The energy crunch made it clear that, as long as electricity generation at times of high demand largely depends on gas power plants, power prices will spike when gas prices do. This has prompted the EU to launch a reform of its power market design, now reaching its final stages. It aims to standardise national policies to support investment in renewables across the continent, to ultimately reduce dependence on fossil-fuelled power generation.
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This Energy Transition Norway report describes the energy future of Norway through to 2050. This approach yields a consistent and energy-balanced result, as Norway is part of the global energy system, and the country’s energy supply and demand are affected by what happens elsewhere.
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The data produced through this exercise is a key input to the EPA’s annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections. The projections presented in this report are the result of the 2023 national energy and climate modelling cycle, which culminated in the EPA projections published in June 2023. A new modelling cycle for 2024 began in September 2023 and will produce a new set of projections in early 2024.
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With the introduction of this offshore renewable energy policy, the Maltese government is setting the foundation to venture into a new arena of renewable energy. This initiative will complement the success of onshore photovoltaic rooftop and solar farms, contributing further to the ‘green’ energy transition in line with the EU legislative packages of the European Green Deal, Fit-for-55 initiatives and the REPowerEU plans.
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The announcements in the Powering Up Britain plan in March 2023 show that the transformation of the UK energy system is well underway. These announcements will help to ensure the provision of cheap, clean and secure British energy, with delivery of a hydrogen economy a crucial area of action. The government committed in the UK Hydrogen Strategy (2021) to provide regular updates on policy development, to keep industry informed of the progress.
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The report concludes that energy regulators have an important role to play in integrating electric mobility into the energy system. Whether in the application of their existing powers, in the formal evolution of their competencies under national legal frameworks, or in their ability to collaborate with relevant stakeholders, such as grid operators and energy suppliers, regulators have a range of options at their disposal to meet the challenges addressed in this report.
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A strategic climate foreign policy that integrates security, energy, trade, finance and development cooperation, makes a significant contribution to this end. This is also expected of Germany as an economic power with high technological and innovative capacity, shaper of EU markets and standards, G7 member and an advocate of multilateralism.
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Norway has many natural advantages to facilitate a successful energy and climate transition. In particular, it can be well-positioned to lead the world on new technologies for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, such as electric vehicles, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen, if the right policies and incentives are put in place. In this report, the IEA provides energy policy recommendations to help Norway effectively manage the transformation of its energy sector in line with its goals.
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This report summarises the results of three modelled pathways for the European power sector. The Stated Policy pathway is aligned with stated national policie until 2035. The other two pathways – Technology Driven and System Change – are computed to minimise cost while remaining within a carbon budget compatible with the Paris Agreement climate goals.
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A recent White Paper found that industrial demand centres in Germany and the EU are ready to offtake five million tonnes of green hydrogen per year at present, with an addressable market of up to 27 million tonnes annually in the long term. In May (2022), the European Commission unveiled its REPowerEU plan which had ambitions of producing 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen annually, while importing a further 10 million tonnes.
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While the draft REPowerEU strategy identifies environmental regulation as the main obstacle to the uptake and upscale of renewables in Europe, the real bottlenecks proved to lie elsewhere. European Environmental Bureau analyses in this policy briefing what are the real top 10 barriers to renewable energy, which are related to lack of skilled professionals, grid connections and resource allocation.
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The analysis found that new BEV registrations is not equally distributed across European regions. In intermediate regions, the average BEV market share of 6.7% was 0.5 percentage points higher than in urban and rural regions. Looking at the regions which experienced BEV registrations equal to or above the European average, their share was the highest in intermediate regions (45%), followed by rural regions (42%), and urban regions (38%).
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The UK continues to prioritise Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) as its primary trade strategy. To avoid undermining its international climate strategy, and losing public support for its trade strategy, the UK’s approach to trade deals needs to be better aligned with its climate objectives. To achieve this, the UK should pioneer climate cooperation agreements inside and alongside its trade deals.
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The paper outlines how an expanded renewable energy sector within Europe is fundamental for energy security, and the need to speed up and scale up onshore and offshore wind production across Europe. It reaffirms green hydrogen as the backbone for a decarbonized and more secure European energy supply.
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In this report, CREA and Ember analyse European national responses to the gas crisis and Russia’s war on Ukraine. They show that the majority of European countries have significantly stepped up their ambition in terms of renewable energy deployment since 2019,
while decreasing planned 2030 fossil fuel generation to shield themselves from geopolitical threats.
Ofgem has predicted that the energy price cap will hit £2,800 in October. The UK government has provided £37bn this year just to keep people afloat. Investing now in long-term, enduring solutions can prevent similar sums from being required up to 2030 and potentially beyond. The government could act now to reliably lower bills by launching a national mission to upgrade the UK’s cold and leaky homes.
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Green public procurement continues to be underutilised in Europe, as several barriers to its application persist. A new EU regulatory action in this field could unlock the potential of green public procurement and add an important element to the European Green Deal toolbox.
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In the wake of supply disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s lack of resilience for its growing metals needs has become a strategic concern. This study evaluates how Europe can fulfil its goal of “achieving resource security” and “reducing strategic dependencies” for its energy transition metals, through a demand, supply, and sustainability assessment of the EU Green Deal and its resource needs.
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This paper sets out key policy recommendations to accelerate this transition, tackling key challenges of the transition including methane leakage and gas blending. This paper also examines the role of hydrogen in this transition, how to grow the hydrogen sector to meet the needs of a net zero economy and prioritise its use to deliver rapid emissions reductions.
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Europe’s wind energy sector is entering uncharted territory as inflation rears its head for the first time in two decades. The new environment is prompting companies to look more closely at portfolio management. Meanwhile, a trend to lock in long-tenor original equipment manufacturer (OEM) operations and maintenance (O&M) service agreements, to mirror the project finance tenor, may be leaving value on the table for the sake of minimising the downside risk for banks.
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