Tag: renewables

Germany’s solar energy output defied government subsidy cuts to rise by a record 60% last year, according to the German Solar Industry Association BSW-Solar.

Germany cannot go it alone in its pioneering effort to transition to nuclear-free and low-carbon energy, say Severin Fischer and Oliver Geden. They argue that success will depend on the existence of a broader European strategy, including a more integrated energy market and a functioning emissions trading system.

The prospects for solar energy are bright, but an industrial policy that attracts investment for renewables and fair global energy subsidies are needed, a leading industry figure says.

Clean energy projects in rural areas are still being held back by administrative burdens, one year after EU member states began implementing their National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), EurActiv has learned. However, Brussels believes the situation is improving.

Wind power is the next great source of renewable energy, with China and the EU engaged in a competition to dominate the rapidly expanding market, argues Eberhard Rhein.

Ukraine, one of the world's most energy-intensive countries, needs to push for greater savings, with one official saying Kyiv needed "propaganda and popularisation" of green technologies.

Germany has imported more lignite coal and nuclear energy from its neighbours since the Fukushima disaster pushed it to begin closing its ageing nuclear reactors. But it is still exporting one source of electricity to France: solar power.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is set to achieve the environmentalists' holy grail of grid parity – the same cost price as fossil fuels – across the European Union by 2017, according to a UN expert.

BusinessEurope, the European employers' association, told EurActiv that it supports calls made in the last two days by British and French industry associations for better environmental planning and more financial support for green industry.

Public unease about nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster is prompting renewed scrutiny of renewable power options by governments across the world.

Europe is ahead of China in the green technology race, says Nick Mabey, CEO of climate consulancy E3G. But if it wants to stay there, its political class has to rediscover the confidence to compete with China at its own game, he told EurActiv.

As Japan's nuclear crisis deepens, fears are growing within Europe's wind industry about European Commission plans to put nuclear power on a par with renewable energies in the post-2020 low-carbon environment.

The president of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), Arthuros Zervos, has called for the EU to adopt a binding renewable energy target of 30% for 2030.

The EU is putting in place an ambitious energy policy in a bid to improve security of supplies and achieve bold CO2 reduction targets. But how does the EU decision-making process function on energy-related issues? And what is the role of the industry sector and interest groups?

Annual investment of €950 billion – or 2% of global GDP – in ten key sectors could kickstart moves to a "low-carbon, resource-efficient green economy," according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The head of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has blown cold air on gas lobby claims that Europe could save €900 billion and still hit its 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets if it built more gas plants fitted with controversial carbon capture and storage technology.

Events in Egypt have brought the world to a turning point, according to Rosemary Hollis, a professor at London's City University, and Europe can't have it both ways. If the EU wants Arabian trade and energy, she told EurActiv, it will have to end its complicity with dictators and accept more migrants from the Middle East.  

A "revolution" has begun at all levels to meet the EU's long-term goals on renewable energy – but there will be winners and losers, warned policymakers at a Fondation EurActiv debate on Tuesday (8 February).

European Union leaders are holding their first ever energy summit today (4 February) but the policy agenda looks likely to take a backseat to pressing issues such as Egypt and the eurozone debt crisis.

Environmentalists are warning that a new coal plant which has secured €770 million of loans from European financial institutions risks turning the EU's 2050 climate goals into a "laughing stock".

France announced yesterday (25 January) tenders for a €10 billion offshore wind project that will create 600 wind turbines capable of churning out 3,000 MW of energy. But environmentalists warn that more still needs to be done to meet the country's and the EU's 2020 targets.

Europe is set to beat its target of drawing 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, according to an analysis of national action plans by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).

A perfect storm of environmental deterioration, economic opportunism and geopolitical jockeying for position is fuelling a rapid Chinese move into renewable technologies such as wind, solar and wave power, according to Miranda Schreurs, director of the Environmental Policy Research Institute at the Freie Universität Berlin.  

Europe can increase its emissions reduction target if it finds ways to redirect funding from Western to Eastern European countries, which oppose the move to a more ambitious commitment to fight climate change, writes David Buchan from the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies.