The UK needs to get over the idea that megaprojects are the solution to everything, writes David Elmes, Head of Warwick Business School Global Energy Research Network. As the traditional investors in British oil, gas and electricity look smaller and less able to take on large projects, the UK needs an industrial energy strategy centred on a mix of smaller and larger projects. Courtesy of The Conversation. … [Read more...]
The EU’s climate plan is not enough – and everyone knows it
On Wednesday the European Commission will release its plans to share out the EU's 40% by 2030 greenhouse gas target among the 28 member states. The Commission will claim its proposal is ambitious, but everyone in Brussels knows this is not true, writes Brook Riley of Friends of the Earth Europe. European policymakers need to come clean and admit the EU is not doing enough. What would help is that they stop presenting climate policy to the public … [Read more...]
Nord Stream 2: a bad deal for Germany and Eastern Europe
Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal both for Germany and its Eastern European partners, writes Georg Zachmann, Senior Fellow at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. According to Zachmann, the proposed pipeline from Russia to Germany would “work against efforts to diversify gas supplies”. It may also lead to Eastern European countries having to pay higher prices for gas than Germany and would give Russia a tool to discriminate between countries.  Moreover, … [Read more...]
New study: Nord Stream 2 will benefit security of gas supply in Europe
Nord Stream 2 is likely to benefit rather than hurt energy security in Central and Eastern Europe and in the UK and Germany. The gas pipeline, which Gazprom and five major Western European energy companies want to build from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, can only be credibly stopped by the EU if the European Commission decides to transform itself from a “powerful competition watchdog” to a “political actor. Those are some of the main … [Read more...]
EUGAL: the unknown German branch of Nord Stream 2 will make Germany the key gas hub in Europe
Despite causing great controversy in the EU, plans to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are steadily being implemented, write Agata Loskot-Strachota and Konrad Poplawski of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Poland. What is more, in May preparations were started for a German land leg of Nord Stream 2: the EUGAL project, owned jointly by Gazprom and BASF/Wintershall. According to the authors, this huge pipeline will change the European gas … [Read more...]
Brexit offers chance to finally put an end to the EURATOM treaty
All EU Member States are automatically obliged to be part of the EURATOM treaty, which promotes the development of nuclear power throughout the EU. It is high time to put an end to this situation, Â writes Hans-Josef Fell, president of the Energy Watch Group and a former member of the German parliament for the Greens. According to Fell, Brexit will offer a unique chance to dissolve EURATOM: since the UK will have to leave EURATOM as a result of … [Read more...]
Nuclear energy in the UK after Brexit
Opinions differ as to how Brexit will affect the UK’s plans for 19 GWe of new nuclear power, in particular the controversial Hinkley Point C project by French state-owned electricity company EDF, which will consist of two 1650 MW EPR reactors from French supplier Areva. Dan Yurman, nuclear expert and publisher of the blog NeutronBytes, has made a roundup of reports and opinions about the future of nuclear energy in the UK. … [Read more...]
EU carbon market hit by Brexit, but reform carries on
Will the reform of the failing EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) be a casualty of Brexit, now that the UK, one of the biggest carbon markets in the EU, may leave the system? As the EUEnergy App shows, greenhouse gas emissions in Europe have gone down drastically since 1990. But not thanks to the EU ETS. What is more, in the coming years much greater emissions cuts are needed, and the carbon market is expected to deliver these, with or without the … [Read more...]
The good news: Brexit will enable a fresh start on climate and energy
The bad news is that upcoming climate and energy legislation in the EU will almost certainly be postponed as a result of Brexit, writes Brook Riley of Friends of the Earth Europe. But the good news is that Brexit will provide an opportunity to make it clear to EU citizens that ambitious climate and energy policies are key to a better future. … [Read more...]
How to support renewables in Europe
The development of green energy in the EU is taking place in a highly inefficient way, with much of the renewable energy sources built in the least productive locations, writes Jakub Kucera, economic analyst at RSJ, a Prague-based investment company. To address this problem, an EU-wide support scheme could be envisaged, but that also has many drawbacks, notes Kucera. He suggests that a combination of an EU-wide scheme with national support … [Read more...]
“Paris Climate Agreement requires huge economic turnaround in Europe”
The targets agreed to at the Paris climate summit in late 2015 imply a radical change to our economies, a new report by consultancy CE Delft shows. CO2-prices will need to rise to €250/ton in 2050 (compared to some €6 per ton now) and most of the existing industrial installations and infrastructure will need to be replaced. CE Delft compares the scale and impact of the transformation to the one that occurred in Eastern Europe post-1989. … [Read more...]
A practical solution to windfall profits in the EU carbon market
This is a rare moment for climate policy making in the EU, writes Emil Dimantchev, senior carbon market analyst at Thomson Reuters. Lawmakers in Europe have begun a process to redesign the EU carbon market with new rules that will take effect after 2020. According to Dimantchev, they should follow the example of California and introduce a dynamic allocation system of CO2 permits. It is the most practical and politically feasible way to end … [Read more...]
Europe can retrieve its lost clean energy leadership by moving away from subsidizing renewables
Europe can win back its lost clean energy leadership by moving away from subsidy-powered renewables, writes Christopher Burghardt, Vice-President Business Development Europe at First Solar and a member of the Board of Directors of Solar Power Europe. Rather than subsidizing renewables, Burghardt argues, Europe should stimulate utility-scale energy production by independent power producers, just as other markets around the world are … [Read more...]
Torpedoing the 2030 energy efficiency target
The European Commission, in preparing a new proposal on an EU energy efficiency target, has adopted somewhat more realistic assumptions than it did last time around, writes Brook Riley of Friends of the Earth Europe. But according to Riley, voices inside the Commission still seem to want to torpedo more ambitious efforts: they are aiming for a simple least-cost scenario, without regard for the many benefits of energy efficiency. “That’s daft!” … [Read more...]
Brexit likely to lead to higher not lower UK energy prices
If the UK electorate votes to leave the EU on 23rd June, will British households then face higher or lower energy bills? Nobody knows for sure, writes Stephen Tindale, Director of the Alvin Weinberg Foundation: it would depend on decisions taken by a post-Brexit government and the impact of a Leave victory on British politics. But according to Tindale claims from Brexiteers that leaving the UK would lead to lower energy prices are misleading. The … [Read more...]
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