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As part of this bi-weekly newsletter, we bring you the latest industry news, technology innovations and appointments from across the industry including:
Saur's blue bonds, Metso appointment and Thames (in hot) water...
As part of this bi-weekly newsletter, we'll bring you the latest industry news, technology innovations and appointments from across the industry.
To quick things off, we have some exciting news across the water space! SAUR group proudly announces that it has set the price for the first Blue Bonds in the water sector, amounting to half a billion euros, thus confirming its role as a pioneer in sustainable finance for the water transition. This unprecedented operation for a water player reaffirms Saur's commitment to resource preservation at a time when the protection of ecosystems and sustainable water management are becoming global priority issues.
Blue Bonds, inspired by the model of Green Bonds, are specifically dedicated to financing projects aimed at protecting and restoring water resources. Through this issuance, the Group will support concrete initiatives related to sustainable water management, such as:
Since 2020, Saur has implemented an ambitious roadmap aimed at enhancing its operational performance, internationalizing its activities, and becoming a key player in industrial water management. With a revenue of €2.1 billion in 2023, Saur aims to reach €4 billion by 2030, focusing on innovation and sustainable solutions. The issuance of these Blue Bonds aligns with this long-term strategy, strengthening the Group's ability to attract funding for projects with significant environmental impact.
Patrick Blethon, Executive Chairman of Saur, states:
"By becoming the first issuer of Blue Bonds in the water sector, Saur affirms its leadership and visionary commitment to more sustainable water resource management. This operation sends a clear message to our partners and investors: at Saur, innovation and environmental responsibility are the drivers of our growth."
Three decentralised regional organizations – Wilo Europe, Wilo AMEA (Asia, Middle East, Africa) and Wilo Americas – will now assume much greater responsibility in areas that were previously managed primarily by the central departments at the Group headquarters in Dortmund, Germany. In addition, three locations have been earmarked as regional headquarters: Wilo Europe will be managed from Dortmund, Wilo AMEA from Dubai and Wilo Americas from Cedarburg. The Wilopark in Dortmund will remain the Wilo Group’s overall, central headquarters.
“We are in the midst of a geo-economic turning point as a direct result of the geopolitical turning point. Europe is the loser in this readjustment of global value chains. Growth is shifting to other regions of the world, particularly the Global South,”
said Oliver Hermes, president & CEO of Wilo Group.
The business activities will be conducted by regional executive board teams, which will continue to report to the Wilo Group’s central executive board.
Wilo Europe
Wilo AMEA
Wilo Americas
With this new approach, Wilo is aiming to satisfy regional customer needs with regionally manufactured products, systems and solutions.
The US Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations has awarded Lewis Ridge Pumped Storage LLC US$12 million (of a total project federal cost share of up to US$81 million) to support the development and construction of a 287 MW pumped storage hydropower project on former coal mine land in Bell County, Kentucky.
Upon completion, the Lewis Ridge Pumped Storage project will be among the first pumped storage hydropower facilities constructed in the United States in more than 30 years and the first sited on former coal mine land.
Lewis Ridge will provide up to 287 MW of capacity and eight hours of storage, capable of powering approximately 67,000 homes. The facility utilizes two man-made reservoirs, thereby minimizing impact to waterways and wildlife. When energy demand is low, electricity is used to pump water to the upper reservoir. When the grid requires energy at times of peak demand or extreme weather events, water flows downhill to generate electricity.
Lewis Ridge Pumped Storage LLC is a subsidiary of Rye Development Acquisition LLC, which is a partnership of Climate Adaptive Infrastructure and EDF.
“We are pleased to partner with the Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and the local community to repurpose former coal mine land into a critical new energy storage facility, utilizing long-proven technology. We have identified additional coal mine sites in the US that are suitable for pumped storage hydropower, where insights gained from the Lewis Ridge facility can support future projects,”
said Paul Jacob, CEO of Rye Development Acquisition LLC.
Metso’s board of directors has named Sami Takaluoma as the company’s new president and CEO from 1 November 2024.
Takaluoma has been with Metso since 1997 and has led the Services business area since 2021. He has been a member of Metso’s Leadership Team since 2017.
Metso’s current president and CEO, Pekka Vauramo, will continue with the company until the end of 2024, ensuring a smooth transition of responsibilities.
Kari Stadigh, chair of Metso’s board, emphasized Takaluoma’s extensive experience with the company’s businesses and customer industries in the selection.
“Sami has done an excellent job in leading the businesses and as a member of the Leadership Team over the past seven years. Under his leadership, Metso’s services and consumables businesses have grown and created significant value, especially after the merger of Metso and Outotec. The board is convinced that Sami is the right choice to lead Metso into its next phase,”
said Stadigh.
Energy Recovery has secured contracts worth over US$12 million for its PX Pressure Exchanger (PX) energy recovery devices for three seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination projects in the United Arab Emirates.
The plants include capacity totaling close to 1 million cubic meters per day, and the orders are expected to ship by Q4 2024.
One of the recently awarded contracts will include PX installations on a floating desalination barge in the Arabian Gulf, which will produce fresh water offshore before pumping it back to the mainland. Offshore desalination facilities eliminate the need for swaths of coastal land, which is often limited and expensive, making it a viable option for densely populated coastal regions. The contracts in the United Arab Emirates will incorporate both the PX Q400 and PX Q300 models, which offer operational sound levels at just 79 decibels. This will also create safer and better workplace environments for these SWRO plants.
In the coming months, BASF will start the preparatory construction work for the project at its Ludwigshafen site. Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2025 and the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2027.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is contributing up to around €310 million to the project as part of the Carbon Contracts for Difference funding program.
The planned heat pump will have a capacity of up to 500,000 metric tons of steam per year. The waste heat, which is used as a thermal energy source, is generated during the cooling and cleaning of process gases in one of the two steam crackers at the site. Powered by electricity from renewable energy, CO2-free steam is generated, and most of this steam will be used in the production of formic acid. The heat pump has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 98%. A smaller proportion of the CO2-free steam will be supplied to other BASF production plants via the steam network at the site. In total, the heat pump will reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the company’s headquarters by up to 100,000 metric tons per year.
“Incorporating new technologies into our chemical production processes is one of the key components of the green transformation at BASF. And our heat pump even has a unique selling point: the planned plant will be the first of its kind to be used for steam generation – there are no comparable industrial pilot projects anywhere in the world,”
said Markus Kamieth, CEO of BASF
In addition to electricity, steam is one of the most important energy sources in the chemical industry. The Ludwigshafen site primarily uses it as process steam for production – for drying products, heating reactors, and for distillation, among other things. In the past year, BASF used about 14 million metric tons of steam in Ludwigshafen. By means of heat recovery from production facilities, BASF already meets half of the steam requirements at its main site using a low-carbon process. The other roughly 50% is currently generated by gas and steam power plants.
Thames Water Utilities Limited has announced a proposed transaction to extend its liquidity runway, including up to £3.0bn of new money in addition to access to cash reserves and debt extensions.
Thames said the completion of the Liquidity Extension Transaction and the related STID Proposals will improve TWUL’s liquidity runway to enable the company to continue with the planned investment and maintenance of its infrastructure. It will also allow the company to progress its equity raise process and a holistic recapitalisation transaction to complete the Final Determination process, including a CMA appeal if necessary.
Taking into account the Liquidity Extension Transaction and the related STID Proposals, TWUL’s liquidity would be extended to October 2025, with the ability to extend further to May 2026 if TWUL makes an appeal to the CMA.
The launch of the TSA follows engagement with committees of Secured Creditors together representing a substantial majority of TWUL’s Secured Debt.
Chris Weston, CEO, Thames Water commented:
“Today’s news demonstrates further progress to put Thames Water onto a more stable financial footing as we seek a long-term solution to our financial resilience. This step forward comes on top of our performance improvements which were recently recognised by Ofwat. We are working closely with and have the support of our creditors, enabling Thames to continue to implement our turnaround plan so that we can deliver better results for our customers and the environment whilst seeking to attract new capital into the business. In the meantime, our teams on the ground continue to supply our services to our 16 million customers every day.”
For those that didn't attend WWEM at the NEC earlier this month, the innovation across the sector was incredible to see!
There was various talks given across the board which were extremely interesting to gain peoples opinions on the water space currently.
Our very own Lyle King gave in important presentation on how we can attract, acquire and retain the best talent across the water industry, but more importantly how we can shift the narrative that is currently shadowing it.
Reach out to view the full video!
Europe:
North America:
For more information on any of these opportunities, please get in touch with Will Brockbank, Lyle King, Max Fraser-Krauss, Sam McMillan or Joe Michie.
That's it for Volume 24! Stay tuned for more and don't forget to follow Influx Search for the latest industry news and job advertisements.
