Dong Energy has set a record low price for an offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. According to energy expert Mike Parr, the Dutch achieved this result thanks to their tendering model – following the Danes – offering a shovel-ready project to operators. UK wind farms are much more expensive because the UK lets operators carry out preparatory work by themselves. In any case, the future for offshore wind now looks bright. … [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...]
How solar growth will wreck the economics of existing power markets
Continued solar growth could lead to significant decreases in wholesale electricity prices during most peak hours, writes Alex Gilbert, cofounder of US-based energy research platform Spark Library, in an article analysing the effects of solar power on electricity markets. While lower wholesale prices can impact solar’s growth they will also hurt other energy sources, particularly coal and nuclear but also natural gas and energy efficiency. … [Read more...]
Germany sets a new solar storage record
With the most photovoltaic capacity of any country in Europe, Germany has begun to store its excess solar power to enhance local usage. Last year, 41% of all new solar installations were equipped with backup batteries, a world record. Although home storage may only have a limited role to play in Germany due to a highly reliable grid, globally the German initiative could provide great benefits, for example in counterbalancing the predicted … [Read more...]
Europe increasingly dependent on oil imports, above all from Russia
European dependence on oil imports has grown from 76% in 2000 to over 88% in 2014. The EU spends some €215 bn on oil imports, over 5 times as much as gas imports (€40 bn). Russia is the biggest supplier: dependence on Russia has grown from 22% in 2001 to 30% in 2015.  These are some of the main conclusions of a study from Cambridge Econometrics made for the Brussels-based NGO Transport & Environment (T&E). … [Read more...]
Oil companies and climate change: their assets are not at risk, their long-term business model is
Global warming has fundamentally changed the business environment for oil companies, writes geophysicist Jilles van den Beukel (ex-Shell). But they will not sink under “stranded assets” or a “carbon bubble”, as some environmentalists claim. Such notions, argues Van den Beukel, are based on a lack of understanding of the value of different types of reserves. It is rather their long-term business model that is at stake. And there is probably not … [Read more...]
Interview Adnan Amin, head of IRENA: “Everything we see is pointing to transformational change”
“Everything we are seeing is pointing to transformational change in the energy sector”, says Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). “We don’t need a miracle, it’s already happening.” Amin, under whose leadership IRENA has become the world’s fastest-growing intergovernmental organisation with over 170 member countries, says that renewables are growing much faster than most people, including many … [Read more...]
Natural gas vehicle sales in US sag but prospects still good
The market for natural gas vehicles in the US took a small hit last year, as a result of low oil prices. Nevertheless, sales of CNG and LNG powered vehicles continue to be significant and the number of filling stations continues to grow, writes Frank Swigonski, Associate at Advanced Energy Economy, a US business assocation that promotes clean energy. Courtesy Advanced Energy Perspectives. … [Read more...]
DNV GL sees solar power revolution, acquires Spanish solar monitoring company
DNV GL, one the world largest independent energy consultancies, has strengthened its position in the solar power sector with the acquisition of GreenPowerMonitor, a leading provider of solar monitoring, control and asset management systems. The CEO’s of DNV GL- Energy, Ditlev Engel, and GreenPowerMonitor, Juan Carlos ArĂ©valo, expect the solar market to triple and projects to become ever bigger, they tell Energy Post. With 150 solar experts, the … [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...]
Exclusive Francesco Venturini, CEO Enel Green Power: “Europe stuck in confused energy vision”
Europe is last in line for investment these days because it has no long-term energy strategy, says the head of Enel Green Power, Francesco Venturini, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post Weekly from which we bring you this extract (the full interview can be found here). Europe, Venturini says, is “stuck” in a “confused” energy vision “that’s 20 years old” and doesn’t know where it wants to get to. Enel Green Power, one of the largest green … [Read more...]
Mind the gap: how fuel economy standards will drive uptake of electric vehicles
Electric vehicles represent one of the most promising technologies for reducing oil use and cutting emissions. A new study on e-mobility from the World Energy Council looks at fuel economy targets in the world’s biggest car markets – the EU, US and China – and identifies ways for increasing the numbers of electric vehicles in order to close the emissions gap and meet fuel economy standards. Policymakers, utilities, consumers and vehicle … [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...]
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