By funding the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the European Investment Bank (EIB) is hardly signalling to the private sector that governments are committed to a green energy transition, writes Aled Jones, Professor and Director at the Global Sustainability Institute of  Anglia Ruskin University. Article courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Cheap renewables are transforming the global electricity business
Renewables are not yet the least costly option in every market, writes Tim Buckley, Director of Energy Finance Studies Australasia at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), but the pace of change demonstrates that a tipping point toward a new energy economy is coming, and fast. Article courtesy IEEFA. … [Read more...]
A step backwards – European Member states threaten to reverse progress on the Single Electricity Market
The European Council’s proposals on the internal energy market fundamentally weaken the framework that is needed to deliver an integrated market that will benefit European energy consumers, write Philip Baker and Christos Kolokathis from the global energy policy advisors Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). They may even legalise practices that are currently – and should remain – illegal. The authors call on European policymakers to support the … [Read more...]
Microgrids: from niche to $100 billion market
Energy experts at Navigant Research are convinced that micro-grids are moving from a niche novelty to mainstream, writes Fereidoon Sioshansi, publisher of newsletter EEnergy Informer. They forecast cumulative micro-grid investments of over $100 billion over the next decade, much of it in North America and Asia. Europe is lagging behind, but Finland may represent a growth market. Sioshansi takes a closer look at what microgrids are and how they … [Read more...]
Empowering the powerless: here is how we can end energy poverty
Millions of people die prematurely of indoor pollution and other consequences of energy poverty. Centralized power systems have failed them, writes Jatin Nathwani of the University of Waterloo. But there is a way to empower the powerless: with microgrids and decentralized technologies. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Rapid wind and solar cost declines keep pushing fossil fuels out. How far can they go?
Rapid cost declines made renewable energy the United States’ cheapest available source of new electricity, without subsidies, in 2017, writes Silvio Marcacci of think tank Energy Innovation. In many parts of the U.S., building new wind is cheaper than running existing coal, while nuclear and natural gas aren’t far behind, notes Marcacci. As renewable energy costs continue their relentless decline, they keep pushing fossil fuels further from … [Read more...]
Nuclear power in crisis: we are entering the Era of Nuclear Decommissioning
Nuclear power is in crisis ‒ as even the most strident nuclear enthusiasts acknowledge ‒ and it is likely that a new era is fast emerging, writes Jim Green, editor of the Nuclear Monitor newsletter. After a growth spurt from the 1960s to the '90s, then 20 years of stagnation, the Era of Nuclear Decommissioning is upon us. Article courtesy Nuclear Monitor. … [Read more...]
Emissions reductions from carbon pricing can be big, quick and cheap
The UK carbon tax on fuel for power generation provides the most clear-cut example anywhere in the world of large scale emissions reductions from carbon pricing, writes climate change economist Adam Whitmore. These reductions have been achieved by a price that, while higher than in the EU ETS, remains moderate or low against a range of other markers, including other carbon taxes. … [Read more...]
Should the energy future of the U.S. depend on cheap solar imports?
The decision by the Trump administration to impose tariffs on the imports of solar panels has been widely criticized, as it is seen to undermine the growth of the solar energy sector in the U.S. However, independent energy analyst Geoffrey Styles believes there are some good reasons to support the measure. The Chinese government after all heavily supports its own industry. What is more, if solar power is as important to future U.S. energy supply … [Read more...]
Russia starts LNG exports from Yamal – what it means for Europe
Russian company Novatek has started exporting LNG from Yamal in the Arctic. It is in many ways a game-changing project, writes Anna Mikulska of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and the Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies. It puts Russia on the map as LNG exporter, it provides a challenge to Gazprom, is a significant step in the development of the Arctic region, and it expands energy relations between … [Read more...]
Time for German network operators to come clean about tariffs
Network tariffs are an important part of energy costs for consumers, yet, surprisingly, the way these fees are established in Germany is completely opaque, writes Andreas Jahn, Berlin-based Senior Associate at global energy policy advisors Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). According to Jahn, it is unclear how network operators and the regulator calculate costs and how they are allocated to customers. He calls on the German government—and on … [Read more...]
Are renewable energy cost reductions coming to an end? What next?
Renewable energy’s steep cost reductions may be tapering off, as investments levels are flat and system costs are becoming more important than component costs, writes independent energy expert Roger Arnold. According to Arnold,this implies that policy support should shift to storage and infrastructural approaches. … [Read more...]
China takes steps to stimulate distributed renewable energy generation
China’s spectacular expansion of its solar power capacity is mostly based on utility-scale solar, but distributed solar is also taking off, write Max Dupuy and Wang Xuan, two China experts from the globally operating Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). According to Dupuy and Xuan, this trend may be expected to continue, as the Chinese government is creating new business and regulatory models to stimulate distributed solar PV and other … [Read more...]
Will China’s Belt and Road Initiative help or hinder clean energy?
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the broad infrastructure and market-building initiative of the world’s second-largest economy, has a different feel than trade agreements initiated in the West – and it could have major implications for the future of energy across many parts of the world, writes Sonia Aggarwal, Vice President of think tank Energy Innovation, and Director of America’s Power Plan. … [Read more...]
China just launched the world’s largest carbon market. Here are 3 ways it can succeed
On December 19, China formally launched its national carbon market. By setting a carbon price on the country’s largest greenhouse-gas emitters, China has launched a new, crucial endeavor in its efforts to tackle pollution and climate change, write Hal Harvey and Hu Min of the San Francisco-based think tank Energy Innovation. … [Read more...]
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