In this interview, Valerie Reif (FSR Energy) talks to Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, about the newest developments in solar. We look at the uptake of solar around the world, touch upon technological developments and discuss the implications of the Clean Energy Package for the evolvement of solar and other renewables in Europe. Check out SolarPower Europe’s Global Market Outlook report here : solarpowereurope.org/global-market-outlook-2019-2023/

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The Florence School of Regulation invited Jorge Moreno, Partner at inodú, to discuss inodú’s latest publication, which reviews Chile’s decarbonisation efforts. In the podcast, Pradyumna Bhagwat (Research Fellow, FSR) and Mr Moreno discuss decarbonisation measures undertaken by the Chilean Government, their impact and recommendations for rapid decarbonisation in the future.

Chile has committed to reducing its CO2 emission per GDP unit to 30% below the 2007 levels by 2030 as ratified under the Paris agreement. In view of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, several steps have been taken by the Chilean Government. Working groups were established to develop a conversion and retirement schedule for existing coal generation facilities. An example of the impact is the June 2019 agreement between generation companies and the government to retire eight coal units (1047 MW) over 5 years.

Some of the key recommendations presented in their article while closing coal plants are: 1) Provide certainty on new environmental requirements such as emissions restrictions; 2) Communicate the closure in advance; 3) Establish an early definition of goals and purpose for the site; 4) Conduct environmental research early for the site; 5) Address the economic challenges created by the plant’s decommissioning; 6) define the closing firm’s responsibility; 7) Use multi-stakeholder groups to identify potential uses for the site; 8) Establish opportunities for third parties to present possible development alternatives for the site; and 9) Define the role of the municipality and key local stakeholders.

At the FSR Global Forum (25-28 March) Piero Carlo dos Reis (FSR), interviewed Mr. Georgios Pantoulis, Deputy Head of Unit “Sustainable Energy, Climate Change” of European Commission DG DEVCO.

After a roundtable on Multilateral institutional initiatives with representatives of European Commission DGs, IRENA and UNECA, Piero and Mr. Pantoulis discuss the EU Commission’s goals and activities regarding international energy cooperation. Given the EU 2030 Paris agreement agenda, the European Commission is active in supporting all partner countries through incentives enabling sustainable, affordable, reliable and modern energy services. In particular, this discussion focuses on (1) ‘inclusive development’, ensuring that poor and vulnerable citizens benefit from these interventions, and (2) by being aware of being the main actors of these new developments, society will support the cooperation and further promote sustainability.

In the context of a FSR workshop on zonal vs. nodal pricing in electricity markets on 25 January 2019, Valerie Reif (FSR) interviews a panellist from the Austrian regulatory authority. Christine Materazzi-Wagner, Director Electricity at E-Control, talks about her personal take-aways from the workshop, the EU target model for electricity and the possibilities of moving towards a nodal approach in Europe. She also shares her views on recent market developments in Austria In the context of the German-Austrian bidding zone split in October 2018.

At the IRENA General Assembly, Swetha Bhagwat (FSR Global) interviews Andris Piebalgs, FSR Part-time Professor and one of the authors of the Global Commission’s Report launched on 11 January in Abu Dhabi. The Report presents the first-ever comprehensive analysis of the far-reaching geopolitical consequences driven by the rapid development of renewable energy and it suggests several areas where international cooperation would help countries to mitigate the emerging risks emerging like cybersecurity, trade in electricity and clean energy technologies, critical materials.

More info here: http://fsr.eui.eu/fsr-in-abu-dhabi-for-the-launch-of-new-world-the-geopolitics-of-the-energy-transformation/

Find the report here: http://www.geopoliticsofrenewables.org/

At the IRENA Assembly held in January 2019 in Abu Dhabi, the FSR Director, Jean-Michel Glachant and the Head of FSR Global, Swetha Bhagwat interview Paul Van Son, CEO of DII.

What are the real cost levels of renewables (Solar and Wind) today? What should be the next measures to take and what are the roadblocks in policy and regulation?

Learn more about the IRENA Assembly here:
https://www.irena.org/events/2019/Jan/Ninth-Session-of-the-IRENA-Assembly

In the context of the Energy Innovation Academy held in Florence on 28-30 November 2018, Tim Schittekatte (FSR) interviews one of the Academy participants, John Smith (University of Hertfordshire) who presented his work on ‘An ecological stock-flow consistent approach to macroeconomic stability, entropy, and chaos’. What do we mean by innovation? How can regulation deal with change in complex adaptive system, in the process of energy transitions?

For more information on the FSR Energy Innovation Area, please visit:

http://fsr.eui.eu/energy-innovation/

In the context of the Energy Innovation Academy held in Florence on 28-30 November 2018, the FSR Director Jean-Michel Glachant interviews Miguel Vazquez, Head of the recently launched Energy Innovation Area. Regulation in times of innovation: how to deal with complexity and uncertainty? The new FSR area provides a platform for research, training and policy discussion to respond to those challenges.

More information here: http://fsr.eui.eu/energy-innovation/

Energy poverty is a widespread and even growing reality across Europe. The EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU SILC) measured in 2013 shows that 10.7% of the population (approximately 54 million people) are unable to afford basic levels of energy for essential needs. Listen to Prof Pippo Ranci from FSR, and Prof Stefan Bouzarovski from Manchester University discuss; some of the EU energy poverty initiatives, challenges and ways to put the topic of energy poverty at the centre of energy policy discussions.

Nicolò Rossetto (FSR) and Thierry Lepercq (Engie) discuss the way Engie, a major European energy company, is dealing with the series of disruptions that are affecting the energy business, both electricity and gas. Engie is navigating through the changes in Europe and beyond, and has decided to sell or close some of its less profitable assets in power generation. At the same time, Engie is looking towards the future by investing in renewables. According to Mr Lepercq the future is the exploitation of solar energy in prime locations around the world, like Chile or Australia, to produce hydrogen and then deliver it to Europe at a final cost that is in line with that of liquefied natural gas. This could possibly contribute to the decarbonisation of the gas sector, safeguarding the European gas grid form becoming a stranded asset. Hydrogen could then be used for district heating and power generation, solving the issue of the intermittency and seasonality of most renewables. A 100% renewable future would become much easier and cheaper to achieve. In line with this vision, large energy companies will continue to play a key role, even if large power plants will decrease in relevance.

Nicolò Rossetto (FSR) and Apostolos Gkizas (Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy, RAE) discuss the most recent developments in the Greek renewable energy sector. Greece is not yet on track to achieve its 2020 target for renewables, but decarbonization of electricity generation is moving forward. RAE plays a decisive role in the field of electric renewables: from the licencing of RES plants to the auctioning of support schemes for new projects, and from the monitoring of projects’ implementation to the definition of electricity tariffs for cost recovery. The successful implementation of the auctions planned up to 2020 and the issue of saturated networks in some parts of the country are important challenges for RAE, which also has to cope with a significant understaffing due to recently imposed budget cuts.