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India is set to announce its first auction of offshore minerals worth USD 17.8 bn, a government source involved in the process told Reuters. Initially, 13 blocks will be auctioned, including three for construction sand and three for lime mud. Seven of the blocks contain polymetallic nodules and are yet to be priced, the source added.
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What are polymetallic nodules? These nodules — also known as manganese nodules — are only found at seafloors and usually contain multiple metals, including four essential battery metals: cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese.
Exploiting them could be risky: Some conservationists are warning about the repercussions of tapping into this mineral wealth as recent research reveals their critical importance for the production of Oxygen in deep waters, which is critical for the ecosystem balance sustaining deep-sea species.
UK’s wind sector has a GBP 1 bn waste problem: The UK is facing mounting costs from its overwhelmed electricity grid, spending over GBP 1 bn in “congestion costs” this year alone as its grid struggles to absorb the massive expansion capacity from its wind projects, Bloomberg reports. The grid’s inability to cope has forced the government to pay wind farms to shut down even during favorable weather conditions, unnecessarily raising costs for consumers.
A poor grid has consequences: The grid’s expansion hasn’t kept pace with the UK’s offshore wind expansion — which grew by 50% in the last five years — leading to frequent shutdowns of wind farms, especially in Scotland, Bloomberg adds. “The outdated rules of our energy system mean vast amounts of cheap green power go to waste,” Octopus Energy Group external affairs director Clem Cowton said.
