The disruption and the opportunities being offered by solar PV and battery storage are likely to be accelerated massively by the introduction of new software such as the “blockchain” system that has already taken root in financial systems, writes Giles Parkinson of the leading Australian energy website Reneweconomy. Courtesy: Reneweconomy.com. … [Read more...]
India wants to become a solar superpower – but its plans don’t add up
India aims to build 1 terrawatt of global solar power – four times the current worldwide total – and become a 100% electric vehicle nation by 2030. Those are great ambitions, but they still far short from what is needed for a true energy transformation away from coal, writes DĂ©nes Scala of Lancaster University. Courtesy of The Conversation. … [Read more...]
Reinventing Fire in China
Amory Lovins’ Rocky Mountain Institute, backed by Chinese institutions and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has published a stunning roadmap for an energy revolution in China. If its ideas are taken up, it could lead to a transformation of the largest energy economy in the world – and serve as a model for other developing nations to follow, writes Fereidoon Sioshansi, president of Menlo Energy Economics and publisher of the newsletter … [Read more...]
Stephane Quere, Innovation Director Engie: “Hydrogen is a big topic for us”
Hydrogen, which can be used to store energy, produce electricity and fuel vehicles, is one of the innovation priorities for French energy giant Engie (€70 billion revenue). This is a company that prides itself on its diversity however, explains Stephane Quere, Innovation Director at Engie, with activities stretching from Europe to Africa and Asia, and businesses from gas distribution to security systems. Some of the main priorities for Engie are … [Read more...]
The Nordic countries on Nord Stream 2: between scepticism and neutrality
Sweden, Finland and Denmark are unlikely to block or slow down the procedures of issuing national approvals for the construction of Nord Stream 2, write Justyna Gotkowska and Piotr Szymaáą…ski of OSW, the Centre for Eastern Studies, in Poland. But according to the authors the Nordic countries do expect the European Commission to assess the compliance of Nord Stream 2 with the EU’s Third Energy Package. In addition, Stockholm and Copenhagen in … [Read more...]
Who is afraid of Nord Stream 2?
Nord Stream 2, the new gas pipeline that Gazprom is planning to build from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany, has been criticised for reducing Europe’s diversification of energy sources and energy security. But according to Energy Post’s editor in chief Karel Beckman, the EU should welcome the pipeline, despite deteriorating relations with Russia. According to Beckman, Nord Stream 2 has a sound economic rationale behind it and the EU’s … [Read more...]
The collective effort behind Finland’s new nuclear power plant
Five years after announcing that it had chosen Pyhäjoki, in northern Finland, as the site for a new Russian-designed 1200 MW nuclear reactor, Finnish company Fennovoima is within sight of a 2018 construction start date. No, this is not the notorious Olkiluoto-3 EPR being builty by Areva– this is Hanhikivi 1, to be built by Rosatom. Journalist Eric Marx travelled to Finland to find out why Fennovoima is succeeding where other new nuclear projects … [Read more...]
The “new realities for energy”: peak demand, stranded assets
"The world is undergoing a Grand Transition driven by a combination of factors including the fast-paced development of new technologies, an unstoppable digital revolution, global environmental challenges and changing growth and demographic patterns", according to a statement from the World Energy Council, a UN-accredited global energy network with over 3,000 member organisations in over 90 countries. According to the World Energy Council, the … [Read more...]
Interview Maroš Šefčovič, VP Energy Union: “I made the promise 2016 would be year of delivery and I intend to keep it”
“If we want a cost-effective transition to a low-carbon economy, we have to create an internal energy market where European rules apply”, says Maroš Ĺ efÄŤoviÄŤ, the European Commission’s Vice President for the Energy Union, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. According to Ĺ efÄŤoviÄŤ, “big parts of our energy market are [still] overregulated”. To take a decisive leap towards the Energy Union, the Commission has decided to put all its energy … [Read more...]
The new EON, the new Johannes Teyssen: “The future is state-led renewables, stop dreaming of perfect Energy Union and Emission Trading System”
In one of his first in-depth interviews since the restructuring of EON, CEO Johannes Teyssen sets out a completely new vision of where he sees European energy markets and policies going. The future according to Teyssen is: distribution much more than transmission; state-led renewables auctions and capacity markets, not wholesale energy-only markets; carbon taxes or floor prices, not carbon trading or emission trading; higher energy efficiency … [Read more...]
The economic and moral bankruptcy of UK energy policy
With its choice for Hinkley Point C - a ÂŁ100 billion boondoggle – its enthusiastic support for expensive and environmentally harmful fracking, and its relentless attack on renewable energy, the UK government’s energy policy is both morally and economically bankrupt, write Peter Strachan, Professor of Energy Policy at the Robert Gordon University, and Alex Russell, Professor and Chair of the Oil Industry Finance Committee. Westminster must … [Read more...]
Energy prices, not capacity mechanisms, are key to ensuring reliability at the lowest cost
Electricity generators often claim that prices cannot fully reflect the value of the reliability they offer the market. Hence they insist they need separate capacity payments to justify investments. But according to Mike Hogan of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), the current energy market design is fully able to reflect the value of reliability, even if it doesn’t always do so in practice. In a new report, he describes a smarter approach, … [Read more...]
IEA sees “major shift” – but not major enough
“A major shift in investment towards low-carbon sources of power generation is underway”, according to a first-ever detailed analysis of investment across the global energy system from the International Energy Agency (IEA). Yet, in non-OECD countries, “investment in conventional generation remains strong”, with over 75 GW of coal-fired power plants starting operation in 2015 in “developing Asia” – “as much as all renewable capacity additions in … [Read more...]
China’s continuing renewable energy revolution – can it save the world?
China has made strategic choices favouring renewables over fossil fuels that are still not widely understood or appreciated, writes John A. Mathews, Professor of Management, Macquarie University, Australia. In this article he gives an overview of the latest trends in Chinese eletric power generation, which shows that the system is still "greening" faster than it is becoming black. But whether it is changing fast enough to save the world, is still … [Read more...]
100% solar?
Some argue that the world can be 100% powered by solar energy, but this is too simplistic, writes David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor for Royal Dutch Shell. He points out that solar PV delivers only electricity, which makes up just 20% of final energy use, and argues that other energy demands are better served by other low-carbon options, such as hydrogen and synthesis gas. A recent Shell publication indicates that 30% solar power by 2100 is … [Read more...]
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