Tag: renewables

A trial of the largest battery in Europe, which proponents hope will transform the UK electricity grid and boost renewable energy is due to start in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

The future of offshore wind power generation in the UK is in serious doubt, as the government's plans to encourage new wind farms are over-expensive and flawed, a think tank study has found.

The European Parliament yesterday (21 May) approved a non-binding resolution calling for a mandatory EU-wide share for renewables for 2030, but failed to set the target in the 40-45% range.

The European Commission has drawn up battle lines for the debate on 2030 climate and energy targets with a Green Paper that sidelines energy efficiency and signposts possible shifts to sectoral goals, regulatory measures and increased use of carbon market funds.

Germany’s transition to renewable energy may cost up to €1 trillion in the next two decades, the environment minister said on Wednesday (20 February), piling pressure on his opponents to back plans to cap power price rises before the election.

Jason Anderson, the head of WWF's EU climate and energy policy, explains why binding targets and a backloading of carbon credits are needed to decarbonise Europe's economy by 2050.

France and Germany could become the avant-garde of cross-border energy cooperation and could set the standards for all of Europe, writes Georg Zachmann.

Europe’s new offshore wind farm builds are nearly 1,000 megawatts (MW) behind targets, the equivalent of 330 turbines, an industry report says. 

Two weeks after ArcelorMittal pulled out from the Ulcos low-emission steelmaking project in France, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said new EU funding would be available for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects within 12 months.

A German power utility specialising in renewable energy was hit by a serious cyber-attack two weeks ago that lasted five days, knocking its internet communications systems offline, in the first confirmed digital assault against a European grid operator.

Energy ministers from the 27 EU countries pledged to maintain momentum for a post-2020 renewables policy framework after a meeting in Brussels yesterday (3 December), but behind the formulaic words, old divisions remained.

The lack of liberalisation of the energy and low-carbon energy market is one of the factors contributing to the lack of investment in Poland's chemical industry, says Wojciech Lubiewa-Wieleżyński.

Reports of turmoil in a futuristic plan to generate 15% of Europe’s energy from Saharan solar power have been stoutly denied by the chief executive of the Desertec initiative, Paul van Son. 

A new corporate coalition which says it will advance a low-carbon energy policy for Europe launched in Brussels last week.

Representatives of Europe’s biofuels industry have threatened to sue the European Commission if it proceeds with plans to limit crop-based biofuels because of their indirect effect on greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable power subsidies levied on German consumers will rise by 47% next year, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition to keep energy costs in check ahead of federal elections.

The anti-dumping complaint against China's solar panel manufacturers levelled by the EU ProSun group appears to call for price tariffs on Chinese solar products of up to 120%, EurActiv has learned. EU ProSun filed a separate anti-subsidy suit against China in Brussels yesterday (25 September).

Germany’s lights were kept on by solar power last winter, after Berlin’s rapid phase out of nuclear power brought the country to within a whisker of complete breakdown, senior energy industry sources say.

An energy strategy without fossil fuels would be preferable to the regulated gas pathway outlined in the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s new report, the paper’s own author told EurActiv in an exclusive interview yesterday (30 May).

The EU is facing an energy policy vacuum after a firm set of policy goals for renewable energy, carbon cutting and energy saving expires in 2020.

Shell has joined with other ‘progressive’ businesses to lobby the EU for a much stronger carbon price to incentivise clean energy investments. But Graeme Sweeney insists that it will not compromise on its support for tar sands, gas, and opposition to new efficiency and renewables targets.

Some of the EU’s millions of euros of energy aid to the developing world could be spent on gas projects, EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has told EurActiv. But biofuels, nuclear and coal energy will not be funded. 

The German solar power company Q-Cells filed for insolvency yesterday (3 April), the fourth such firm to go bankrupt in four months, as the solar recession gathers pace.

Germany is investigating the potential of converting wind power to hydrogen as an energy source in the wake of the country’s decision to move away from nuclear power.