants, has said that it signed an agreement with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. to build projects in India.

tidal power generator

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Jan 24

Green Power
Household green power participation is declining with the surges in electricity prices. Over the last 12 months up to June 2010, green power customers fell by 15%. Business have increased their consumption of renewable energy by 21%, but it was not enough to offset the fall in residential customers.

green power

TrustPower
The major project status has been revoked for the Sellicks Hill wind farm, just south of Adelaide. South Australian Planning Minister Paul Holloway refused an extension of the development approval after several years of delayed development. The project was originally approved in 2003 for 20 wind turbines.

Areva
Areva SA and the Saudi Binladin Group will sign a partnership agreement tonight in the nuclear and solar power industries, the French company’s Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said today in Riyadh.

“We are in a major energy evolution in the region,” Lauvergeon told a conference in the Saudi Arabian capital. “In the past, it was oil and gas, and that was it. Now it’s oil, gas, renewables, and nuclear. We are very excited about this evolution, and we would like to be a long-term partner of these developments.”

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