RWE, the German utility known for its reliance on large lignite, coal and nuclear power stations, and its high CO2 emissions, is undergoing a fundamental transformation. “We want to use our leading market position to take our customers into a new future”, explains RWE’s Dutch CEO Peter Terium in an exclusive interview with Energy Post. “My dream, my vision is that RWE will put solar panels on your roof, a battery in your shed, a heat pump in your … [Read more...]
Who is winning the clean energy race? (It’s not Europe)
For the past five years, Pew Charitable Trusts has tracked investment and finance trends in the world’s leading economies. Over that period, the clean energy industry has been buffeted by a global recession, broad changes in energy markets, and uncertainty surrounding international policies on clean energy and climate change. Despite these challenges, the clean energy sector is now an annual $250 billion component of the world economy. In a … [Read more...]
A peek into the astonishing future of wind power
Start-up companies like Sheerwind, Saphon Energy and Makani (bought by Google) are experimenting with revolutionary wind turbine designs. But for now most of the progress made in the wind power sector comes from more conventional technological innovations, such as lower weight, taller towers, improved blade designs, and better logistics, writes Ari Phillips of ClimateProgress. These R&D efforts have led to a 43% price drop in just a few … [Read more...]
NEC commissions largest renewable energy storage system in Italy
NEC Corporation has announced the commissioning of an Energy Storage System (ESS) for Enel Group subsidiary Enel Distribuzione, Italy's largest distribution system operator. The ESS can store two megawatt hours (2MWh) of renewable power for release into the grid as required, making it the largest in Italy and one of the largest in Europe*. The ESS has been connected to the Chiaravalle primary substation in the region of Calabria, where renewable … [Read more...]
China’s continuing renewable energy revolution: global implications
China’s renewable energy revolution is powering ahead, with the year 2013 marking an important inflection point where the scales tipped more towards electric power generated from water, wind and solar than from fossil fuels and nuclear. This means that its energy security is being enhanced, while carbon emissions from the power sector can be expected to soon start to fall. … [Read more...]
Hamburg commits to fossil fuel beyond 2050
Hamburg was the “European Green Capital of 2011”, but its climate ambitions are overshadowed by a new Vattenfall coal power plant, which will lead to three times higher CO2 emissions than the city has targeted. The case of Hamburg illustrates the difficulties Germany has in making the transition to a low-carbon economy. … [Read more...]
EU, in search of an energy strategy, clutches at US “security”
European access to US liquid natural gas (LNG) exports would be “much easier” with a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in place, US President Barack Obama said at an EU-US summit in Brussels on 26 March, at which energy concerns took centre stage. But the real energy action is likely to take place next week at the EU-US Energy Council on 2 April, when the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton and Energy … [Read more...]
NEC acquires grid energy storage business of A123 Energy Solutions
NEC Corporation has acquired the A123 Energy Solutions business unit of A123 Systems. Â According to NEC, this acquisition, for approximately USD $100 million, "strengthens the energy storage capability of NEC's smart energy business, a core segment of its Mid-term Management Plan's commitment to social infrastructure." NEC reports that "A123 Energy Solutions will be integrated into the NEC Group of companies and operated globally as a key … [Read more...]
Pursuit of phony energy “security” leads to world of diminishing returns
Policymakers in the US, UK and elsewhere are increasingly receptive to the idea that they should be pursuing unconventional oil and gas and nuclear power in the name of "energy security". But according to John Mathews and Erik Reinert, such a strategy misses an essential point of economic history: relying on commodities retrieved by drilling and mining leads only to stagnation, rising costs and environmental damage. The way to growth, innovation … [Read more...]
Energy innovation is key to EU 2030 goals
A narrative centred on the opportunities of low-carbon innovation rather than the costs of tackling climate change could yet unite stakeholders in the debate over a 2030 EU climate and energy policy. Technological and non-technological innovation are needed for Europe to create a competitive, secure, low-carbon future. At its first event in Brussels, held in partnership with Shell, Energy Post explored what kind of a 2030 package would do most … [Read more...]
EU leaders fail to connect Ukraine crisis to climate and energy policy
Decisions on a new European climate and energy policy for 2030 are relegated to autumn as heads of state are caught up in the Ukraine crisis. At their spring summit in Brussels, EU leaders gave centre stage to energy dependence. First climate change, then competitiveness, now security of supply: the shifting priorities of member states show that a holistic vision and policy for climate and energy is there on paper but not in practice. Sonja van … [Read more...]
Interview Dominique Ristori, EU Commission: “EU’s governance on renewables won’t be punitive”
The new Director General for energy at the European Commission, Dominique Ristori, faces the difficult task of “selling” EU leaders his proposals on a climate and energy strategy for 2030. Initially foreseen at the European Council on 20 and 21 March, a decision has been postponed to October. In this interview with Energy Post Brussels correspondent Hughes Belin, Ristori outlines member states' first reactions to the Commission's 2030 proposals, … [Read more...]
Interview Arthur Berman: “Shale is not a revolution, it’s a retirement party”
How much faith can we put in our ability to decipher all the numbers out there telling us the US will soon be cornering the global oil market? There's another side to the story of the relentless US shale boom, one that says that some of the numbers are misunderstood, while others are simply preposterous. According to energy expert Arthur Berman, a geological consultant with thirty-four years of experience in petroleum exploration and production, … [Read more...]
The EU 2030 climate package: crucial questions go unanswered
Although most observers have reacted positively to the Commission’s January 2014 package of proposals on 2030 climate targets, from a business perspective, there are too many areas where delays are threatening, writes Jesse Scott, Head of the Environment and Sustainable Development Policy Unit of Eurelectric, the European association of electricity producers. ”Many crucial questions have not yet been answered”, notes Scott – most of all when it … [Read more...]
Energiewende under siege: German energy strategy under threat from EU “paradigm shift”
The German Energiewende is running up against a “paradigm shift” in EU energy policy, which seems on the point of slowing down the transformation towards a low-carbon economy.. As Germany cannot afford to continue with the Energiewende on its own, the German government will have to do its utmost to bend EU energy policy in its direction, write Oliver Geden and Severin Fischer of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). … [Read more...]
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