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...]
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...]
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...]
Carbon pricing is not enough to help nuclear power
Politically feasible carbon pricing is not likely to provide the long-term revenue needed to support existing or new nuclear power projects. Instead, project-specific activities should be undertaken to keep existing nuclear in operation and to drive investment in new nuclear power plants - with the cost of these activities recovered as a cost of controlling carbon, writes Edward Kee, CEO of Nuclear Economics Consulting Group. Courtesy of World … [Read more...]
Why oil prices are going up – and will continue to go up
Oil prices are going up as oil supply and demand are approaching a more balanced situation, writes geophysicist Jilles van den Beukel. And they will continue to go up as supply is expected to fall below demand in the 2018-2020 period. The key factor in supply reduction is that cost cutting is leading to higher decline rates of mature conventional fields. So far this decline has been compensated by new oil field developments, but the current … [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...]
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