Natural gas-fired power plants accounting for almost 30 percent of Europe’s capacity are at risk of shutting or being mothballed as utilities opt to burn cheaper coal, according to the International Center for Natural Gas Information. --Isis Almeida,
Bloomberg, 2 June 2014
The eastern German state of Brandenburg approved plans on Tuesday to allow utility Vattenfall to mine a further 200 million tonnes of brown coal from 2026, a move critics say will cause pollution and also force 800 people from their homes. The decision by Brandenburg’s cabinet, made up of centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the more radical Left party, highlights the complexities of Germany’s energy policy, which aims to promote renewable energy. “In essence, this is about a safe, sustainable and an affordable as possible supply of energy,” said the office of Brandenburg state premier Dietmar Woidke after the decision. --Madeline Chambers,
Reuters, 3 June 2014
The heads of Europe's struggling utilities called on lawmakers to speed up legislative changes that they say would help them cope better with a drop in power prices and demand. European nations are currently debating whether to make payments to standby power plants to make them available for electricity production when wind farms or solar panels fail to generate. --
Reuters, 4 June 2014
Germany will soon develop plans on how to keep loss-making conventional power plants open, a senior energy ministry official said on Wednesday, a policy utilities have pushed for as Europe's biggest economy expands green energy. In one of the clearest signals yet that Berlin is committed to such a move, Uwe Beckmeyer, parliamentary state secretary in the economy and energy ministry, said Germany would have to explain how it would develop a so-called "capacity mechanism". Under such a mechanism, the government would raise funds [from taxpayers] to pay operators such as RWE AG and E.ON SE to keep open conventional power plants, many of which are loss-making. --Madeline Chambers,
Reuters, 4 June 2014
European makers of coal-fired power plants could get financial help to export the equipment, according to a Commission policy paper, flying in the face of environmental opposition to any form of subsidy for coal. A paper prepared by officials from the European Commission trade department says export credits, or preferential loans to help cover exports costs, should be continued for the most modern coal plant technology. --
EurActiv, 4 June 2014
The widespread use of wind and solar energy poses a serious risk to the UK’s energy security and could undermine the reliability of the country’s energy supply, according to a new report from the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF). Far from providing energy security, the intermittent and non-dispatchable nature of renewables, such as wind and solar, mean they are unable to effectively respond to changing demand. --Guy Bentley,
City A.M., 3 June 2014
