11.
World Renewables Roundup
Hungary
for Green Power
Hungary’s liberalized power market
has made the sector more competitive, but there has also been protection
for facilities using renewable energy sources. It is hoped that the
proportion of renewables used will rise to 3.6% from the current 0.5%
by 2010, a deadline set by the EU (see the EU-25 accession state targets
on p.10). The current scheme is later expected to be replaced by
a more competitive one based on ‘green certificates’ as in some EU countries. As with the UK’s Renewables Obligation,
under the green certificate scheme, electricity trading firms will
be required to purchase a certain portion of the total power they
sell from renewable resources, and would verify that they purchased
green power by obtaining certificates from producers. Those who had
excess could then trade with those who did not have enough to meet
the governments target.
Source: Budapest Business Journal.
BP
solar in Morocco
Apex-BP Solar, a subsidiary of BP
France, in partnership with Moroco’s
Compagnie Marocaine des Hydrocarbures (CMH) has won a major contract to supply and
install solar PV systems, to provide electricity to households in
Morocco’s Chichaoua Province, south of Marrakesh. This will benefit 20,000
people who will gain access to lighting, radio, TV and refrigerators
via a local solar energy distribution network. It should also lead
to emissions cuts equivalent to 10 k tons CO2 over
a 10 year period.
Renewables
in Jordan
The US Trade and Development Agency
(USTDA) is to partially fund a feasibility
study with the Jordanian Ministry of Planning for US based Delenova
Energy to acquire and expand two wind plants in the northern part
of the Kingdom. The $179,000 grant for the study is designed to explore
renewable power generation, in line with the Jordanian government’s
goal of producing 5% of the country’s electricity from renewables
by 2010.
Korea backs Solar & wind
The South Korean government is to
provide significant subsidies over the next
15 years for electricity producers who use solar and wind power. The
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said that it would allow
an above-market price for electricity generated with wind and solar
power and subsidize the difference. Solar-generated electricity will
be priced at 716.40 won (62 cents) per kilowatt-hour and wind-generated
electricity will be traded at 107.66 won. The output from other forms
of electrical power generation are traded at 47 won to 55 won/kWh
per in the Korean market. Source: JoongAngIlbo
New Zealand’s
gas attack
New Zealands very progressive policies
on responding to Climate Change have not been without their problems.
There have been strong objections from farmers to the plan to impose
the worlds first levy on methane gas emissions
from livestock. Evidently around 37m tonnes of gas is produced each years, more than 90% of it
from burping, rather than flatulence, giving a lie to the nick-name
for the scheme- which has been labelled
the ‘back-door tax’. Even so, regardless of oriface, wind from the country’s 30m sheep and 10m cattle
and 2m deer accounts for 60% of its greenhouse gas emissions. But
the proposed new tax would cost farmers typically £110 p.a. Presumably
a change in feed might help to some extent, but its a real problem
that has to be faced somehow. Source: Guardian
New
Financial Support for Renewables
The International Energy Agency
says that the world needs $16 trillion of energy investment over the
next 30 years if it is to meet growing demand. But it warned that
this may not be easily forthcoming because liberalisation
has made the levels of return much less certain. “Without new policy
actions, world energy demand will rise by two-thirds between now and
2030 and the world economy will falter if these energy supplies are
not made available”.
