The Spanish Parliament approved a law on Thursday that cuts subsidies for alternative energy technologies, backtracking on its push for green power. That measure, along with other recent laws including a tax on power generation that hit green energy investments especially hard, will virtually wipe out profits for photovoltaic, solar thermal and wind plants, sector lobbyists say. --
Reuters, 15 February 2013
Foreign investors in renewable energy projects in Spain have hired lawyers to prepare potential international legal action against the Spanish government over new rules they say break their contracts. It is unclear how much claims might be worth, but international funds have more than 13 billion euros ($17 billion) of renewable energy assets in Spain and say that the government has reneged on the terms of their investment. --
Reuters, 15 February 2013
Representatives of Spain’s renewable energy sector asked official Brussels to help end “harassment” of the photovoltaic sector in Spain after the sector lost 30% of its revenue as a result of changes to FIT rules that were applied retroactively. These new FITs, combined with a new 7% tax charge for energy production, will lead to the bankruptcy of around 80% of small-scale photovoltaic producers in Spain, warned Spain’s National Association of Renewable Energy Producers and Investors. --
PC Magazine, 17 February 2013
Consumers in Europe are revolting against their countries’ green energy policies. For over a decade, the governments of Germany and Spain have been funding their subsidies for solar and wind energy by passing on large costs to the consumer. In Germany, an extra charge is added to household electricity bills, and that charge nearly doubled in January. Worried about the consumer reaction, Merkel’s government is now furiously backpedalling. --Walter Russell Mead,
Via Meadia, 17 February 2013
Fearing a voter backlash from anger over the lopsided financing of green energy, Ms. Merkel’s government on Thursday proposed putting a cap on the green-energy surcharge until the end of 2014 and then restricting any rise in the surcharge after that to no more than 2.5% a year. The government also plans to tighten exemptions, which would force more companies to pay, and achieve a cut in green subsidies of €1.8 billion ($2.42 billion). The plan is a quick fix pending comprehensive reform after the election, government officials said. --William Boston, James Angelos, Ilan Brat,
The Wall Street Journal, 15 February 2013
Britain is caught in an energy crunch that is shaping up to be one of the most serious problems to face this administration — and the next. Nuclear plants that produce about a fifth of our energy began to be shut down last year. By 2023, only one will still be in operation. Britain, once the envy of Europe thanks to its North Sea energy riches, will lose nearly a third, 25-30 gigawatts (GW), of its generating capacity. If nothing is done, we could face decades lurching from crisis to crisis. --Michael Hanlon, Danny Fortson and Jack Grimston,
The Sunday Times, 17 February 2013
