Distributed small-scale wind in New Zealand: Advantages, barriers and policy support instruments

If future climate change goals being negotiated internationally are to have any chance of being achieved, developed countries need to undertake a major transition in their energy systems. This will require a rapid expansion of renewable energy generation, including wind electricity. Wind energy in New Zealand is commercially viable in many cases, yet opportunities for its exploitation are far from fully utilised. Many communities are showing resistance to wind farm developments, since large wind farms are often seen as intrusive. Building wind farms on a small scale may be a useful way of overcoming this problem.This study examines the pattern of recent wind industry development in New Zealand. It is argued that two key characteristics have emerged that are limiting the potential development of the industry: a trend towards large scale, leading to increased local opposition; and a small number of investors. Research methods include a review of international and local literature, and a rural mail survey questionnaire, with 338 respondents. We provide survey evidence that small wind farms, and community ownership of them, may be attractive to local communities, and that this point of advantage is helpful for the rapid expansion of wind generation in New Zealand.     

Oil volatility shocks and the stock markets of oil-importing MENA economies: A tale from the financial crisis

The role of oil price volatility in predicting the stock-market volatility of small oil-importing countries that have a substantial number of investors from neighboring oil-exporting countries remains unexplored. To refine our basic understanding of this role, this paper proposes a methodological extension of the recently developed causality-in-variance procedure and considers the case of Lebanon and Jordan. These two heavy importers of oil are interesting in the sense that they are located in a region with a large number of rich oil-exporting countries, so their stock markets are tied to oil-exporters by way of foreign investors. The conditional mean and variance of returns are modeled within an ARMAX–GARCH framework that accommodates three salient features of the data, namely: autocorrelation, day-of-the-week effects, and movements in international markets. For comparison purposes, the stock markets of Morocco and Tunisia are also included in the study. Empirical analyses highlight the dynamic effects of the global financial crisis on the volatility spillovers between oil and the stock markets of oil-importing countries and provide more insights into the seemingly contradictory effects of being oil-importers while having investors from oil-exporting countries. The main results indicate that the volatility spillover is much more apparent from the world oil market to the stock market of Jordan than the other way around, whereas oil volatility is not a good predictor of Lebanese stock market volatility. Finally, policy/practical implications and conclusions for future research are drawn.     

Exploring citizens' decision to crowdfund renewable energy projects: Quantitative evidence from France

Over the past few years, benefiting from broad citizen and political support, renewable energy (RE) crowdfunding has experienced a strong growth in France. RE crowdfunding is a relevant instrument to support the transition from fossil to RE sources by simultaneously diversifying funding possibilities, committing retail investors to the energy transition, and fostering local acceptance. Thus, it is crucial to better understand the RE crowdfunding investment decision-making process to design and assess related policies. However, the existing literature on RE crowdfunding is relatively scarce and has not focused on this issue so far. Relying on a novel survey dataset, this article specifically aims at filling this gap using a probit regression analysis. Our findings suggest that, among the French population, the main predictors of the decision to invest in RE crowdfunding (sign in parentheses) are: (i) the general opinion about the RE sector (positive), (ii) opinions about the RE sector durability (i.e., business continuity over time) and investment opportunities transparency (positive), and (iii) risk perception (negative). Besides this, positive and strong spillovers arise from existing RE investments in other vehicles. These results are unchanged by the introduction of various controls. Additionally, they suggest that the policy framework recently implemented in France – such as the Greenfin label (2015), RE development targets explicitly introduced in the Programmation pluriannuelle de l'énergie (2015), or the recent PACTE law (2019) that provides support to various green investment possibilities – is relevant to foster the development of RE crowdfunding. Such policies indeed contribute to anchor investors' expectations, improve coordination and transparency, and provide spillovers' opportunities, which are the key levers identified in this paper.     

Balancing environmental benefits and damages of small hydropower generation in policy-making: assessing the implementation of a contradicting EU policy framework in Austria and Slovenia

Hydropower contributes to a higher share of renewables but is also in conflict with environmental legislation aiming to protect natural habitats, wildlife and endangered species. Analysing two neighbouring European countries with similar topographical and hydromporphological characteristics, Austria and Slovenia, allows assessing to what extent a policies’ national context steers possible policy conflicts of EU legislation. The paper shows that hydropower expansion in examined countries is strongly shaped by factors such as financial concerns of investors, diverging opinions of involved stakeholders, available hydro potential and the role of hydropower in national energy strategies. Addressing issues that lead to a lower effectiveness of national policies already at the level of EU policy design or engaging countries to broadening their national energy portfolio by considering emerging technologies such as PV and wind will enable future energy and climate strategies that are more consistent with other environmental goals.     

Are alternative energies a real alternative for investors?

Fossil fuels supply most of the energy we need for many functions but alternative energy global consumption is expected to increase in the future supported by great incentives, advances in technologies, and the depletion of fuel oil reserves. In that context, investors begin to consider the possibility of investing in the alternative energy sector using different assets such as the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). We evaluate the out-of-sample performance of four strategies using the returns and volatility forecasts from a VAR-ADCC approach. We provide evidence that Alternative Energy ETFs clearly outperform Energy ETFs and, therefore, they are a real alternative for investors. These findings are relevant not only for academics but also for active professional managers who can use this technique to add value to their investment strategies.     

On the intraday dynamics of oil price and exchange rate: What can we learn from China and India?

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the volatility determinants of crude oil and foreign exchange markets and jump spillover between them. We consider currencies of two major oil-importing countries (India and China) over the sample period of January 1, 2013 to October 31, 2019. We find evidence of positive return spillover from the oil to the foreign exchange market; however, there is a lack of return spillover in the other direction. Oil jumps appear to have a negative impact on exchange rate conditional volatility, and the latter responds asymmetrically to disentangled (positive and negative) oil price jumps. We also report disentangled exchange rate jumps' significant impact on conditional oil price volatility. These results, however, are asymmetric based on the nature of jumps and alternative oil price series. Finally, we do not find evidence of co-jump between the oil and foreign exchange markets. These results have important implications for investors and policymakers.     

The value of social networks in the diffusion of energy-efficiency innovations in UK households

The UK Government has policy goals for increasing energy efficiency in existing homes. However, there are doubts that standard technology and behavioural innovations will be adopted widely enough in time to achieve the targets. Diffusion of innovation theory states that the communication of information on innovations through a social system encourages adoption. Social capital theory states that interpersonal communication is a key means of gaining resources, such as information on energy-efficiency innovations, for attaining certain goals. Case study research of three British communities was conducted in 2009 in order to understand the influence of social capital on information diffusion regarding the adoption of household energy-efficiency measures. The findings show that while standard campaigns may account for two-thirds of information-seeking behaviour, they may not be addressing up to one-third of information-seekers who would prefer to speak to people they know. Findings also indicate that seeking information amongst personal contacts is often associated with adoption of energy-efficiency innovations, increasing the likelihood of adoption by up to four times, but that there are important differences between types of innovations and communities. Tailoring campaigns to communities' communication channels is therefore imperative. These findings have important implications for informing community-based energy-efficiency programmes.     

The offshore trend: Structural changes in the wind power sector

In recent years, the wind power sector has begun to move offshore, i.e. to use space and good wind speeds on the open sea for large scale electricity generation. Offshore wind power, however, is not just technologically challenging but also a capital intensive and risky business that requires particular financial and organizational resources not all potential investors might have. We therefore address the question, what impact offshore wind power may have on ownership and organizational structures in the wind power sector. We compare on- and offshore wind park ownership in Denmark, the UK and Germany. The analysis shows that offshore wind power in all three countries is dominated by large firms, many of which are from the electricity sector. In Denmark and the UK, also investors from the gas and oil industry play an important role in the offshore wind business. This development represents a major shift for countries such as Germany and Denmark, in which the wind power sector has grown and matured on the basis of investments by individuals, farmers, cooperatives and independent project developers. The structural changes by which offshore wind power is accompanied have consequences for turbine manufacturers, project developers, investors, associations and policy makers in the field.     

Japanese investment in Australian coal assets through the demise of concessional financing

The Australian coal industry has been described as being a perpetual case of ‘profitless prosperity’. This implies that foreign companies invest in low-margin mining activities with motives other than profit. It is argued that foreign investors and Japanese trading companies in particular used government investment concessions and subsidies to help create oversupply in the seaborne coal market. The aim of this strategy is to depress contract prices at the cost of achieving reasonable profitability levels, which have historically been well below that of other investors in the Australian mining sector. This study shows that the quasi-integration via concessional funding arrangements is not a credible strategy employed by Japanese trading companies or the Japanese Government. The analysis rejects the hypothesis that via foreign direct investment, Japanese companies are securing coal at below average prices. Furthermore we find no clear evidence of Japanese trading companies using their information advantage as equity investors to secure coal at favourable prices during contract negotiations. Finally we examine the investment behaviour of new entrants in the Australian coal production sector to highlight the differences in investment strategy between Japanese companies and other foreign investors regarding the security of supply.     

The role of popularization campaigns in energy conservation

Following the energy crisis of 1973/74 many countries mounted campaigns attempting to encourage people to use less energy. These campaigns were frequently carried out by government departments, with varying degrees of contribution from private and voluntary organizations. The most common audience towards which campaigns were directed was the householder, though attempts were also made to reach other audiences such as motorists and industrial and commercial managers. The strategies used to induce people to change their energy usage patterns were very similar across all campaigns, relying mainly on appeals to people's logic as a means of persuasion. A wide variety of media and methods were used to communicate the campaign messages. Little evaluation of the effectivene of the campaigns seems to have been attempted, perhaps because of the difficulties inherent in carrying out an evaluation of this type.     

Risk factors in oil and gas industry returns: International evidence

The recent boom in oil prices has attracted many investors to oil companies in search of both returns and diversification benefits. This analysis of the risk factors of investing in the oil and gas industry in 34 countries finds evidence that oil price is a globally priced factor for the oil industry. The oil and gas sector in developed countries responds more strongly to oil price changes than in emerging markets. Oil and gas industry returns also respond asymmetrically to changes in oil prices; oil price rises have a greater impact than oil price drops. There is no parallel to the asymmetry of oil price changes in other industries related to commodities. If there is any asymmetry, it is in the opposite direction from oil. Negative commodity price changes have a greater impact than positive ones. The results seem to indicate that the oil and gas industry is distinguished by a pass-through effect.     

Capacity,investment and market power in the economic value of energy firms

Regulation of energy firms faces the complex problem of balancing private (earning a fair rate of return on investment) and public (assure safe and reliable supply of energy at the lowest possible costs) goals. Tobin's q is a forward looking indicator on investment opportunities and on market power of firms that energy regulators can use for more effective regulation. This paper presents the empirical evidence on the determinants of differences in observed values of Tobin's q for a sample of large listed energy firms from 10 different countries in the period 2000–2006. We find that adjustment costs represent around sixty percent of the difference between economic and book value of the assets for the representative firm, while rents from market power represent the other forty percent. Therefore, across countries there is room for regulatory actions aiming at reducing energy prices, but less than what may be inferred from the observed average q values.     

Experimental investigation on the leading edge film cooling of cylindrical and laid-back holes with different hole pitches

Experimental investigation has been performed to study the film cooling performances of cylindrical holes and laid-back holes on the turbine blade leading edge. Four test models are measured for four blowing ratios to investigate the influences of film hole shape and hole pitch on the film cooling performances Film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient have been obtained using a transient heat transfer measurement technique with double thermochromic liquid crystals. As the blowing ratio increases, the trajectory of jets deviates to the spanwise direction and lifts off gradually. However, more area can benefit from the film protection under large blowing ratio, while the is also higher. The basic distribution features of heat transfer coefficients are similar for all the four models. Heat transfer coefficient in the region where the jet core flows through is relatively lower, while in the jet edge region is relatively higher. For the models with small hole pitch, the laid-back holes only give better film coverage performance than the cylindrical holes under large blowing ratio. For the models with large hole pitch, the advantage of laid-back holes in film cooling effectiveness is more obvious in the upstream region relative to the cylindrical holes. For the cylindrical hole model and the laid-back hole model with the same hole pitch, heat transfer coefficients are nearly the same with each other under the same blowing ratios. Compared with the models with large hole pitch, the laterally averaged film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer coefficient are larger for the models with small hole pitch because of larger proportion of film covering area and strong heat transfer region.     

东盟电力投资策略研究

为深化国内能源企业“走出去”的国际化发展战略,贯彻国家“一带一路”政策,在收集了东盟各国政治和经济环境、能源开发利用状况、电力供需平衡情况等基础上,结合中国在东盟国家的电力投资发展现状,总结目前对东盟进行电力投资的制约因素,给出在东盟各国进行电力投资的策略,并推荐具有较高价值的电力项目,为国内能源企业开拓东盟电力投资市场提供合理化的措施和建议。     

Natural gas power generation in Brazil: New window of opportunity?

This survey analyses the need as well as the attractiveness of private investment in natural gas thermal power generation under the Brazilian new power sector reform. Providing a scenario analysis from 2004 to 2014, this paper focuses on the investor perspective, and concludes that investments in natural gas thermal power plants in Brazil are not feasible, without financial subsidies stimulating investors. The more wary of risk both government and society are, and the more averse to risk the investor is, the higher the probability of higher capacity payment to provide incentives to investors. The alternative would be a lower capacity payment combined with higher thermal power tariffs; meaning that generators would receive much more payment when operating, despite assuming higher risks. Additionally, the improvement in safety supply cost is estimated and a sensibility analysis on the actual variables is performed.     

Estimating the cost of capital for renewable energy projects

Many models in energy economics assess the cost of alternative power generation technologies. As an input, the models require well-calibrated assumptions for the cost of capital or discount rates to be used, especially for renewable energy for which the cost of capital differs widely across countries and technologies. In this article, we review the spectrum of estimation methods for the private cost of capital for renewable energy projects and discuss appropriate use of the methods to yield unbiased results. We then evaluate the empirical evidence from 46 countries for the period 2009–2017. We find a globally consistent rank order among technologies, with the cost of capital increasing from solar PV to onshore wind to offshore wind power. On average, the cost of capital in developing countries is significantly higher than in industrialized countries, with large heterogeneity also within the groups of industrialized or developing countries.     

开式热源塔在热泵系统中的应用分析

采用氢气泡技术并结合高速摄像技术,对双圆柱绕流进行可视化实验研究。实验结果分析表明,来流对称、流速一定的情况下,间距比的改变将出现偏流。随着间距的减小,偏流现象更加明显,且流动的偏向是随机的。改变圆柱位置使来流方向与两圆柱连心线平行,当间距比为1．5时,两圆柱的流动相当于一个钝体的绕流,且前后圆柱均有对称涡出现。当间距比增大到一定值时,前排对后排的扰动将消失,此时涡脱落比较显著。这些结论可对换热器中又排、顺排管间距的布置提供参考。     

A comparative multi-disciplinary policy review in wind energy developments in Europe

Over recent decades, European Union countries have committed to increasing their electricity production from renewable energy sources (RESs). Wind energy plays a significant role in a sustainable future. This paper presents a political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental analysis. Although these countries have made many improvements in their legal frameworks aiming to attract investors and boost the RE sector, there are still challenges. The UK focuses on offshore wind energy, adjusts the economic strategy and changes the legislation context. Germany has the healthiest economic conditions, as it keeps following its initiative to design a new programme for an energy transition from conventional to RESs with emphasis on the onshore. Greece has only a few installations and much room for development but needs to make further changes in the legislation and economy so as to attract more investors in the long term. The purpose of this research is to analyse, highlight and discuss vital aspects of these countries as well as the European environment, with reference to their current wind energy activities. Ultimately, it attempts to give a wider perspective and to serve as a guide for future studies on the wind energy sector.     

Critical analysis on hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels and biofuels for vehicles in Europe

In recent times, the global debate on the environment has been centered on CO₂ emissions. This gas is the major cause of the “greenhouse effect” and people are more concerned with the idea that the emissions of this gas should be minimized. As a result of this concern, the Kyoto Protocol was enacted and subscribed to by many countries, setting the maximum gas emissions for them.Fossil fuels are a major source of CO₂ emissions. For some years now The European Union has been seeking to promote some years now the use of biofuels as substitutes for diesel or petrol for transport purposes. As a result of this policy, in 2003 the European Union (EU) Directive 2003/30/EC [1] was developed with the aim of promoting the use of biofuels as a substitute for diesel or gasoline among European Union countries as well as to contribute to fulfilling the commitments acquired on climate change, security of supply in environmentally friendly conditions and the promotion of renewable energy sources.In order to achieve these goals, the directive forces all EU members to ensure that before December 31 of 2010 at least 5.75% of all gasoline and diesel fuels sold for transport purposes are biofuels. European Union countries have social and economic characteristics unique to themselves. The energy dependence on foreign sources, the features of the agricultural sector or the degree of industrialization varies greatly from one country to another. In this context, it is questionable whether the obligation imposed by this directive is actually achieving in its application uniform and/or identical goals in each of the countries involved and whether the actions of the various governments are also aligned with these goals. All these ideas were developed in a previous report (Sobrino and Monroy (2009) [2]).This report examines the possibility of using hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels and biofuels from a technical, economic and environmental point of view in the specific case of a European Union country: Spain.     

Which renewable energy policy is a venture capitalist's best friend? Empirical evidence from a survey of international cleantech investors

Governments around the world have adopted ambitious targets to increase the share of renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They pursue a variety of policy approaches to achieve these targets. It has been a popular theme for contributions in Energy Policy to investigate the effectiveness of such policies. This article adds a new perspective to the debate, namely looking at the policy preferences of private investors in innovative clean energy technology firms. We surveyed 60 investment professionals from European and North American venture capital and private equity funds and asked them to assess the effectiveness of various policies, in terms of stimulating their interest to invest in innovative clean energy technologies. In addition to quantitative rankings, we use qualitative interview data to capture additional information on why investors prefer some policies over others. The combined analysis compensates for the inherent limitations of a quantitative ranking using generic policy types. The results of this exploratory analysis demonstrate that, all other things being equal, investors in our sample perceived feed-in tariffs to be the most effective renewable energy policy. The overall preference for feed-in tariffs is even more pronounced among investors based in Europe and with higher exposure to clean energy.