Renew On Line (UK) 34
Extracts from the November-December
2001 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it
Renew On Line (UK) 34 |
Extracts from the November-December
2001 edition of Renew |
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14. World Developments
Windforce Increases Windforce, the new UK based transnational wind power company, which is backed by, amongst others, Enron and Royal Dutch Shell, is currently pursuing developments worth $800m (£563m) in Greece, Latvia and Sweden and is to move into the UK market - it has already secured $6m funding for that. Shell Energy Services said that global wind power capacity was just 18,500 megawatts last year, representing 0.25 % of total world electricity supply. This is forecast by BTM, energy consultants to rise to 52,000MW by 2005, with 70% coming from Europe. According to Windforce, the market in Greece, which has to import much of its energy, is particularly attractive. It has applied to build three schemes in the country including one which would supply power for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Other schemes being considered include a 100MW project in Latvia and a 60MW offshore scheme close to the Swedish coast.
World Wind Roundup India now has plans to install over 4GW of renewable capacity during its next five year planning period starting in 2002, by which time it should have 3,200MW in place, including 1,340MW of wind capacity. The new capacity will include around 2GW more from wind, 1GW from biomass and 800MW from micro hydro. Meanwhile Eire is aiming for an extra 500MW by 2005, so that Ireland would be obtaining 12% of the electricity from renewables by then. Spain is still blasting ahead with wind- with over 4GW now installed- while Brazil has announced plans for 1GW of wind. China: Wind and PV China is looking for companies to install windfarms and solar PV systems. The government has applied for a loan of US$16 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development and a grant of US$27 million from the Global Environment Facility for renewable energy development projects, including development of 20 MW of windfarms at two sites in Shanghai province, and support to PV companies that will market and maintain 10 Mwp of PV systems. http://setc-gef.newenergy.org.cn/english/background/index.htm World Carbon Trading roundup Despite the decision by President Bush to reneg on the Kyoto accord, interest in carbon trading is unabated around the world- and has reached $100 million since the market emerged in 1996-97, according to the World Bank. Indeed, it’s been said that the US position actually stimulated interest in the Kyoto mechanisms. US companies also evidently don’t want to miss out on the gains that they might make when and if an international trading system does emerge, and in the meantime can benefit from some mutual trading. US Companies make Carbon side bets Twenty five US companies, including Ford, DuPont, International Paper and a number of large electricity utilities and farm co-operatives, have agreed to help design a pilot scheme for trading “greenhouse gas” emissions. If the project - called the Chicago Climate Exchange - succeeds, it would be the first broadly based emissions trading scheme in the US. The proposal reflects concern among some US companies to maintain a momentum on tackling carbon emissions, in spite of the decision by the Bush administration to abandon the Kyoto agreement. The study proposes starting the market in seven Midwest states, including some emission offset projects in Brazil - which could involve re-forestation or wind/solar energy schemes. Companies would be issued with tradable emissions allowances, and those companies that emit carbon dioxide would also commit to a phased schedule for reducing their emissions by 5 per cent from 1999 levels by 2005. The businesses would then have the option of cutting emissions directly; buying allowances from other companies that had achieved surplus reductions; or buying credits from agricultural or other offset projects. Source: Chicago Financial Times E55 Pro-Kyoto EU business lobby An international business initiative to support the Kyoto protocol was launched in May by a European industry group, which hopes to attract at least 55 companies to its cause. It lobbied delegates at July's UN climate talks in Bonn to take clear political decisions. The e-mission 55 group (also known as E55) has been formed by the European Business Council for a Sustainable Energy Future (E5), whose members have signed up to a broad charter to tackle climate change. The group’s name derives from the percentage of emissions from industrialised countries required to ratify the 1997 Kyoto accord to allow it to enter into force. For more see: http://www.e5.org/E5-e55_Presseerklaerung_010528.pdf EU Carbon Trading Plan Although progress recently slowed, the European Commission is still developing an emissions trading directive allowing the Europe-wide trade of carbon dioxide emission allowances by 2005. The new directive will be negotiated and adopted in the 15 member states during 2002 and 2003, implemented by 2004 and the first trading periods planned to start the following year. The directive would confirm EU's backing of the Kyoto Protocol. which called for the EU to make an average 8% reduction in 1990 greenhouse gas levels by 2010. The European Commissions planned CO2 trading scheme, calls for emissions permits - which would be site-specific and non-transferable- and allowances - which would be fully transferable across EU. The commission would determine how and for what value member states allocate them. At year-end, allowances would have to be held corresponding to actual emissions. The system would ensure one price for carbon throughout the EU. If the companies do not have enough allowances to cover actual emissions during the previous year, they would be fined per tonne of CO2 in excess by the member state and be required to make up the shortfall at a future date. The scheme would cover electricity and heat generation which between them are estimated to account for 30 percent of CO2-emissions in Europe. Initially, the trading scheme would only cover CO2 emissions but the ultimate objective is for the trading system to cover all greenhouse gases. Denmark is the only country in the world which currently trades emission allowances, albeit on a small-scale, and Britain plans to implement its own scheme next year. The Netherlands plans to set up a CO2-trading system by 2004-2005. REUTERS Danish Green Certificates bomb It’s not all good news though. Trading in green certificates in Denmark is currently sparse and prices are dropping due to lack of buyers. That was one conclusion from a recent conference on ‘Emission and Green Certificate Trading in the Denmark’. Green certificate prices have dropped from their highest level of 15-16 euros and are currently at around 3-4 euros. In Denmark certificates are issued for each megawatt hour of electricity generated by renewable energy sources, and can be traded. At present however the main obstacle facing green certificates trading is the large supply and the modest demand and according to an analyst from Natsource, the price trajectory is downwards- although it should pick up. The fact that several European countries, notably Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain, should start green certificate trading soon should help - although there was still lack of mutual agreement between countries on certificates trading.
Pollution Credits Not everyone of course is in favour of carbon emission trading. Some environmental groups see it as a way to let companies and countries manipulate futures markets and make profits by investing in dubious projects oversees, regardless of their contribution to genuine sustainability. A spoof carbon credit certificate has been circulating which bears the legend: ‘the value of this credit will go up and down according to global market speculation and is at no time under any circumstances in any way related to any known concept or estimate of the ecological cost of industrial and corporate behaviour’ Global Solar Venture Fund The Global Environment Facility and the International Finance Corporation have launched Solar Development Capital, a 10-year, $30 million private equity fund for solar photovoltaic systems in developing countries and countries with transitional economies. The initiative will provide capital to private companies distributing photovoltaic products and services in rural, nonelectrified areas of developing nations. The GEF aims to stimulate private sector commitment to the spread of clean energy technology. “Attracting greater private sector involvement in renewable energy projects in the developing world is a prerequisite to achieving sustainable development,” said Mohamed El-Ashry, CEO and Chairman of GEF. GEF also hopes to show that renewable energy is a profitable sector in which private firms should, in the future, invest without public subsidies. (from: www.unfoundation.org) Global Renewables will Rise and Fall The use of renewable energy around the world will increase by 53 % between 1999 and 2020. However, its share of global energy consumption will drop from a current level of 9% to 8 % during that time, according to a U.S. government report, since energy demand will increase by 59%- about half of this increase being from developing countries. See ‘International Energy Outlook 2001’ from the US Energy Information Administration at: ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/pdf/international/(2001).pdf
On the road to COP-7 Unless there’s been a last minute postponement (check http://www.cop7.org.ma), despite the international situation, the seventh conference of parties to the UN Climate Change accord should be underway in Morocco. Its aim is to sort out the details of the agreement which most countries will hopefully ratify in time for the UN Earth Summit next year. 30 have signed up so far, and at COP 6.5 in Bonn in July, the EU, Russia and Japan agreed to follow, leaving the USA as the main outsider (see Renew 133). Thankfully, nuclear power was excluded from the Clean Development Mechanism, but some sinks were allowed in, so there is still a lot to discuss. But in the wake of the tragic events in the USA, perhaps US and EU collaberation will now be a theme rather than a problem? We will be reporting in Renew 135. But you can get news direct via: http://www.climatenetwork.org/eco/ * Meanwhile, emphasising the urgency, a conference on ‘Challenges of a Changing Earth’ held in Amsterdam in July, heard that future changes in the earth’s climate may happen suddenly, rather than the steady, progressive change previously predicted. But back in the UK the Guardian ran a series of article by Bjorn Lomborg who argued that the Kyoto mechanisms were no use and would cost too much - $150bn p.a. compared with the $5 trillion costs of climate change. http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalwarming/story/0,7369,538249,00.html OECD warning The OECD international thinktank urged ministers from the industrial world meeting in Paris earlier this year to do more to tackle global warming, warning that under current policies, OECD countries are likely to increase carbon dioxide emissions by a further one-third by 2020. |
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