The French presidential elections are fast approaching with the first voting round set to be held on 23 April and the run-off between the top two candidates – if neither wins a majority – on 7 May. Jocelyn Timperley of Carbon Brief takes a look at where the major candidates stand on energy and climate change. Courtesy Carbon Brief. … [Read more...]
Why Germany needs a European Energiewende
Neither the German Energiewende nor the EU's Energy Union can succeed in isolation. We need a European Energiewende, writes Rebecca Bertram, who leads the European Energy Transition work at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin. Courtesy Energy Transition/Global Energiewende. … [Read more...]
Here comes the end of the Energiewende again
Yet again, an expert – this time, a German – has announced that Germany’s energy transition cannot succeed. He has a surprising insight for Energiewende proponents: the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. How could we have missed that, wonders award-winning energy author Craig Morris? Courtesy Energy Transition/Global Energiewende. … [Read more...]
Exclusive interview/ sneak preview: energy transition architect Claude Turmes tells inside story of EU energy policy
Green MEP Claude Turmes has led some of Europe’s key energy and climate policy reforms since 2000. Now for the first time in a book, which will be launched in Brussels on 1 March, he explains how and why Brussels has pioneered - and obstructed - the energy transition in Europe. In an exclusive interview and sneak preview with Energy Post, Turmes gives an insider account of dreams, lobbies, and political, economic and social realities. This book … [Read more...]
Exclusive – Klaus Shäfer, CEO Uniper: “Security of supply is too important to leave to the market”
The market on its own cannot be relied upon to deliver secure electricity and gas supplies, says Klaus Schäfer, CEO of Eon-spin-off Uniper, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. According to Schäfer, it will become “dramatically more difficult” to balance the power market as the share of renewables increases. He also sees the gas market becoming “more and more complex” and argues policymakers should establish minimum requirements for gas … [Read more...]
Can UK power market reform replace the capacity market?
The UK has just completed another auction for a large amount of backup power capacity. The country’s capacity market scheme will cost ratepayers many billions of pounds. Independent consultant Gerard Wynn wonders if they are really necessary. … [Read more...]
What a CO2 price floor can (and cannot) do for German climate goals
Germany can meet its climate goals for the energy sector if it introduces a CO2-price floor of between €50 and €75 per ton, write Fabian Huneke, Carlos Perez Linkenheil and Simon Göß from the Berlin-based independent energy market specialist Energy Brainpool. However, if neighbouring countries don’t take similar measures, more than half of the reduced CO2- emissions will be shifted abroad, note the authors. As long as power markets are … [Read more...]
What is holding renewable energy back?
For all the enthusiasm about renewables, there are glaring weaknesses being overlooked, writes Todd Royal, an independent strategic consultant, researcher and author based in southern California. According to Royal, for renewable energy to truly break through numerous obstacles such as costs, back-up generation power, storage, and – above all – grid modernization will need to be solved. Article courtesy of OilPrice.com. … [Read more...]
The End of the Energiewende?
The prominent German economist Heiner Flassbeck has challenged fundamental assumptions of the Energiewende at his blog site makroskop.eu. According to Flassbeck, the former Director of Macroeconomics and Development at the UNCTAD in Geneva and a former State Secretary of Finance, a recent period of extremely low solar and wind power generation shows that Germany will never be able to rely on renewable energy, regardless of  how much new capacity … [Read more...]
A rush to subsidies as power plants in Europe face existential threat
So-called capacity markets are driving what appears to be a major new trend in energy policy across Europe: more public subsidies for electric utilities, writes independent consultant Gerard Wynn. In a new report for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), Wynn takes a critical look at capacity payments in Spain, which cost taxpayers €1 billion annually. Meanwhile, the UK just forked out ÂŁ1.2 billion in a capacity … [Read more...]
EU energy package: What it means for coal, renewables and efficiency
The literature on EU energy regulations got longer by about a thousand pages [on 30 November], as the European Commission put forward its vision for achieving a “clean energy transition”, writes Sophie Yeo for Carbon Brief. The vast collection of documents — including revisions to directives, impact assessments, enquiries and new regulations — will determine the future of energy in the EU up to 2030. It touches upon subjects including coal … [Read more...]
Demand response can drastically lower energy bills – if suppliers don’t get “compensated”
New research commissioned by the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) finds that demand flexibility can save many billions of euros in electricity costs. As the European Commission is pondering the design of a new and interconnected energy market for Europe, it needs to make sure these benefits are realised, writes Phil Baker, Senior Advisor at RAP. Brussels should resist calls to “compensate” energy suppliers for perceived losses as a result of … [Read more...]
Interview Maroš Šefčovič, VP Energy Union: “I made the promise 2016 would be year of delivery and I intend to keep it”
“If we want a cost-effective transition to a low-carbon economy, we have to create an internal energy market where European rules apply”, says Maroš Ĺ efÄŤoviÄŤ, the European Commission’s Vice President for the Energy Union, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. According to Ĺ efÄŤoviÄŤ, “big parts of our energy market are [still] overregulated”. To take a decisive leap towards the Energy Union, the Commission has decided to put all its energy … [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...]
Capacity mechanisms: DG Competition and DG Energy clash over future of EU energy market
EU member states are setting up capacity mechanisms that may be unnecessary, expensive and badly designed. This is the conclusion of the European Commission's Competition Directorate in the interim report of its first ever “sector enquiry” into capacity mechanisms as a form of state aid for electricity producers. But the report shows that DG Competition has a different view than DG Energy about the future of the EU's energy market design, writes … [Read more...]