By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Thu, 2009-12-10 13:14
Electric vehicles may be going mainstream very soon! Whether it is just trendy to have one or not, governments and industries across the world are getting to grips with them. All it takes is to have the vehicles on the market, because the grounds for buying one are there. The reduction in emissions and energy savings convince many customers, but to counter the price premium, governments across Europe (and the world) are bringing up a number of incentives.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-10-27 06:30
California stimulating middle-scale renewable energy projects
California regulators have designed a new market system for stimulating middle-scale renewable energy projects in a competitive way. The main idea is to create a reverse auction market where renewable energy companies can offer their services for green energy projects. The company that offers to sell electricity at the lowest rate wins a particular purchase agreement. Subsequently, the state will pay the developers the feed-in tariff that is sufficient to bring that particular project online.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-10-20 05:30
Avoiding a high administrative burden
The Australian government’s Department of Climate Change has created a new system of Renewable Energy Credits (REC) for systems up to 1.5 kW. Those small systems are mainly comprised of PV systems, along with small wind and hydroelectric installations. The problem with the former Renewable Energy Certificates system was that the resulting administrative burden for such small systems was too high and the resulting income too low to result in a successful incentive.
In the new RECs system, the energy production is not measured but estimated. The certificates are paid for in advance, at the time the system is purchased, for a lifetime of fifteen years. The production estimation is based on standard figures of mean solar irradiation in the local region. To provide an extra incentive for small systems, this figure is multiplied by 5 for systems installed between June 2009 and June 2012. This multiplier will decrease gradually after 2012 and be set at 1 from June 2015 onwards.
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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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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2009-02-25 12:22
The Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) just published its 4th Benchmarking Report on the Quality of Electricity Supply. It deals with three types of electricity quality: the speed and accuracy with which electricity customer requests are handled (commercial quality); the availability of electricity (continuity); and its technical properties (voltage quality).
Lord Mogg, CEER President, said, “In order to ensure that quality is not compromised as electricity companies seek to cut costs, more and more regulators have introduced electricity quality incentive/penalty regimes.”
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Thu, 2009-02-05 19:13
Support for renewables is becoming a worldwide trend.
Thanks to our partner REEGLE, we have learned that South Africa is willing to introduce a Feed-In Tariff scheme. It is proposed that by 2010, the amount of electricity produced from renewable energy technologies shall be no less than 10%, reaching 20% by 2020, a standard figure around the world (EU, Australia, etc.). Eligible technologies and plants would be small hydropower <10 MW, solar pv; solar csp, wind, wave and tidal.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2009-02-02 20:37
This status report examines the support schemes in place across Europe. It found that fiscal incentives such as tax reductions or exemptions are often used to complement the main support scheme which are feed-in tariffs or (to a lesser extent) quotas with tradeable certificates. The report identifies barriers to the further deployment of renewables and assesses the extent to which renewables have been successful in replacing conventional generation in the fuel mix.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2008-11-17 10:10
Paolo Bertoldi, European Commission,bu DG JRC, Italy
Silvia Rezessy, Central European University, Hungary
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By Peter Vaessen / Published on Mon, 2007-06-11 12:48
By Peter Vaessen and Davy Thielens, KEMA
This Application Note discusses DG in the context of the energy agenda at Global, Regional and National levels. It discusses the state of the Kyoto protocol and how it relates to European Commission policy as laid out in directives, and National implementation measures. Possible future developments, including the fate of Kyoto and its successors and new technologies, are discussed.
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Energy Policy Platform
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2007-01-16 12:11
This Leonardo ENERGY Community of Practice looks at energy policies and projects that make a difference. These initiatives can be emerging or mature.
As part of its 2007 work programme, a lean framework for impact assessment will be defined, and a number of case studies developed.
For novel initiatives, the platform also develops briefing documents.
Leonardo ENERGY users with a relevant background in the subject are welcome to subscribe to this group. Subscription requests are subject to moderator approval, and will be reviewed based on user profile.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Wed, 2006-04-05 05:14
Well you may know them by the name "White Certificates" as they are referred to in the Energy Service directives (Energy Service Directive April 2006.pdf).
But in the U.S. the same idea, used or considered in some ten states as reported by ACEEE , is known under the name "EERS". ACEEE has studied also four European applications in the U.K., Italy, Flemish Belgium and France.
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