INTERVIEW: Japan's NYK focuses on LNG, ammonia in marine energy transition
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Japan’s NYK Group aims to decarbonize its bunker mix with multiple types of alternative fuels, initially focusing on LNG before shifting to ammonia by the end of this decade, a senior executive told Platts.
The Japanese shipping conglomerate, which operates a diverse fleet of over 800 ships, aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% from 2021 levels by 2030 before achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Tsutomu Yokoyama, an NYK executive officer in charge of fuel transition, suggested the group would need to introduce alternative fuels in phases, as its current bunker consumption of 3.3 million mt/year is dominated by conventional, oil-based fuels.
“It's not realistic to change” in one go as a ship’s lifespan can last for 20 years, and NYK’s basic strategy would be to acquire ships that can burn alternative fuels during fleet renewal, Yokoyama said.
Price of the week: $36.54/Gigajoule
Platts June average for bio-LNG bunker fuel, compared with $11.99/Gj for 0.5%-sulfur fuel oil.
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BP intends to walk out of the 26-GW Australian Renewable Energy Hub, a prominent project in Western Australia, in the latest challenge facing the country’s renewable hydrogen industry after Woodside and Fortescue both exited key projects, adjusting their respective energy transition programs. The oil and gas company said the decision reflects BP's recent strategy reset, which will see it grow its upstream oil and gas business, focus its downstream business, and invest with increasing discipline into the transition.
Tesla has delayed plans to roll out cheaper electric vehicles until late 2025 due to the recent repeal of US federal EV tax credits. The company started production of its lower-cost model in June, but Tesla will focus on building and delivering "as many vehicles as possible in the US before the EV credit expires," CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during an earnings call on July 23.
China has launched a pilot program to issue domestic renewable energy certificates, called Green Electricity Certificates, for distributed solar and wind projects in three provinces: Zhejiang, Henan and Guangdong, according to the National Energy Administration. Over the past few years, China has introduced a series of policies to support GECs, establishing them as the exclusive certificates to certify renewable energy consumption within the country, steadily broadening the range of projects covered by the scheme.
India’s L&T Energy GreenTech will establish Indian Oil Corp.’s 10,000 mt/year renewable hydrogen plant in Haryana state using proprietary alkaline electrolyzers manufactured at its own facility in Gujarat, as one of the first movers into the clean fuels development for an Indian refinery. L&T won Indian Oil’s 10,000 mt/year renewable hydrogen plant tender in May, quoting a price of Rupees 397/kg ($4.65/kg), according to market participants, a key reference price for the industry.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure has tapped Bloom Energy to deploy its fuel cells at "select" US data centers in a bid to meet growing demand for energy-intensive artificial intelligence, the companies said July 24. Under the agreement, Bloom Energy will deliver primary power to "an entire data center" using fuel cells within 90 days, beating the years-long wait times for grid connection in some utility jurisdictions.