Author name: Rejus Almole

French startup Eolink — in collaboration with 15 European energy partners — will install a 5MW floating offshore wind turbine in Bulgaria by 2025. This is part of the EU-backed Black Sea Floating Offshore Wind (BLOW) project, which aims to advance sustainable energy solutions.

BLOW will use Eolink’s patented floating offshore wind turbine design, which the company claims solves existing industry issues by using four steel masts instead of one to spread the turbine’s stresses. This is said to make the overall structure more than 30% lighter. As per the startup, its turbines can produce 10% more energy by reducing aerodynamic interactions thanks to a greater distance between the blades and masts.

The unit will be designed to operate with maximum efficiency in the Black Sea, and this includes fitting it with a larger rotor so it can generate more energy in low-wind areas.

“The World Bank 2021 report indicates there is vast technical potential in South East Europe, with a staggering 166 GW of floating offshore energy in the Black Sea alone, which is the equivalent of five times the electricity consumption of Bulgaria and Romania,” Eolink’s CCO Alain Morry said in the press release. “Through this project we hope to catalyze offshore development across the region, which already has ongoing /fixed-bottom offshore wind projects in Romania”

But although every sustainable energy development sounds like a positive step for the EU, there is a catch: the wind turbine will be used to power an existing gas platform operated by Petroceltic, a Bulgarian oil and gas company. Unfortunately, this isn’t an uncommon practice. Think of Norway’s Hywind Tampen, the world’s largest floating offshore wind farm, which also powers the country’s gas and oil production.

On the one hand, powering fossil fuel production with renewable energy is the lesser evil compared to conventional drilling or burning practices. And developing a new industrial case for offshore wind that other traditional industries is a positive development. One could also argue that the lessons learnt in the process of manufacturing, installing, and operating the wind turbine can benefit larger wind farms in the future.

But on the other hand, it seems like a step backwards for the EU that’s funding a project on green energy in order to harvest the gas and oil that are endangering the planet. And while this might simply represent a transitional stage before we fully depend on renewable energy sources, the bloc should step up its game if it’s to meet its climate targets for carbon neutrality by 2050.

Netherlands-based solar EV maker Lightyear has announced that it’s freezing production of its flagship model, the Lightyear 0 — less than three months after going into production. As part of a “strategic restructuring,” the company will now focus on making the Lightyear 2, priced at around €40,000. This is expected to go into production in late 2025.

The company’s journey has been a long and impressive one. From a student team at a solar vehicle competition, Lightyear transformed into a startup in 2016, and quickly mapped itself on the automotive map with the Lightyear 0. The solar EV featured some stirring in-house tech, promising to be a game changer in a niche market. It also came with a prohibitive price tag: €250,000.

Lightyear says that it hasn’t taken this decision to pivot lightly, as it impacts its “employees,” “investors,” “clients,” “suppliers,” and “the government.” The reason behind the move remains vague, with the announcement citing “challenges” over the past months, which made the action a necessary step to “safeguard” the startup’s vision.

It’s not unreasonable to assume that battery supply bottlenecks, semiconductor shortages, and rising costs of materials due to inflation might have impacted Lightyear. And beyond that, with recession concerns increasing, switching from a limited luxury product to a more affordable one seems like a timely strategic move.

With the Lightyear 2, the company is targeting an entirely different (and wider) market, compared to the first model that was mainly intended as a technology demonstrator to be produced in limited quantities.

The new five-seater hatchback, with a promised range of 800km and 50% lower emissions compared to conventional EVs, was announced at this year’s CES. While the company hasn’t disclosed many details yet, it said that the vehicle will “inherit all of [the 0’s] innovations at a fraction of the market price.”

According to the CEO and co-founder Lex Hoefsloot’s statement, the new model already counts 40,000 waitlist subscriptions from individual customers, and 20,000 pre-orders from fleet owners.

“We hope to conclude some key investments in the coming weeks in order to scale up to Lightyear 2, an affordable solar electric vehicle available for a wider audience,” he added.

Wolfspeed — a US-based silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor maker — is set to build a chip factory in Germany, Handelsblatt reports. That’s a significant step for both the country’s green mobility and Europe’s chip industry.

According to the newspaper, the over €2 billion-worth facility will be located at a site in southwest Saarland. Series production is expected to begin in four years.

German auto supplier ZF will hold a minority stake in the factory, but will be a majority shareholder in the accompanying research center.

Wolfspeed’s decision to build a plant in Germany is a boost for the domestic car industry, especially when it comes to electric vehicles. Although silicon carbide (a compound of silicon and carbon) is costlier than conventional silicon, SiC chips are considered more promising: they can increase EV range, reduce charging time, and bring down operating costs due to lower energy consumption.

And with the plant in close proximity to Germany’s (electric) car production sites — think of BMW, Ford, Mercedes, and Volkswagen — manufacturers can hope to secure easy access to the supply chain.

Wolfspeed’s plant is also good news for Europe that’s struggling in chip production — currently accounting for 10% of the global market. The continent’s weak position was especially evident during the pandemic, when supply chains collapsed and it grappled with securing chip access, causing entire industries to sputter.

In response, the EU has been trying to improve its domestic manufacturing capacity. First and foremost comes the European Chips Act, aiming to foster a local semiconductor industry and pushing the bloc’s global market share to 20% by 2030. The Union has also been attempting to attract global players to build factories in the continent — like Intel’s €68 billion investment in a site in Germany and now Wolfspeed.

Europe may only be at the beginning of its plans to become a major chip producer, but there is cause for hope.