The New Zealand Commerce Commission has outlined its key areas of interest in relation to the proposed Fairfax-APN deal.

Azerbaijan next week will garner much of the attention of the climate tech world, and not just because it will host COP29, the United Nation’s giant annual climate change conference. The country is promoting a grand, multi-nation plan to generate renewable electricity in the Caucasus region and send it thousands of kilometers west, under the Black Sea, and into energy–hungry Europe.

The transcontinental connection would start with wind, solar, and hydropower generated in Azerbaijan and Georgia, and off-shore wind power generated in the Caspian Sea. Long-distance lines would carry up to 1.5 gigawatts of clean electricity to Anaklia, Georgia, at the east end of the Black Sea. An undersea cable would move the electricity across the Black Sea and deliver it to Constanta, Romania, where it could be distributed further into Europe.

The scheme’s proponents say this Caspian-Black Sea energy corridor will help decrease global carbon emissions, provide dependable power to Europe, modernize developing economies at Europe’s periphery, and stabilize a region shaken by war. Organizers hope to build the undersea cable within the next six years at an estimated cost of €3.5 billion (US $3.8 billion).

To accomplish this, the governments of the involved countries must quickly circumvent a series of technical, financial, and political obstacles. “It’s a huge project,” says Zviad Gachechiladze, a director at Georgian State Electrosystem, the agency that operates the country’s electrical grid, and one of the architects of the Caucasus green-energy corridor. “To put it in operation [by 2030]—that’s quite ambitious, even optimistic,” he says.

Black Sea Cable to Link Caucasus and Europe

The technical lynchpin of the plan falls on the successful construction of a high voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cable in the Black Sea. It’s a formidable task, considering that it would stretch across nearly 1,200 kilometers of water, most of which is over 2 km deep, and, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, littered with floating mines. By contrast, the longest existing submarine power cable—the North Sea Link—carries 1.4 GW across 720 km between England and Norway, at depths of up to 700 meters.

As ambitious as Azerbaijan’s plans sound, longer undersea connections have been proposed. The Australia-Asia PowerLink project aims to produce 6 GW at a vast solar farm in Northern Australia and send about a third of it to Singapore via a 4,300-km undersea cable. The Morocco-U.K. Power Project would send 3.6 GW over 3,800 km from Morocco to England. A similar attempt by Desertec to send electricity from North Africa to Europe ultimately failed.

Building such cables involves laying and stitching together lengths of heavy submarine power cables from specialized ships—the expertise for which lies with just two companies in the world. In an assessment of the Black Sea project’s feasibility, the Milan-based consulting and engineering firm CESI determined that the undersea cable could indeed be built, and estimated that it could carry up to 1.5 GW—enough to supply over 2 million European households.

But to fill that pipe, countries in the Caucasus region would have to generate much more green electricity. For Georgia, that will mostly come from hydropower, which already generates over 80 percent of the nation’s electricity. “We are a hydro country. We have a lot of untapped hydro potential,” says Gachechiladze.

Azerbaijan and Georgia Plan Green Energy Corridor

Generating hydropower can also generate opposition, because of the way dams alter rivers and landscapes. “There were some cases when investors were not able to construct power plants because of opposition of locals or green parties” in Georgia, says Salome Janelidze, a board member at the Energy Training Center, a Georgian government agency that promotes and educates around the country’s energy sector.

“It was definitely a problem and it has not been totally solved,” says Janelidze. But “to me it seems it is doable,” she says. “You can procure and construct if you work closely with the local population and see them as allies rather than adversaries.”

For Azerbaijan, most of the electricity would be generated by wind and solar farms funded by foreign investment. Masdar, the renewable-energy developer of the United Arab Emirates government, has been investing heavily in wind power in the country. In June, the company broke ground on a trio of wind and solar projects with 1 GW capacity. It intends to develop up to 9 GW more in Azerbaijan by 2030. ACWA Power, a Saudi power-generation company, plans to complete a 240-MW solar plant in the Absheron and Khizi districts of Azerbaijan next year and has struck a deal with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Energy to install up to 2.5 GW of offshore and onshore wind.

CESI is currently running a second study to gauge the practicality of the full breadth of the proposed energy corridor—from the Caspian Sea to Europe—with a transmission capacity of 4 to 6 GW. But that beefier interconnection will likely remain out of reach in the near term. “By 2030, we can’t claim our region will provide 4 GW or 6 GW,” says Gachechiladze. “1.3 is realistic.”

COP29: Azerbaijan’s Renewable Energy Push

Signs of political support have surfaced. In September, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, and Hungary created a joint venture, based in Romania, to shepherd the project. Those four countries in 2022 inked a memorandum of understanding with the European Union to develop the energy corridor.

The involved countries are in the process of applying for the cable to be selected as an EU “project of mutual interest,” making it an infrastructure priority for connecting the union with its neighbors. If selected, “the project could qualify for 50 percent grant financing,” says Gachechiladze. “It’s a huge budget. It will improve drastically the financial condition of the project.” The commissioner responsible for EU enlargement policy projected that the union would pay an estimated €2.3 billion ($2.5 billion) toward building the cable.

Whether next week’s COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, will help move the plan forward remains to be seen. In preparation for the conference, advocates of the energy corridor have been taking international journalists on tours of the country’s energy infrastructure.

Looming over the project are the security issues threaten to thwart it. Shipping routes in the Black Sea have become less dependable and safe since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To the south, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan remain after the recent war and ethnic violence.

In order to improve relations, many advocates of the energy corridor would like to include Armenia. “The cable project is in the interests of Georgia, it’s in the interests of Armenia, it’s in the interests of Azerbaijan,” says Agha Bayramov, an energy geopolitics researcher at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands. “It might increase the chance of them living peacefully together. Maybe they’ll say, ‘We’re responsible for European energy. Let’s put our egos aside.’”

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Shop these deep discounts of up to 50% off of loads of styles of Rebecca Minkoff handbags at Amazon's Big Summer Sale.

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Shop discounts of up to 60% off of stylish Kate Spade handbags, jewelry, watches and accessories from Amazon's Big Summer Sale.

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The business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has called for a change of culture at the Post Office, as he gave evidence to the inquiry into the Horizon scandal.

Searching for the ideal platform to handle your used car auction needs? You’ve come to the right place. This guide is specifically designed for dealers and brokers who want to make the most out of their efforts in the used car market. Understanding the Market Dynamics of Used Car Auctions The first step in choosing […]

The post Maximize Your Profits With the Right Used Car Auction Platform ─ A Guide for Dealers and Brokers appeared first on Chart Attack.

In today’s complex business environment, organizations rely heavily on external vendors for essential services and resources. Managing these relationships effectively is crucial for operational efficiency, cost control, and risk management. To achieve this, many companies turn to Vendor Management Software to streamline vendor interactions, ensuring that the right processes and tools are in place for […]

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Solar storms have the ability to harm astronauts and force massive blackouts

Time-hopping film Here used AI trained on every Tom Hanks movie to make him appear young again.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, whose country is hosting the COP29 climate summit this week, lashed out at Western media and climate activists on Tuesday for criticizing his country’s oil and gas industries.

The post U.N. Climate Summit Host Azerbaijan: Fossil Fuels a ‘Gift from God,’ Environmentalists Engaging in ‘Blackmail’ appeared first on Breitbart.

A 48-year-old man in Winnipeg who says his right leg was to be amputated due to an infection came out of the medical procedure to find out his left leg was amputated instead. Jason Kennedy knew he may eventually lose both legs to the infection but he still has questions about what happened.

An Ottawa high school principal has apologized for playing an Arabic song about peace during a Remembrance Day ceremony after facing swift backlash from critics calling it inappropriate and hurtful to members of the Jewish community.

A federal administrative law judge says Amazon interfered in the last election on unionization at its warehouse in Bessemer, Ala.

1. Magnus Carlsen returns to Kolkata after almost five years at Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz 2024  ChessBase India
2. "It's Chaotic": Chess World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen Reveals Why He Does Not Play In India  NDTV Sports
3. King Carlsen hails growth of Indian chess, praises Praggnanandhaa's fighting spirit  Telegraph India
4. Tata Steel Chess set for a Carlsen-Pragg opening  Hindustan Times
5. Tata Steel Chess India Rapid & Blitz 2024: Schedule, Venue, Players, Tickets, Prize Money  Firstpost

1. PM Narendra Modi to visit Nigeria, Brazil, Guyana from November 16  The Hindu
2. PM Modi to attend G20 Summit in Brazil, visit Nigeria and Guyana from November 16-20: Full schedule  The Times of India
3. PM Modi to embark on three nation visit to Nigeria, Brazil and Guyana from 16th nov  News On AIR
4. PM Modi's Africa-Latin America trip begins Sunday  The Economic Times
5. PM Modi to embark on 3-nation tour, attend G20 Leaders Summit in Brazil next week  The Indian Express

1. Bulldozer justice: SC lays down pan-India guidelines for demolition of properties, says Executive can’t become judge and accused, convicts have certain rights  The Hindu
2. "House Embodies Hope": Supreme Court Demolishes 'Bulldozer Justice' Idea  NDTV
3. Unconstitutional to demolish house without following due process merely because they are involved in a crime: SC  The Indian Express
4. Supreme Court on bulldozer action: ‘No demolition without following guidelines, 15-day notice’  Hindustan Times
5. Bulldozer justice: Executive can't become judge, demolish house of accused, SC says  The Times of India

It's a little rogue-lite, it's a bit '90s arcade, and it's surprisingly deep.

The pedigree of the producers and writers involved is cause for concern, though.

Here is a complete list of highlights on Prime Video this week

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Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada's five-player lineup this week when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in Malaga, Spain.

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