In 2010, European households consumed almost 13% more energy than two decades ago and generated 25 % of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. This trend must be reversed for the EU to reach its goal of reducing primary energy consumption by 20 % by 2020. Today, the European Environment Agency (EEA) publishes a report which investigates Continue reading →
The European Union’s (EU) ambitious plan to rollout smart meters to 80 percent of its 500 million population by 2020 is not going well as hoped. Europe has enjoyed notable success with smart meters. In 2006, Italy became the first country in Europe to complete a national smart meter program after utility Enel conducted a Continue reading →
The EU has announced more than €1.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) of funding for renewable generation projects, including more than €200 million for concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in Greece and Cyprus, and €8.2 million for a smart grid scheme in Belgium. via Smart grid and CSP schemes among EU’s €1.2 billion handout recipients: pv-magazine.
Europe is going to be the next big market for smart meters — and Germany, the continent’s most populous nation, could be the biggest single customer in that market. But so far, Germany has lagged behind its Northern European and Scandinavian neighbors in deploying smart meters. It also hasn’t matched the big, national smart meter Continue reading →
Last month, wind capacity in Europe crossed the 100 gigawatt (GW) threshold and that’s just the beginning. Wind energy supplies about 7% of the EU’s electricity, and that will rise dramatically as the massive offshore wind farms planned get built and connected to the grid. Siemens, which recently decided to sell its solar thermal division Continue reading →
It will be very beneficial to the energy supply in the European Union if a more integrated electricity network was established throughout the EU. The Danish Minister for Climate and Energy recently shared his ambitions for creating a smart grid throughout Europe within the next 5-10 years and stated in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that Continue reading →
A study commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change recently revealed that over half the population is unaware of the existence of smart meters. Over 51% of the 2,396 energy bill-payers interviewed by the Ipsos Mori research team in Britain said they had never heard of smart meters. Only one in four said Continue reading →
Estonian electricity distribution network Elektrilevi, this week signed an eight-year contract with Swedish telecoms vendor Ericsson to supply, deploy, integrate and run a smart-metering network in the country. Estonia said it was motivated to install smart meters to contribute to the EU target of improving energy efficiency by 20 per cent by 2020. Elektrilevi has Continue reading →
The EU Agency ENISA has released recommendations critical to the security of the smart grid, which make sure that IT is properly taken into account from the beginning of a project. “Our study shows that the two ‘separate worlds’ of the energy sector versus the IT security sector must be aligned on security for smart Continue reading →
By September the European Union may have a new energy efficiency strategy in place. On June 14 negotiators struck a provisional deal on the proposed new EU energy efficiency directive (the “Third Energy Efficiency Directive”). Final approval is likely. For the past year the EU has been working on this amendment to its energy efficiency Continue reading →
The metering industry has called for the proposed European Union (EU) energy efficiency directive (EED) to set mandatory requirements for smart meters to provide minimum functionalities and energy consumption and cost information. The EED, now the subject of haggling by the European Parliament and the European Council of EU governments, would otherwise fail to achieve Continue reading →
Europe’s wave and tidal power technology is likely to disappoint EU expectations for 2020 and take over a decade to contribute to energy supply in a significant way, even though it is chalking up rapid growth and drawing in big industrial investors. The nascent industry has attracted a flurry of investor activity over the past Continue reading →
1.3 GW of Concentrated Solar Thermal Power were operational worldwide, 2.3 GW under construction, and 31.7 GW planned. Following an initial review of the present position of concentrated solar energy deployment, this article summarises the EU and international policy goals relevant to CSP and then evaluates the key factors influencing the future contribution of CSP. via REVE Continue reading →
he EU wants electricity distribution systems that can use more solar and wind energy. The tools to hand are a smart power grid and a range of financial “carrots”. via EU smart grid will help electricity consumers alter demand to match renewable energy production at Sustainable Guernsey.
SINTEF Energy Research announced a demonstration project, the EcoGrid EU, a €21 million EU project that is being coordinated in Trondheim by SINTEF. Sixteen partners from ten countries are members of the project. The project will raise the ceiling for how far an electricity grid can utilize unpredictable sources such as wind and sun. via Continue reading →
Oracle Utilities has published its Future of Energy report, which looks at critical energy areas such as smart tech, energy security, electric mobility and how smart grids are going to have a key role in meeting 2050 CO2 targets set by the EU. Ireland’s Bord Gáis CEO, John Mullins, was one of the contributors to Continue reading →
