Developments of energy in EU–unlocking the wave energy potential

The New Entrance Reserve (NER300) is one of the leading mechanisms used for the application and promotion of clean energy projects. In this context, this study aims to investigate the evolution of wave energy projects within the first and second call of NER300. Furthermore, the study tries to identify the reasons of successful applications through an estimation analysis of energy production, avoided emission and energy security. Milder resources contain ‘hidden’ opportunities for wave energy, with lower expenditure and capacity factors equivalent and even over 20%. Lower extreme events indicate that associated installation costs can be considered reduced, thus the potential cost of energy may act as a positive driver for future development. The results of the study argue that there are regions with ‘hidden’ opportunities that can accelerate proof-of-concept and enhance viability for wave energy.     

The role of coal in energy policy and sustainable development of Turkey: Is it compatible to the EU energy policy?

This paper aims to assess the current and future role of coal in energy strategy of Turkey, and evaluates the compatibility of policies to the EU energy policy and strategy. Coal is regarded as the most important indigenous energy source in Turkey together with hydropower to strengthen the supply security of the country. Turkish government set targets to fully utilize coal reserves of the country in next decades. However, the country is also in the process of becoming an EU Member State, hence, it is expected that the energy policies have to comply with the EU. Moreover, Turkey ratified Kyoto Protocol in 2009, thus the country should limit CO₂ emission together with other greenhouse gases. The probable obstacles that Turkey may face due to the utilization of coal were determined as CO₂ emissions, lack of technology and application in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and health and safety issues. It is concluded that coal is a very important domestic energy source for Turkey but new policies have to be developed and adopted immediately, and more realistic targets for the country should be set accordingly.     

Do urbanization and industrialization affect energy intensity in developing countries?

Against a backdrop of concerns about climate change, peak oil, and energy security issues, reducing energy intensity is often advocated as a way to at least partially mitigate these impacts. This study uses recently developed heterogeneous panel regression techniques like mean group estimators and common correlated effects estimators to model the impact that income, urbanization and industrialization has on energy intensity for a panel of 76 developing countries. In the long-run, a 1% increase in income reduces energy intensity by − 0.45% to − 0.35%. Long-run industrialization elasticities are in the range 0.07 to 0.12. The impact of urbanization on energy intensity is mixed. In specifications where the estimated coefficient on urbanization is statistically significant, it is slightly larger than unity. The implications of these results for energy policy are discussed.     

A comparison of Nordic energy and CO2 intensity dynamics in the years 1960–1997

This study is a comparative analysis of energy consumption and CO₂ emission flows in the Nordic countries of Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden from the years 1960–1997. The comparative analyses are based on complete decomposition methodology, from which the authors provide an analysis of the dynamic changes of energy consumption and CO₂ emission flows in those Nordic economies. The comparative analysis reveals that:

• 1.The economic activity effects of the different Nordic countries were quite similar.
• 2.The structural effects varied considerably indicating differences in the relative economic activities in the analysed countries.
• 3.The intensity effects on energy use suggest that there were no significant changes in Finland and Sweden during that period. In Denmark and Norway, although intensity effects first increased in the 1960s, they had a downward sloping trend after 1970. The intensity effects of CO₂ emissions increased until the year 1970 and thereafter decreased until the year 1990. In the 1990s, only Norway's intensity effect continued to decrease. In contrast to the other Nordic countries, Finland's CO₂ emission intensity effect differs greatly. It continued to increase until the year 1980, then decreased sharply at the beginning of the 1980s and experienced considerable fluctuations after that.

     

Is the energy intensity a less useful indicator than the carbon factor in the study of climate change?

We show that the energy intensity (energy/GDP) varies over a wider range and has had a greater impact on energy-related carbon emissions than the carbon factor (carbon/energy). Thus, in contrast to what is mentioned in Mielnik and Goldemberg (Energy Policy 27(5)(1999) 307–308) the energy intensity is an indicator which is as useful as, if not more useful than, the carbon factor to assess the evolution patterns of industrialized and developing countries regarding climate change. Some related data and study results are presented.     

Why (and how) to regulate power exchanges in the EU market integration context?

The European Union (EU) market integration is leading to increasingly monopolistic electricity market infrastructures, which has opened a debate on the regulation of these so-called power exchanges. In this paper, we start by stating that there are two types of power exchanges in Europe, i.e. “merchant” and “cost-of-service regulated” power exchanges. We then discuss how regulation can be used to better align their incentives with the main power exchange tasks. We conclude that adopting the cost-of-service regulated model for all power exchanges in Europe could be counterproductive in the current context, but that regulation can help ensure that the benefits of the EU market integration materialize. Promising regulatory actions include tempering the reinforced market power of power exchanges, and quality-of-service regulation for the ongoing cooperation among power exchanges to organize trade across borders.     

Enlarging the EU's internal energy market: Why would third countries accept EU rule export?

Why would countries without a membership perspective seek integration into the EU's internal energy market? One major element of the EU's external energy policy is the export of EU energy norms and regulations to neighbourhood countries and beyond. A core legal instrument the EU uses in this context is the Energy Community Treaty (ECT). The ECT goes both geographically and regarding its depth significantly beyond neighbourhood or association policies, addressing potentially also countries in the ‘far neighbourhood’ and aiming at the creation of a Single Market for energy with these countries. While, however, EU candidate countries are obliged to adopt the “acquis” before accessing the EU and therefore comply to EU rules already before they enter the Club, I argue that countries with no or only a vague membership perspective – i.e. countries where the EU cannot apply the “conditionality” – approach (e.g., ENP countries)—aim at deeper integration with the EU because they are either eager to demonstrate their capability and potential to become part of the Club, they seek greater independence from a regional hegemon or they envisage significant economic gains as common norms, rules and standards are likely to increase economic exchange with the EU.     

Can the future EU ETS support wind energy investments?

This article discusses how the future Emissions Trading Scheme legislation should be designed to allow the European Union to comply with the 20% CO₂ emissions reduction target, while at the same time promoting wind energy investments. We examine whether CO₂ prices could eventually replace the existing support schemes for wind and if they adequately capture its benefits. The analysis also looks at the effectiveness of the clean development and joint implementation mechanisms to trigger wind projects and technology transfer in developing countries. We find out that climate policy is unlikely to provide sufficient incentives to promote wind power, and that other policies should be used to internalise the societal benefits that accrue from deploying this technology: CO₂ prices can only reflect the beneficial impact of wind on climate change but not its contribution to the security of supply or employment creation. A minimum price of around €40/tCO₂ should be attained to maintain present support levels for wind and this excludes income risks and intermediation costs. Finally, CDM improves the return rate of wind energy projects in third countries, but it is the local institutional framework and the long-term stability of the CO₂ markets that matters the most.     

Status and perspectives of renewable energy policy and deployment in the European Union—What is needed to reach the 2020 targets?

This article evaluates the status of current RES deployment, policies and barriers in the EU-27 member states and compares it to the required to meet the 2020 targets. The evaluation relies strongly on the quantitative deployment status and policy effectiveness indicators. European RES deployment and policy has progressed strongly in recent years, but the growth here has been mainly driven by effective policies in a small or medium number of top runner countries. Across Europe, the highest average policy effectiveness over six years was reached for onshore wind (4.2%), biofuels (3.6%) and biomass electricity (2.7%), while in the heat sector, all technologies score below 2%. Comparing the recent progress to the required growth for meeting the 2020 target, it appears that some countries largely exceed the interim targets of the RES Directive 2009/28/EC. Despite this, Europe will need additional policy effort to reach the 2020 target. Critical success factors include implementing effective and efficient policies that attract sufficient investments, reducing administrative and grid related barriers, especially in currently less advanced countries, upgrading the power grid infrastructure, dismantling financial barriers in the heat sector, realising sustainability standards for biomass, and lowering energy demand through increased energy efficiency efforts.     

The costs of electricity interruptions in Spain. Are we sending the right signals?

One of the objectives of energy security is the uninterrupted physical availability of energy. However, there is limited information about how much is the cost of energy supply interruptions. This information is essential to optimize investment and operating decisions to prevent energy shortages, or, alternatively, to determine the strength of the signals to be sent to the agents so that they may invest accordingly. In this paper, we estimate the economic impact of an electricity interruption in different sectors and regions of Spain. Although there are several caveats in our analysis, we find that in 2008 the cost for the Spanish economy of one kWh of electricity not supplied was above €4 even in a conservative scenario, which is higher than the signals currently being sent as incentives to avoid these interruptions. This might result in an underinvestment in short-term energy security, particularly when we add the usual risk aversion of most consumers.     

Renewable energy applications in Greece—What is the public attitude?

Large-scale integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) applications is thought to be imperative for Greece in view of meeting the targets of 2020, which dictate that 20% of the national gross energy consumption and 40% of the national gross electricity consumption should be covered by RES. However, availability of suitable sites for the installation of such applications is questioned, since apart from the fact that many locations of high RES potential and adequate infrastructure have already been allocated, the society opposition often sets additional barriers. The present study focuses on the assessment of the levels of social acceptability for selected RES technologies (wind, small hydro and photovoltaics) in a representative region of Southern Greece. The specific area is of major interest since, apart from the operating and scheduled installations of RES applications in the next years, the local population is also familiar with the long-term operation of a lignite-based power station (850 MW). One three-part questionnaire has been deployed for conducting the survey based on a representative sample of local inhabitants. According to the results obtained, high levels of acceptability of renewable energy applications have been encountered although the need for additional public information regarding RES exploitation has also been designated.     

Rockets and feathers in power futures markets? Evidence from the second phase of the EU ETS

This paper examines the possibility of asymmetric transmission of CO₂ prices to electricity futures prices in the second phase of the European Emission Trading Scheme. We would like to assess whether output prices tend to respond more quickly to input price increases than decreases: this phenomenon is known as “rockets and feathers” in the literature. Compared to Zachmann and von Hirschhausen (2008), who carried out a similar analysis for Germany in the first phase of the Emission Trading Scheme with data from 2005 to 2006, our study spans a longer timeframe (July 2007–June 2010), with a presumably more mature permit market, and includes three additional European countries (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). Results do not provide empirical evidence of statistically significant differences in the response of power prices to positive and negative shocks in CO₂ allowance and fuel markets.     

How much will the energy service directive contribute to the 20% EU energy savings goal?

The Energy Service Directive (ESD) of the European Union (EU) stipulates that member states realize 9% energy savings for the period 2008–2016. A harmonized calculation approach, consisting of a combination of top-down and bottom-up methods, will be developed to determine the savings of energy efficiency improvement measures. However, it is unclear which part of all realized energy savings is eligible in meeting the ESD target. One can argue that not all savings, especially the autonomous efficiency gains, should be accounted for, but only savings due to (new) policy. An analysis is made of the way the methods can be applied, how baseline choices define the savings and whether these represent policy-induced savings. It is shown that the given target could be met with total energy savings that equal 1.0% of ESD energy use per year, hardly more than realized at present. With other choices, the target is met with total savings of 1.6% per year. The savings found are made comparable with the 2.4% yearly savings derived from the 20% savings target for 2020 formulated by the EU. Given the large gap between ESD savings and the savings target, it is concluded that the methods and baselines used should be chosen such that the ESD target leads to realized savings after 2008 at the upper side of the margin.     

Application of different EOR techniques for the energy and recovery of Ashal’cha oil field

In this research, utilizing the reservoir and produced oil data, different enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques known as in-situ combustion, CO₂ flooding, and steam flooding were applied for Ashal’cha oil field in Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. For this purpose, In-Situ Combustion Predictive Model (ICPM), CO₂ Miscible Flood Predictive Model (CO₂PM) and Steam-flood Predictive Model (SFPM) are used. In addition to oil recovery, economic analysis of the discussed EOR applications was also conducted. By using the oil price forecast for 10 years, each EOR method is analyzed using their expenses and outcomes separately. Comparison among the EOR applications regarding the oil production, and economic feasibility was also given. Taking the reservoir and produced oil characteristics, oil production rate and economical payout time into account, it was observed that in-situ combustion is the most feasible and practical EOR method for Ashal’cha oil field.     

«Would you say that the price you pay for electricity is fair?» Consumers' satisfaction and utility reforms in the EU15

The research question addressed by this paper is a simple one: are European consumers happy with the price they pay for electricity supply services after two decades of reforms? We focus on self-assessed consumers' satisfaction as reported in three waves of the Eurobarometer surveys, 2000-2002-2004, conditioning on a set of indicators of public ownership and liberalisation across the EU-15. After controlling for individual and country characteristics, we find that consumers are happier with the prices they pay when in their country there are both public ownership and liberalisation. We discuss this finding.     

How connected is the carbon market to energy and financial markets? A systematic analysis of spillovers and dynamics

Carbon allowances are a new class of financial instrument which aim to assist in limiting the extent and impact of global warming and climate change. The feedback mechanism in the “Carbon-Energy-Finance” system makes the information connectedness dynamics more complex since we add equity, bond and non-energy commodity assets into the system. Using modified error variance decomposition and network diagrams, we quantify and systematically analyze how the European carbon market connects with information from a wide range of other markets. Our results indicate: (i) the nature of information spillover changes over time, with system-wide return connectedness being higher and more variable than the volatility interdependence; (ii) both the oil and carbon markets closely connect with equity and non-energy commodity markets rather than bond markets; (iii) we identify three structural breaks in carbon volatility and their implication for carbon-finance linkages; (iv) financial risk-type macroeconomic factors make greater contributions to system-wide connectedness than commodity factors. These findings have economic implications for investors, portfolio managers and policymakers.     

What is the global potential for renewable energy?

World energy demand is projected to rise to 1000 EJ (EJ = 10¹⁸ J) or more by 2050 if economic growth continues its course of recent decades. Both reserve depletion and greenhouse gas emissions will necessitate a major shift from fossil fuels as the dominant energy source. Since nuclear power is now unlikely to increase its present modest share, renewable energy (RE) will have to provide for most energy in the future. This paper addresses the questions of what energy levels RE can eventually provide, and in what time frame. We find that when the energy costs of energy are considered, it is unlikely that RE can provide anywhere near a 1000 EJ by 2050. We further show that the overall technical potential for RE will fall if climate change continues. We conclude that the global shift to RE will have to be accompanied by large reductions in overall energy use for environmental sustainability.     

Too difficult to govern? An assessment of the governability of transport biofuels in the EU

Transport biofuels are currently the subject of heated debate in the EU. In the past decade the deployment of these technologies has been justified by claims of attractive environmental, geopolitical and rural development benefits. However, expectations have rapidly turned into deep criticism regarding the sustainability of these technologies and the desirability of pursuing the biofuel path. This situation has generated an on-going controversy and policy deadlock at EU level. This study explores these issues from a governance perspective. Employing the concept of system governability, derived from interactive governance theory, it attempts to shed some light on the problems facing the governance of biofuels and on how the quality of the governance system could be improved. The analysis showed that the governability of the system decreased substantially in the period 2003–2012 due to increasing governing needs and decreasing governing capacity. The quality of the governance system can be improved by (i) improving governing capacity by reducing conflicts among governing actors, advancing consistency among institutions and creating capacity at international and global level; and (ii) promoting advanced technologies and adjusting societal ambitions and expectations regarding biofuels.     

Comparison of novel composite anodes with different proportions of α/β-PbO2 and the application in long-period zinc electrowinning

Zinc is an important non-ferrous metal material, of which the hydrometallurgy process has requirements for anode materials. In the present work, Pb-0.6%Sb/α-PbO₂/β-PbO₂-MnO₂(CNTs) composite electrodes with different proportions of α/β-PbO₂ were obtained and compared before and after zinc electrolytic simulation process. The optimal one was contrasted with traditional Pb-0.8 wt%Ag anode in long-period zinc electrowinning application. It was found that α-PbO₂ transition layer could effectively improve the electrodeposition distortion of β-PbO₂ surface and make the corrosion resistance better. Novel composite anode with more β-PbO₂ proportion showed weaker internal resistance and greater OER electrocatalytic activity. The anode obtained by controlling the electrodeposition time of α&β-PbO₂ phases at 1.5 h & 1 h had the best physical and chemical properties. Its cell voltage value (2.833 V) was 299 mV lower than that of traditional Pb-0.8 wt%Ag anode (3.132 V) in zinc electrodeposition. In addition, the compactness of the composite anode was improved under the function of active particles. The energy-saving effect of novel composite anode in long-period zinc electrowinning application was obvious.