(Reneweconomy) Two stunning auction results in India and Chile in the last week have underscored the extraordinary gains that large-scale solar has made against its fossil fuel competitors, writes Giles Parkinson of Reneweconomy.com. Parkinson takes stock of the latest developments in prices for unsubsidised solar energy, based on auctions across the world and comes to pretty spectacular findings. … [Read more...]
Interview Marko Delimar, IEEE: “Technologists need to demystify energy”
“Right now renewable energy is still in the single digits in Europe. That’s a disaster”, says Marko Delimar, Professor at the University of Zagreb and Chair of the European Public Policy Group of the engineers association IEEE, the largest professional association in the world. According to Delimar, the energy transition is still at a very early stage. Technologists, he says, in an interview with Energy Post, have an important task: “We need to … [Read more...]
The new Polish government’s energy policy: expect more State, less market
The new Polish government will not just resist ambitious EU climate targets, it will also increase the role of the State in the energy sector, write researchers Kacper Szulecki (University of Oslo) and Andrzej Ancygier (Climate Analytics) . The conservative Law and Justice Party that has been swept into power intends to create a Ministry of Energy, which will take control of the major Polish energy companies, note the authors. The likely new … [Read more...]
Power-to-gas: how carmakers can go green (without cheating)
European carmakers are required to reduce their CO2-emissions, but the Volkswagen affair has shown they find it increasingly difficult to do so. There is a way out, however, writes energy consultant Mike Parr: they could follow the example of Audi and invest in power-to-gas systems. This would kill two birds with one stone, argues Parr: it would help decarbonise the transport sector and could enormously help the integration of variable renewables … [Read more...]
Energy companies divided over renewable energy in Brussels
“The lobby of the conventional energy sector is still very influential in Brussels, but it’s increasingly becoming split over renewable energy. Some of the incumbent companies are trying to slow down the development of renewables, others want to encourage them. At the same time, renewable energy lobbyists are becoming increasingly professional, catching up with the lobbyists for the conventional energy sector.” A senior lobbyist for the renewable … [Read more...]
New European trend: renewables without borders
So far there has been very little cooperation between EU countries in stimulating renewable energy, although better coordination could save tens of billions of euros in support costs. Now that the EU has decided not to have national renewable energy targets for 2030, more and more organisations and countries are trying to develop regional approaches to support renewables projects. The Heinrich Böll Foundation, a think tank close to the German … [Read more...]
Big energy companies take control of Dutch wind energy association NWEA
In January this year the Guardian reported that big European energy companies like Total, Iberdrola, EON and Enel, are increasingly taking control of renewable energy lobby groups like the European wind energy association EWEA. In the Netherlands a similar process is taking place in Dutch wind energy association NWEA. Hendrik Steringa spoke with a senior professional in the Dutch wind energy sector who explains what is going on – and what the … [Read more...]
$1 trillion solar, wind finance vehicle to outstrip oil and gas investment
A new report from Deutsche Bank predicts that the Yieldco, a finance vehicle for renewable energy, will attract more money than similar instruments that exist for oil and gas investments. Giles Parkinson of the Australian website Reneweconomy has the story. Energy Post highlighted recently why the YieldCo is likely to become a gamechanger in the energy sector. … [Read more...]
The YieldCo: the solar revolution meets Wall Street
The invention of the YieldCo is a gamechanger that will enable spectacular growth of solar PV, writes solar pioneer Peter F. Varadi. According to Varadi, the PV YieldCo offers significant advantages over investments in fossil fuel power: no fuel supply is needed, no long-term purchasing contracts for the generated electricity and less costly infrastructure. The solar revolution meets Wall Street. … [Read more...]
All at sea! UK government is putting future offshore wind at risk
The UK's energy security will increasingly depend on large scale offshore wind power, write Ian Broadbent and Peter Strachan. But while energy secretary Amber Rudd talked the sector up in a recent speech, she revealed feeble ambition. Worse, with its premature cutbacks on onshore wind, and its obsession with nuclear power, the government is undermining confidence among investors. … [Read more...]
Tories are backing the wrong energy horses
By opting for nuclear power and shale gas, and reducing support for wind energy, the new Tory government is betting on the wrong energy horses, write Peter Strachan and Alex Russell of Robert Gordon University. "New nuclear looks a very costly and unreliable drain on the government’s budget, while fracking looks expensive, incompatible with emissions targets and probably uneconomic at current oil prices." … [Read more...]
Dimitri Pescia, Agora Energiewende: “No more baseload in 2030, no case for new nuclear in Europe”
There will be no more baseload power in Germany in 2030 and possibly not anywhere in Europe. There is no business case for new nuclear power in Europe. Renewables, not thermal power, should get capacity payments - and be responsible for balancing. These are some of the explosive messages from a new report from the influential German think tank Agora Energiewende, which represents government, industry and NGO's. In an exclusive interview with … [Read more...]
Danish offshore wind: it’s getting better all the time
Denmark continues to set the pace in driving down the cost of offshore wind. In its latest tender for 350 MW of near-shore wind farms the maximum price has again been reduced. Danish offshore wind now costs roughly half of what the new nuclear plant at Hinkley in the UK will cost. … [Read more...]
The IMF just destroyed the main argument against clean energy
A new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) finds that energy (fossil fuel) subsidies are “big and rising”. At the presentation of the report, Vitor Gaspar, Director Fiscal Affairs Department at the IMF, noted that most subsidies go to coal and said the numbers were “shocking”. He added that “eliminating energy subsidies can generate substantial environmental, fiscal and welfare benefits”. Elias Hinckley, strategic adviser at the US law … [Read more...]
“Nuon has no vision of the future of the energy system”
In this instalment of the Power Talk series written by Ph. D. researcher Hendrik Steringa, a staff member who worked for Nuon, the Dutch subsidiary of Vattenfall, tells about the struggle inside the company to develop new business models. "To come up with new business models in sustainable energy is not so difficult. But to come up with financially attractive models is a lot more difficult." … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- …
- 15
- Next Page »