A wave of innovation is sweeping across the nuclear sector – so much so that it is difficult for financiers to pick winners at this stage. But the biggest innovation in nuclear energy may come in the form of a new investment paradigm that involves private investors much more than in the past, writes specialised nuclear energy reporter Dan Yurman. Article courtesy of World Energy Focus. … [Read more...]
Elena Bou, KIC InnoEnergy: “If we want our energy companies to succeed, we need one European market”
We are at the beginning of a new era of innovation in the European energy sector. Energy companies will be opening up to new collaborations, investing in startups, creating new technologies and developing new business models that will be much more service and customer oriented. That’s the conviction of Elena Bou, Innovation Director at KIC InnoEnergy, an EU-wide company investing in renewable energy technology. What worries Bou is the … [Read more...]
KIC InnoEnergy: “Solar PV will be one of lowest-cost electricity sources in Europe”
Solar photovoltaics (PV) will be one of the cheapest sources of electricity generation in Europe by 2030. That is a major conclusion that can be drawn from a report on future cost reductions in solar PV recently published by KIC InnoEnergy. … [Read more...]
Globalisation of the gas market: it has been going on longer than you think
The general view among analysts is that gas prices in North America, Europa and Asia diverged in the period 2005-2014. This was always a bit odd, since regional markets were becoming more interconnected in those years through increased LNG trade, increased market related pricing and gas hub development. Now it turns out that, according to new research from Floris Merison at the Energy Delta Institute, the conventional view of price divergence is … [Read more...]
MIT: “Paris” sets world on course for 3C temperature rise by end century
Implementation of the Paris Agreement will lead to a temperature rise between 2.7 and 3.6C, far exceeding the 2C goal. That’s the main conclusion from new results of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. Under this program, a team of scientists has investigated the likely effects of commitments made under the Paris Climate Agreement on global temperatures. … [Read more...]
Debacle at Doha – the collapse of the old Oil OrderÂ
The failure of the world’s biggest oil producers to agree on an output freeze at their recent meeting in Doha, Qatar, was more than a geopolitical incident, writes energy author Michael T. Klare. The Doha debacle shows that the world of ever-increasing oil demand that we have come to known over the last decades is no more. From now on, suppliers will fight each other for ever diminishing market shares. Courtesy of TomDispatch. … [Read more...]
Why EU renewable energy figures are misleading: Europe requires 150% renewable energy to become fossil-free
The EU is confident it will reach its target of 20% renewable energy by 2020. But according to Martien Visser, professor at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen (The Netherlands), this 20% is in reality more like 14%. This is because a large part of our energy consumption is simply ignored in the calculations for renewable energy. “Even with 100% renewables, we would still need a lot of fossil fuels”, Visser notes. … [Read more...]
Post-Paris: if the EU can’t be climate leader at home, it could lead by helping others
Although the Paris Agreement was a diplomatic success for the European Union, the EU’s own climate policy is looking increasingly unambitious, write Susanne Dröge and Oliver Geden of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin. According to the authors this is the result of internal differences which are unlikely to be resolved soon. They suggest that if the EU wants to maintain its international leadership in the … [Read more...]
Saudi Arabia releases ambitious plan to diversify economy
On Monday, Saudi Arabia released a blueprint for the future, a plan for the Kingdom that could alter the course of its history. The "Vision for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" could radically transform Saudi Aramco, the Saudi economy, and the country's social structure, reports Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com. … [Read more...]
How to scale up renewables in 10 steps: a quick guide for policymakers
After the signing of the Paris Agreement, governments of both developed and developing countries must design and implement policy instruments to drastically scale up the use of renewables in the energy sector, write Jan Frederik Braun and Nicole de Paula. The authors provide a quick guide to effective policymaking for renewable energy and explain why they are optimistic about the future. … [Read more...]
How to protect nuclear plants from terrorists
The risk of terrorists obtaining nuclear material to make a dirty bomb, or hijacking a nuclear plant, is real, observes Allison Macfarlane, a Professor at George Washington University and former Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. According to Macfarlane, countries with nuclear plants need to improve security quickly before it’s too late. They can learn from the United States, whose nuclear power plants are among the most … [Read more...]
If Europe wants integrated markets, it should take the leap to regional grids
Europe is progressing towards an integrated, interconnected pan-European electricity market. However, writes Philip Baker of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), the governance and regulatory arrangements that the EU has established to support this process are inadequate to the task. They are more focused on preserving the sovereignty of national TSO and regulators than addressing the wider interests of the market. According to Baker, the EU … [Read more...]
Europe needs “coalition of the willing” to rescue its global leadership in the fight against climate change
The EU, plagued by internal differences, is on the verge of losing its long-standing leadership in climate change policy, write Bill Hare and Andrzej Ancygier of climate science and policy institute Climate Analytics. If the European Commission is unable to forge a consensus on an ambitious climate policy, argue Hare and Ancygier, a smaller “coalition of the willing” should take up the climate banner. But there should be no free ride for laggards … [Read more...]
Russia: a global energy powerhouse that’s much more than a petro-state
Russia is not what you think. Most discussion about its energy influence has focused on oil and gas, particularly gas, and Russia and is routinely described, as a petro-state. But this is only partly accurate, writes Scott L Montgomery, Lecturer at the University of Washington. According to Montgomery, Russia has been building an altogether new kind of energy state, one with more global influence than even OPEC. This has profound implications for … [Read more...]
Can battery electrics disrupt the internal combustion engine? Part 2: “kind-of”
Battery electric cars do not meet the basic criteria for disruptive innovation, Schalk Cloete argued in part 1 of this two-part series. Small electric vehicles (SEVs), on the other hand, do have disruptive potential, he writes. Our urbanizing world with its rapidly expanding middle class and increasing resource constraints will reinforce this trend. Thus, he concludes, internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles may lose substantial market share to … [Read more...]
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