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...]
Poles want to be energy independent – with nuclear (and renewables)
Two-thirds of Polish people support the plans to construct a new nuclear power plant in Poland, above all because this would increase Polish energy independence. The Polish public wants their country to be less reliant on Russia and other suppliers and believes renewable energy and nuclear energy are the best options for this. They appear to have less enthusiasm for shale gas and coal. These results appear from a poll conducted by PISM, the … [Read more...]
IEA: Utilities should change business model – not count on capacity mechanisms
Utilities in Europe and North America “have to change their business model, whether they like it or not”, says the International Energy Agency (IEA). At the same time, the IEA is very critical about the plans of several European countries to set up capacity schemes which the large European enegy companies are pleading for. “We should try energy-only solutions first before we try capacity schemes”, says Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director of … [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...]
Professor Henrik Lund: Denmark proves complete fossil fuel independence is possible
Complete independence from energy generated from fossil fuels is possible. Professor Henrik Lund, of Aalborg University, believes that a system based 100 per cent on renewable energy is a viable option and could be achieved by 2050 in Denmark. Renewable energy systems (RES) planning can also be successfully applied to other countries worldwide. During his extremely well attended plenary lecture at CHISA, the 21st International Congress of … [Read more...]
MeyGen tidal energy project in Scotland gets another boost
Atlantis, owner of the world’s largest planned tidal stream energy project, MeyGen, has been awarded a ÂŁ7.5 million two year contract with the UK’s Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) to deliver a multi-turbine foundation structure which will support a further two turbines at the Atlantis-owned MeyGen tidal stream array in the Pentland Firth, Scotland. The agreement with ETI marks the start of Phase 2 of the ETI Tidal Energy Converter … [Read more...]
Let’s start a European tidal lagoon industry
A unique, ÂŁ1 billion plan to build the world’s first tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay in Wales has won strong local support. Stephen Tindale, associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform in the UK, who is involved in the project, argues that the EU should support it  and help create a new European tidal lagoon industry. … [Read more...]
France announces $13.4 billion energy plan
Tax credits and low-interest loans will be used to generate about €10 billion ($13.4 billion) for a new energy plan in France. About half the money will be loaned by Caisse des Depots et Consignations, a government-owned lender, and some will also come from non-state banks. French President Francois Hollande wants France to reduce its reliance on atomic power from 75% to 50% by 2025. Such an investment is necessary to help with … [Read more...]
Do we need capacity markets? Do we need Russia?
There are two major issues on which the future of the energy sector hangs, notes EP editor Karel Beckman: 1) Â how far will the renewables revolution go in combination with climate policy; 2) how will growing geopolitical tensions, especially relations with Russia, affect markets? Karel asks whether we need capacity schemes, indicates how utilities could get back on a growth path and how (not) to deal with Russia. … [Read more...]
One year of Energy Post – and a quick guide for our readers
Editor-in-Chief Karel Beckman looks back on one year at Energy Post. He gives some suggestions on the wealth of information readers can find on the website, including the 10 best-read stories of the year. And he takes a look ahead on what more there is to come – after we come back from our summer break. … [Read more...]
Four scientific breakthroughs that can take us to a new, clean energy world
Discussions on the energy transition usually focus on the economics of renewables and cost comparisons with fossil fuels and other energy sources. What is usually ignored, are innovations in materials and chemical processes, which are nonetheless increasingly important as agents of change in the energy sector. Innovation watcher Denis Kuznetsov discusses four scientific breakthroughs in materials research that could shake up the energy sector in … [Read more...]
Get this: Germany does not have generous subsidies for renewables
In an otherwise well-written and informative article on the recent decision by the EU Court of Justice on renewables policy, Energy Post repeats the unfounded notion that Germany has generous subsidies. This is wrong – and the difference matters: the German system of feed-in tariffs favours small companies and cooperatives. Now, the EU wants to kill feed-in tariffs, ostensibly because of the cost – but what’s at stake is freedom. … [Read more...]
Carbon Tracker blasts Shell’s take on Carbon Bubble
In a new report out today, Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI), the NGO that invented the concept of “stranded assets”, blasts Shell’s “climate letter” of 16 May, in which Shell argues that “we do not believe that any of our proven reserves will become stranded”. According to CTI, Shell’s focus on proven reserves is “too narrow” and “understates the risk that its business faces from changes in climate policy”. EP editor Karel Beckman takes stock of … [Read more...]
US energy independence: fact or fiction?
What do you get when you speak with four American investment analysts about the prospects of US gas and oil production, the sustainability of fracking, the risks of the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the potential of nuclear energy and renewables? You get four different, but outspoken opinions, from people with different  perspectives on the world than what you usually find in Europe. A four-way interview by J.T. Long for The Energy … [Read more...]
Report on best practices in “green growth”
A new report was launched by the Green Growth Best Practice (GGBP) initiative which pulls together the many tangible benefits that governments and communities are realizing through the adoption of green growth policies. The report, Green Growth in Practice: Lessons from Country Experiences, is the result of a collaborative partnership between the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), the European Climate Foundation (ECF) and the … [Read more...]
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