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Ukraine Races to Restore Electricity, Water Supplies After Russian Strikes

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Utility crews across Ukraine were working to restore water and electricity supplies after a barrage of Russian missiles a day earlier knocked out service to hundreds of thousands of people, while Russian authorities expanded the movement of civilians out of the southern Kherson region.

Kyiv Mayor

Vitali Klitschko

said the water supply in the city was fully restored and the electricity system had been repaired, but added that rolling blackouts would continue Tuesday. Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s electricity-transmission-system operator, said the supply of electricity would be limited in seven regions, including Kyiv and the northeastern Kharkiv region.

The restrictions “are necessary to reduce the load on the networks” after the recent attacks, Ukrenergo wrote on Telegram. “This enables energy companies to restore damaged energy facilities as quickly as possible, balance the system and provide consumers with energy.”

The missile assault on Monday was the latest Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy system, which has become the Kremlin’s foremost target over the past several weeks. More than a third of Ukraine’s power-generation capacity had already been destroyed before Monday’s attack. Though Ukrainian officials said 45 of the 55 missiles Moscow launched were shot down, the country’s energy system has continued to sustain damage, raising the specter of a winter in which much of the country might not have power, heat or running water.

“Stabilizing blackouts continue in nine regions of Ukraine. Energy workers and local authorities are doing everything to reduce the time of blackouts,” Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

said in his nightly address on Tuesday.

“We will do everything to give people electricity and heat this winter. But we must understand that Russia will do everything to destroy the normality of life,’’ he said.

On Monday, Mr. Zelensky said Russian forces had lost 72,000 troops in Ukraine since February. In September, Moscow said that 5,937 of its soldiers had been killed in Ukraine.

“Russian terrorists do not have such missiles that could hit the Ukrainian desire to live,” Mr. Zelensky said. “There will be a response on the battlefield.”

Mr. Zelensky, in a meeting Tuesday with European Commissioner for Energy

Kadri Simson

in Ukraine, called on the Commission to play a coordinating role in attracting the assistance from EU member states needed to restore Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Ms. Simson said on Twitter that Ukraine needs specific equipment and tools to repair the damage and that she assured Mr. Zelensky that “we are reaching out to partners to help with the dedicated support needed.”

Though attacks on Ukraine’s energy system have grown frequent in recent weeks, Russian President

Vladimir Putin

said that the assault on Monday was in response to a drone strike in Crimea on Saturday. Russia’s Defense Ministry has blamed that attack on Ukraine, with the help of the U.K. Russia has also suspended its participation in a United Nations-brokered deal to safely export grain from Ukraine in response.

Mr. Putin told Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

in a call Tuesday that for Russia to cooperate with the grain deal again, it would need an investigation into the attack and guarantees from Kyiv that the grain corridor wouldn’t be used for military purposes, according to the Kremlin.

The U.N. has said Russian accusations that Ukraine has used the grain corridor for armed attacks are false, since no military vessels are allowed to approach the shipping lane, which is monitored by the U.N. and Turkey.

Ukraine hasn’t claimed credit for the attack, and the U.K. has denied involvement. Still, strikes deep inside Russian-held territory have become more common. On Monday afternoon, Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency wrote on Twitter that two Ka-52 helicopters had been destroyed and two others damaged at an airfield in Russia’s Pskov region, which is hundreds of miles north of Ukraine near Russia’s border with Estonia.

A school hit by a Russian missile in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.



Photo:

Carl Court/Getty Images

Moscow hasn’t commented on the alleged Pskov attack.

Russian Defense Minister

Sergei Shoigu

said Tuesday that Russia had sent 87,000 newly mobilized men to fight in Ukraine, up from the 82,000 figure he reported on Friday. In total, Moscow says it has mobilized 300,000 men, some of whom are currently in training.

Ms. Shoigu said some 3,000 instructors with combat experience in Ukraine were involved in training those mobilized.

“We continue to effectively hit military infrastructure facilities with precision-guided strikes, as well as facilities that reduce Ukraine’s military potential,” Mr. Shoigu said.

Many of the mobilized soldiers have been deployed to the Kherson region, according to residents and military analysts. Ukrainian forces have been closing in on the city of Kherson, the only regional capital that Moscow has seized this year. Supply lines into the city, which sits on the West bank of the Dnipro River, have been largely cut, and two weeks ago Russian-installed authorities in the region began moving civilians east across the river into territory that Moscow more firmly controls.

On Monday night, the Russian-installed head of the Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo, announced an expansion of the evacuation, saying civilians within 15 kilometers of the Dnipro River would be moved still farther into Russian-held territory.

The evacuation was necessary, he said, because of a threat that the Ukrainians could blow up the Kakhovka dam and flood the region. Mr. Saldo had previously warned of a threat to the dam, and then played down the possibility of major damage and the risk of severe flooding.

Residents collect food aid in Mykolaiv region, Ukraine.



Photo:

Carl Court/Getty Images

A damaged apartment in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.



Photo:

hannibal hanschke/Shutterstock

“This decision will make it possible to create a layered defense that will make it possible to repel an attack by Ukrainian armed forces and protect our civilians,” he said. Civilians relocated deeper into Russian-held territory would receive a one-time payment of 100,000 rubles, equivalent to about $1,600, as well as a housing stipend, he added.

Military analysts have said it is unlikely that Ukraine would attack the dam, a move that would make reclaiming territory in the region more difficult.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Russian claims about the dam served several other purposes, including driving civilians away from territory that Ukraine might soon reclaim.

“[There] is no scenario in which it would be advantageous for Ukraine to blow the dam,” the institute wrote.

Darkened streets in Dnipro, Ukraine, during scheduled power outages.



Photo:

hannibal hanschke/Shutterstock

Write to Ian Lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com and Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com

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Ukraine Presses U.N. Over ‘Nuclear Blackmail’ at Russian-Occupied Plant

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ODESSA, Ukraine—Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

met with the leaders of Turkey and the United Nations on Thursday to discuss food shipments from Ukraine and the increasingly tense situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as Ukraine continued to hit Russian logistics with artillery strikes.

Following the meetings in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Mr. Zelensky said he pressed U.N. Secretary-General

António Guterres

about the nuclear plant, which Russia has occupied since the early days of the war. Explosions around the plant in recent days have knocked one reactor off the power grid and sparked fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

“Particular attention was paid to the topic of Russia’s nuclear blackmail at the Zaporizhzhia NPP,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media. He said the two men also discussed allegations that Ukrainian citizens were being forcibly deported to Russia and the treatment of captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Russia has said Ukrainian forces threaten the nuclear plant’s security.

After meeting with Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

Mr. Zelensky said they had discussed ways to protect Ukrainian grain that is being exported, as well as other security issues. Ankara helped broker with the U.N. a deal to lift a Russian naval blockade on Ukrainian exports, which had led to food shortages throughout the Middle East and Africa.

“This is a strong message of support from such a powerful country as Turkey,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

The Turkish president has sought to position himself as a mediator in the war, with Turkey hosting two rounds of unsuccessful peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. Mr. Erdogan has said he hopes the U.N.-backed initiative that led to the resumption of Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports earlier this month could be a starting point for a broader peace between Russia and Ukraine.

At a news conference following the talks, he said he had “reiterated our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” He added: “I have been preserving my belief that the war would come to an end at the negotiation table.”

Ukraine has exported 622,000 tons of grain and other food products from the three ports covered by the export agreement, the Turkish defense ministry said Thursday.

During the news conference, Mr. Guterres said “there is no solution to the global food crisis without insuring full global access to Ukraine’s food products and Russian food and fertilizer.” Global wheat prices, he said, have fallen up to 8% since the accord was signed.

Turkish military officers are helping to monitor implementation of the agreement alongside their Ukrainian and Russian counterparts and U.N. officials stationed at a control center that was set up in Istanbul in July. Four more ships loaded with agricultural products sailed from Ukrainian ports on Wednesday under the deal, according to Turkish officials.

Mr. Erdogan is increasingly posing as a friend to both sides in the Ukraine conflict. Turkey has delivered weapons to Ukraine, including armed drones that have been instrumental in Ukraine’s battle against the Russian invasion. In February, Turkey also invoked its rights under an international treaty to bar additional Russian warships from the Black Sea.

The leaders of the United Nations and Turkey met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in western Ukraine on Thursday. The group discussed food shipments and rising tensions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Photo: Handout/AFP/Getty Images

His visit to Ukraine comes less than two weeks after a visit to Russia where he held talks on the Ukraine war and the grain initiative with Russia’s President

Vladimir Putin.

“This will be another opportunity for Mr. Erdogan to be active in this mediation process,” said

Aydin Sezer,

a former diplomat who served in Turkey’s embassy in Moscow. “Erdogan is now the only person who is credited by the Kremlin when it comes to Ukrainian business.”

Turkish and Ukrainian officials also signed a memorandum of understanding calling for Turkey to participate in Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction. The first project being considered under the agreement is the reconstruction of a bridge connecting Kyiv with the towns of Irpin and Bucha, where Russian soldiers carried out mass killings in March, the Ukrainian presidency said.

“Turkey is our strategic ally. We are grateful to our Turkish partners for their willingness to cooperate in the recovery of the infrastructure destroyed by Russia,” said Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister

Oleksandr Kubrakov

according to the Ukrainian president’s office.

Earlier on Thursday, the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command said that it had struck an ammunition depot in the village of Bilohirka, near the front line of fighting in the Kherson region. The rocket strike is the latest in a series of attacks that have targeted logistics in the Russian-occupied south—part of a strategy to starve Russian troops in the region of supplies and force them to withdraw from the territory they are holding west of the Dnipro River.

Unidentified civilians exhumed from a mass grave after Russia’s occupation of Bucha, near Kyiv, were reburied Wednesday.



Photo:

Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press

Emergency workers preparing for a potential nuclear disaster in Zaporizhzhia took part in a presentation watched by Ukrainian officials.



Photo:

Justyna Mielnikiewicz/MAPS for The Wall Street Journal

A day earlier, the Ukrainian military posted video to social media that appeared to show the aftermath of a long-range rocket strike on Nova Kakhovka, also in the Kherson region. And on Tuesday, pro-Ukrainian saboteurs destroyed an ammunition depot in Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. Video on social media Thursday also showed large explosions overnight in Russian-occupied Amvrosiivka, in the eastern Donetsk region; Ukrainian officials didn’t immediately comment on the cause.

As Ukrainian strikes inside Russian-held territory increase, Russian forces are attempting to crack down on pro-Ukrainian insurgents. A Ukrainian army veteran was arrested in the Kherson region on suspicion of sending locations of Russian troops and bases to Ukrainian forces, Russian state-run news agencies reported on Thursday. In addition, Russia’s FSB intelligence agency on Wednesday said it had detained six Russian citizens in Crimea who belonged to a cell that spread what it called terrorist ideology with the support of Ukrainian emissaries, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russia has said it would give International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant—but only if they come via Russian-controlled territory and not through Kyiv, a plan that Ukraine opposes.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday said Ukraine was planning a false flag provocation for Friday at the plant to frame the occupying forces. Maj. Gen.

Igor Konashenkov,

a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, didn’t provide evidence to support the claim. The Russian-installed head of the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia, meanwhile, said a plan was in place to evacuate residents in case of an attack on the plant. Kyiv didn’t immediately respond to the claim.


Russia’s Defense Ministry also said Thursday that Moscow would consider shutting down the plant if the situation surrounding the facility continues to deteriorate.

The Ukrainian government, international nuclear-power watchdogs and the plant’s staff have accused Russia of stealing Zaporizhzhia’s power by severing its connection to Ukraine’s remaining territory.

In Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, a Russian missile hit a residential building in the Saltivka neighborhood on Wednesday night, killing seven people and injuring at least 17 more, according to the city’s mayor. More missiles launched from Russia hit the city early Thursday morning, killing two more people. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces were targeting foreign fighters.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it has deployed three MiG-31 combat jets armed with hypersonic Kinzhal ballistic missiles to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a chunk of Russia wedged between North Atlantic Treaty Organization members Lithuania and Poland, according to Russian state news agencies. Such missiles, when fired from jets, have farther reach than the ground-launched missiles already deployed in Kaliningrad.

—Nikita Nikolaienko contributed to this article.

Ukrainian fighters took part in a military drill on the country’s south coast.



Photo:

oleksandr gimanov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Write to Ian Lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com, Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Evan Gershkovich at evan.gershkovich@wsj.com

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World

Inside the Russian-Occupied Ukrainian City Living Under Threat of Nuclear Disaster

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In the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city that hosts Europe’s largest nuclear-power plant, residents are taping up windows in fear of a radioactive leak and sticking close to home as fighting rages around the complex and Moscow-installed authorities gear up for a possible annexation of the region by Russia.

Residents in Enerhodar, a city that has been under Russian occupation for more than five months, paint a picture of a pitched battle on the front lines in Ukraine’s south that risks sparking Europe’s biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Enerhodar has become the focus of an international crisis as Russia and Ukraine trade blame for attacks on the city’s sprawling Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The plant is being defended by hundreds of Russian soldiers—effectively transforming it into a military garrison—who are facing off against Ukrainian soldiers stationed just a few miles away.

There has been no reported damage to the reactors and no radioactive release so far, but Ukraine said plant staff had to close one of six reactors over the weekend after a high-voltage power line was severed and three radiation monitors damaged.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear-power plant is being defended by hundreds of Russian soldiers.



Photo:

ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/REUTERS

“God forbid something irreversible happens,” Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

said in a video address Sunday. “No one will stop the wind that will spread radioactive pollution.”

The city, with a prewar population of 53,000 and whose name means “the giver of energy,” has been running out of food supplies and begun circulating the Russian ruble as reserves of Ukraine’s hryvnia currency run out, residents say.

Andriy, a former car salesman and a 36-year-old resident of Enerhodar, said that occupying authorities told residents the area around the plant is mined and that unexploded ordnance from cluster munitions litters the city.

“They told us that the Ukrainians were shelling the plant and that it was necessary to seal window frames with Scotch tape so that if they hit the warehouse of radioactive waste, the dust would not enter our homes,” he said by phone. “They say that the first day will be the most dangerous, so you have to stay at home and not go out. Everyone is afraid that something will happen to the plant.”

Occupation authorities in Enerhodar have begun circulating the Russian ruble as reserves of Ukraine’s hryvnia currency run out.



Photo:

ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/REUTERS

Andriy said Russian forces positioned beside the plant are firing artillery from the city at Ukrainian forces positioned across the Dnipro River near Nikopol. At night he sees what look like tracer bullets in the sky as the Russians fire antiaircraft guns from the territory of the station.

Communications with Enerhodar residents are steadily worsening as the occupying authorities tighten their control and fear spreads among locals. Many people worry that their phones have been tapped. Russia is also gradually disconnecting Ukrainian telecom providers and attempting to roll out Russian cell service. Sim cards from major Ukrainian providers no longer work properly.

“People are afraid,” said the Ukrainian mayor of Enerhodar,

Dmytro Orlov,

who fled after the occupation. “Workers of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant go to work not knowing if they’ll return home after their shift, or whether everything is fine with their loved ones while they’re away.”

One Enerhodar woman in her early 60s said shelling of the city has become much more frequent in recent days, adding that she has seen trucks and armored personnel carriers driving regularly toward the plant complex. The woman said residents are trying to go about their daily lives, buying produce from local markets because supermarket prices have become too high, and increasingly paying in Russian rubles circulated by occupation authorities as supplies of Ukraine’s hryvnia run out.

Himars—long-range rocket launchers from the U.S.—have helped Ukraine target Russian ammunition stores, command posts and fuel depots, slowing down Moscow’s forces. As Washington sends more weapons, WSJ looks at why Kyiv is asking for other advanced tools. Photo composite: Eve Hartley

People fear speaking in public, she said, afraid that a passerby could inform on them to the occupation authorities. The woman said her son, a city council member before the war, is now in hiding after having failed to escape to Ukrainian-controlled territory. He was sleeping in friends’ garages and basements, escaping both the Russian-installed government and the constant shelling.

“Most people keep their opinions to themselves because you can’t know what your interlocutor might do,” said Yury, a local resident. He added that many Russian-installed officials and security service members now appear in civilian clothing, making residents even more afraid of inadvertently saying something that could be used against them.

“Sometimes people you know disappear,” the woman said. “We think they probably said something wrong.” Mr. Orlov, the mayor, said several hundred residents of the city have been abducted and are being held in Russian custody, and months have passed in some cases with no information about their whereabouts. The Kremlin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

When Russia took control of Enerhodar in early March, residents like Andriy and Yury came out to stage protest rallies and shout “Ukraine!” and “Go home!” at the occupying troops. The last protest, on April 2, was violently dispersed by Russian troops and outward signs of dissent quickly disappeared as Russia installed a collaborationist administration in the city and clamped down, residents say.

The Russian-installed head of the surrounding Zaporizhzhia region, Evgeny Balitsky, on Monday announced a coming referendum on whether the region should join Russia. Andriy, the local resident, said police are checking courtyards and building entrances for posters and leaflets against the referendum and searching for anyone who distributes them.

The woman in her 60s said fear is rising that battles raging in the area could cause damage that would leak radioactive chemicals.

“It’s scary to live near the plant,” she said. “Some fear that storage facilities have already been destroyed and are emitting radiation, and we just don’t know about it. People are afraid that if it explodes, we will all die here.”

She said most residents still hold out hope that Ukraine, which has announced a major counteroffensive on southern areas taken by Russia, will liberate Enerhodar too. But the occupation is becoming entrenched.

“It feels like most people are on Ukraine’s side,” she said. “But they are getting tired of waiting.”

A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform standing guard near the nuclear-power plant in early August.



Photo:

ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO/REUTERS

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World

Biden Invokes Emergency Power in Bid to Resolve Solar Import Dispute

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President Biden used emergency authority Monday in a bid to resolve a supply logjam that threatened the solar power industry, but the action drew complaints from U.S. manufacturers who say it will impede their efforts to build domestic production.

The four Southeast Asian countries account for roughly 80% of U.S. solar panel imports. The Commerce investigation had led importers to halt shipments, putting in jeopardy more than half of the 27 gigawatts of new solar-power capacity developers had been expected to install this year, according to the energy consulting firm Rystad Energy.

The White House acted as part of a larger package intended to resolve a conflict pitting solar power developers and utilities that rely on cheap imported components against manufacturers who want to reshore solar parts manufacturing to the U.S.

Mr. Biden invoked the Defense Production Act among other measures to help U.S. suppliers compete with Asian rivals and spur more U.S. manufacturing long-term.

The developers and utilities who import solar panels cheered the decision as a way to avoid a slowdown in new installations. But advocates for U.S. manufacturers said it undermines efforts to help U.S. companies catch up to Chinese rivals that dominate the industry.

“President Biden is significantly interfering in Commerce’s quasi-judicial process,” said Mamun Rashid, chief executive of California-based Auxin Solar Inc., a small maker of solar panels whose complaint triggered the Commerce investigation.

“By taking this unprecedented—and potentially illegal—action, he has opened the door wide for Chinese-funded special interests to defeat the fair application of U.S. trade law,” Mr. Rashid said in a  statement.

A solar panel in production at the San Jose, Calif., factory of Auxin Solar.



Photo:

Ian Bates for Wall Street Journal

Some trade lawyers and analysts question whether Mr. Biden has overstepped authority meant for use in wartime.

“It is highly problematic that the Administration is apparently declaring a war or similar national emergency as the basis for negating a continuing trade law investigation on solar,” said

Timothy Brightbill,

a trade lawyer at Wiley Rein LLP. “This emergency authority is used extremely rarely and it’s a dangerous precedent to use it to negate a continuing trade investigation.”

Mr. Biden cited disruptions in global energy markets caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—along with extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change—as justification for his emergency declaration.

When asked about challenges to the decision’s legality, a senior administration official said the president is acting under his emergency authority under the Tariff Act of 1930 to waive import duties. The changes will not interfere in the Commerce investigation, the official said.

Administration officials said the plan creates a bridge period to keep developers supplied for now while U.S. panel-makers build up their limited capacity.

“The Federal Government is working with the private sector to promote the expansion of domestic solar manufacturing capacity, including our capacity to manufacture modules and other inputs in the solar supply chain, but building that capacity will take time,” Mr. Biden said in his declaration.

Solar developers and installers, who vastly outnumber manufacturers in the U.S. and have lobbied for protection, said the decisions could jump-start projects that have been delayed.

Executives at SOLV Energy LLC, the biggest installer of large-scale solar farms in the U.S., are now reconsidering decisions on nearly a dozen projects that were halted or delayed by fallout from the Commerce probe and would have eliminated or postponed thousands of new jobs, said George Hershman, the company’s chief executive.

“We’re starting to work with our customers and determine which projects we can restart and how quickly we can restart them,” he said.

Companies that build or support solar projects such as

Sunrun Inc.,

SunPower Corp.

and

Enphase Energy Inc.

all posted gains Monday, with

Sunnova Energy International Inc.

NOVA 6.45%

leading the group, up nearly 6.5%.

Shares of

NextEra Energy Inc.,

a utility and one of the world’s largest renewables companies, added almost 2%. Monday’s advance pares some of the sector’s recent losses.

“A big part of the tariff uncertainty and a lot of the other supply chain disruption just creates uncertainty,” said

Rebecca Kujawa,

president and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, the company’s competitive power business. “To remove this as a point of concern, at least for a period of time, is going to be hugely helpful.”

Money is a sticking point in climate-change negotiations around the world. As economists warn that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will cost many more trillions than anticipated, WSJ looks at how the funds could be spent, and who would pay. Illustration: Preston Jessee/WSJ

But

First Solar Inc.,

a U.S. manufacturer based in Tempe, Az. said the administration’s actions “only benefits China’s state-subsidized solar industry.”

“The use of the Defense Production Act to boost solar manufacturing is an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars and falls well short of a durable solar industrial policy,” the company said in a statement. “Quite simply, the administration cannot stick a Band-Aid on the issue and hope that it goes away.”

First Solar manufactures solar panels using a different technology that is not affected by industry tariffs.

Washington has been central in the solar dispute in part because Mr. Biden has promised that addressing climate change with support for clean energy would grow working-class jobs in solar, wind, battery and other manufacturing businesses. In recent months a fight over tariffs has illustrated how those goals can clash rather than complement one another.

The White House has tried to help build up a U.S. supply chain by maintaining Trump-era solar tariffs on China and Taiwan. Utilities and developers—fearful the reach of those tariffs was expanding to other Asian partners—warned that threat was causing what could become a drastic slowdown in solar growth.

In Monday’s declaration, Mr. Biden accepted those industry claims that a slowdown was caused in part by import bottlenecks, and that ultimately it was threatening the reliability of the country’s electricity supply.

“The United States has been unable to import solar modules in sufficient quantities to ensure solar capacity additions necessary to achieve our climate and clean energy goals, ensure electricity grid resource adequacy, and help combat rising energy prices,” Mr. Biden said in the declaration.

Abigail Ross Hopper,

president and chief executive officer of the Solar Energy Industries Association, applauded the decision.

“While the Department of Commerce investigation will continue as required by statute, and we remain confident that a review of the facts will result in a negative determination, the president’s action is a much-needed reprieve from this industry-crushing probe,” she said in a statement.

—Anthony DeBarros and Katherine Blunt contributed to this article.

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Business

Renault says electric-hydrogen concept will have 497-mile range

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Details of Renault’s Scénic Vision concept car were presented to the public on May 19, 2022. The firm’s idea of developing a passenger vehicle that uses hydrogen technology is not unique.

Benjamin Girette | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Renault has released details of an electric-hydrogen hybrid concept car, with the French automaker describing hydrogen technology as being “one of the options to make electric vehicles more convenient.”

The design for Renault’s Scenic Vision incorporates a hydrogen engine, electric motor, battery, fuel cell and a hydrogen tank. The 2.5 kilogram tank is located at the vehicle’s front and, Renault said, would take around five minutes to fill.

According to a document published on Thursday that outlined the concept, the Scenic Vision’s 40 kilowatt hour battery is recyclable and will be produced at a facility in France by 2024.

In a statement, Gilles Vidal, who is director of design at Renault, said the concept “prefigures the exterior design of the new Scénic 100% electric model for 2024.” The company said the electric-hydrogen powertrain was “part of a longer-term vision, beyond 2030.”

The broad idea is that the Scenic Vision’s hydrogen fuel cell would help extend the vehicle’s range during longer trips. “In 2030 and beyond, once the network of hydrogen stations is large enough, you will be able to drive up to 800 km [a little over 497 miles] … without stopping to charge the battery,” Renault said.

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

Described by the International Energy Agency as a “versatile energy carrier,” hydrogen has a diverse range of applications and can be deployed in a wide range of industries.

It can be produced in a number of ways. One method includes using electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.

If the electricity used in this process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar then some call it green or renewable hydrogen.

It’s envisaged that Renault’s hybrid would use green hydrogen, although the vast majority of hydrogen generation is currently based on fossil fuels.

Renault’s electric-hydrogen concept illustrates how car companies are looking to find ways to develop low and zero emission offerings that can compete with the range of gasoline and diesel vehicles.

“Several systems to complement electric motors are being explored today to address the requirements associated with long-distance driving,” Renault said. “Hydrogen technology is one of the options to make electric vehicles more convenient.”

In the field of hydrogen mobility, the Renault Group has already set up a joint venture with Plug Power called Hyvia. Among other things, it is focused on hydrogen fuel cells in light commercial vehicles and the rollout of hydrogen charging facilities.

Renault’s idea of developing a passenger vehicle that uses hydrogen technology is not unique.

Toyota, for instance, started working on the development of fuel-cell vehicles — where hydrogen from a tank mixes with oxygen, producing electricity — back in 1992. In 2014, the Japanese business launched the Mirai, a hydrogen fuel cell sedan.

Other major companies like Hyundai and BMW are also looking at hydrogen, as well as smaller concerns such as U.K.-based Riversimple.

While the above companies are looking at the potential of hydrogen, some high-profile figures in the automotive sector are not so sure. In Feb. 2021, Herbert Diess, the CEO of Germany’s Volkswagen Group, weighed in on the subject. “It’s time for politicians to accept science,” he tweeted.

“Green hydrogen is needed for steel, chemical, aero … and should not end up in cars. Far too expensive, inefficient, slow and difficult to roll out and transport. After all: no #hydrogen cars in sight.”

Despite Thursday’s unveiling of the Scenic Vision concept, even Renault CEO Luca de Meo would appear to be cautious when it comes to talking about hydrogen’s prospects, according to comments published by Autocar.

Elsewhere, in Feb. 2020 Brussels-based campaign group Transport and Environment hammered home just how much competition hydrogen would face in the transportation sector.

T&E made the point that green hydrogen wouldn’t only have to “compete with grey and blue hydrogen,” which are produced using fossil fuels. “It will compete with petrol, diesel, marine fuel oil, kerosene and, of course, electricity,” T&E said.

“Wherever batteries are a practical solution — cars; vans; urban, regional and perhaps long-haul trucks; ferries — hydrogen will face an uphill struggle because of its lower efficiency and, as a result, much higher fuel costs.”



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Business

After the ‘hippie’ bus and Beetle, VW makes eyes at America once again

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As Volkswagen looks to resurrect the Scout brand in the United States, CEO Herbert Diess has shed light on the decision, saying it represents an opportunity for the German auto giant to “become much more American.” 

VW announced plans to re-launch the Scout as a fully-electric pick-up and “rugged” SUV last Wednesday, with prototypes due to be revealed in 2023 and production planned to begin in 2026.

In the same announcement, the company said the vehicles would be “designed, engineered, and manufactured in the U.S. for American customers.”

“The United States is our biggest growth opportunity,” Diess, who was speaking to CNBC’s Annette Weisbach last week, said.

He went on to explain why the automaker was targeting the fiercely competitive American market.

“We are still very niche, very small, with about 4% market share [in the country],” he said. “We want to get up to 10% market share towards the end of this decade.”

Diess stressed that the firm had momentum, was profitable and “really making good progress with the electric cars.”

These vehicles include the fully electric ID Buzz, which is inspired by the T1 Microbus or “hippie” van. European versions of the ID Buzz are set to go on sale this year, with sales of an American model starting in 2024.

This image, from 1970, shows people driving a version of the Volkswagen Microbus at a rock festival in Oregon.

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VW hopes that the introduction of the Scout and ID Buzz will continue its tradition of introducing iconic designs to the U.S. market. Over the years, these have included the Beetle and various iterations of the Microbus, such as the one pictured above.

The Scout’s history dates back to the 1960s, when International Harvester — originally an agricultural company, now known as the Navistar International Corporation — started development. Today, Navistar is part of the Traton Group, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.

Production of the Scout ceased in 1980, but Volkswagen’s decision to re-launch it, and Diess’ comments, provide some clues to its strategy going forward.

“If we really want to become relevant in America, we have to look at the other segments,” he said. “And pick-ups, big SUVs, are very, very big in America.”  

Diess went on to describe Scout as a “beloved brand in the United States. So it’s a good opportunity for us to become much more American.”

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Asked if the Scout pickup would be solely for the U.S. market, he was non-committal. “I wouldn’t say ‘entirely dedicated’ but first and foremost … it’s an American product.”

“It will be an American product for American customers, designed for the American environment. Will it be sold outside? Maybe, later to be decided,” Deiss added.

VW is planning to set up a separate and independent company this year to design, engineer and manufacture the Scout pick-ups and SUVs for the U.S. market.

Volkswagen’s focus on electric vehicles is a world away from the “dieselgate” scandal that rocked it in the 2010s. Today, its electrification plans put it in direct competition with long-established automakers like GM and Ford, as well as relative newcomers such as Tesla.

On the company’s overall prospects in the U.S. going forward, Diess was bullish.

“We’re building up capacities in the United States … later this year, around August, ID 4 production will start in our Chattanooga facilities,” he said.

“We have programs for Audi and Porsche to increase their market share and … we will see some more products, electric products, being produced in America, for America.”

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Business

BP deal sends Nasdaq-listed EV charging stock Tritium surging

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The need for new charging infrastructure in the U.K. is likely to become increasingly pressing in the years ahead, not least because authorities want to stop the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans by 2030.

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Tritium and BP have entered into a multi-year contract related to the supply of electric vehicle chargers, in the latest example of how energy majors are looking to cement their position in the burgeoning EV market.

According to a statement issued by Tritium on Monday, the agreement will initially center around an order of “just under 1,000 chargers” for the U.K. and Australian and New Zealand markets.

Australian firm Tritium, which was established in 2001, specializes in the development and production of direct current fast chargers for EVs. Shares of the Nasdaq-listed company rose by over 12% Monday, and opened flat on Tuesday. The stock is still down around 4% so far this year.

Toward the end of March, BP — which is better known for its oil and gas production — said it would invest £1 billion (roughly $1.3 billion) in U.K.-based electric vehicle charging infrastructure across a 10-year period.

BP said the money would “enable the deployment of more rapid and ultra-fast chargers in key locations.” The company also said its charging business, known as BP Pulse, would “approximately triple its number of charging points by 2030.”

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BP’s announcement came on the same day the U.K. government published its electric vehicle infrastructure strategy, which said it expected the country would be home to roughly 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030 “as a minimum.”

BP is not alone in its attempt to lay down a marker in the electric vehicle charging market. Back in January, Shell announced the opening of an “EV charging hub” in London. Shell said it had replaced gasoline and diesel pumps at the site with what it called “ultra-rapid chargepoints.”

The fossil fuel powerhouse is targeting the installation of 50,000 on-street chargers by the middle of the decade via its subsidiary, Ubitricity.

The need for new charging infrastructure in the U.K. is likely to become increasingly pressing in the years ahead, not least because authorities want to stop the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans by 2030. From 2035, the U.K. will require all new cars and vans to have zero-tailpipe emissions.

According to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders published at the beginning of April, new battery electric car registrations in the U.K. hit 39,315 in March, a 78.7% increase year-on-year.

“This is the highest volume of BEV registrations ever recorded in a single month, and means that more were registered in March 2022 than during the entirety of 2019,” the SMMT said.

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World

Omicron Cases at Norway Christmas Party Provide Clues on New Variant’s Spread

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An Omicron outbreak at a Norwegian Christmas party is providing an early, if still anecdotal, data point on the ease through which the new variant spreads between vaccinated people, and how mild its symptoms at times can be.

Before Scatec AS A, a Norway-based renewable-energy company, hosted the annual holiday party, it took all the major safety precautions, said Stian Tvede Karlsen, a company spokesman. Only vaccinated employees were invited. All had to take a rapid test the day before. The party, at Louise, an upscale Oslo restaurant serving seafood and Scandinavian fare, included about 120 people, several of whom had just returned from South Africa, where the company has a solar-panel project.

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Business

Stocks Rise After Omicron-Driven Selloff

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U.S. stocks jumped Thursday, continuing a tumultuous week for markets driven by uncertainty about the potential impact of the Omicron variant on public health and the economy.

Equities rose, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average more than recouping Wednesday’s losses as of late afternoon. All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 were up, with all but one rising at least 1%. Oil prices and bond yields rose. Investors already confronting rising inflation are now also evaluating the likelihood that Omicron could spur changes in government or monetary policy, which has led to pronounced volatility in recent sessions.

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