Last week, Silicon Valley-based boardroom consultant and smart grid expert Christine Hertzog made five predictions for trends likely to occur in the smart energy sector, including the prediction that “Consumer intermediation threats would abound for utilities”. And wouldn’t you know it, on Tuesday Google announced it is expanding into “smart homes” with the acquisition of Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. One down for Christine! This week she follows … [Read more...]
Dutch green gas initiatives launched
The Groningen based gas trading company GasTerra closed the largest Green Gas deal of the Netherlands. GasTerra will buy 23 million m3 renewable gas annually , sufficient for 15,000 households. The gas comes from a company called BioRights that develops a production location in Hardenberg to convert biomass into second generation biofuels. The biogas produced is upgraded to natural gas quality and fed into the gas grid of Gasunie. Also bioethanol … [Read more...]
European venture capital firms support KIC InnoEnergy’s cleanteach startups
A number of top European venture capital companies have signed a collaboration agreement to support the most innovative clean tech start-ups in the EU. In a first-of-its-kind move for the industry, the community will provide KIC InnoEnergy’s 37 European startups with access to €3 billion in the next two years. “This agreement has exceeded our initial expectations. The idea of a VC [venture capital] community was new in this sector, and we did … [Read more...]
Climate policy bumps into competitiveness in Europe
Behind the heated debate in Brussels about climate and renewable energy targets, what is really happening is that concern over high energy prices has taken precedence over climate concerns in Europe. Competitiveness has caught up with climate policy. Indeed, the two issues have become so intertwined that when the European Commission will present its new climate and energy policy on 22 January, it will at the same time launch a new industrial … [Read more...]
China and US largest markets for wind turbines
China will remain the leading global consumer of wind turbine rotor blades over the coming years, with its market value expected to increase from almost $2 billion in 2012 to $3.7 billion by 2020, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.2%, according to a new report from research and consulting firm GlobalData. The company’s latest report, "Wind Turbine Rotor Blades – Global Market Size, Average Price, Competitive Landscape and Key … [Read more...]
Dear Connie, dear GĂĽnther
Germany, the UK, France and Italy have sent letters to Connie Hedegaard, Climate Commissioner and GĂĽnther Oettinger, Energy Commissioner on 6 January urging the European Commission to adopt a 40% greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2030. The European Commission will unveil a climate and energy package on 22 January in which it will announce new targets for 2030 to extend the currently existing 20-20-20 targets for 2020. These targets … [Read more...]
Report cards on renewable energy progress in South East Europe
Seechangenet, a network organisation of NGO’s in South Eastern Europe which is dedicated to promoting renewable energy in that region, has recently published “report cards” on the “energy paths” that are being taken by their governments. The cards are freely downloadable, rather simple infographics for Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro. There is also a fact sheet available, which is probably … [Read more...]
Saudi Arabia launches Renewable Resource Atlas
With the launch in December of its online Renewable Resource Atlas, Saudi Arabia has taken an important step into bringing its ambitious renewable energy plans closer to realisation. The Atlas will provide developers of solar power (and later also wind power, geothermal heat and waste-to-energy) comprehensive, reliable data on which to base project bids. Heba Hashem of CSP Today reports. … [Read more...]
The greatest business opportunity of our time
Amory Lovins, the founder of the famous Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, has written a book in which he presents an energy future without coal, oil or nuclear power. Yet he insists his is not a green or left-wing vision. On the contrary, it will save money and create wealth. “The energy transformation is the greatest business opportunity of our time.” … [Read more...]
“European gas market will go from very tight to strongly competitive”
The European gas market will see “strong competition in the future”. This means that despite declining domestic production, Europe’s dependence on Russian gas will not increase over the long term. In the short term, however, over the next five years or so, Europe’s gas market could become very tight and Russia’s position will be stronger than ever. These are the expectations of energy expert Tatiana Mitrova of the Energy Research Institute of the … [Read more...]
2014: the year of energy storage
Energy storage: it’s no longer a problem, it’s become a huge business opportunity. As one market watcher recently put it: “The energy storage industry is in the early stages of what will become a giant global market”. As with any new market, however, it is difficult for participants to find reliable information. Fortunately, there is now the interactive International Energy Storage Database (IESDB) of the US Department of Energy (DoE), which … [Read more...]
What if one third of Australians choose to go off-grid?
The Australian national science agency CSIRO has undertaken a study into how the electricity grid in Australia could develop over the coming decades. Giles Parkinson, editor-in-chief of the Australian website RenewEconomy, discusses the four scenarios that SCIRO explores: “leaving-the-grid”, in which one-third of Australian consumers go off-grid; “prosumer” , which is similar but has active utility companies that lead the transition; “renewables … [Read more...]
Interview EU Climate Chief Connie Hedegaard: “Climate policy cannot be based on emission reduction alone”
The European Union should adopt EU-wide targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency for 2030, says Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard in an interview with Energy Post. She rejects pleas from the energy sector to base EU climate policy solely on CO2 emission reduction targets. She does note, however, that there has been a tendency to “overcompensate” renewable energy, i.e. too generous subsidies. “It was never the plan to subsidise … [Read more...]
Britain converts its largest coal-fired power station in renewable energy producer plus major CCS project
Britain’s largest coal-fired power station is set to become one of Europe’s biggest renewable electricity generators today, with the potential for new future generation on the site to be based on truly clean coal. That has been announced by the Department of Energy Climate and Change (DECC) on 9 December. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey opened the Drax coal-to-biomass conversion plant, and announced the Government was awarding … [Read more...]
UK electricity market: financiers are holding the government over a barrel
The UK Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) published new “strike prices” for renewable energy on 4 December, claiming these will lead to additional investment of ÂŁ40 billion in renewable electricity generation up to 2020. But according to Michael Knowles, Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the support scheme is too generous for suppliers and DECC should do much more to drive costs of renewables down. … [Read more...]
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