Newsletter June 2007 (EN)

English

Improving acceptance of sustainable energy

The European project Create Acceptance focuses on the societal acceptance of (innovative) projects involving sustainable and/or climate neutral energy. In the project an instrument is developed for pro-ject managers which analyses the context and (visions of) stakeholders and translates them into a strategy for successful acceptance of such projects. The instrument is based on case studies of projects in Europe, Iceland and South Africa. Case studies conducted in 2006 show the large role of the Euro-pean, national and local contexts in projects. For each project, this context consists of a unique com-bination of political, technical, economic, social, cultural, geographical and demographical factors. In order to evaluate and refine the instrument it is tested in various projects in Europe, among which the planned Zero Emission Power Plant (ZEPP) in Drachten - The Netherlands. ECN Policy Studies has carried out the first two steps of the instrument, which entail charting the history, actors and the con-text of the project as well as the project manager’s and stakeholders’ visions of the future. 

Scenarios wind energy at the North Sea

Two scenarios have been designed for the development of wind energy at the North Sea: a strong growth (20 GW in 2050) and a moderate growth (4 GW in 2050) scenario. Both scenarios reflect the playing field in which the wind energy sector can determine its strategy in the coming years. In the strong growth scenario wind at sea becomes profitable around 2025, whereas in the moderate growth scenario this does not happen and wind at sea can only be continued with subsidy. 

REFUEL: European road map for biofuels

In the REFUEL project a European road map is developed for biofuels. Until now, an assessment was performed of biomass potentials in EU-27 and Ukraine, the cost of all intems in the biofuel production chain and the impact of technological learning. In the short term, the second generation of biofuels will have significantly higher full chain production costs than the first generation. Direct policy is needed to integrate the second generation in the fuel mix and to allow related technologies to reduce their costs, becoming competitive on the longer term. 

Investments to improve supply security in Europe

Recently the Encouraged project, coordinated by ECN Policy Studies was completed. In this project electricity, gas and possible future hydrogen corridors between the EU and neighbouring supplying countries were examined. Gas supply from neighbouring regions (Russia, North Africa, and Middle East) will increase the coming decades. ECN in cooperation with OME has examined which invest-ments will be needed (pipeline capacity, gas storage LNG) and which are the best locations for these investments (Model analysis of optimal infrastructure for gas in Europe) and how the overcome the many regulatory and policy barriers hampering investments today (Analysis of current shortcomings in EU gas and electricity regulation).  

Standard for energy security of supply

Security of supply cannot be unambiguously measured, which hampers an effective policy approach. In collaboration with Clingendael International Energy Program (CIEP) ECN Policy Studies has pre-pared a method for the evaluation and assessment of the security of energy supply. This method, the S/D index, is applied to all 27 EU countries and the EU as a whole for the years 2005 and 2020. On a scale of 1 to 100 the scores of the 27 EU countries range from 25 to 82. The Netherlands has a rea-sonable score of 69. In 2020, the index for a number of countries will decrease, because they have to import more fossil fuels from outside the EU.  

Policy support DG Environment in the field of carbon capture and storage

The unit offers technical support to DG Environment for establishing an enabling policy framework for CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) in the European Union. This framework will regulate both the risks related to CCS, and the incentives required to realize rapid expansion of CCS across the EU. The results of the project will feed into the Commission’s Communication on CCS due in the third quarter of 2007. The project is led by ECN Policy Studies and carried out in collaboration with two English partners and a Polish partner.

Role of technology-oriented agreements in international climate policy

Post-2012 international agreements on climate change could be designed based on emission reduction targets, as the Kyoto Protocol, but could also be built on agreements that focus on further develop-ment and deployment of technologies. ECN Policy Studies, in collaboration with Resources for the Future, an environmental think-tank based in Washington DC, performed a study on the effectiveness of such agreements in energy and other fields, in order to explore the way they could be used in the climate negotiations. The conclusions included that mandatory technology agreements could be an ef-fective instrument, but that the environmental benefits of agreements that focus strictly on knowledge sharing, research and development, or technology transfer are likely to be limited.

Supporting the Dutch government for a 30% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

The new Dutch government has set ambitious targets in its coalition agreement on energy and climate for 2020: a 30% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a renewable energy share of 20% and annual energy savings of 2%. ECN Policy Studies has made several studies to support these plans: 1) Exploration of the playing field to reach the national targets of the coalition agreement. 2) Translating the national target of 2% energy savings into possible measures and instruments in sectors. 3) Offering support for the consultations and comments on plans of the sectors (e.g. industry, the energy sector, traffic and built environment). Also, ECN Policy Studies has recently made the calculations for a Dutch Green Energy Plan from the environmental NGOs and trade unions (Green4Sure). This summer the unit will perform an impact assessment on the governmental working programme for energy and climate.

Newsletter June 2007

ECN Policy Studies carries out energy studies in the field of energy and climate change. The objective is to enhance insights in energy consumption, energy markets, objectives of energy policy and policy instruments and to contribute in a significant and independent manner to better policy decisions in the field of energy.

The printable version of the newsletter can be downloaded here.

Selected projects