Sweden has got the largest share of renewable energy in the European Union

Sweden the top nation in the European Union regarding the share of energy coming from renewable sources, according to a recent study by the Swedish Energy Agency. Hydropower and forrest-based bioenergy are two contributing factors. 43,3% of the energy comes from renewable, up from 33,9% in 1990. 52% of the power supply is generated by renewable sources. The largest share is reached in the power sector, followed by the paper & pulp industries and the district heating sector. According to the study, the largest room for improvements regards the transport sector, which only represents 1% of the renewable energy use in Sweden.

Other countries in Scandinavia, while non-members of the European Union, generate an ever higher share of their energy from renewable sources. Iceland is the foremost example, with 73% of total primary energy supply and 100% of power production comes from renewable sources. Further on, an impressive 98% of Norwegian power supply comes from hydropower.

There are certainly many opportunities to increase the share of renewable energy in Sweden even further. Many medium-sized to large initiatives are under way. Large wind farms are being developed throughout the country for power production, and many medium-scale biogas plants are planned in southern and central Sweden. The biogas sector is already extensive in southern Sweden and in the Stockholm area. Further it is fairly within reach to increase the hydro power output by increasing and optimizing the generation the rivers already being used, and to develop low-temperature geothermal energy systems for heating. And as capital costs decrease, solar power and wave power will also be feasible options, although it would take many years for these types of energy to constitute an important part of the Swedish energy sector.

Fortum to invest US$ 10 million in cleantech venture capital fund

Finnish energy consortium will invest US$10 million in the Canadian cleantech fund Chrysalix Clean Energy Fund.

The investment portfolio of Chrysalix includes solar power, fusion power research and fuel cell technology. More investemnts are being evaluated.

The purpose of these investment activities at Fortum is said to be dual; to gain strategic insight in new energy technology and to receive sound financial returns.
Investments in new clean technology will be made both internally and externally. Through enhanced R&D activities Fortum hope to gain long term competitive advantages.

Read more about it here.

Interesting IT solution for fuel efficiency

Swedish company Blueflow Technologies has developed a technology for informing boat operators on fuel combination and speed. With simple additions to the boat, and with a wireless connection, it is possible to display the information on a cell phone or laptop computer.

Using this information it is easier for the boat owner to choose speeds with higher fuel efficiency. With soaring oil prices, investments in technology like these pay off in even shorter periods. Further on, BlueFlow are sure to find a strong domestic market as well, Sweden is the country with the most leisure boats per capita.

Check it out here

Lignoboost aqcuired byt Metso Power

Lignoboost and their predecessors have during almost a decade developed a promising technology to produce biofuels from black-liquor a byproduct from the pulp industry. Now they are taken over by Finnish group Metso.

I have earlier mentioned them regarding my skepticism about some ability to attract Swedish VC. Well, at least they got aqcuired by a large group of companies, that already produce technology with the same target market. That will open up many opportunities for Lignoboost.
It will be interesting to see however, if politicians, public servants and institutional investors will take this as another example of the Swedish cleantech "brain-drain": the inability of Swedish cleantech companies to attract national investors, and the eventual take-over from foreign companies (Solibro being a high-profiled example). Further on, would it is interesting to question wether this is a problem or not.

Hemmamarknaden för biogasteknik

Biogasprojekt får en tredjedel av KLIMP-stödet, rapporterar Ny Teknik.

Detta är mycket glädjande, eftersom det är det mest klimateffektiva biobränslet som existerar på kommersiell basis. Detta är inte främst genom högt energivärde i gasen (som i ej uppgraderad rågas endast uppnår 55 % - 65 % av energivärdet hos naturgas), utan för att kontrollerad rötning väldigt ofta ersätter alternativa behandlingssätt där avfallet spontanrötas och släpper utan metan till atmosfären. Som bekant är metan som växthusgas c:a 20 gånger mer potent än koldioxid. Att KLIMP-pengar hamnar i biogasprojekt är därför ett effektivt användande av pengarna. Det är givetvis också logiskt tillfredställande att man utnyttjar avfall som en resurs och inte som skräp.

Ett antal projekt planeras runt om i landet

En stark hemmamarknad gynnar våra inhemska biogasföretag, som de senaste åren blivit några fler, i form av företag som Scandinavian Biogas och Swedish Biogas International. De viktigaste utrustningsföretagen kommer däremot från Tyskland. Här är några av de främsta svenska företagen:

Läckeby Water Group
Malmberg Water
Sweco VIAK
Biosystem
Scandinavian Biogas
Swedish Biogas International
Bioprocess Control

Quote of the day

"Don't get the idea that I've turned green. My business is making money, and I think this is going to make a lot of money."

-- T. Boone Pickens in the Guardian

Takeover king & oil baron T-Boone is planning a $10bn, 4GW wind farm in Texas, which would be the world's largest. He still thinks that wind turbines are ugly. Despite the merits of wind power, I do understand that many find wind turbines as not appealing. It would be far less visually obtrusive to generate power from waste heat (which is possible with the Opcon Power box).

By the way, Boone's biography is entertaining and can be find at bargain prices.

The state of the Swedish cleantech market

According to E24 (in Swedish), Swedish cleantech companies face a dismal outlook, with only 3 out of 14 publicly traded companies making a profit last year.

A few observations could be made however. First of all, these numbers should not be taken as a representation of the whole cleantech market. Many successful cleantech companies are not traded on the public stock market. It is also important to remember that many companies not mentioned in the article work with cleantech in one way or another, but only as a part of their product or service portfolio. For instance: Sweco (consulting), ABB (energy efficiency, etc) and Alfa Laval (biofuel equipment, etc). Further on, in the long term several of the companies mentioned in the article face growing demand for their products.

To invest in a company that is yet to make a profit requires excellent market insight and at least a basic technical understanding of the products being offered. And even more so than in the case of investing young but profitable companies. Rome wasn't built in a day and many cleantech companies will need several years of R&D before being able to launch a competitive product. Ambitious innovators may become early leaders in developing markets. But without an initial knowledge, the outside investor might as well bring her or his money to a racecourse, where the gambling is equally risky but more exciting.