In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
- Denmark’s Orsted and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. sign the world’s largest corporate renewable deal.
- The British government has announced its mini-budget economic update today. Here’s what’s in it for green energy.
- This Dutch e-bike company’s TV ad got banned in France for creating a “climate of anxiety.”
The Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB): A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
Big wind deal in Taiwan
Danish wind giant Ørsted announced today that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) has agreed to buy the entire power production from Ørsted’s third offshore wind farm in Taiwan.
It’s the world’s biggest corporate green energy order.
The 20-year, fixed-price contract will see TSMC buy all energy produced by Ørsted’s 920-megawatt wind farms, Greater Changhua 2b and 4.
The offshore wind farm project is scheduled to be finalized by 2025 or 2026.
J.K. Lin, senior vice president of information technology and materials management and risk management at TSMC, said:
As a corporate citizen, TSMC is taking ‘green action’ to carry out our responsibility to environmental protection.
UK’s summer statement on green energy
UK chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak made his economic summer statement 2020 today. He introduced a number of pandemic recovery plans, and said the government wants a “green recovery with concern for our environment at its heart.”
The British government will provide £3 billion for decarbonizing housing and public buildings for a year. This will create thousands of jobs.
The Guardian gives details:
Vouchers worth £5,000 and up to £10,000 for poorer families will be made available out of a £2 billion pot to retrofit homes with insulation, helping to cut carbon emissions. £1 billion will be allocated to make public buildings greener.
Now the government has to execute that plan — efficiently.
In response to today’s update, Chris Venables, head of politics at independent think tank Green Alliance, emailed Electrek.
Today’s speech could mark a really positive first step on the green recovery — but only if this ambition is continued throughout the rest of the year, and particularly in the autumn budget. The chancellor’s commitment to putting the environment at the heart of the recovery is obviously excellent — now we need funding and detail to turn this into reality.
We urgently need to see a clear funding strategy for supporting public transport in its time of crisis, a long-term strategy to ensure all buildings are warm and cheap to run, reversing the catastrophic declines in nature, and investing the technology of the future. The jury is still very much out on how green the UK government’s recovery will be — and we’ll be watching over the coming weeks and months. Green Alliance stands ready to help.
e-bike ad controversy in France
Dutch e-bicycle company VanMoof released a TV ad that aired in the Netherlands and Germany without controversy. But the e-bike ad, titled “Time to Ride the Future,” was banned in France by ad regulatory group Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP). The reason? ARPP felt it created a “climate of anxiety.” The French advertising code bans the exploitation of fear and suffering in commercials.
ARPP president Stéphane Martin wrote in a letter to VanMoof:
We cannot afford to denigrate sectors of activity.
Some images present in the reflections of the car appear, in our opinion, disproportionate and bring discredit on the whole sector of the automobile sector.
Images of factories, chimneys, and crashes create an anxiety-inducing climate. They will, therefore, have to be modified.
VanMoof’s founder, Taco Carlier, responded to France banning his company’s ad:
It is amazing that car companies are allowed to cover up their environmental problems while censoring those who question this issue.
The television commercial was broadcast two weeks earlier in the Netherlands and Germany. There the spot was well received by the public. In the commercial, cars reflect the rat race of the past, inviting viewers to rethink their modes of transportation in the city for a cleaner, greener future.
Questioning the status quo will always lead to a confrontation, but we wanted to achieve that from the beginning.
You can watch the TV ad below. Let us know your thoughts in the comments about France banning the ad.
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