Latest news
EU’s new carbon emission target could be approved next week
The European Commission is likely to approve a new target where the 28-nation bloc would have to slash its emissions 40% by 2030 from 1990 levels, while significantly scaling back its fixed renewable energy targets from 2020.
read more... 17/01/2014
Switzerland: solar power generation increased considerably last year
In line with the current trend in Europe, Switzerland is likely to face an electric power shortage, except there is significant investment in new generating facilities over the next 15-20 years. Traditionally, Switzerland's longest-serving and most important source of renewable energy has been hydropower, but now, “new" renewable energy sources play an ever more significant position in Switzerland’s energy mix.
read more... 14/01/2014
Spain’s wind power sector
Wind was Spain's top electricity generator for the first six months of 2013. Spain has a vigorous and varied renewable energy portfolio that has considerably reduced its dependence on fossil fuels. Currently Spain imports more than 80% of its gas and coal for domestic use from abroad, making energy security a national precedence. Along with significant growth in solar energy and biofuels, wind energy has become a cornerstone of the Spanish renewable energy portfolio.
read more... 13/01/2014
EU ministers to call for a 2030 renewable target
A group of eight national energy and environment ministers has written a letter to Günther Oettinger, European commissioner for energy, and Connie Hedegaard, European commissioner for climate, calling for the European Commission to propose a new target for renewable energy for 2030. The letter is dated December 23 and was signed by ministers from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Portugal.
read more... 09/01/2014
Germany’s “Energiewende” is not as successful as thought
Currently, Germany is in the process of completely transforming its energy sector at a pace unmatched by other industrialized nations. It describes the country's politically supervised shift in direction from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. The very term "Energiewende" is some 30 years old, but nowadays, the term is primarily associated with a fundamental policy shift in the country after the 2011 nuclear plant disaster in Fukushima, Japan. In the wake of Fukushima, Berlin oversaw the immediate closure of eight nuclear plants in Germany, with the rest of the stations to be shut down by 2022.
read more... 02/01/2014