2023-11-17 19:53

WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. will fund nine projects with $169 million from last year's climate bill to speed manufacturing of heat pumps, systems that can heat and cool homes and businesses more efficiently, the Energy Department said on Friday. The awards are the first from the department's authorization invoked by President Joe Biden using emergency authority on the basis of climate change to employ the Cold War-era Defense Production Act (DPA) to boost spending on clean energy technologies. "Getting more American-made electric heat pumps on the market will help families and businesses save money with efficient heating and cooling technology," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a release. Heating and cooling homes and buildings, including critical infrastructure like military bases, drive more than 35% of U.S. energy consumption, according to her department.  Compared to boilers fueled by natural gas, heat pumps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50%, it says. The funding will go to manufacturers including Armstrong International in Michigan, Honeywell International (HON.O) in Louisiana, and Ice Air in South Carolina. The American Gas Association (AGA), a natural gas industry group, criticized the move. "We are deeply disappointed to see the Defense Production Act, which is intended as a vital tool for advancing national security against serious outside threats, being used as an instrument to advance a policy agenda contradictory to our nation’s strong energy position," said AGA head Karen Harbert. The Energy Department said it expects to unveil another round of DPA investments in early 2024. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-aims-speed-heat-pump-manufacturing-using-cold-war-era-law-2023-11-17/

2023-11-17 19:29

MANILA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The United States and the Philippines on Friday signed a landmark deal that would allow Washington to export nuclear technology and material to Manila, which is exploring the use of nuclear power to decarbonise and boost energy independence. "The United States will be able to share equipment and material with the Philippines as they work to develop small modular reactors and other civilian nuclear energy infrastructure," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in San Francisco. Negotiations for the 123 Agreement started in November, 2022. "We see nuclear energy becoming a part of the Philippines' energy mix by 2032 and we are more than happy to pursue this path with the United States," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in a speech. "Nuclear energy is one area where we can show the Philippines-U.S. alliance and partnership truly works." U.S. Congress approval is needed for the deal, which will allow a peaceful transfer of nuclear material, equipment and information in adherence with non-proliferation requirements. As of end-2022, the United States had 23 agreements covering 47 countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and democratically governed Taiwan. The Philippines wants to tap nuclear power as a viable alternative baseload power source as it seeks to retire coal plants to help meet climate goals and boost energy security. The Southeast Asian nation is vulnerable to volatile global oil prices, seasonal power outages, and high electricity rates. Previous attempts to pursue nuclear energy in the Philippines were halted over safety concerns, but Marcos has discussed the possibility of reviving a mothballed nuclear power plant, built in response to an energy crisis during the rule of the late Philippines strongman and his namesake father. Completed in 1984, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was mothballed two years later following the ouster of the older Marcos, the deadly Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and corruption allegations. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-philippines-ink-landmark-deal-nuclear-cooperation-2023-11-17/

2023-11-17 19:23

TBILISI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Georgia's grape harvest may be over, but vineyard owner and hotelier George Piradashvili's work for the year is far from finished. At his winery in the eastern region of Khakheti, Piradashvili is boiling leftover grape juice from this year's harvest - on strings, together with flour and walnuts, to produce a signature delicacy: churchkhela. Throughout Georgia, the sticks of hard-boiled grape juice studded with walnuts hang from market stalls and shops. Piradashvili said Georgians often stock up on churchkhela as a compact energy snack for hunting or travelling: "You can compare it to Snickers or Mars." Much of the culture of Georgia, sandwiched between Russia and Turkey on the southern slopes of the Caucasus mountains, centres on its millennia-old culinary and winemaking traditions. Its cuisine is distinctive and diverse, from khachapuri pastries swimming in butter and eggs to meaty khinkali dumplings from the northern mountains. Chewy churchkhela sticks go some way to sweetening an otherwise heavy and often spicy diet. The grape juice must be stirred to prevent it setting too soon as it boils and thickens in great vats for hours on end - a highly physical task. For tourists, the brownish-purple candy, costing less than a dollar a stick in the capital Tbilisi, can take some getting used to. "Right at the beginning I didn't like it very much, it was very strange," said Fabrizio, from Argentina. "But as I tried more and more, it had a very good taste." It's not a problem Georgia's children have, though. "I'm taking this one for my nephew," said Gvantsa Ghedashvili. "Normally, I buy it for New Year. But I couldn't miss this chance." https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/georgia-boils-caucasian-grape-candy-wine-harvest-ends-2023-11-17/

2023-11-17 15:49

BRASILIA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto said on Friday that the increased level of concern among policymakers about the external scenario has not changed to the extent of altering their inflation risk balance. "The external scenario is more challenging, but the exchange rate did not respond. Apparently, the markets understand that there is no much greater risk," he said at an event hosted by newspapers O Globo and Valor Economico. "It had no effect on the exchange rate, long-term interest rates did not respond much either, what changed in our lives?" Emphasizing that a reduction in interest rates would not result in a significant reversal in the exchange rate movement, Campos Neto noted the Brazilian currency has been performing well in a context where the country still maintains a "relatively high" interest rate differential compared to advanced economies. The Brazilian real has appreciated 8% so far this year against the U.S. dollar, supported by positive trade flows amid strength in its agribusinesses and an improved risk perception following the approval of new fiscal rules proposed by the government. The central bank began easing in August after maintaining interest rates at a cycle-high for almost a year to combat inflation. So far, borrowing costs have fallen 150 basis points to 12.25%, and policymakers signaled further 50-basis-point cuts in each of the next two meetings. "Our guidance has been that the interest rate needs to be in restrictive territory, but we have not insisted on outlining a trajectory," said Campos Neto. He said the central bank removed from its official communication that there was a low probability of an additional intensification in the easing pace unless substantial improvements in inflation occur because that message had already been conveyed and absorbed. He added that domestic inflation has been converging towards official targets, with improvements in core readings, but acknowledged challenges in bringing it under control. Regarding a potential change in the government's fiscal target to eliminate the primary deficit next year, he reiterated his support for maintaining the target, adding that the cost of losing credibility might be much higher than the fiscal space gained in any alteration. On Thursday, Brazil's Institutional Relations Minister Alexandre Padilha said that there would be no government initiative to change the target, following President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's remarks that erasing the budget deficit by next year was unnecessary as it would threaten the financing of essential investments. https://www.reuters.com/markets/brazils-central-bank-chief-stresses-currencys-resilience-amid-easing-cycle-2023-11-17/

2023-11-17 14:50

LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said on Friday the poor health of the supply side of Britain's economy reinforced his view that interest rates will need to stay restrictive for some time. In a speech on the economic outlook, Ramsden noted that financial market predictions for interest rates appeared to embody a more positive view of the British economy's supply capacity than the BoE had. The supply side of the economy includes the availability of workers and the terms of trade. When they are damaged - for instance by pandemics, financial crises or government policy - it limits how fast an economy can grow before generating inflation. "Our tight labour market is based on much more subdued growth in demand and very little growth in supply, and that does have consequences for monetary policy," Ramsden said in a question and answer session following a speech. "I think that weakness of supply is a real feature of the UK." While BoE rate-setters have repeatedly stressed the need for rates to stay restrictive for some time, financial markets show a 25-basis point cut in the Bank Rate is almost fully priced in by mid-2024, with two more to follow by the end of next year. Despite this, markets on average expected faster growth, slower inflation and less unemployment than the BoE, Ramsden said. "The pattern of differences would be consistent with outside forecasters being more positive about the outlook for supply and therefore for the output-inflation trade-off than the MPC," Ramsden said. Ramsden repeated the BoE's view that interest rates would need to stay restrictive for some time. "I continue to characterise my approach to monetary policy as being watchful and responsive," he said. Official data this week showed a larger fall in inflation than the BoE had expected, as well as softer wage growth. "But services inflation remains very high at 6.6%, which indicates more persistence in inflationary pressures," Ramsden said in his speech. Still, he had become less worried about a de-anchoring of inflation expectations in Britain. "As the degree of uncertainty has eased somewhat and policy has become increasingly restrictive I am less concerned than I was about medium-term inflation expectations becoming de-anchored," Ramsden said. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/fall-uk-rate-curve-shows-markets-more-upbeat-than-boe-ramsden-says-2023-11-17/

2023-11-17 11:36

MOSCOW, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Russia's agriculture minister said on Friday that Moscow had begun free shipments of grain totalling up to 200,000 tonnes to six African countries, as promised by President Vladimir Putin in July. In a statement posted on Telegram, Dmitry Patrushev said that ships headed for Burkina Faso and Somalia had already left Russian ports, and that additional shipments to Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Mali and the Central African Republic would soon follow. Putin had promised to deliver free grain to the six countries at a summit with African leaders in July, soon after Moscow withdrew from a deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship grain from its Black Sea ports despite the war with Russia. The deal, known as the Black Sea grain initiative, had helped lower prices on the global market. But Putin argued it was failing to get supplies to the countries in most urgent need. Last year, Russia exported around 60 million tonnes of grain, according to Putin. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres called the promises of free grain "a handful of donations". Since quitting the arrangement, Russia has repeatedly bombed Ukrainian ports and grain storage facilities, and Kyiv says hundreds of thousands of tons of cereals have been destroyed. Ukraine said on Friday, however, that it had managed to ship 4.4 million tonnes of cargo including 3.2 million tonnes of grain via a new shipping corridor it established in August. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russia-begins-supplying-free-grain-african-countries-agriculture-minister-2023-11-17/