MINEX Forum

Tag: Europe

  • Gravitricity to Develop Underground Gravity Energy Storage Projects in Europe

    Gravitricity to Develop Underground Gravity Energy Storage Projects in Europe

    Edinburgh-based company Gravitricity has announced its plans to develop underground gravity energy storage projects for deep mine operators in Slovenia, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Finland. This innovative approach repurposes end-of-life mine shafts, which would otherwise face expensive infilling and decommissioning costs.

    Gravitricity’s energy storage system, known as GraviStore, utilizes heavy weights—up to 12,000 tonnes—suspended in deep shafts by cables attached to winches. During periods of excess electricity, such as on windy days, these weights are winched to the top of the shaft, ready to generate power when needed. The weights can be released in less than a second, with the winches acting as generators to produce electricity either in a quick burst or more gradually, depending on demand.

    The company highlighted that GraviStore offers many advantages similar to pumped storage hydro and lithium-ion batteries, but without the performance degradation that affects batteries over time. This system can operate for decades with consistent efficiency.

    Gravitricity’s current clients include the Velenje coal mine in Slovenia, owned by the government-run Premogovnik Velenje; First Quantum Minerals’ Pyhäsalmi mine in Finland, Europe’s deepest zinc and copper mine; the former Darkov mine in the Czech Republic, managed by the state enterprise DIAMO; and the Geiger Group’s Grube Teutschenthal mine in Germany.

    “Gravity energy storage presents a powerful green opportunity for mine operators, extending the life of mines beyond material extraction,” said Martin Wright, founder and executive chairman of Gravitricity. “This alternative to decommissioning provides economic and employment opportunities in communities facing the decline of traditional jobs. Our engagements with mine operators demonstrate significant interest in our technology, and we are working with both mine owners and public sector organizations to transform these plans into operational realities.”

    Gravitricity has already demonstrated its GraviStore technology with a 250kW above-ground prototype, successfully raising and lowering two 25-tonne weights to generate power and verify the system’s rapid response capabilities. The £1-million, 12-meter-high test rig proved the system can achieve full power in less than a second, making it highly valuable for frequency response and backup power markets, with the flexibility to adjust power output based on demand.

  • Europe’s Green Transition Driving Demand for Critical Raw Materials

    Europe’s Green Transition Driving Demand for Critical Raw Materials

    The surge in demand for raw materials is primarily propelled by Europe’s commitment to transitioning to a green economy, with a focus on achieving climate neutrality. This push towards sustainability has been further fueled by Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, prompting a rapid shift away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources.

    The European Union (EU) established a methodology in 2010 to identify critical raw materials (CRMs), based on supply risk and economic importance. Materials are deemed critical if they face high supply risks and are economically significant. These CRMs, including lithium and rare earth elements (REE), play pivotal roles in various sectors, particularly in green and digital transitions.

    Lithium, for instance, is indispensable for battery production, with demand projected to skyrocket in Europe and globally. Similarly, REE are vital for manufacturing electric motors, wind turbines, and energy-efficient lighting. However, the EU’s heavy reliance on a few supplier countries, notably China, poses significant supply chain vulnerabilities.

    To address these challenges, the EU emphasizes material efficiency, substitution, and circularity. Circular economy strategies, such as recycling and promoting alternatives, are crucial for reducing import dependencies and ensuring a resilient supply chain for CRMs.

  • EIT RawMaterials’ vision for sustainable resource management in Europe’s green evolution

    EIT RawMaterials’ vision for sustainable resource management in Europe’s green evolution

    EIT RawMaterials is actively engaged in collaborating with policymakers and industry stakeholders to drive innovation, shape policies, and develop a roadmap for Europe’s critical materials sector to achieve sustainability goals. As Europe works towards its 2050 climate neutrality objective, ensuring access to critical raw materials becomes crucial for powering key green technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.

    Europe’s heavy reliance on a limited number of countries, including China, for these essential materials poses risks due to dependency on vulnerable and opaque supply chains. EIT RawMaterials, recognized as a leading innovation community in the global raw materials sector, is committed to supporting Europe’s transition to a sustainable economy by ensuring a steady supply of raw materials, promoting circular economy principles, and fostering innovation, education, and entrepreneurship.

    As the manager of the European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA), which consists of over 750 European and international partners, EIT RawMaterials is focused on enhancing the sustainable competitiveness of the European raw materials sector across the value chain. ERMA plays a vital role in securing financing to bolster Europe’s competitiveness in the global supply chain.

    Through collaborative efforts with industry partners, ERMA has launched two Action Plans targeting specific market fields. The Rare Earth Magnets and Motors Action Plan, initiated in 2021, has already generated 14 de-risked and bankable projects, expected to meet approximately 20% of Europe’s permanent magnets requirements by 2030. Another recent initiative, “The European Call for Action on Energy Storage and Conversion,” launched in May 2023, aims to bolster Europe’s position in the energy storage and conversion sector.

    This action plan acknowledges the growing significance of energy storage and conversion in light of increasing adoption of green technologies and emphasizes the need for significant quantities of raw materials. It outlines investment requirements to ensure a stable supply chain and focuses on key areas such as materials for solar energy, battery materials, fuel cells, electrolysers, and alternative energy storage and conversion methods.

    The roadmap presents comprehensive strategies covering the entire mineral value chain, from exploration to processing, identifying investment opportunities exceeding €15 billion. This strategic approach could enhance the EU’s self-sufficiency in critical materials by 2030.

    Aligned with EU policy initiatives, the roadmap proposes measures to enhance the competitiveness of the European raw materials sector, including standardization, fit-for-purpose mining standards, and a balanced approach to trade measures.

    A notable aspect of the roadmap is its emphasis on expanding mining operations within Europe while upholding stringent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. It suggests establishing a European Raw Materials Fund to support projects across all phases, funded through EU and member state policies.

    Innovation is pivotal in transforming the mining industry, and EIT RawMaterials actively supports this through collaborations with industry leaders. The organization backs projects focused on safety improvements, technological advancements, and sustainable solutions, such as recycling initiatives for Li-ion batteries and advancements in battery technology for electric vehicles.

    With the approval of the Critical Raw Materials Act, Europe aims to recycle at least 25% of its annual raw materials consumption domestically. EIT RawMaterials contributes to this goal through projects like ReLieVe and Charamba, focusing on closed-loop industrial processes and efficient waste stream management.

    Addressing challenges related to specific critical raw materials like Vanadium and Gallium, EIT RawMaterials supports projects for their recovery as by-products and innovations to enhance battery technology.

    Overall, EIT RawMaterials plays a pivotal role in driving sustainable practices, innovation, and resilience in Europe’s critical materials sector, contributing to the region’s transition towards a greener and more sustainable future.

  • Europe is ‘miles behind’ in race for raw materials used in electric car batteries

    Europe is ‘miles behind’ in race for raw materials used in electric car batteries

    European carmakers have secured less than a sixth of the key raw materials they will need by 2030 to make electric vehicle batteries, according to analysis that highlights the expected scramble for green-tech resources.

    Carmakers have secured contracts for 16% of the lithium, cobalt and nickel required to hit their 2030 electric car sales targets, according to public disclosures analysed by Transport & Environment (T&E), a Brussels-based campaign group.

    The world’s two biggest electric carmakers, Tesla in the US and China’s BYD, were significantly further ahead of many of their European rivals in securing access to key raw materials, the researchers found.

    Batteries used in devices ranging from mobile phones to cars are made of precisely controlled combinations of metals. There is a global race to find enough lithium, the lightest metal, but cobalt and nickel are also important in many batteries.

    The analysis suggested carmakers had disclosed agreements that would cover only 14% of the lithium, 17% of the nickel and 10% of the cobalt needed to meet their targets for 2030. The EU and UK will ban the sale of new fossil fuel cars in 2035.

    Julia Poliscanova, the senior director for vehicles and emobility at T&E, said: “There is a clear disconnect between carmakers’ electric vehicle [EV] goals and their critical mineral strategies. Tesla and BYD are way ahead of most European players, who are only waking up to the challenge of securing battery metals now.”

    T&E said Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Hyundai/Kia were the carmakers with large European operations that were lagging furthest behind rivals. Ford, Volkswagen and Stellantis have disclosed plans for battery mineral supply that rival Tesla and BYD.

    Some of the carmakers may have secret deals with mining or refining companies to supply enough minerals, while some are looking at ways of reducing or eliminating the use of expensive cobalt and nickel. Nevertheless, the scale of the undersupply detailed in publicly disclosed contracts suggested carmakers would have to battle to hit their electric targets.

    The analysis tallies with forecasts from the data company Benchmark Mineral Intelligence that demand for some key materials will significantly outstrip supply in the coming decade.

    Benchmark predicts that lithium demand will quadruple by 2030 as China, Europe and then the US move rapidly away from petrol and diesel. However, its forecasts suggest there will be a lithium shortfall of 390,000 tonnes in 2030, compared with global production of 2.7m tonnes. It also predicts shortfalls of cobalt and nickel – part of what it describes as a “great raw materials disconnect” that could limit the pace of the transition away from petrol and diesel cars.

    Caspar Rawles, Benchmark’s chief data officer, said: “In the medium and even the long term, lithium is probably going to be the limiting factor on the rate that the battery industry can scale.”

    Big mining projects usuallytook at least five years to start producing material at scale, and as long as seven years if fundraising was required, Rawles said. That would mean investment decisions would need to be made in the next year or two to increase supply by 2030.

    Poliscanova said it was supply chain strategies that would “make or break the EV transition in Europe, and render some companies obsolete”. However, she added that European manufacturers were ahead of rivals from China and the US in “cleaning up supply chains”. Some mineral suppliers have previously been found to have used child labour, exploited low-paid workers or used environmentally damaging methods.

     

  • Portuguese prime minister resigns amid lithium corruption allegations

    Portuguese prime minister resigns amid lithium corruption allegations

    Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has resigned amid investigations into possible crimes of corruption in government relating to lithium and hydrogen projects. Prosecutors have detained his chief of staff as part of the investigation.

    Costa announced his resignation on television, stating: “Today I was surprised by the information, officially confirmed by the public prosecutor’s office, that a criminal process has already been or will be initiated against me. Obviously, I am fully available to collaborate with the justice system in whatever is necessary to uncover the truth. However, it is my understanding that the dignity of the function of prime minister is not compatible with the suspicion of any criminal act, which is why I obviously presented my resignation.”

    The outgoing prime minister added that he has a “clear conscience” and will not run for the fourth time in the early elections that the Portuguese president will likely call.

    President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa must now decide whether to allow Costa’s Socialists to form a new government with their majority in parliament or to dissolve parliament and call an election.

    Prosecutors are currently investigating alleged graft and influence peddling in the Barroso and Montalegre lithium mine concessions in northern Portugal and a project for a hydrogen plant in Sines port. On Tuesday, five people were detained as part of the investigation.

    The prosecutor’s office said: “At stake may be… facts capable of constituting crimes of malfeasance, active and passive corruption of politicians and influence peddling.

  • Fierce community opposition to copper, lithium projects threatens energy transition

    Fierce community opposition to copper, lithium projects threatens energy transition

    While nothing new, resource nationalism has ignited high-profile disputes in recent weeks, with First Quantum’s struggles in Panama and lithium miners’ in Portugal the two most radical examples.

    Panama’s ratification of a deal with the Canadian miner allowing it to operate its flagship Cobre Panama copper mine for the next 20 years, triggered violent protests that brought Panama’s capital city almost to a halt. It also scared away investors, forced authorities into a chaotic retreat, wiped out about $6.5 billion of value for shareholders of the company, and led to a nationwide ban on new mines.

    Throughout the controversy, and as the market waits to see if the Supreme Court will kill the agreement, the mine has continued to operate.

    Portuguese anti-mining groups are asking the government to halt and reassess all lithium projects, following allegations of corruption that led Prime Minister Antonio Costa to resign on Tuesday.

    Costa handed in his notice just hours after prosecutors detained his chief of staff in a probe into alleged corruption in his administration’s handling of lithium mine concessions near Portugal’s northern border with Spain. The investigation is also looking into permits granted for a green hydrogen plant and data centre in the town of Sines, about 100km south of Lisbon.

    Portuguese Environment agency APA earlier this year gave environmental approvals for local company Lusorecursos to extract battery-grade lithium and for Savannah Resources to develop four open-pit mines. Both projects are in northern Portugal.

    Savanna, which has hired investment bank Barclays and financial consultancy Barrenjoey to find partners for its Barroso lithium project, said it was cooperating with the authorities. It noted, however, that neither the company nor anyone one of its staff is a target of the investigation.

    Lusorecursos, which plans to start construction in the northern Montalegre in early 2025 and kick off lithium production in late 2027, did not reply to a request for comment.

    The challenges faced by miners in Panama and Portugal, two relatively investor-friendly nations, provide a cautionary tale for foreign investors on the vulnerability of mining projects to public hostility and resource nationalism.

    The developments come only five months after Chile announced a new public-private model for its lithium industry, which will see the state having a majority interest in all new contracts.

    They also cast doubt on plans to invest billions of dollars in the decades to extract copper, lithium and other critical minerals needed for the world to transition away from fossil fuels.

  • Finland may be site of Anglo’s next greenfield mining project

    Finland may be site of Anglo’s next greenfield mining project

    Sakatti, with its metal concentrations of platinum group metals (PGMs), copper, nickel, cobalt, and others, may be the site of the next greenfield project of diversified Johannesburg- and London-listed mining company Anglo American. Located in central Lapland in Finland, Sakatti’s polymetallic orebody is aligned to the critical minerals priorities of Finland and the European Union (EU). (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

    Sakatti is set to be a remotely operated, low-carbon underground mine with an electric mining fleet.

    No reference was made to whether or not that electric mining fleet will be of the battery electric vehicle variety, generally used in underground environments, or the Anglo-developed green hydrogen electrified kind, which is being advanced at the opencast Mogalakwena PGMs operation in South Africa.

    But already stated is that it will use technology and mining methods that create zero waste and enable high degrees of water recycling, an approach which underpinned the environmental impact assessment (EIA).

    Moreover, in developing Sakatti, Anglo intends building on what it has learnt from its development of the Quellaveco copper mine in Peru as well as what it is learning at its current Woodsmith crop nutrients project in the UK – particularly in terms of minimal surface footprint and using technology and innovation to deliver even better sustainability outcomes.

    In the words of Anglo Crop Nutrients CEO Tom McCulley, that means being “out of sight, safe, reliable, and catering to our customers and society’s needs”.

    “I’ve just come back from Sakatti. It’s in a remote part of the world. It’s designed as the next generation of Future Smart mining… contributing to a sustainable supply of critical minerals to support the energy transition in Finland and the EU,” Anglo projects and development director Alison Atkinson told this week’s sustainability performance update, covered by Mining Weekly.

    “I’m pleased to say that the relevant authorities in Finland have approved the EIA. This is a fantastic achievement and a major milestone for the project, reflecting the true collaboration of all involved.

    “We will continue to drill over the season to refine the modern approach we must and will take in developing this mine,” said Atkinson.

    “We will take our time on this early-stage development. Detailed study, not only of the mine itself, but in its implementation and operations will be critical to delivery. After all, it’s the upfront detailed development that sets the foundation of this asset for decades to come.

    “We will also continue to build the project delivery capabilities as the rigour and discipline in executing a high confidence plan well is as fundamental as the support of the stakeholders and neighbours, in addition to those skilled partners we will work with, to construct and implement our plans.

    “Great projects are done brilliantly when that is in place alongside mature design and robust plan.

    “We’re replicating, continually learning, and approving our approach as we go and putting it into practice at scale across the other parts of the portfolio.

    “We believe this is a competitive advantage for us and a fundamental part of our journey to sustainable mining. Delivering on our ambition is crucial as we have to produce the metals and minerals needed for the energy transition and the ongoing economic development in a responsible way, because that is the only way,” Atkinson emphasised.

  • Russia: Europe imports €13 billion of ‘critical’ metals in sanctions blindspot

    Russia: Europe imports €13 billion of ‘critical’ metals in sanctions blindspot

    Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the 27 EU countries have adopted 11 sanction packages, targeting raw materials including oil, coal, steel and timber. But minerals that the EU considers as “critical” raw materials – 34 in total – still flow freely from Russia to Europe in vast quantities, providing crucial funds to state enterprises and oligarch-owned businesses.
    While some of its western allies have targeted Russia’s mining sector – the UK recently banned Russian copper, aluminium and nickel – the EU has continued its imports. Airbus and other European companies are still buying titanium, nickel, and other commodities from firms close to the Kremlin more than a year after the invasion, Investigate Europe can reveal.

    Between March 2022 and July this year, Europe imported €13.7 billion worth of critical raw materials from Russia, data from Eurostat and the EU’s Joint Research Centre shows. More than €3.7 billion arrived between January and July 2023, including €1.2 billion of nickel. The European Policy Centre estimates that up to 90 per cent of some types of nickel used in Europe comes from Russian suppliers.

    “Why are critical raw materials not banned? Because they are critical, right. Let’s be honest,” the EU’s special envoy for sanctions, David O’Sullivan, pithily said at a September conference.

    The Union is desperate for critical raw materials to achieve its aim of climate neutrality by 2050. These commodities are crucial for electronics, solar panels and electric cars, but also for traditional industries like aerospace and defence. Yet they are all too often in scarce supply, unevenly available across the globe, and in high demand.

    “The war in Ukraine has clearly shown the willingness of Russia to weaponise the supply of key resources. As Europeans, we cannot tolerate that,” says Henrike Hahn, a German Green MEP working on the new Critical Raw Materials Act.

    Aluminium giant Rusal also uses tax havens to funnel minerals to Europe, where it owns the EU’s largest alumina refinery in Ireland and a smelter in Sweden. Its Jersey and Swiss-based trading houses brought at least $2.6 billion of aluminium into the bloc in the 16 months following the invasion of Ukraine. In August 2023, Rusal said Europe still accounted for a third of its revenues. Rusal’s main shareholder is oligarch Oleg Deripaska, sanctioned by the EU and its western partners.

    Anti-corruption NGO Transparency International says it does not make sense that the sector has avoided sanctions given the known links. “They are part of the system and fueling Putin’s war,” says senior policy officer Roland Papp. “So it’s perfectly logical to ban those critical raw materials from Russia, as we did for other sectors and goods.”

    Since the start of the war, other European buyers of Russian metals have included Germany’s GGP Metal Powder ($66 million of copper), French arms-maker Safran ($25 million of titanium) and Greece’s Elval Halcor ($13 million of aluminium). Dutch logistics firm C. Steinweg also handled at least $100 million of various critical metals on behalf of its customers.

    Safran confirmed they are still buying titanium from Vsmpo-Avismo but are working to reduce their Russia purchases. GGP Metal Powder said “there is no real alternative to our supplier from Russia”. C. Steinweg said they follow all rules and sanctions. Elval Halcor, Vsmpo-Avisma, Rusal and Nornickel did not reply to requests for comment.

    At the start of the war, Europe was relying on Russian producers for 30 per cent of its nickel, 35 per cent of its alumina and 15 per cent of its aluminium, according to an internal memo by trade body Eurometaux seen by IE. Russia accounted for 41 per cent of the world’s palladium production, and up to 25 per cent of its vanadium output.

    “Russia occupies a large part of Eurasia – it possesses a big part of the strategic reserves of critical raw materials, on par with China,” says Oleg Savytskyi from Razom We Stand, a Ukrainian NGO. Moreover, “the low density of the population, authoritarian control and practical absence of environmental and human rights protections made investments in the mining of Russia’s resources terribly attractive,” he adds.

    The EU’s crippling dependency should have been curbed earlier, argues Transparency International’s Papp. “We’ve had enough time to react. The annexation of Crimea dates back to 2014, the invasion of Georgia even dates back to 2008 15 years ago! And what have we done? We’ve increased our dependence on Russia. It was an absolute and serious mistake.”

    A Polish diplomat said Poland has pressed the EU to “decouple completely” from Russia in several areas, “but for the sake of unity and efficiency in adopting new sanctions packages we have agreed to postpone particular measures until further discussion.”

    As EU sanctions require unanimity among all member states, divergent national economic interests can often water down packages. When the ninth set of sanctions banned fresh investments in Russia’s mining sector in December 2022, it included an exemption to invest in some mining activities for some critical raw materials. As a result, European companies can still pour cash into Russian mines to extract nickel, titanium and other key metals.

    The European Commission won’t publicly comment on whether or not it has proposed a ban on critical raw materials. One reason could be that  “sanctions are carefully designed to hit their targets while preserving EU interests,“ an EU source told IE.

    Weaning the EU off Russia’s critical and strategic materials will be difficult. Replacing suppliers and forging new international partnerships is an arduous process. Finding a raw material, such as titanium or copper, with a similar quality and price of those from Russia is also a challenge. 

    Imposing tariffs or severing ties too quickly could lead to a global price surge which would harm European buyers while benefiting Moscow. A ban could also prompt India, Iran, and China to intensify purchases, further depleting critical raw material resources for EU industries.

    Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, says a ban would be difficult to implement given global demand challenges and Europe’s reliance on Russia. “Overall, with these specific materials, the monetary value of what Russia would lose from the EU import ban, might be smaller than the effect on the EU production,” says Ukraine’s former trade and economic development minister.

    UN trading data shows that while EU imports of Russian copper, nickel and aluminium imports have declined in the past two years, nickel and aluminium revenues remained stable. Russia’s nickel sales to the EU were worth $1 billion in the first half of 2021 and were $1.1 billion two years later.

    The Union is now trying to reduce its dependency. In March, the European Commission presented its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), a new legislation aimed at reducing EU dependency on third countries for critical raw materials.

    “War in Europe is a risk which was not present in the last decades and Russia was known as a reliable supplier,” says German MEP Hildegard Bentele, shadow rapporteur on the CRMA at the European Parliament. “The EU should take immediate action to support European companies to decrease and replace their CRM deliveries from Russia as soon as possible.”

    The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is expected to propose a 12th package of sanctions in the coming weeks, which will be then discussed by member states. Brussels hopes the package will renew pressure on the Russian economy and sap its fighting strength on the battlefields of Ukraine. Restrictions on critical raw materials does not seem to be on the table.

  • Miners see value in EU focus on ESG but face red tape hurdles

    Miners see value in EU focus on ESG but face red tape hurdles

    Miners welcome the positive impact of Europe’s focus on environment, social and governance issues (ESG) although the process can be riddled with red tape causing delays in achieving their green ambitions, company executives said.

    Mining is crucial for the supply of critical raw materials including copper and aluminium needed for electric vehicles and renewable technologies such as solar power, but miners are also responsible for up to 7% of greenhouse-gas (GHG) global emissions as most in the sector race to hit net zero by 2050.

    Compliance with ESG standards are increasingly important to keep commitments from institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance firms and for bank loans.

    Christel Bories, CEO at miner Eramet told Reuters documentation proving the company’s ESG credentials for bank loans ran into thousands of pages and that the whole process from start to finish could take up to 18 months.

    “We have no problem supplying the evidence… but it does slow down the project,” Bories said.

    One initiative welcomed by metal producers is the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). From October 1, EU firms have to report the GHG embedded during production of imported volumes of some goods including iron and steel, aluminium and electricity.

    CO2 emission charges will not be imposed until 2026.

    “We like it because it gives us a level playing field with other countries,” said Boliden CEO Mikael Staffas, but he added there were issues.

    “One example is if you import copper, turn it into tube and export it, you should get some credit back. This will be an administrative nightmare,” Staffas said referring to the paperwork that would be required.

    Investors want to see mining companies account for and report their emissions consistently and mine in a socially responsible way.

    “There is a concern that there has been a proliferation (of standards) but let’s not forget a lot of these standards have evolved because things in the sector have not been so good in the past,” said Adam Matthews, chief responsible investment officer for the Church of England Pensions Board, which invests in mining companies.

    Boliden’s Staffas cited zero fatalities due to focus on ESG compared with roughly two per annum at some of the largest miners. “We are 15 years fatality free.”

    EU lawmakers are also pushing for far greater recycling of waste in a new law to ensure the bloc has raw materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt required for its green transition, and traditional recycling companies and newcomers are investing in capacity to produce battery materials.

    Eramet’s joint venture with water company Suez to be located in France’s Dunkirk region is one example.

    The partners are aiming to build a plant to dismantle electric vehicle batteries, followed by a second unit to separate and refine metals for reuse with a low carbon hydrometallurgy process.

  • Europe starts the clock on greening Soviet-era heating grids

    Europe starts the clock on greening Soviet-era heating grids

    Heating grids are pipelines spanning cities, transporting hot water from power plants into homes. What originated from a Soviet fondness for centrally-planned solutions soon spread to Nordic countries after the 1970s oil crises.

    Today, 12% of the EU’s heat and hot water needs are serviced by district heating, with the percentage going up to 40% in countries like Poland.

    In Eastern EU countries, the water is heated chiefly by burning coal, but countries there will have to switch to greener alternatives in order to meet the EU’s climate neutrality goals.

    Can they meet the challenge?

    “Meeting the requirements in Poland will require, depending on the scenario, expenditures of more than €90 billion to decarbonise the district heating sector,” said Pawel Szczeszek, president of the Polish district heating company PTEZ and vice-president of the country’s electricity industry association PKEE.

    “We are concerned about the excessive burden the transformation costs will impose on ours users,” he told participants at a recent EURACTIV event.

    Especially challenging are cities like Warsaw, where a network of pipes 1,800 kilometres-long supplies 80% of homes with heat. A mere 7% of the energy used in Poland’s heating grids is green.

    The clock is already ticking for Poland and other Eastern EU counties where dirty fuels play a dominant role in district heating.

    “The Energy Efficiency Directive introduces several measures that are addressing the district heating sector and district cooling sector,” explained Madis Laaniste, policy officer for energy at the European Commission’s energy department.

    For instance, it introduces benchmarks district heating systems need to meet in order to be labelled as “efficient” – a crucial requirement to qualify for state support, he added.

    By 2028, heat grids must use a mix of 50% renewables, 50% waste, or 75% cogeneration heat from nearby industry and power stations in order to be labelled “efficient”. The requirements tighten gradually before district heating must be fully renewable or running on industry waste heat from 2050.

    The EU’s renewables directive adds to the pressure, with an indicative target of boosting renewables in district heating by more than 2% per year, while relying on biomass to replace fossil fuels will become more challenging due to tighter sustainability rules.

    “After 2030, there will be no support for the new investments using fossil fuels,” explained Laanise, adding that “after 2035, there will be no support for the systems that use only fossil fuels”.

    Moreover, the price of CO2 certificates under the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) are expected to rise by 2040 – above €400 per tonne according to some projections – putting the Eastern European district heating industry under pressure to transform.

    But Poland’s district heating companies are not amused by the EU’s fuel mix requirements, saying it makes the gradual transformation of the grid more challenging.

    “We see that it’s impossible to divide, for example, the district heating systems in Warsaw, in Gdansk, in Krakow into smaller parts,” explained Dorota Jeziorowska, a director at PTEZ. “Until 2045, combined heat and power units will definitely be needed,” she added, saying state support will be essential to make the transformation happen.

    Radan Kanev, a conservative EU lawmaker from Bulgaria, argued that state support may not be enough

    “The transformation of such huge facilities is a very difficult task,” he told the event. “It is certainly expensive, but it is also a very serious engineering challenge without an obvious solution.”

    How, then, should district heating companies meet the time-pressure from Brussels while grappling with the engineering side of such a large-scale transformation?

    Julien Joubert, who works on transformation planning at Energy Cities, a European association of local authorities, offered a Central European vision to Eastern Europe: Vienna.

    Not unlike Poland and Bulgaria, Vienna burns fossil fuels, waste, and biomass to heat its millions of residents.

    “Now Vienna’s strategy is not to go to biomass but really develop geothermal energy and also recover the waste heat produced by industry,” he said at the Euractiv event. Munich had similar plans, Joubert added.

    From 2026, Vienna’s utility Wien Energie plans to serve 20,000 households with hot water from geothermal, a figure that will rise to 120,000 households by 2030 before the city’s heating grid becomes entirely climate neutral by 2040.

    It’s a future hard to imagine for Warsaw, however, where the utility in charge eyes coal-heated water well into the mid 2040s.