Overcoming problems in Turkey's renewable energy policy: How can EU contribute?

Fossil fuels cover most of the energy demand in the world, and this creates significant social, economic and environmental problems. Many countries have taken measures to increase the share of renewable energy sources (RES), especially in electricity generation, and the review of literature shows that the success of a country in RES diffusion depends on a comprehensive renewable energy policy which combines political commitment with stable and long-term support measures that stimulate technological innovation. As the largest economy in the world, EU has also taken steps to increase RES usage in electricity generation in member states. Similar to other developing countries, Turkey is learning lessons from EU experiences regarding RES policies, and Turkey is also reforming its legal framework in line with acquis communautaire as a candidate country. As a result, EU has a multiway impact on Turkey's renewable energy policy. An overview of Turkey's renewable energy policy showed that EU has significantly contributed to Turkey in shaping its renewable energy policy, and Turkey should increase cooperation with EU in order to utilize its renewable energy potential.     

Cyprus energy system and the use of renewable energy sources

Cyprus is an island state whose energy production is almost completely dependent on imported hydrocarbon fuels. Its electricity production sector is more than 90% dependent on oil products while the remaining 9% are covered by imports of coal (4.5%) and by solar energy (4.5%). Because Cyprus will become a full member of the European Union (EU), it becomes essential to follow the EU white paper rules and insert renewable energy sources (RES) as part of its energy production system. Solar, wind energy and biomass are the three available forms of RES. This paper will examine and analyze the energy system of Cyprus. It will examine the RES available and the extent of the energy needs could be satisfied by them.     

The progress of RES environment in the most recent member states of the EU

The most recent EU member states seem to have important Renewable Energy Sources (RES) potential. However, they have serious structural difficulties in development and integration of RES policies. Indeed, the balanced development of RES between the member states is urgent today. The penetration of the RES in these member states is related to the existence of an appropriate environment (political, economical, social, and technological). The current paper is based on an analytical review and specific PEST analysis aiming to assess the current RES environment and the progress so far in each of these most recent EU members.     

Analysis of renewable energy progress in the western Balkan countries: Bosnia–Herzegovina and Serbia

Within the framework of achieving the European environmental targets towards climate change mitigation, as well as decreasing the fossil fuel dependence and its negative effects on global warming, renewable energy sources (RES) promotion has become a major issue of concern in most European Union (EU) countries. In the above context, most EU countries have endorsed initiatives to foster RES implementation development and inclusion in the energy mix, aiming to endeavor and further impel the benefits deriving from RES and harmonize to the EU Directive or Kyoto Protocol. Nevertheless, only few sporadic efforts have been examining countries and compare the requirements for promoting RES implementation that lack specific RES obligations or a framework set by the Kyoto Protocol or the EU Directive, and particular Balkans countries with great RES potential, such as BiH and Serbia. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the conditions and modalities for RES progress within the economic, political and institutional dimension, in these two neighboring countries located in the vicinity of EU Member States (MS), which appear to have a similar historical, political and economical background and an extensive RES potential. The analysis indicated that RES development in BiH seems to be a slow process, its institutional framework is partly established and further strengthening is required. In Serbia, the institutional framework is efficiently established, are in the process of developing new legislation to facilitate renewable energy development.     

A model for the development of a power production system in Greece,Part II: Where RES meet EU targets

This paper studies the electricity production system of the Greek Interconnected Electric System using a development model created with the software package WASP-IV. The period of study is from 2009 till 2030. It consists of three scenarios using three different criteria: energy, environmental, and economic. The three scenarios are the Renewable Energy Source (RES), the lignite–RES, and the natural gas–RES. Subsequently, a sensitivity analysis is carried out for annual growth rate of electricity consumption and load demand. It is considered that there are no other energy sources beyond those already in use (lignite, oil, natural gas, biomass, solar, wind, and hydropower), no CO₂ capture policies are implemented, and electricity production from RES meets targets of the European Union in 2020. The present paper completes the study started with the paper “A model for the development of a power production system in Greece, Part I: RES do not meet EU targets”. It is shown that with regard to fossil fuels, the use of natural gas is the best choice. The use of RES, though environmentally friendly, is an expensive solution.     

Renewable hydrogen energy regulations,codes and standards: Challenges faced by an EU candidate country

The European Union is one of the most important players in the field of world energy with an integrated and well-organized energy market. However, energy policies in the EU are not sustainable. The EU is the world’s largest importer of fossil fuels and is leading global action in accelerating the transition to renewable energy and low-carbon economy at present. Renewables make the second-largest contribution to domestic energy production after coal.     

The perspectives of energy production from coal‐fired power plants in an enlarged EU

The aim of this paper is to present the current status of the coal‐fired power sector in an enlarged EU (EU‐15 plus EU member candidate states) in relation with the main topics of the European Strategy for the energy production and supply. It is estimated that 731 thermoelectric units, larger than 100 MW_e, are operating nowadays, and their total installed capacity equals to 200.7 GW_e. Coal contribution to the total electricity generation with reference to other fuel sources, is by far more intensive in the non‐EU part (EU member candidate states), compared to the EU member states. It is expected that even after the enlargement, the European Union will strongly being related to coal. Enlargement will bring additional factors into play in order to meet the requirements of rising consumption, growing demand for conventional fuels and increasing dependence on imports. Besides the technology, boiler size, efficiency, age and environmental performance will determine the necessities of the coal‐fired power sector in each country. Depending on the case, lifetime extension measures in operating coal‐fired power plants or clean coal technologies can play an important role towards the energy sector restructuring. Low efficiency values in the non‐EU coal‐fired units and heavily aged power plants in EU countries will certainly affect decisions in favour of upgrading or reconstruction. The overall increase of efficiency, the reduction of harmful emissions from generating processes and the co‐combustion of coal with biomass and wastes for generating purposes indicate that coal can be cleaner and more efficient. Additionally, plenty of rehabilitation projects based on CCT applications, have already been carried out or are under progress in the EU energy sector. The proclamations of the countries' energy policies in the coming decades, includes integrated renovation concepts of the coal‐fired power sector. Further to the natural gas penetration in the electricity generation and CO₂ sequestration and underground storage, the implementation of CCT projects will strongly contribute to the reduction of CO₂ emissions in the European Union, according to the targets set in the Kyoto protocol. In consequence, clean coal technologies can open up new markets not only in the EU member candidate states, but also in other parts of the world. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nepal's solar hot water scene

Electricity prices close to European levels, remote areas that are difficult to elctrify, and a lack of indigenous fossil fuels — what could be a better starting point for renewable energy? And indeed, only 11% of Nepal's already low energy consumption is met by fossil fuels. Has one of the poorest countries achieved a level of renewables that the European Union's White Paper on RES falls short of? Cornelius Suchy, MVV Consultants & Engineers reports.     

Design options for cooperation mechanisms under the new European renewable energy directive

In June 2009, a new EU directive on the promotion of renewable energy sources (RES) entered into effect. The directive 2009/28/EC, provides for three cooperation mechanisms that will allow member states to achieve their national RES target in cooperation with other member states: statistical transfer, joint projects, and joint support schemes. This article analyses the pros and cons of the three mechanisms and explores design options for their implementation through strategic and economic questions: How to counterbalance the major drawbacks of each mechanism? How to reflect a balance of costs and benefits between the involved member states? The analysis identifies a number of design options that respond to these questions, e.g. long term contracts to ensure sufficient flexibility for statistical transfers, a coordinated, standardised joint project approach to increase transparency in the European market, and a stepwise harmonisation of joint support schemes that is based on a cost-effective accounting approach. One conclusion is that the three cooperation mechanisms are closely interlinked. One can consider their relation to be a gradual transition from member state cooperation under fully closed national support systems in case of statistical transfers, to cooperation under fully open national support systems in a joint support scheme.     

Comparative assessment of policies targeting energy use efficiency in Lithuania

Energy efficiency is an important issue of European climate policy. Energy efficiency is measured by the energy intensity of an economy showing how much energy (expressed in kilograms of oil equivalent, kgoe) is used for the production of one unit (1000 EUR) of GDP. There are huge differences between EU old and new member states. Though there are some trends of energy intensity convergence between EU member states however the achieved decrease in energy intensity is attributable mostly to a loss of energy-intensive industrial capacities in the transformation process. There is a crucial difference between whether the energy intensity of a given economy decreases as a result of downscaling energy-intensive activities or because of increased energy efficiency in activities that are maintained. It is important to make sure that this distinction is made within the policy framework which at present is not the case. The aim of the paper is to assess policies targeting energy intensity decrease in Lithuania in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and efficacy and to select the best policies able to increase energy efficiency in activities that are maintained.     

Renewable energy: Progressing towards a net zero energy island, the case of Reunion Island

For the last two decades, economic development in Reunion Island has led to major structural changes. The latter have been characterized by an increase in energy demand per person. This demand is mostly related to a high population growth (1.55% per year). Reunion currently has 833,000 inhabitants. The population will rise to 1 million in 2030. Like most ultraperipheral regions of the European Union, Reunion is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels for its energy production. The total primary energy consumption amounted to 1352 ktep in 2009 and 87.1% is imported energy. The development of various renewable energies such as solar energy, biomass, ocean energy, etc. is thus of priority concern to aim to achieve energetic independence. Just like other French overseas territories, Reunion policies have widely invested in Renewable Energy Sources (RES) since 2000. This paper aims at presenting the current status, the major achievements of policies and the future objectives in the deployment of renewable energy programmes. The perspective of a net zero energy island versus the pressure of the population is analysed. The barriers to penetration of RES in a small-scale territory are also discussed.     

Renewislands—Renewable energy solutions for islands

Increase of the global energy demand and environmental problems relating to fossil energy utilization request the new energy sources to replace the traditional fossil fuels. With respect to energy production, most of the islands in European Union and in the other parts of the world, depend on importation, mainly from oil and its related products. The global development of renewable energy technologies can assure sustainable supply of power for islands. To overcome the limitation of the sources of renewable energy, hydrogen is utilized as a storage medium integrated with intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. This paper introduces the programme of “Renewislands—Renewable Energy Solutions for Islands”, the work tasks, details of the design of the activities to develop solutions integrating intermittent renewable energy supply (RES), fuel cell (FC) and hydrogen infrastructure to promote RES and innovative decentralized power systems penetration in islands; main results achieved in each work packages are presented; in addition, the development of intermittent renewable energy penetration in specific European Islands are reviewed briefly.     

Assessment of the potential biomass supply in Europe using a resource-focused approach

This paper analyses the potential biomass supply in the 15 EU countries (EU15), 8 new member states and 2 candidate countries (ACC10), plus Belarus and the Ukraine. The objective of this study is to make a more detailed assessment of the potential in Europe than previously undertaken. For this purpose five scenarios were designed to describe the short-, medium- and long-term potential of biomass for energy. The scenarios are based on assumptions regarding residue harvests, energy-crop yields and surplus agricultural land. Energy-crop yields are correlated with the national wheat yields, a methodology we have not seen used in biomass assessments before. Our assessments show that under certain restrictions on land availability, the potential supply of biomass energy amounts to up to 11.7 EJy⁻¹ in the EU15 and 5.5 EJy⁻¹ in the ACC10. For comparison, the overall energy supply in the EU15 totalled 62.6 EJy⁻¹ in 2001. Consequently, there are no important resource limitations in meeting the biomass target, 5.6 EJy⁻¹ in the EU15 by 2010, which was set by the European Commission in the 1997 White paper on renewable energy sources (RES). However, given the slow implementation of the RES policy it is very unlikely that the biomass targets will be met.     

A missing link? The case of Norway and Sweden: Does increased renewable energy production impact domestic greenhouse gas emissions?

This article examines how the EU׳s RES directive¹ will impact domestic greenhouse gas emissions in Norway and Sweden by 2020. The directive aims for a higher RES share in the energy consumption mix, and Norway and Sweden have established a common electricity certificate scheme to help achieve these RES goals. In terms of how these two national RES plans will impact domestic emissions by 2020, factors such as nuclear power, consumption changes and the energy balance must be considered. The most practical approach to evaluate the plans’ impact on emissions is to focus on changes in carbon-based consumption within the three directive sectors.The Norwegian RES action plan will not affect domestic emissions unless the electricity surplus generated by the certificate market is used to phase out fossil fuels in domestic sectors beyond the scope of the RES directive. The use of electricity to phase out fossil fuel consumption in the offshore sector would substantially reduce Norwegian emissions figures. The Swedish plan would positively impact Swedish greenhouse gas emissions; however, this impact is limited, primarily because a substantial increase in energy consumption is expected.     

Formulating a modern energy companies’ environment in the EU accession member states through a decision support methodology

One of the current energy policy's goals in the European Union (EU) is the exchange of knowledge and experience between the EU-15 member states and the new as well as the candidate countries in issues regarding the development of Renewable Energy Sources and the promotion of Energy Efficiency (EE). Nowadays, the liberalization of energy markets and the deterioration of the climate, in combination with the non-stop crude oil price increase, have had a decisive influence on the development of the above sectors. In addition, one of the most important elements for the renewable energy and EE development is the enhancement of energy producers by renewable energy and Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), respectively. These companies’ success is based on the formulation of a modern environment in each EU member state. However, the environment in the new and candidate member states is less mature than the environment in the EU-15 member states, as it is still in its development phase. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to present a “multi-dimensional” decision support methodology for the formulation of modern energy companies’ operational environment in the 13 new and candidate member states of the EU.     

Use of EU structural funds for sustainable energy development in new EU member states

More wide use of renewable energy sources (RES) and increase in energy supply and use efficiency can make a valuable contribution to the meeting sustainable energy development targets. The article presents a detailed overview of possibilities to use the EU Structural Funds available for new member states (NMS) to finance sustainable energy projects and to overcome market failures related with negative externalities of pollution, positive externalities of knowledge and adoption of new pollution reduction technologies and incomplete information. The analysis of current situation of the use of EU Structural funds (SF) for the implementation of sustainable energy projects in Lithuania, Poland and Check Republic was performed based on RUSE project results. The proposals to enhance use of SF for sustainable energy projects in NMS were developed.     

欧盟经济与环境关系问题浅议——基于经济发展、能源消耗与温室气体排放的统计分析

基于Eurostat New Cronos数据库提供的欧盟25个国家2003年的GDP、能源消耗与温室气体排放数据,在SAS系统下,运用描述性分析与回归分析,检测了欧盟25个国家经济发展、能源消耗与温室气体排放之间的相关性。研究表明:GDP、能源消耗和温室气体排放三者之间存在正相关性;相对经济发展的环境代价而言,欧盟新成员国的环境影响问题较欧盟15国更严重。     

Global energy security and the implications for the EU

The following article will analyse the global and geopolitical dimensions of the future international energy security and its implications for Europe and the EU-27. In this context, I will discuss to which extent the EU's newly proclaimed “Energy Action Plan” of the EU Spring summit of 2007 and its declared common energy (foreign) policy are a sufficient strategy to cope with the new global and geopolitical challenges. The article concludes the following: (1) The interlinkage between globally designed traditional energy security concepts – that rely just on economic factors and “market-strategies” – and domestic as well as regional political stability demands new thinking with regard to both energy supply security and foreign and security policies. (2) Although after the Russian–Ukrainian gas conflict in January 2006, energy security has forced its way up the European energy and foreign policy agendas, the EU-27 member states have largely failed to forge a coherent European energy security and energy foreign policy strategy after their Spring summit of 2007 because its declared political solidarity has been still lacking. But the 2nd Strategic Energy Review of November 2008 has recommended new initiatives to overcome this lack by promoting concrete infrastructure and other projects for enhancing Europe's supply security and its political solidarity as part of a common energy (foreign) policy. If the EU is able to implement the March 2007 and November 2008 decisions, the EU oil and gas demand will drastically reduce and freeze at current levels. In this case, Putin's energy policies by using Russia's energy resources and pipeline monopolies as a political instrument to enforce its economic and geopolitical interests will be proved as self-defeating in Russia's long-term strategic interests. It will reduce Gazprom's gas exports to a much smaller EU gas market than originally forecasted as the result of a deliberate EU policy of decreasing its overall gas demand and by diversifying its gas imports.     

Analysis of the EU renewable energy directive by a techno-economic optimisation model

The EU renewable energy (RES) directive sets a target of increasing the share of renewable energy used in the EU to 20% by 2020. The Norwegian goal for the share of renewable energy in 2020 is 67.5%, an increase from 60.1% in 2005. The Norwegian power production is almost solely based on renewable resources and the possibility to change from fossil power plants to renewable power production is almost non-existing. Therefore other measures have to be taken to fulfil the RES directive. Possible ways for Norway to reach its target for 2020 are analysed with a technology-rich, bottom-up energy system model (TIMES-Norway). This new model is developed with a high time resolution among others to be able to analyse intermittent power production. Model results indicate that the RES target can be achieved with a diversity of options including investments in hydropower, wind power, high-voltage power lines for export, various heat pump technologies, energy efficiency measures and increased use of biodiesel in the transportation sector. Hence, it is optimal to invest in a portfolio of technology choices in order to satisfy the RES directive, and not one single technology in one energy sector.     

The role of renewable energy sources within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol: the case of Greece

The exploitation of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) forms an integral part of the effort to reduce the negative impacts from the use of fossil fuels and to confront the risks associated with climate change. The Kyoto Protocol (KP) sets legally binding commitments for developed countries with respect to their greenhouse gases emissions and, in that, represents the first step of a systematic effort for stabilization of greenhouse gases concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Taking into account that CO₂, originating almost exclusively from energy processes, is the most important greenhouse gas, the further development of RES forms an essential measure for the reduction of emissions. This paper examines whether the current development and planned actions in the field of the RES, even when straightforwardly associated with very ambitious targets for the present decade (e.g., the draft European Directive on the promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market), are sufficient in order to achieve the commitments according to the KP or more effort is needed in the direction of RES exploitation, combined with complementary actions such as energy conservation.