EU Decarbonisation
Decarbonising Europe's power sector
By Taylor Dimsdale
Against the background of rising energy prices driven by volatile fossil fuel costs and investment requirements for new generation, activating the demand side of the power market will be essential in order to reduce consumer bills even if electricity unit costs increase.
The UK Government has recognised that reform of the electricity market is needed in order to attract sufficient levels of
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By Admin
Establishing an integrated electricity system capable of delivering Europe’s long term energy policy goals will require substantial investment in transmission infrastructure. The Commission’s Blueprint for an integrated European energy network (See Note 1 below) estimates that some €142 billion will need to be invested in the electricity grid by 2020, while other estimates (See Note 2
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By Jonathan Gaventa and Nick Mabey
All long-term scenarios for Europe’s energy system involve considerable risks: the wrong decisions could jeopardise climate and energy security, damage human health and the environment, or lead to unacceptable costs for consumers. Recent events – including the sharp rises in fossil fuel prices accompanying the Arab spring, the nuclear crisis at Fukushima and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
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By Simon Skillings
The government published proposals in December to transform the electricity market, billed as the biggest shake-up of the market since privatisation.
The proposals included a new carbon tax to place a floor under the carbon price, a minimum Emissions Performance Standard to exclude new unabated coal-fired power stations, a mechanism to guarantee future electricity prices to low carbon
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By Simon Skillings
The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee of the House of Commons is conducting an inquiry into Government proposals for electricity market reform.
E3G’s Simon Skillings was present at the hearings for this inquiry, held on 18 January and 25 January 2011. In advance of this hearing he also submitted a written submission which is available to download.
Simon notes that the current
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By Simon Skillings
Reform of the GB power market presents an opportunity to build vibrant new markets in the full range of low carbon resources necessary to achieve virtual decarbonisation of the sector by around 2030. These new markets should aim to promote innovation in new technologies and ensure that competition is harnessed to deliver maximum benefits for consumers. This involves opening up the market to new
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By Simon Skillings
The ‘Gold Standard’ market reform project has identified two key questions that need to be addressed when considering a market reform:
1. What market outcomes do we wish to determine – what level and over what timescales?
2. How does the Government ensure that these outcomes are delivered – who is responsible and what is the associated regulatory and governance framework?
The
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By Jonathan Gaventa
E3G Senior Associate Simon Skillings appeared before the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee on 12 October 2010 to give evidence on the role of Emissions Performance Standards in power generation.
Emissions Performance Standards are policy instruments aimed at driving forward lower carbon generation by placing limits on the carbon intensity of power plant emissions.
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By Simon Skillings
The UK power market faces an unprecedented challenge. It is now widely accepted that it will be necessary to have largely decarbonised the power sector by around 2030 in order to set the UK on the path to meet 2050 greenhouse gas reduction targets for the economy as a whole. This in turn will involve the replacement of a large proportion of the existing power generation fleet with new, low
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By Jonathan Gaventa
Introducing Emissions Performance Standards for power generation could play a key role in lowering the cost of the low carbon transition, E3G has argued in its response to the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee inquiry into Emissions Performance Standards.
The response stresses that an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) is a useful tool but not a silver bullet solution
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