Denmark has approved a plan to build an artificial island in the North Sea that will be a hub to hundreds of offshore wind turbines, 260m tall, that will generate 10GW, enough energy for 10 million households. The first stage will be the size of 18 soccer pitches, for 3GW, costing €29bn ($34bn), and should be operational by around 2033. Writing for the World Economic Forum, Douglas Broom says that the ultimate goal of 10GW should be more than … [Read more...]
Europe could have subsidy-free Offshore Wind by 2023
A study has analysed offshore wind projects in 5 countries – the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium – to show that wind farms due to be built after 2020 are converging towards a range of €50-70/MWh. It wasn’t long ago that such low prices were only predicted for 2050, say Iegor Riepin, Felix Müsgens (Brandenburg University of Technology), Malte Jansen and Iain Staffell (Imperial College London), writing for Carbon Brief. To make … [Read more...]
Are national fossil fuel car bans compatible with EU laws, intra-trade, movement?
A growing number of EU nations are announcing laws to phase out the sale of new fossil fuel cars within the next 20 years. But are the proposed bans compatible with EU laws, or even workable given cross border trade and movement rights? If you are Dutch, why not buy your new petrol car in Belgium, then drive it back to the Netherlands? How do you enforce CO2 targets with foreign haulage fleets transiting through your nation? Eoin Bannon at … [Read more...]
Biogas and Biomethane in Europe: Denmark, Germany, Italy lead
Over and again, legislators worldwide are confronting the same question: which technologies do we subsidise and support, when, by how much, and for how long. Get it right and those costs will reduce and should disappear once scale is reached. Solar and wind are on their way to proving that. What about biofuels? Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega and Carole Mathieu of the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI) look at the last 10 years. The … [Read more...]
Norway’s renewables exports to increase 8-fold by 2030
Already, Norway’s renewable energy sector generates $1.2bn in export revenues today. Now an analysis of commitments by both private and state actors shows that that figure should rise 8-fold by 2030. Terje Osmundsen, CEO of Empower New Energy, adds up the numbers, identifies the key businesses and state operators, and shows how renewables exports can help both Norway and developing countries in danger of being left behind. … [Read more...]
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