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...]
Experts issue plea for new European energy policy to overcome “crisis of confidence”
On the eve of a crucial Summit of the European Heads of State and government, who will meet in Brussels on 20-21 March to discuss EU climate, energy and industrial policy, a group of prominent energy experts has issued a plea for a “new European energy policy”. The experts, led by Claude Mandil, former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), say the state of European energy markets is “deeply unsatisfactory” as a result of … [Read more...]
World Energy Outlook hides the real potential of renewables
The IEA’s annual World Energy Outlook (WEO) is seen as the most authoritative set of energy scenarios in the world. Yet when we test the forecasts for the growth of renewable energies in the WEO’s main scenario against reality, we find that the WEO consistently comes out too low. Each year from 2006 on the WEO has had to increase its forecast for wind and solar power. Yet each year the WEO predicts the growth of renewables to level off by 2020, … [Read more...]
Can Germany survive the Energiewende?
The German Energiewende is a heroic but – as it’s conceived now – increasingly disordered effort for unshackling industrial society from the chains of fossil fuels. Due to mistaken assumptions and unrealistic scheduling, it is now confronted with persistent obstacles. The new Merkel government has introduced some changes, but they won’t be enough to sustain the Energiewende, argues independent energy consultant (and renewable energy sympathizer) … [Read more...]
Schadenfreude about RWE? Think you would have done better?
RWE has posted its first loss since World War II. Everyone – not only proponents of renewables – now claims that the firm's management failed to see how renewables would affect its bottom line. That's true, but even if they had, what should they have done? More importantly, what should they do now? … [Read more...]
European Renewable Energy Council forced into liquidation
An Extraordinary General Assembly of the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) taking place in Brussels on 6th March decided the “voluntary” dissolution of the non-profit organisation after over a decade of existence. “Yesterday, EREC was forced to decide to go into liquidation mainly due to its high liabilities arising from its lease obligations for the three large office buildings which make up the Renewable Energy House, 63-67 rue … [Read more...]
IEA: Any country can reach high shares of wind, solar power cost-effectively
A study released on 26 February by the International Energy Agency concludes that integrating high shares – i.e., 30 percent of annual electricity production or more – of wind and solar PV in power systems can come at little additional cost in the long term. However, costs depend on how flexible the system currently is and what strategy is adopted to develop system flexibility over the long term. Managing this transition will be more difficult … [Read more...]
Tomatoes watered by the sea: sprouting a new way of farming
In Australia a former investment banker is growing vegetables in hothouses that use electricity and desalinated seawater all derived from concentrated solar power. According to John Matthews, it's a model that could work well in many areas of the world. … [Read more...]
EU deeply divided over 2030 climate and energy policy
Thirteen member states want the EU to agree on the broad outlines of a 2030 climate and energy policy as soon as possible. But at least four call for the EU not to “rush” into anything – they argue all decisions should be put on hold until UN climate talks in Paris in 2015. That was the main outcome of the EU environment and energy ministers meeting this week. European Heads of State and government will meet in Brussels on 20-21st March to talk … [Read more...]
How the IEA exaggerates the costs and underestimates the growth of solar power
The International Energy Agency (IEA) consistently entertains much too pessimistic assumptions about the growth potential and cost development of solar power,  writes Terje Osmundsen, Senior Vice President of the Norwegian-based international solar power company Scatec Solar. According to Osmundsen, the cost assumptions used by the IEA are 100% higher than even current market prices. He notes that as a result of the IEA’s misleading information, … [Read more...]
Exclusive: The end is near – for national renewable energy subsidy schemes in the EU
The national renewable support schemes in the EU are on the verge of a major overhaul. National governments will soon not be allowed anymore to limit renewables subsidies to domestic producers: they will have to treat all EU-based producers alike. This at any rate is the very likely outcome of a court case now before the EU Court of Justice, says Peter Niermeijer, Secretary-General of RECS International, an organisation that promotes pan-European … [Read more...]
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