If peak-oil proponents are the pessimists of the energy world, physicists are the optimists. Peak-oil buffs believe that having less oil will end civilization while energy guru Amory Lovins, a member of the physics camp, tells us that “displacing most, probably all, of our oil … makes money”.
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Everything needed to build a power plant or a transmission line, it seems, costs a lot more than it did only a year or two ago, including raw material, customized fabricated parts and components and, of course, labor and transportation costs.
Under the proposed renewables Directive, Member States would commit to delivering additional renewable energy so that, collectively, they would generate 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020. How was the EU to deliver the 20% renewables target while: (i) ensuring efficient use of the resources available across Europe; and (ii) allocating the burden in a fair manner across Member States?
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How should we be thinking about the problem of climate change? What is the state of the negociations that begun at Bali? What should we do about the most important piece of the negociations which is the relationship with China and Chinese growth? I recently addressed these three questions in a conference. Here is the videopodcast.
France’s antitrust authority recently ordered the electric utility EdF to offer rivals on the deregulated small-consumer market access to installed capacity in nuclear power generation. An initial auction for allocating 500 MW took place in March. 1000 other MWs will be allocated in the remaining of the year. Did the authority’s decision go far enough? Or did it go too far?
As far as oil prices are concerned, many scenarios are possible. A jump to $300 per barrel or more in the near future may be the result of a geopolitical crisis in Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia or elsewhere. Low price scenarios seem unlikely today but cannot be completely excluded. Another one which we consider of interest is a “dual-crisis” or “double-shock”. It would present a number of similarities with the development observed between 1973 and the end of the eighties.
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Which mix of policy tools is required to achieve the 2020 objective? My answer is we need both market based instruments and regulations. I recently discussed this issue in a Conference on Integrated Climate and Energy Policy at Bocconi University. Here is the videopodcast. Continue reading »
The song that is being sung by the stakeholders in the debate about the third package needs to be tuned. The lyrics of the song should not be about the legal structure and governance of the physical networks of the industry, but about which steps should be taken to truly achieve integrated EU markets, first of all in electricity.
What are the new risks within and outside the EU in the value chain of Russian gas? Here is the videopodcast of the speech I delivered at the last CESSA conference (Cambridge, 14-15 December 2007). Continue reading »
Gas models mainly focus on the oligopolistic character of the European gas market. This emphasis responds to two concerns. Firstly, it is commonly (but not universally) admitted that the upstream gas market is concentrated. This reduces competitiveness and security of supply, which may in turn limit the recourse to gas in the European quest for sustainability. Secondly, the Commission and industrial consumers are also worried about concentration in the downstream market. The industry complains that it leads to high prices and hence reduces its competitiveness. Can gas models tell us something relevant about these questions?
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