Continued solar growth could lead to significant decreases in wholesale electricity prices during most peak hours, writes Alex Gilbert, cofounder of US-based energy research platform Spark Library, in an article analysing the effects of solar power on electricity markets. While lower wholesale prices can impact solar’s growth they will also hurt other energy sources, particularly coal and nuclear but also natural gas and energy efficiency. … [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...]
Natural gas vehicle sales in US sag but prospects still good
The market for natural gas vehicles in the US took a small hit last year, as a result of low oil prices. Nevertheless, sales of CNG and LNG powered vehicles continue to be significant and the number of filling stations continues to grow, writes Frank Swigonski, Associate at Advanced Energy Economy, a US business assocation that promotes clean energy. Courtesy Advanced Energy Perspectives. … [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...]
Exclusive Francesco Venturini, CEO Enel Green Power: “Europe stuck in confused energy vision”
Europe is last in line for investment these days because it has no long-term energy strategy, says the head of Enel Green Power, Francesco Venturini, in an exclusive interview with Energy Post Weekly from which we bring you this extract (the full interview can be found here). Europe, Venturini says, is “stuck” in a “confused” energy vision “that’s 20 years old” and doesn’t know where it wants to get to. Enel Green Power, one of the largest green … [Read more...]
Vieuws Video: EU far from meeting Paris climate goals
Sonja van Renssen, energy and environment journalist, is joined by Tom van Ierland, Deputy and Acting Head of Unit C1. Strategy and Economic Assessment DG Climate Action, Jonathan Gaventa, Director, Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G) and EirikWærness, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Statoil to debate the question: “Did Paris deliver the low-carbon investment signal Europe needs?”. This highlight video presents the core … [Read more...]
Energy sector is one of the largest consumers of water in a drought-threatened world
The implications of the global water footprint of energy generation are phenomenal, writes Gary Bilotta of the University of Brighton. He warns that if policy makers fail to take into account the links between energy and water, we may come to a point in many parts of the world where it is water availability that is the main determinant of the energy sources available for use. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
A fundamental transformation: “renewables win race on costs”
The cost of wind and solar power will continue to fall massively over the next 25 years, bringing about a fundamental transformation of the global electricity sector, according to new reports from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Electric cars will boom, cheap batteries will be everywhere and there will no Golden Age of Gas, despite continued low gas prices, BNEF predicts. … [Read more...]
TTIP and energy security: do Europeans still want US LNG?
When TTIP talks were launched in 2013, Europeans were keen to tap into the United States oil and gas bonanza resulting from the country’s shale revolution to help reduce prices and shake off the continent’s too-heavy reliance on Russian hydrocarbons. But now US shale gas is arrriving in Europe, regardless of TTIP, writes Iana Dreyer, editor of Borderlex, an independent newsletter on EU trade policy. According to Dreyer, national politics in … [Read more...]
On track for a Golden Age of Gas?
The global energy industry must overcome significant new challenges if natural gas development is to achieve the vision of a Golden Age of Gas, writes Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group. Low energy prices and reduced investment are only half the battle as regulations complexify and organized opposition grows. … [Read more...]
The ill-fated gas strategy of the oil majors
The recent focus of major oil companies on gas (and LNG in particular) may be ill-fated, writes geophysicist Jilles van den Beukel. Gas is systematically less profitable than oil. And the oversupply of LNG (and resulting low prices) is likely to last much longer than the oversupply of oil. … [Read more...]
Leading by example? Impacts of a domestic French carbon price floor
If enacted, France’s plan for a domestic carbon price floor will lower CO2 emissions and increase power prices in France, but it will only have a marginal impact on total EU CO2 emissions and European carbon prices, write Hæge Fjellheim, Yan Qin and Emil Dimantchev, senior analysts at Thomson Reuters. They surmise that for the French government the plan is a way to lead by example. It will also bring in extra government revenues and improve the … [Read more...]
What happens when demand for oil peaks?
A gradual move away from oil, will have many benefits for the global economy, write Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director of energy and sustainability at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, and Jeroen van der Veer, former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell. According to Myers Jaffe and Van der Veer, a diminished role for oil means markets will become more stable and costly price subsidies can be reduced. The authors, both members of the new … [Read more...]
Out of reach without nuclear and shale
Contrary to what some politicians are arguing, US emission reduction goals for 2025 cannot be achieved without nuclear power and shale gas, argues Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of independent US-based consultancy GSW Strategy Group. Recent official revisions from the Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA) on estimated methane leaks from gas production and use do not negate the benefits of gas in recducing  emssions, he adds.  … [Read more...]
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