By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-06-23 05:30
Should the case of Spain cause worries?
Two recent decisions by the Spanish government regarding wind energy have highlighted concerns about the affordability of this sector.
The first decision was to create a special fund for the €10 billion government deficit originating from wind energy incentives. The second decision was to end the complete autonomy of the regions in licensing wind projects. These decisions were taken to avoid exceeding the target capacity of 20,155 MW under the government incentives currently in force. Via agreements with the regions, the wind industry was already projecting 41,000 MW. Such a figure would be unaffordable for the government if the current regimen of incentives is left in place. The new national registration of wind projects will also force wind developers to give priority to the most profitable wind sites nationwide, instead of considering projects only on a regional basis.
The Spanish government’s measures provoked a lively discussion on Power Globe and other Internet forums. Can Spain still be regarded as a textbook example of renewable energy promotion, or is the country on the edge of a bankruptcy due to excessive investments in wind?
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Spain
By HDK / Published on Wed, 2009-06-03 19:36
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Tue, 2009-06-02 11:12
On the January 23, 2008 the European Commission agreed on a far-reaching package of proposals that will deliver the European Council's commitments to fight climate change and promote RE. With the publication of this Climate Action Plan and its several targets, the EU wants to show global leadership in this area.
This report provides an overview of the Kyoto-targets and the objectives of energy from RES in final energy consumption in 2020.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Fri, 2009-01-30 11:15
Leonardo ENERGY has launched a Spanish website aimed at providing information to the Spanish-speaking community of professionals.
More than 440 million people speak Spanish. It is the official language in 21 countries, and is also widely spoken in the US and Brazil. This language represents an enormous cultural, social and economic value. The growing environmental requirements for a sustainable world place these countries in a very relevant position thanks to their natural and renewable resources.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Fri, 2008-08-29 11:07
Concentration photovoltaics (CPV) offers one of the most promising utility-scale, renewable energy technology options. Many companies are testing their CPV products and some have already launched commercial offers.
This documentary presents interviews with some industry representatives present at ISFOC (CPV Institute in Puertollano, South of Spain).
Register for updates on concentration photovoltaics
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Fri, 2008-08-01 17:11
Along with wind power, concentration photovoltaics (CPV) offers one of the most promising utility-scale, renewable energy technology options. CPV has a current system efficiency of 25% and the potential of reaching much higher efficiency. In the right locations, it could provide electricity at cost low enough to be competitive with fossil and nuclear power. Compared to other solar technologies, CPV has the advantage of modularity and very low water needs.
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By Angelo Baggini / Published on Mon, 2008-06-16 09:00
Year: 2006
Policy Status: In force
Upon its publication in the EU Official Journal on January 4th 2003, the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) entered into EU law. 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 Fernando Nuno / Published on Fri, 2008-04-04 14:16
Up to 40.8% of the overall electricity demand is supplied by wind power at some moments of the day in the Spanish electricity system. This record constitutes a real challenge for transmission system operators (TSOs).
In more general terms, renewable energy penetration strongly depends on the ability of TSO to evolve towards a new way of operating the system: dedicated predictability for renewable generation, voltage dip management and managing the power balance.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2008-03-06 08:30
Will CSP and Ocean Energy become the next booming technologies?
Mention renewable energy and the first examples most people think of are hydroelectric power, wind power, photovoltaic panels, and various types of biomass. These are indeed the renewable technologies that have been implemented on the largest scale in recent years. But with the ever increasing quest for renewable energy that can help mitigate climate change and reduce oil dependency, a new generation of renewable technologies could very well experience a market boom in the upcoming years.
These include Wave Power and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). As is often the case, their technological concept is not new, but up to now the market conditions had not been right for large scale deployment. Those market conditions have now become favourable for Wave Power in Ireland and Portugal and for CSP in Spain. Other countries are expected to follow soon.
Ambitious targets for wave power
In Ireland, Eamon Ryan, the Minister for Communication, Energy, and Natural Resources has set the target of 500 MW of Wave Energy installed by 2020. Portugal has set a similar target of 550 MW by 2020. Both countries hope to ignite the wave power market by setting an attractive feed-in tariff — €0.22/kWh in Ireland and €0.23/kWh in Portugal.
Nevertheless, both of those targets seem very ambitious, given that the first large scale commercial wave power plant has yet to go into operation. The construction of the 2.25 MW wave power plant in Povoa de Varzim, Portugal, experienced significant delays, although the final part of the project is currently in the commissioning phase.
Hopefully, the government support being provided in both countries will allow the technology to overcome the bulk of its teething problems. If that happens, wave power could very well start conquering the world at fast pace.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2008-02-22 17:00
By Guy Kasier, E&D Systems
This briefing paper presents the findings of the project 'Telemedicine and the consequences for urban planning and development' running from 2003 to 2007 in 4 countries. Its main findings are presented below:
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2007-11-02 15:00
Technical and social barriers for implementing sustainable energy
When reading the news one sometimes gets the impression that evolving towards sustainable power production is only a question of politics and economics. It is often forgotten that, once the political decisions have been taken and the systems have become profitable, everything still has to start.
Implementing renewable energy systems on a large scale is not simply pulling a switch. There are numerous technical and social barriers that have to be taken into account. And each of these barriers put a finite limit on the speed at which growth can take place. It might be frustrating in times when climate change mitigation and energy security require urgent actions, but denying those barriers and forcing things forward without due consideration can turn out to be counter productive in the long run.
New technology requires extensive testing
Taken in this perspective, one could wonder if the wind market isn’t running too fast for its own good.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2007-08-02 23:20
The 9th International Conference for Electric Power Quality and Utilization takes place from October 8 to 11 in Barcelona. Well over 200 papers will be presented in 4 parallel sessions on developments in the field of power quality and related fields.
EPQU aims to be a bridge between academia and industry, with 80% of papers coming from academia, and 20% from a variety of industry actors.
Particularly for industry participants, a number of tutorials have been organised on October 8:
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Tue, 2007-07-03 07:00
If you live in or visit some of the megacities with transportation problems you surely find yourself envying the motorcyclists. Cruising between the cars, even without travelling at high speeds, they are reaching their destination well ahead of those of us in cars. Here is the ultimate solution: a solar powered motorcycle energy storage capacity for 20km and a top-speed of 50 km/h!
Admittedly, it looks more like a snail, but there are several motorbikes for city use that have a protective shield of the sort this one has.
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