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. âThe energy transformation is the greatest business opportunity of our time.â … [Read more...]
World Energy Council: âWe are looking in the wrong placeâ
âTo deliver sustainable energy systems our focus must shift from the supply mix to demand efficiency.â This is the conclusion that Christoph Frei, Secretary-General of the World Energy Council (WEC), draws from the World Energy Scenarios recently published by WEC. According to this new report, âcurrent technologies, policies, and innovation are not enough to meet climate goalsâ. Despite strong growth in renewables, fossil fuels will remain … [Read more...]
The future of the large German utilities: it’s already here
Energy Post reported recently that German utility RWE is âshedding its old business model and embracing the energy transitionâ. This is not surprising, writes solar industry pioneer Peter F. Varadi. In fact, says Varadi, the new strategy merely formalizes what is already happening in practice. (Photo: Tim Fuller) … [Read more...]
EU Commission: feed-in tariffs should be abandoned
The European Commission has presented a Communication which gives guidance to Member States on âhow to make the most of public interventionsâ in the electricity market. The Communication discusses âhow to reform existingâ interventions, especially renewable energy subsidy schemes, and how to effectively design new ones, especially for back-up capacity schemes." The Commission notes that âin some very specific cases public intervention might be … [Read more...]
PWC study: Economies generate growth thanks to decarbonisation
New research by PwC, using historical data from five EU member states, shows that countries can decarbonise at faster than average rates without reducing economic growth or losing competitiveness while still generating new sources of economic growth and jobs. This is the conclusion based on analysis of the long-term economic impact of energy policies in five European countries (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) … [Read more...]
Crowdfunding renewables: game-changer for the energy sector?
Crowdfunding of renewable energy projects is growing fast in Europe. If this grassroots movement gets organized in time to access the big money available in the next round of cohesion funding, it could have far reaching effects on the European energy sector. … [Read more...]
How to turn Bulgaria into Eastern Europeâs energy hub and gateway
Bulgaria has become notorious for the failure of many big energy projects in recent years. Yet there is more going on in the Bulgarian energy sector than meets the eye, writes independent energy consultant Valentin Stoyanov. According to Stoyanov, Bulgaria could even become one of Europeâs main energy hubs. The country has strong and diverse energy assets to start with, ranging from coal and nuclear power to hydropower and renewable energies. It … [Read more...]
Darwin, Dylan and the future of utilities
Australian journalist Giles Parkinson has published a must-read series of articles on his website Reneweconomy about how renewable energy is upsetting the business model of incumbent network operators and generators in Queensland, Australia. His insights provide crucial lessons for utilities elsewhere, most certainly in Europe. Â As a recent report from Citi notes:Â âIf we look at the situation facing European utilities, the future looks … [Read more...]
Seven Steps to Energy Policy Heaven
Now that a new political year has started, it may be useful to ask what exactly are the most important parameters that should go into any energy policy mix. I have identified seven â which I have dubbed the Seven Steps to Energy Policy Heaven. The nice thing about my âenergy policy modelâ is that it may come in handy â even if you totally disagree with my ideas. Photo: Heaven visited me by Kevin Dooley … [Read more...]
How solar and EVs will kill the fossil fuel dinosaurs
Stanford University energy expert Tony Seba predicts that by 2030, solar power will make the fossil fuel-based utilities redundant while electric vehicles will put the oil companies out of business. âUtilities as we know them are over. They are the land line telephone companies of 20, 30 years agoâ, he says in an interview with Giles Parkinson, founder and editor of the path-breaking Australian website RenewEconomy. Photo: dinosaur footprints by … [Read more...]
Germanyâs âEnergiewendeâ Shows Why We Need Nuclear
Germanyâs energy transition has been used by activists and governments as evidence that we can solve climate change with wind and solar, and that we donât need nuclear power. But according to Max Luke and Jessica Lovering of the Breakthrough Institute, if we take the fight against CO2 emissions seriously, it would be foolish â and very expensive â to limit the options to renewables alone and not to include nuclear power. Nuclear power plant … [Read more...]
Is the EU done picking clean energy winners?
How far is the EU preparing to move away from its current energy R&D strategy of picking technological winners? In a new policy paper earlier this year, the European Commission outlined its vision for a fresh approach to innovation that takes the energy system as its starting point and focuses on system outcomes, not individual technologies. This is the R&D dimension of the EUâs current battle for a 2030 climate and energy policy. Sonja … [Read more...]
Two decades behind schedule, we need to re-think the single energy market
The EU has made progress in integrating its markets, but there is still a long way to go, argues Jorge Vasconcelos, founder of the Council of European Energy Regulators and Member of the Energy Roadmap 2050 ad hoc Advisory Group. Europe needs a reinvented energy market and technological developments can help that to happen. âStrong wind and sunshine can literally blow conventional electricity markets to pieces if high penetration rates of wind … [Read more...]
The future of energy? You are it
Editor Karel Beckman has had enough of gloomy conferences full of complaining people. He calls on the energy industry to throw away those spreadsheets and look at what is happening in the real world. The future is not in your Power Points - it's in your hands! Photo: Covenant of Mayors … [Read more...]