E3G

Change Agents for Sustainable Development

EU Decarbonisation
Decarbonising Europe's power sector

Aug 16 2010

Nuclear companies open new front in fight for government subsidies

By Tom Burke

Tom Burke recently wrote an article to appear in Ends Magazine (Ends Report 426 / July 2010) calling out the nuclear industry’s call for ‘a level playing field’. Below is the article as it appeared in the magazine; it is also available to download.

Nuclear companies open new front in fight for government subsidies

Tony Benn, when he was energy secretary, used to warn about people who came to

Aug 16 2010

Choices at stake for power market reform

By Simon Skillings

Politicians and leaders of energy companies both face a major choice regarding market reform over the coming months. In an article published in New Power magazine, E3G’s Simon Skillings sets out the key choices at stake for government and for business.

On the one hand there is the potential to ‘muddle through’ with incremental changes. However, there is also the possibility to seriously

Jul 02 2010

An E3G response to The European Commission’s Energy Strategy 2011-2020 Consultation

By Jesse Scott

The European Commission is developing an Energy Strategy for 2011-2020.  In response to the consultation, E3G welcomed the Commission’s renewed focus on completing the internal energy market, achieving energy savings and promoting low-carbon innovation.  Our main conclusions and recommendations are:

The period to 2020 will be a crucial foundation stage for developing Europe’s energy system

Apr 14 2010

Pathways mapped out to zero carbon power sector

By Jonathan Gaventa

A major new report published this week shows that a zero carbon European power sector can be achieved at comparable levels of cost and reliability as the current high-carbon trajectory.

The Roadmap 2050 study, led by the European Climate Foundation (ECF), modeled the macroeconomic, grid and system security implications of a range of pathways to a zero carbon power sector, based on different

Apr 06 2010

The Value Proposition for a European Supergrid

By Jonathan Gaventa

The concept of a European Supergrid – a network of high-voltage international electricity interconnectors that enable power to be transmitted across Europe – is gaining prominence as a core element of proposals for a decarbonised European power sector.

It would enable energy to be transported from remote locations where renewable sources are plentiful to the demand centres where energy is

Feb 16 2010

UK Power Sector Market Reform: The Case for Action

By Simon Skillings

There is emerging consensus over the important early actions that need to be taken if we are to meet our 2050 decarbonisation objectives. In particular, the widespread and urgent deployment of energy efficiency measures and the early decarbonisation of power generation.

Momentum behaviour by market actors is not going to deliver these objectives and change is necessary to kick-start the

Jan 26 2010

A Road Map to Deliver Smart Grid in the UK

By Simon Skillings

The concept of a ‘smart grid’ involves the combination of instrumentation, communications and analytics that allows power network infrastructure to be operated in a dynamic and efficient manner - as opposed to the ‘passive’ operational approach which is currently the norm in the UK.

The challenges of climate change and system security, in particular the ability to accommodate

Nov 25 2009

Delivering a Zero Emissions Power Sector: Policy Challenges

By Simon Skillings

Creating a virtually zero emission EU power sector by around 2030 will require transformational change:

Climate science suggests increasing urgency in the need to reduce carbon emissions;

It is widely accepted that the power sector will play a key role in decarbonising the overall economy: the crucial technologies are already available to create a carbon free power sector and this, in turn,

Nov 18 2009

Investment momentum for decarbonising the EU power sector

By Jonathan Gaventa

Power generation in the EU is at a crossroads.  Up to half of current generation capacity will be decommissioned over the next 20 years, and policy pressures on climate change and energy security are changing investment frameworks.

However, investment climates remain very uncertain, as a result of price, regulatory and delivery risks as well as factors resulting from the global economic