In this Brussels Briefing on Energy for viEUws.eu, journalist Hughes Belin provides an overview of the latest EU energy policy developments, including the competition investigation into capacity markets and the meeting of the G7 energy ministers in Hamburg. He also looks ahead to the agenda for June. … [Read more...]
Demand response markets in Europe begin to blossom
Demand response markets are taking off in Europe, writes Jeff St John of the US energy website Greentech Media. For example, Belgian demand response specialist REstore, with more than 1 GW of peak load under management from large industrial customers, is set to expand into the UK and France. Pieter-Jan Mermans of REstore explains his strategy and tells why Germany is such a difficult market. Article courtesy of Greentech Media. … [Read more...]
Investigation into capacity mechanisms: a test case for the Energy Union
The sector inquiry into the use of capacity mechanisms announced by the EU’s Competition Commissioner Magrethe Vestager on 29 April has important implications for the creation of a single market for energy, writes Matthew Duhan, Adviser at the UK-based consultancy Global Counsel. According to Duhan, the willingness of DG Competition to take on Member States in this key area of energy policy will be a crucial test case for the success of the … [Read more...]
How the Nest thermostat will change the energy market
The Nest thermostat is a deceptively simple piece of technology. But it’s already changing the energy market. It will not only save consumers money, but utilities even more so: it will reduce their need for gas peaker plants substantially, writes Deborah Lawrence, founder of the US consultancy group Energy Policy Forum. … [Read more...]
Tennet: Dutch electricity prices down 20%, price declines in almost all European countries
Electricity prices in the Netherlands declined 20% in 2014, according to a new Market Review published by Tennet, the Dutch transmission system operator (TSO), which is also active in Germany. According to the Market Review, electricity prices went down across Europe. Prices in the Netherlands and Germany showed convergence, but there was little convergence overall in Europe. The report also shows that coal-fired power plants are taking over from … [Read more...]
UBS: closures coal and gas fired power plants in Europe accelerating
The influx of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar into energy markets is forcing coal and gas fired generation out of the market even quicker than most analysts expected, according to a new market report from investment bank UBS. According to UBS, policymakers may have to take measures to prevent widespread bankruptcies in the European electricity market, writes Giles Parkinson of Reneweconomy.com.au. … [Read more...]
Off-grid solar power vs grid-connected solar power: what will be the road ahead?
Electricity customers using solar power plus batteries will increasingly be able to choose whether they want to maintain grid connection or go off-grid. In a new report, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) predicts that most customers will not defect from the grid. Nevertheless, grid use will be drastically reduced. Utilities will need to develop new business models and "innovative thinking" to cope with this new reality. The report focuses on the … [Read more...]
Ex-Polish Prime Minister Tusk reclaims Energy Union agenda
Energy security through new fossil fuel supplies and transport infrastructure, not energy efficiency and renewables, dominates the conclusions issued by EU heads of state and government after their first debate on an Energy Union for Europe in Brussels on Thursday. Former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk – now President of the European Council of Ministers – appears to have reclaimed in large part the Energy Union he helped set in motion, … [Read more...]
Europe’s Energy Union: a big deal – but is it a good deal?
The Energy Union, writes Jonathan Gaventa, Associate Director of E3G, offers Europe a unique opportunity to move to a more modern, efficient and technologically advanced energy system, to bring down Europe’s outrageously high energy import bill and to lead global clean energy markets. Unless we allow it to be hijacked by incumbent utilities and oil and gas players who will use it to advance their own interests. … [Read more...]
EU energy policy: still ambiguous after all these years
The Energy Union package recently announced by the European Commission is a step forward in that it puts market liberalization and integration at the centre of European energy policy, writes Carlo Stagnaro, senior fellow at the Italian free market think tank Istituto Bruno Leoni. At the same time, it is still strongly influenced by the idea that government intervention is required to ensure both security of supply and sustainability. As a result, … [Read more...]
Interview Jean-Michel Glachant: “To get an Energy Union, you need new institutions”
The “Energy Union” for Europe is a dream that the European Commission will find hard to realise with its existing powers limited to the internal market and competition law, says Jean-Michel Glachant, Robert Schuman Chair, Director of the Florence School of Regulation and Director of the Loyola de Palacio Energy Policy Programme at the European University Institute. In an interview with Energy Post, he applauds the ambition behind this creative … [Read more...]
Georg Zachmann, Bruegel Institute: “The EU must go for an Energy Union – or renationalise energy markets”
“We can either go for a European market or a renationalisation of energy policy. Trying to incentivise investment with volatile national schemes and have a European market at the same time is the worst option.” That’s the opinion of influential German energy expert Georg Zachmann, Research Fellow at the Brussels-based think tank the Bruegel Institute. In an interview with Energy Post, Zachmann, who has published widely about EU energy policy, … [Read more...]
The Energy Union: it’s now or never for a European energy policy
Rarely has an idea conquered the policymaking conversation in the EU as rapidly as that of the Energy Union. In less than a year it has become the big package in which all EU climate and energy policies are to be wrapped up. Where did the idea come from? How will it change EU energy policy? Editor Karel Beckman spoke to experts from Poland, Luxembourg, France, Italy and the UK to find out. They agree it's now or never for a true European energy … [Read more...]
The myth of the dark side of the Energiewende
Critics of renewable energy have mocked the Energiewende, claiming that it has led to an increase in coal power and related CO2 emissions in Germany. But Conrad Kunze and Paul Lehmann of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ show that this is a myth. German coal generation and CO2 emissions rose not because of but in spite of the Energiewende. They would have been even higher if Germany had not phased out its nuclear power and … [Read more...]
Six steps to prepare the European energy system for the future
The European energy system is feeling increasing strain from the effects of the energy transition. New regulatory and business models are urgently needed, in particular to cope with the increasing share of variable energy sources. Pieter Boot of the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency (PBL) and Jacques de Jong of the Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP) offer six practical suggestions to prepare our energy system for a … [Read more...]