Raphael Stevens

In this articleORSTED-DKThe Block Island Wind Farm, photographed in 2016, is located in waters off the east coast of the United States.DON EMMERT | AFP | Getty ImagesThe U.S. wants to expand its offshore wind capacity to 30 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, a move the Biden administration hopes will generate thousands of jobs and unlock billions of dollars in investment in the coming years.The target, announced by the Departments of Energy, Interior and Commerce on Monday, represents a significant ramp up of America’s fledgling offshore wind industry, which currently lags behind other parts of the world.The United States’ first offshore wind facility, the 30 megawatt (MW) Block Island Wind Farm, only began commercial operations in late 2016. By contrast, the world’s first offshore wind farm, in waters off the coast of Denmark, was opened in 1991. Today, figures from industry body WindEurope put offshore wind capacity in Europe at around 25 GW. This compares to just 42 MW of capacity in the U.S.The White House said meeting its new goal for offshore wind would trigger in excess of $12 billion a year in capital investment and power millions of homes. It said it would lead to more than 44,000 jobs in the offshore wind sector by 2030, and support an additional 33,000 roles connected to the industry.In response, Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said his organization was “thrilled to see the White House stepping up with concrete measures to help unleash America’s nascent offshore wind industry.””Offshore wind is a potentially massive emerging sector in the U.S. that can drive billions of dollars in economic investment, create tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs, and provide abundant pollution-free power,” Wetstone said in a statement.Elsewhere, Kit Kennedy, senior director in the Climate and Clean Energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, described offshore wind as being “uniquely positioned to address our country’s greatest challenges — the intersecting environmental, public health and economic crises that exacerbate racial and social injustices and threaten the planet.” “We look forward to working with the Biden administration to ensure that in addition to creating a bevy of jobs from manufacturing to port facilities, offshore wind power development also protects the climate and coastal and marine ecosystems, and advances social equity and environmental justice,” Kennedy added.Monday also saw the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announce plans for an environmental review of the Ocean Wind offshore wind farm planned for waters off New Jersey.According to Danish energy firm Orsted, which is working on the 1.1 GW project with support from New Jersey’s Public Service Enterprise Group, the facility will be able to power over 500,000 homes if it goes ahead.The BOEM’s decision, according to the White House, puts Ocean Wind “in line to become America’s third commercial scale offshore wind project.” Looking ahead, environmental reviews for as many as 10 other projects could be initiated this year, the White House said.  More

In this articleLMTA SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket about to launch the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is seen before the Demo-2 mission with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley onboard.NASA/Joel KowskyThe Inspiration4 mission, dubbed “the world’s first all-civilian mission,” on Tuesday unveiled the final two crew members after a month-long online competition.Joining the mission are Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist and communications specialist, and Christopher Sembroski, a Lockheed Martin employee and U.S. Air Force veteran. Inspiration will launch with SpaceX to orbit in September,Inspiration4Inspiration4SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will be commanded by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and the mission’s benefactor.Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Exploration Technologies Corp.Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty ImagesLast month, St. Jude cancer survivor and physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux was announced as the flight’s first crew member. Arceneaux will serve as Inspiration4’s medical officer.Inspiration4The mission is raising support for St. Jude Children’s hospital, with about $113 million raised so far. Previously scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021, Inspiration4 announced that launch is targeted for no earlier than Sept. 15.Proctor, who will serve as the mission’s pilot, was the top entrant of an online business competition through Isaacman’s Shift4Shop company.”This opportunity is proof that hard work and perseverance can pay off in unimaginable ways,” Proctor said in a statement. “I have always believed that I was preparing for something special, and that moment has arrived with Inspiration4.”Sembroski donated to the St. Jude fundraising campaign and was selected among nearly 72,000 entries. He will serve as a mission specialist, helping to manage payloads and science experiments during the flight.”Although I’ve been fortunate to have spent years in the aerospace industry, I never imagined having the opportunity to reach the stars, especially through something as simple as supporting St. Jude,” Sembroski said in a statement.The crew of four will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the company’s Crew Dragon capsule into orbit around the Earth. The trip is expected to last three days, with the mission planned for an orbit of about 540 kilometers altitude – which Inspiration4 noted is “further than any human” since NASA’s Hubble space telescope missions. More

In this articleSPCXGNPKNSHVACQNPAUUSRACUHOLUUSPCEThe first SpaceShip III vehicle, VSS Imagine.Virgin GalacticVirgin Galactic on Tuesday unveiled the latest spacecraft addition to its fleet, VSS Imagine, with the spacecraft representing the first of its next-generation SpaceShip III class of vehicles.The rollout of VSS Imagine gives the space tourism company a second spacecraft to begin testing, as Virgin Galactic continues to work through final development testing of VSS Unity, with its next spaceflight test expected in May.”For us to make the business start to scale, at the places that we’re aspiring towards, we need two things: We need many more ships than we have right now and we also need the ships that we bring forward to be built in a way that they’re able to be maintained in a way that we can have much quicker [turnaround times between flights] than what we have with Unity,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier told CNBC.VSS Imagine is the third spacecraft the company has built,. The VSS Enterprise was destroyed in a fatal test flight accident in 2014, while the VSS Unity has flown two spaceflights, most recently in February 2019. Colglazier emphasized that VSS Imagine “has been designed in a way that’s taken the learnings we’ve had from all the flight testing on Unity.””That allows us to access things in the right way — we know what things need to be tackled on a routine basis, so that we can give people easy access,” Colglazier said.Shares of Virgin Galactic was down 1.4% in premarket trading from its previous close of $29.21 a share.The SpaceShip III classVirgin GalacticColglazier said the VSS Imagine is the first of the company’s SpaceShip III generation, adding that it is already it is “pivoting the manufacturing team to get to work” on the next spacecraft, which has been named VSS Inspire. The biggest improvement between the SpaceShip II and SpaceShip III classes is the turnaround time, both in terms of manufacturing each spacecraft and the amount of maintenance needed between each flight, Colgalzier said.SpaceShip III was designed with a more “modular” approach than the previous generation, as Colglazier noted that VSS Unity “was basically built in place,” which is “just a slower process.””The SpaceShip III class, they’re built in components — assemblies are created in parallel,” he said.Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses defined the “modular” advances of VSS Imagine as breaking production down into sections: “The fuselage, cabin, the wing body, the flat plane form of the wings, and then the tail booms – all were built separately.”The company has yet to identify how many SpaceShip III vehicles it plans to build, but Coglazier said more spacecraft will be needed to fulfill the company’s demand backlog. Virgin Galactic also plans to reopen ticket sales fully after flight test with founder Sir Richard Branson, expected this summer.But while SpaceShip III features a variety of improvements, Colglazier said it’s still “a fairly handcrafted piece,” and manufacturing does not yet have what “I call production level tooling.”Virgin Galactic has created a new internal program called the Delta class, which the company is designing with the goal of being able to “build spaceships in parallel.” While the Delta class will functionally be the same as the SpaceShip III vehicles, Colglazier said the Deltas are “where I think we hit scale on the manufacturing front.”Virgin GalacticAdditionally, Virgin Galactic is evaluating possible partners “to effectively accelerate our next mothership program,” Colglazier said.Virgin Galactic has one carrier aircraft, or “mothership,” called VMS Eve. Colglazier said last month the company will need to build more to reach its targeted flight rates. He believes it’s likely Virgin Galactic could “find some great partnerships” among aerospace companies to build the next carrier aircraft, as opposed to the company building “its own dedicated mothership assembly factory.”Work continues toward May test flightVirgin Galactic pilots walk to the company’s SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft, attached to the jet carrier aircraft Eve.Virgin GalacticMoses said Virgin Galactic is addressing the electromagnetic interference issue that delayed the second attempt of its December spaceflight test to May.”You can never completely eliminate EMI — it’s an artifact of aerospace electrical systems — but we could really take the source of it down quite a bit and so that’s what the team has been busy doing,” Moses said.Electromagnetic interference was the root cause of its December flight abort. Moses said Virgin Galactic has made changes to some of its “electronic components, as well as on the sensors that those components then read and use to tell what’s happening” on VSS Unity.”We’ve implemented both of those changes, we’ve tested them out on the ground. Now we’re installing them into the ship,” Moses said. “We’ll run a full end-to-end check on the ship and, assuming those results are good, we look like we’re still on track for that May target.”Colglazier’s view of the space SPAC boomVirgin GalacticVirgin Galactic went public through through a deal with Chamath Palihapitiya’s special purpose acquisition company in 2019. A flurry of companies have followed suit recently, with seven space ventures in the past six months announcing SPAC deals: Redwire Space, Rocket Lab, Spire Global, BlackSky, Astra, AST & Science, and Momentus.Colglazier, who joined Virgin Galactic after it went public, said he thinks two factors are at play.”The U.S. government [has opened] up markets for space, opening up the ability for commercial businesses to come in and bring a degree of innovation that probably didn’t exist before,” Colglazier said. “The second thing is, with as much innovation as you’re seeing coming up over the last kind of couple years, now you’re starting to see the technology coming to where innovation and just kind of entrepreneurial focus is able to find more and more opportunities.”He believes these factors “are combining with a good capital market environment” to create “a growth industry here that didn’t exist just a few years ago.””Space is back in the consumer mind,” Colglazier added. More

In this articleTSLA7203.T-JPLexus LF-Z Electrified concept vehicleLexusLexus is planning to introduce 20 new or redesigned vehicles globally by 2025, at least half of which executives say will be all-electric or electrified hybrid models.To symbolize the direction of its future vehicles, the Toyota Motor-owned luxury brand unveiled a new concept car Tuesday called the LF-Z Electrified.The all-electric vehicle features many of the company’s signature design elements such as check-mark headlights and spindle grill but with new, more modern interpretations. The interior features a somewhat minimalist design aside from driver-centric cockpit screens. Many automakers have been moving to such designs, mimicking elements of EV manufacturer Tesla.Lexus did not release performance expectations such as range, horsepower or torque. Automakers often use concept vehicles to gauge customer interest or show the future direction of a vehicle or brand.Lexus LF-Z Electrified concept vehicleLexusLexus has been slower than other brands to release all-electric vehicles after its parent company led automakers to develop hybrid vehicles following the success of the Toyota Prius.That could change in coming years. Lexus aims to offer electrified variants of all its models by 2025, with the sales ratio of electric vehicles exceeding that of gasoline-engine vehicles.”Electrified” can mean an all-electric vehicle or hybrids or plug-in hybrids that combine electrification with internal combustion engines. Toyota executives declined to comment on the number of each of the models or how many vehicles are slated for the U.S.Lexus LF-Z Electrified concept vehicleLexus More

In this articleVOLV.B-SEFGM8TI-FFChesnot | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesSwedish automaker Volvo Cars is increasing paid parental leave for employees globally to 24 weeks regardless of gender, the company announced Tuesday.Employees — both hourly and salaried — who have been with the automaker for at least one year are eligible for the new “Family Bond” program, the company said.It covers those who become parents through birth, adoption, permanent foster care and surrogates. Non-birth parents in same-sex couples are eligible as well. The program takes effect Thursday, Volvo said.Employees will be paid 80% of their base pay by default under the program. They can use the time off from work during the first three years of parenting a new child. U.S. employees also have the option of 19 weeks of fully paid parental leave within 36 months of becoming a parent, according to Volvo.The new policy is meant to assist the company in talent acquisition and retention as it focuses on becoming an all-electric vehicle manufacturer by 2030, according to Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson.”It’s something we believe is setting a new standard in the business,” he told CNBC. “We do this, not to introduce some kind of new favorable benefit to our employees, we do it more because we think it’s good for our company. We will be more attractive as an employer. There’s a competition going on for talent.”Samuelsson said the company expects the new program to cost a “considerable sum” — likely in the “single-digit millions.” He said as long as “it gives us better, diverse management and a stronger brand, it will definitely be worth it.”What we do as a company is living our values.Hakan SamuelssonCEO, VolvoVolvo’s current program allows for six weeks of pay to be used in the first year of becoming a parent, according to the company.Volvo’s new parental leave program is among the most comprehensive in the automotive industry. For example, General Motors and Stellantis offer U.S. salaried employees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for new parents, while Ford Motor offers up to eight weeks. Ford’s is in addition to the six to eight weeks available to birth mothers.Volvo decided to launch the new parental leave program following positive results of a similar pilot program for thousands of its sales employees in Europe, Samuelsson said.”What we do as a company is living our values,” he said. “It will be good for our reputation everywhere.” More

In this articleSPCXAIR-FRGMQELLULilium’s five-seater air taxi, the Lilium Jet, can be seen flying at an airfield in southern Germany in new footage released by the firm.LiliumGerman aviation start-up Lilium has agreed to go public through a merger with Qell Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company founded by former General Motors executive Barry Engle.It’s the latest deal for the urban air mobility industry following announced SPAC agreements including Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation. A SPAC is a blank-check company, formed as an alternative to an IPO, because it raises funds to buy something but doesn’t have any operations of its own. They have no assets other than cash and they trade on a stock exchange before merging with private companies.The transaction, which officials announced Tuesday, implies a pro-forma enterprise value of $2.4 billion and a pro-forma equity value of $3.3 billion for the combined company. The post-merged company is expected to receive approximately $830 million from the deal, including $450 million from a fully committed common stock PIPE offering and $380 million cash held in trust.The deal is expected to close in the second quarter, at which point the combined company will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under LILM.Daniel Wiegand, CEO and co-founder of Lilium, said the funding should provide the company with enough capital to reach its targeted commercial launch in the U.S. and Europe beginning in 2024. The company has previously raised $400 million, he said.”This is going to give us both a lot of expertise and operational knowledge from Barry and his team, but also the financing to achieve the type of certification and market entry with our airplane,” Wiegand told CNBC. “It’s a tremendously big and important step for us as a company.”Lilium is developing a seven-seat, electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Some have characterized , eVTOLs as electric air taxis or “flying cars.” The company plans to primarily focus on intercity flights rather than shorter in-city trips other companies have discussed doing. Its target launch markets are Florida and Germany.Engle, who was head of GM’s North American operations before leaving the company in August, described Lilium’s product as “a highly engineered aircraft.” He said its proprietary technology as well as the team Wiegand has built, including Tom Enders, a board member and former CEO of Airbus, were main reasons for seeking the deal.”It’s a team that knows what they’re doing and is able to actually execute what admittedly is a very bold, very ambitious agenda,” Engle said. “We’ve done our homework, we’ve done a ton of due diligence and we couldn’t be more pleased and more proud to put our name on this one.”Lilium expects to begin generating revenue in 2024 and achieve a pretax adjusted profit in 2025, according to Engle and Wiegand. The company expects revenue of $3.3 billion by 2026, followed by nearly $5.9 billion in 2027.SPACs became an increasingly popular way for companies — particularly prerevenue start-ups — to go public in the past year. They were almost guaranteed to pop on the first day of becoming a public company, but not any longer. The first-day return of U.S. SPACs dropped to near zero in March from 5.4% in February and 6.1% in January, according to data from University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter.Engle and Wiegand said they are not worried about the short-term volatility or performance of shares, which for Qell are down about 13% since Bloomberg News reported March 3 the SPAC and Lilium were in talks to merge.”We think this is one that will stand the test of time,” Engle said. “A little bit of short-term volatility is not something that we’re concerned about. We’re building a business here that is going to grow over, literally, decades. Along the way there will be both good markets and bad, but this will endure.”JPMorgan Securities and Barclays are acting as financial and capital markets advisors to Qell. Citi is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Lilium. The three financial institutions are acting as lead placement agents for the PIPE transaction.Investors in the PIPE include Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Tencent and Ferrovial.— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report. More

The double mutation of a Covid-19 variant discovered in India is of grave concern — and could spread to other countries, according to Dr. Kavita Patel, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution.”It is something to watch very closely, and something that will not be limited to India. It is something we will likely see around the world as we have with other variants,” she told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday.India’s health ministry said last week that a variant with two mutations — known as E484Q and L452R — was found in the country. The mutations are not new, but the variant in India carries both of them —something that has not been seen in other variants.The mutations could make the virus more contagious and better at evading the body’s defenses.A health worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in Bhopal, India, March 25, 2021.STR | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images”This double mutation, number one, it is incredibly serious. Number two, it is probably just the tip of the iceberg in what we would worry about in Asia,” said Patel, who is also a former Obama administration official.She said the mutations could lead to reinfections since the body’s immune system won’t recognize it and therefore cannot effectively fight it.Patel also said she would be concerned about the implications of the mutation if she were an Asian health official, and would think about how to get vaccines to as many people as possible.Indian authorities said Covid variants, including the double mutation strain, have not been detected in such large numbers that are sufficient to explain the spike in new infections. More