South Australia made headlines around the world when it was announced that the state had been powered by 100% renewable energy for an entire working day. Commentators took it as a proof that a fully renewable future is possible. South Australia, writes Jack Baldwin of the South Australian news service The Lead, demonstrates to the world the benefits of renewable energy. According to Baldwin, there are signs the rest of the country will follow, … [Read more...]
Save the EU Emissions Trading Scheme: set a price band
The Market Stability Reserve proposed by the European Commission will not be sufficient to reform the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). If the ETS is to be saved, EU policymakers must instead take the bold step of establishing a price band for CO2 emission rights, argue Brigitte Knopf of the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Ottmar Edenhofer of PIK and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change … [Read more...]
Cleantech innovation in Europe: the pace is picking up
The pace of innovation in the European energy sector is stepping up. “Energy is no longer seen as a commodity that simply needs to be there. It is perceived as a challenge for which solutions need to be found”, says Elena Bou, Innovation Director of KIC InnoEnergy, a top European company in the field of sustainable energy innovation, in an interview with Energy Post. According to Bou, successful innovation begins with “asking the right … [Read more...]
Solar power to the people
The spectacular global growth of solar PV is one of the big energy stories of today. And it may well become the energy story of the 21st Century. Where did the solar revolution “suddenly”come from? And where will it take us? One of the pioneers of the sector, Peter F. Varadi, co-founder of what was once the biggest solar PV producer in the world, Solarex, has written a unique history of his company and that of solar PV. He also looks ahead to … [Read more...]
Brussels reveals: public support for renewables hardly different from non-renewables
For the first time ever, the EU Commission has mapped out how much public money flows to the energy sector in Europe and where it goes. According to a new report prepared by consultancy Ecofys, Europe spent €113 billion on energy subsidies in 2012. Remarkably, public support for coal is equal to that of onshore wind and total support for renewables is not much higher than for non-renewables. Also remarkably, the estimated “levelised costs” for … [Read more...]
Exporting a revolution: why the US LNG stampede will change the gas business forever (part 2)
The time for doubt is past. The US is well on its way to becoming a major LNG exporter – on a scale to rival Qatar and Australia. In part 2 of this two-part series, energy journalist Alex Forbes reviews the implications of what he is convinced will be the next gas revolution to come out of the United States. (Part I was published on 14 October here.) … [Read more...]
Exporting a revolution: why the US LNG stampede will change the gas business forever
The time for doubt is past. The US is well on its way to becoming a major LNG exporter – on a scale to rival Qatar and Australia. Export capacity could exceed 100 million tonnes per year by the early 2020s – 40% of the current global market. The US Department of Energy certainly seems to think so. The implications of this are profound: for US gas consumers, for natural gas markets around the world, and for proposed LNG export projects elsewhere. … [Read more...]
Hinkley Point C: the EU energy market will not be the same after this
The European Commission has, to the outrage of many, given a historic green light to an unprecedented ÂŁ34 billion (€43 billion) state aid package for nuclear power in the UK, the first case of its kind in Europe. Energy Post’s Brussels correspondent Sonja van Renssen discusses the case .- and the many questions that it raises about the EU’s energy policy and the internal market. … [Read more...]
Exclusive: “In 2015, The Hague should see the birth of a new global Energy Charter”
The Energy Charter, signed in 1991 in The Hague in the post-cold War period mainly to harmonise energy relations between Europe and the former Soviet Union, is on the point of being transformed into a global instrument. Secretary-General Urban Rusnak hopes that next year, again in The Hague, a second high-level meeting will establish a new International or Global Energy Charter, adapted to the globalised economy and suited to the needs of energy … [Read more...]
IEA: Solar costs heading to 4c/kWh, rooftop solar “unbeatable”
The traditionally conservative International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts the cost of solar energy will fall to around 4c/kWh in coming decades as the sun becomes the largest source of power generation across the world. The latest “Solar Roadmap” published by the IEA on Monday shows that the speed with which solar is reaching “socket parity” has taken the world by surprise, writes Giles Parkinson of Reneweconomy.com.au. … [Read more...]
In defence of TTIP: Good for the economy – and for the climate
The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States may deliver significant benefits not just in terms of greater economic competitiveness, but also as regards energy security and even environmental sustainability, writes Carlo Stagnaro, senior fellow at the Italian think tank Istituto Bruno Leoni and advisor to Italy’s Minister for Economic Development. According … [Read more...]
King Coal dethroned: future looks black
New research by the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI), the London-based NGO that invented the concept of “stranded assets” (aka the “carbon bubble”), claims that “the tide is turning against coal exporters”. After taking on the oil and gas industry, CTI has for the first time calculated the risks faced by the coal sector from slowing demand in combination with climate change policies. It concludes that most new coal mines will not be economic. … [Read more...]
Is the US Department of Commerce protecting utilities from the solar revolution?
At the end of July, the US slapped new import duties on solar products from China coming on top of earlier “anti-dumping” levies. These measures are damaging for US consumers, the US economy and the renewable energy sector, writes solar power entrepreneur Peter F. Varadi, author of a new book on the history of the PV industry. Indeed, it now turns out that even the vast majority of the US solar industry is opposed to them! So why does the … [Read more...]
The EU’s drive for free energy trade in the TTIP endangers action on climate change
With the EU seeking to  diversify its energy sources and US companies eager to export their "unconventional” oil and gas riches, energy has become a major focus of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), about which the two blocs are negotiating. The EU is eager for the US to remove any barriers to the export of its natural gas and crude oil, as is clear from a leaked EU proposal. However, this drive for unrestrained fossil … [Read more...]
Global renewable energy at the cross-roads
Is the renewables glass half-full or half-empty? That’s the central question that appears to run through the International Energy Agency (IEA’s) new comprehensive market report on the state of renewable energy in the world. The answer is complex. Renewables have made “tremendous progress”, notes the IEA, but growth “falls short of global climate change objectives”. Karel Beckman reports. … [Read more...]
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