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Photo: Ponsulak via FreeDigitalPhotos

EBRD Survey on the Impact of COVID-19: Maintaining Energy Investments Least Successful

Due to the urgency of addressing the COVID-19 crisis, in 2020 the share of green investment at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) fell to 29% compared to 46% in 2019. The survey, conducted by the EBRD in December last year among key energy stakeholders on the impact of the pandemic in the EBRD Countries of Operation (COOs), suggests that the most successful measures were...

Photo: Roman Peklaj

EU States Earmark EUR 45bn For Hydrogen For Next 10 Years

January 21, 2021 | Tanja Srnovršnik
Natural gas | RES and EE | Energy policy | New technologies

The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance (ECH2A), which was launched on 8 July 2020 in the context of the EU hydrogen strategy, will present a concrete pipeline of hydrogen pilot projects by May this year, which will cover the whole hydrogen value chain. The projects will be implemented as of 2022, announced Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, the Secretary General of Hydrogen Europe, on Wednesday. He also...

Photo: Roman Peklaj

EEA: Renewables Boost Has “Significantly” Reduced Emissions

January 20, 2021 | Tanja Srnovršnik
Electricity | RES and EE | Energy policy | CO2 emissions

The increased use of renewable electricity across the EU has not only reduced pressures linked to climate change, but also those linked to air and water pollution (particulate matter formation, eutrophication and acidification), said the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Monday. However, the EU power sector needs an even faster switch from fossil fuels to renewables if the bloc is to meet the...

Photo: Roman Peklaj

European Power Grid Incident on 8 January Explained

January 18, 2021 | Tanja Srnovršnik
Electricity

The separation of the synchronous area of Continental Europe (CE) that occurred on 8 January 2021 caused a fall in frequency in the North-West Area of Continental Europe. As a result, contracted interruptible services in France and Italy of around 1.7 GW were disconnected. Meanwhile, there was an increase in frequency in the South-East Area, where one of the measures to address this issue was a...

Photo: Roman Peklaj

European Distribution Power Grids Need Investments of EUR 400bn By 2030

January 15, 2021 | Tanja Srnovršnik
Electricity | RES and EE | Energy policy | Economy

Between EUR 375-425 billion will need to be invested in the European power distribution grids by 2030 to ensure they are fit-for-purpose in an increasingly decarbonised, decentralised and digitalised power system. This is a ramp up in investments of 50-70% compared to the previous decade, said Kristian Ruby, the Secretary General of Eurelectric, on Thursday. However, Annegret Groebel, the...

Photo: Roman Peklaj

Additional Gas Sources in SEE Starting to Affect European Gas Market

January 14, 2021 | Tanja Srnovršnik
Natural gas | Energy policy

Several new gas projects have been launched in South East Europe (SEE) since the beginning of the year: the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Croatia, and Balkan Stream (as part of Turkish Stream) in Serbia, while first Azeri gas deliveries have arrived in Bulgaria and Greece via TAP. According to the Slovenian gas trader Geoplin, this has already affected the situation in the European...

Photo: Rosatom

New Nuclear Projects to Become Much More Competitive

January 13, 2021 | Tanja Srnovršnik
Electricity | Energy policy | CO2 emissions

New nuclear projects are going to become much more competitive than they are currently, due in part to what has been learnt from recent projects and developments in the area of small modular reactors (SMRs), said Sama Bilbao y Leon, Director General of the World Nuclear Association (WNA), on Monday during the Reuters Next virtual summit. “Tremendous excitement” has returned to the nuclear...

Photo: Roman Peklaj

IEA to Publish Roadmap for Global Energy Sector to Reach Net Zero By 2050

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has announced that on 18 May it will publish the first comprehensive roadmap for the entire global energy sector to reach net zero by 2050, said Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the IEA, on Monday. “A tremendous amount of work needs to be done in order to turn this ambition into reality,” stressed Birol, warning that early data shows that global...

Photo: Roman Peklaj

Report: Renewables and Nuclear Gaining Cost Competitiveness

The levelised costs of electricity (LCOE) generation of low-carbon generation technologies are falling and are increasingly below the costs of conventional fossil fuel generation, according to a new report by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Energy (IEA), which foresees that onshore wind will have, on average, the lowest levelised costs of electricity generation in 2025....

Photo: SEE CAO

Marković, SEE CAO: ME-IT Power Cable Has Significantly Impacted SEE Power Flows

January 5, 2021 | Tanja Srnovršnik
Electricity | Energy policy

While earlier projections predicted that the Montenegro-Italy undersea power cable would only operate in one direction (from Montenegro to Italy), or that the direction would be seasonal (from Italy to Montenegro during summer months), the first year of operation has shown that power has been flowing from Italy to Montenegro for a significant part of the time, said Filip Marković, Business...