By HDK / Published on Tue, 2009-08-18 16:17
Over the past few years, French wind power has undertaken an unprecedented development. Few turbines are in place (756 MW), but the overall granted capacity amounts to about 2.7 GW. The administrative territory of Aveyron, one with the best wind power potential in the country, is an interesting case for understanding the ways in which industrial wind power is being developed and regulated in France. This paper presents Aveyron wind power development by dividing it into three periods. For each period, we also sketch national developments in wind power policy.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-11-20 06:30
The problem of additionality
Green electricity sold by utility companies is a peculiar product. It guarantees the origin of your power, just like an ethical investment fund guarantees the origin of your profit, but what is the solid evidence for such a guarantee?
Guarantees of Origin (GoO) provide official proof that a certain amount of electricity has been generated by renewable sources. However, this system of accreditation was created before various kinds of state incentives for renewable energy came into being and complicated the situation with the problem of additionality.
The question of additionality is basically a question of whether the green power would have been produced anyway if the sale had not taken place. In most cases, additionality exists when the supply of electricity is generated over and above the requirement to meet existing legal obligations, or does not receive any state subsidies.
According to the website of Eugene Standard, most green power labels in Europe still do not include criteria for additionality – a system they view as 'greenwashing'. Even if additionality seems to be ensured in principle, there are still ways to escape it in practice.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Fri, 2008-06-13 09:00
Year: 2007
Policy Status: Planned
In July 2007, the French government established six working groups to address ways to redefine France's environment policy. The proposed recommendations were then put to public consultation, leading to a set of recommendations released at the end of October 2007. These recommendations will be put to the French parliament in early 2008.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Tue, 2008-06-10 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
Upon its publication in the EU Official Journal on 4 January 2003, the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) entered into EU law, allowing member states until 4 January 2006 to transpose the Directive into domestic building codes.
The Directive's principal objectives are:
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sat, 2008-06-07 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
On July 26 2006, the transport ministries of France and Spain launched an intergovernmental commission to organize combined road and maritime transport routes between the northern French coast and Spain's principal Atlantic ports. The "modal shift" project aimed to reduce road traffic and related GHG emissions by moving freight from trucks to cargo ships between French and Spanish ports.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Wed, 2008-06-04 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
On 5 October 2006, the French Government announced the creation of a 10 billion euro fund for the funding of domestic energy conservation projects with low-interest loans.
Available from January 2007, the low-interest loans are based on tax-free bank CODEVI accounts (Compte pour le Développement Industriel).
Now paying 2,75% a year in interest and capped at 4,600 € per person, these accounts will expand to 6,000 € as of January 2007 in order to bear the measure.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Sun, 2008-06-01 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
On 25th April 2006, France announced a series of public-private research partnerships, including three to reduce dependence on petroleum products and mitigate climate change.
Projects slated to receive substantial public funding from the Agency for Industrial Innovation (AII), included:
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Wed, 2008-05-28 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
Under the French programme of White Certificate Trading, suppliers of energy (electricity, gas, heating oil, LPG, heat, refrigeration) must meet government-mandated targets for energy savings achieved through the suppliers' residential and tertiary customers.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-02-28 08:30
An annual growth of 0.5% does not suffice
The European Union recently caused quite a political stir by announcing their ambitious new target of 20% renewable energy capacity in Europe by 2020. At the same time the likelihood that Europe will even approach its former renewables target of 12% by 2010 is growing smaller.
The French consultancy agency EurObserv’ER has published its 7th report on the State of Renewable Energies in Europe, and the conclusions are not very positive. The renewable capacity in the EU grew by only 0.5% in 2006, meaning that we are not even on course to reach the 2010 target. According to EurObserv’ER, only a few countries are making sufficient efforts to reach their individual target. This leads to the conclusion that 'the different regulations and incentive instruments shall have to be evaluated and brought to a level that is equal to the ambitions of the objectives'.
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By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Wed, 2007-07-04 16:22
The objective of this case study is to analyse the effects of improving the efficiency of a 15kW induction motor in various countries with different energy mixes. The results show that an improvement of efficiency has higher environmental benefits in countries with an electricity generation based on fossil fuels rather than renewable energy sources or nuclear. Electricity mixes from EU25, France, Germany, Poland and Austria were used.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2007-05-07 20:35
By Walter Hulshorst, Erik Smeets, Hans Wolse, KEMA
This report discusses some of the power quality contracts and classification systems used by distribution companies. It shows the different contracts used around the world by some groups of customers and utilities. It also covers the role of the regulator when allowing the market to agree on premium power quality contracts.
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By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Tue, 2007-02-06 17:23
Paris, 27 February 2007
The coordinators of the European Motor Challenge Program are organizing the second workshop of the program. Members of the European Commission and partners of the project from across Europe will present results, good practices in Europe and discuss how to improve the interaction between the program and the national/local levels. For further details please check the detailed schedule or the program website.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2007-02-01 13:58
Following a French initiative, a group of Belgian NGOs has launched a campaign for a symbolic 5-minute voluntary "blackout" today between 19.55 and 20.00 Europe Standard Time. While obviously with the best intentions, a sudden loss of lighting & appliance load coming back on 5 minutes later might lead to catastrophic failure of the electricity system.
That's why the organisers have alerted the Belgian transmission system operator Elia of their action, to take the necessary measures to follow the dip in the load. So a blackout is unlikely, but considering that turning off a transmission line to let a cruise ship pass left 10 million Europeans in the dark last November, one never knows.
A symbolic action, hopefully with high educational impact. But whether energy is actually saved in the balance, with 2 transients for the power stations following the load down and up will probably never be known.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2006-11-05 23:45
Yesterday, Saturday night, millions of Europeans in 8 countries were without electricity, as a result of a power problem in Germany. The cause may have been a transmission line over the river Ems that was switched of to let a cruise ship pass, subsequently overloading other parts of the network, according to grid operator E.On. A spokesperson from the French transmission system operator RTE commented that "we weren't very far from a European blackout".
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By Diedert Debusscher / Published on Thu, 2006-11-02 01:00
On average, administrative costs may run to one third of the total costs of hospitalisation at home. A study in France has calculated the average total cost of home care at € 140 per day: € 98 medical costs and € 42 administrative costs.
In France, the hospitalisation at home (L’Hospitalisation à domicile) is well integrated into the health sector. Dating back to 1956 (and relaunched in 1970), it has been accepted as an alternative to traditional hospitalisation since 1991.
Reference: POLTON, D. Bulletin d’information en économie de la santé, questions d’économie de la santé. 67 – June 2003. Centre de recherche, d’étude et de documentation en économie de la santé. ISSN 1283-4769.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2006-09-24 11:51
The Law "Engagement national pour le Logement" was passed on July 13, 2006. It is a Law for the public interest on housing in France. It contains in particular a measure on periodic inspection for electrical installations in existing dwellings.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2006-08-31 16:59
This part of the WindPower site is a data base of multimedia materials related to wind energy. You will find here thousands of sorted pictures, many movies and a lot of cartographical data (national maps and other).
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