EU on Track to Meet 2020 Solar, Wind, Renewables Targets, But…

EU on Track to Meet 2020 Solar, Wind, Renewables Targets, But…

The newest European Union (EU) statistics from Eurostat show its member nations are on track to meet their renewables targets but will need a new policy boost to keep up the pace.

Watching the EU’s cumulative progress toward its “triple twenty by 2020” targets is important because its leaders, especially Germany and Spain, set the benchmark for policy support of renewables internationally.

The EU’s “triple twenty by 2020” standard is aimed at getting 20 percent of their power from renewables, improving efficiency 20 percent, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent.

The EU renewables mix is composed of onshore and offshore wind, photovoltaic solar, concentrating solar and solar hot water, hydro, wave, and tidal power, geothermal, and biomass used to generate electricity or produce biofuels.

The March 27 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament said policies to date have “resulted in strong growth.” Renewables accounted for 12.7 percent of the EU’s energy in 2010 and “the majority of Member States already reached their respective 2011/2012 interim target.”

One exception: The report found efforts to meet the EU’s requirement that each state’s transportation sector be 10 percent biofuel-powered by 2020 to be “too slow.” It added, however, that “further specific policy intervention” to drive that transition is not needed.

But because the policies that have driven progress to date require a ramping growth trajectory, it said, “current policies alone will be insufficient to trigger the required renewable energy deployment.”

The report recommended policy advances in three areas:

• Streamline administrative processes
• Expand transmission and improve renewables integration into power markets
• Make incentives and supports more stable, transparent, cost-effective, and market-based

Falling short of the 2020 renewables targets will have “major consequences,” the report said, because

• Renewables are the foundation on which emissions reductions and efficiency advances will be built
• Only with renewables can the EU transition from fossil fuel dependence to energy supply security and sustainability
• Falling short of binding targets could trigger European Commission infringement procedures against individual states
• Impeding renewables deployment would slow innovation and scaling and prevent EU technologies from achieving the competitive pricing necessary to win a place in the international market.

Austin Energy’s Value of Solar Tariff: Could It Work Anywhere Else?

Last fall, Austin Energy become the first utility in the U.S. to offer a “Value of Solar Tariff” (VOST) to its residential electricity customers.

The VOST rate is presented as an alternative to net metering, the bill credit mechanism that has driven most customer adoption of solar in the U.S. today. Some utilities elsewhere in the country are looking to ditch net metering and jump on the VOST bandwagon. But will that be a good tradeoff for current and future solar customers?

Let’s take a look at Austin Energy’s VOST and see how it might work in places that’s aren’t as, well, “weird.”

Here’s how the Austin VOST works: When a residential customer, let’s call her Sally, goes solar in Austin Energy’s service area, she is automatically signed up for the VOST.  Sally continues to pay a monthly energy bill based on how many kilowatt-hours of electricity she and her family consume.  However, now that she has a solar energy system, she is also given a credit for each and every kilowatt-hour her system generates. That credit is subtracted off Sally’s total monthly electricity bill. According to Austin Energy, the VOST rate is set up to more fairly reward solar system operators for the energy they produce. A VOST may soon be developed for commercial customers as well.

via Austin Energy’s Value of Solar Tariff: Could It Work Anywhere Else? : Greentech Media.

Wind industry installs almost 5,300 MW of capacity in December

Approximately 40% of the total 2012 wind capacity additions (12,620 MW) came online in December, just before the scheduled expiration of the wind production tax credit (PTC). During December 2012, 59 new wind projects totaling 5,253 MW began commercial operation, the largest-ever single-month capacity increase for U.S. wind energy. About 50% of the total December wind capacity additions were installed in three states: Texas (1,120MW), Oklahoma (794 MW), and California (730 MW).

Wind plant developers reported throughout 2012 increasing amounts of new capacity scheduled to enter commercial operation before the end of the year. To qualify for the PTC last year, wind projects had to begin commercial operation by December 31.

On New Year’s Day, Congress enacted a one-year extension of the PTC and also relaxed the rules. Under this extension, projects that begin construction before the end of 2013 are eligible to receive a 2.2 ¢/kWh PTC for generation over a 10-year period.

via Wind industry installs almost 5,300 MW of capacity in December – Today in Energy – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Hobbled on Energy, India Ponders a Multitude of Dams

As we noted here last week, over 600 million people lost power in India last summer, setting a modern record for the number of people affected by a blackout. Well before that, though, India’s government was grappling with growing pressure to increase the dependability of its electricity service — for the growing numbers who have intermittent power and the 400 million who live without it.

As a solution, the government proposed constructing 292 dams throughout the Indian Himalayas — roughly a dam every 20 miles. If completed, the 7,000- to 11,000-megawatt dams would double the country’s hydropower capacity and meet about 6 percent of the national energy needs projected for 2030 (based upon 8 percent annual growth of the nation’s domestic product). The dams, the reasoning goes, would provide electricity to needy people as well as offset carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Scientists and citizens alike are crying foul, however, pointing out that the dams will probably displace millions and wreck ecosystems throughout the Himalayas.

via Hobbled on Energy, India Ponders a Multitude of Dams – NYTimes.com.

Obama Signs Energy Efficiency Legislation

President Obama signed the American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act (H.R. 6582) on Wednesday after the bill received bipartisan support in Congress.

The law is a modification of the Enabling Energy Savings Innovations Act (H.R. 4850) and includes elements of the Shaheen-Portman Senate bill.

Energy efficiency enthusiasts hailed the move, but also cautioned that there is far more work to be done.

“At a time that Washington is gridlocked, it is notable that the only energy bill with enough bipartisan support to pass is one that targets energy efficiency,” noted Steven Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “This bill is a modest but bipartisan step forward, one we hope the next Congress can build upon.”

The bill had mostly minor changes to the current way of doing business. The highlights of the bill, which were listed by the Alliance to Save Energy, include:

• Coordination of research and development of efficiency technologies for industry;
• A study of barriers to industrial electrical efficiency;
• Best practices for advanced metering in the federal government;
• Disclosure of energy and water usage by federal facilities;
• Technical corrections and specific fixes to recently-enacted standards;
• Uniform treatment of conventional and tankless water heaters;
• Clarification of periodic review of commercial equipment standards and of DOE’s response to petitions regarding standards.

The bill also relaxes some standards, including rules for walk-in coolers, over-the-counter refrigerators and water heaters.

via Obama Signs Energy Efficiency Legislation : Greentech Media.