The UK government is proposing a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, in a move that echoes a recent announcement in France. Setting this sort of media-friendly target is a positive and welcome response to the challenge of air pollution across UK cities, write Richard Brooks and Jason Begley of Coventry University. But delivering the infrastructure, research and development support and incentives to switch to greener cars … [Read more...]
Finkel Review, blueprint for Australia’s electricity market: “the real work has still to be done”
The blueprint for Australia’s future electricity market released recently by Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel pleases some but not all market watchers, writes Fereidoon Sioshansi, publisher of the newsletter EEnergy Informer. For some critics, the real work on climate and energy policy in Australia has still to be done. … [Read more...]
Why investing in the big 4 German utilities is still not for the faint of heart
Now that EON and RWE have both been split up, there are four utilities investors can put their money in. Surprisingly perhaps, the conventional generation businesses do better on the German stock exchange than the renewables and grid businesses so far. Gerard Reid, founding partner of Alexa Capital, financial analyst and co-founder of the Energy and Carbon blog, explains why and discusses the prospects of the four companies. Courtesy Energy and … [Read more...]
To slow climate change, India joins the renewable energy revolution
India has embarked on a remarkable renewables revolution, made possible by falling prices of solar power, writes Arun Agrawal, Professor of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. According to Agrawal, what is needed above all to make the energy transition succeed, is robust grids and careful land use planning. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Large distribution system operators make a pitch for an EU-wide organisation
EDSO for Smart Grids, an organisation representing most of the large European distribution system operators (DSOs), has submitted to the European Commission a proposal to become the “vehicle” for the establishment of an “EU-DSO Entity”. In the Clean Energy Package presented last year, the Commission asked the sector to set up such an EU-wide organisation which would play a key role in the intended transformation of the electricity market. EDSO … [Read more...]
Are solar and wind really killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability?
U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry wants to know whether solar and wind are killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability. Thanks to Texas, where Perry was governor, we know that a combination of wind and solar with fast-ramping natural gas, smart market designs and integrated load control systems will lead to a cleaner, cheaper, more reliable grid, write four researchers at the University of Texas. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Pitting wind and solar against nuclear power
With US electricity demand stalled, expanding wind and solar power is increasing the economic pressure on equally low-emission nuclear power, writes Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group. He notes that the beneficiaries of renewable energy subsidies resist new state incentives for nuclear plants. But according to Styles, wind and solar should not come at the expense of nuclear power, as all are … [Read more...]
Smart meter data hubs: Europe vs. Germany
The European discussion about data management in the energy sector is driven by the smart meter roll-out and the need to reduce market entry barriers via data access, writes Marius Buchmann, Post-Doc at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany. Most European countries are discussing or have introduced Retail Hubs to facilitate data collection and distribution. Germany already has mechanisms in place to do this and is instead discussing the … [Read more...]
Interview Ditlev Engel, CEO DNV GL Energy: “The biggest challenge is integration”
The biggest challenge of the energy transition is the integration of renewable technologies into a digitalized interconnected energy system, according to Ditlev Engel, CEO of DNV GL Energy, one of the largest energy consultancies in the world. “Technology is moving very fast”, Engel says in an interview with Energy Post. “Renewable energy growth has surpassed everyone’s expectations. Regulation and market design need to reflect this development.” … [Read more...]
Interview Ray Thompson, Siemens: “Offshore wind increasingly fuel of choice”
As governments are focusing increasingly on industrial growth strategies, offshore wind is becoming a double win for policymakers, says Ray Thompson, Head of Business Development at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “Offshore wind helps them to achieve carbon targets and to create new jobs.” Thompson explains how the industry managed to bring costs down spectacularly and what is still in store: “Offshore wind is coming to represent a major … [Read more...]
With gas and hydro plans, Australian government is looking at whole picture
The Australian government has ambitious plans to expand hydropower capacity in Tasmania – and to restrict gas exports so they can be reserved for domestic use. Cle-Anne Gabriel, Lecturer in Sustainability at the University of Queensland, argues these policies are going in the right direction. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Total makeover: wholesale markets need new thinking
The integration of renewables into the grid is becoming an increasingly acute problem, writes Fereidoon Sioshansi, editor of newsletter EEnergy Informer. According to Sioshansi, this is especially true in energy-only markets that have no capacity mechanism of any sort. But market interventions in the form of subsidies are not the answer. Joe Bowring of independent consultancy Monitoring Analytics has an alternative: offering capacity against a … [Read more...]
For Eurelectric, it’s incumbents first, competitive markets second
Eurelectric, the association defending the interests of the European electricity industry, presents itself as a defender of the European consumer and the internal energy market. And yet many of its recommendations serve neither, argues Manon Dufour, head of the Brussels office of independent organisation E3G. … [Read more...]
The growing risks of offshore wind: can we rely on the sea for our power supply?
Countries in North Western Europe are becoming increasingly dependent on offshore wind as an electricity source. At the same time, risks are growing as the industry is “pushing the boundaries” by reducing costs while going further out to sea for more complex projects in deeper waters. Experts from DNV GL, the largest international independent advisor in offshore wind, talk about what they see as the major risks going forward – from cable failures … [Read more...]
Debate over capacity markets heats up in Brussels
Member States, MEPs and other stakeholders in Brussels are getting ready to develop rules for capacity markets in Europe. Some argue that countries should resort to capacity mechanisms only as a last resort. Other such as France insist on strong capacity markets: they are afraid of blackout risks. And there is disagreement over whether to allow coal power stations to play a role as backup source. Sonja van Renssen reports from Brussels. … [Read more...]
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