Italy will build world’s biggest solar power plant

30 March 2007 - The biggest solar power plant in the world will be built in Italy, on the east coast of Sicily. This week, the Italian government gave electricity company Enel permission to build the solar power plant. It will generate 5 MW of electricity a year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 4,500 households.

The solar power plant is scheduled to be ready for action in 2009. The project, named Archimedes, will combine solar power with natural gas as a source for generating electricity, which is a new technology. A new thermodynamic solar plant will be constructed at an existing power plant near the city of Siracusa.

The extra power from the sun will save gas burned at the plant. This way, the plant will achieve a 7,300 tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions every year. The project is a cooperation between Italy’s biggest electricity (and formerly state-owned) company, Enel, and the government-funded agency specialising in alternative energy, Enea.

Spain inaugurates first commercial CSP plant in Europe

30 March 2007 – Near the Spanish city of Seville the first commercial Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant was inaugurated today. The plant has a capacity of 10 MW and it will generate 23 GWh of electricity per year, which is enough to supply around 10,000 people.

The so called PS10 project produces electricity via 624 movable mirrors (heliostats) of 120 m2 surface each that concentrate solar radiation onto the top of a 115m high tower where the solar receiver and the steam turbine are located.

Concentrating Solar Power plants use solar radiation as a high-temperature energy source to produce electricity. The heliostat reflectors concentrate sunlight, creating heat that can be used to produce steam used to generate renewable electricity in a conventional thermodynamic cycle. The need for the concentration of the sun’s rays before power can be generated arises because solar radiation reaches the Earth’s surface with a density that is adequate for heating systems but not for an efficient thermodynamic cycle for electricity production.

The PS10 solar plant is promoted by the company Abengoa. The investment costs were €35 million. The European Union contributed €5 million to this investment under the Fifth Framework Programme for research.

The project execution took 54 months, from 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2005. PS10 is the first of a set of solar electric power generation plants to be constructed in the same area which will total more than 300 MW by 2013.

More information:

Final Technical Progress Report on the CSP plant

Sweden introduces bonus for new green cars

30 March 2007 - Swedes who buy a new green car between 1 April 2007 and 31 December 2009 will get a bonus of 10,000 SEK (around 1,069 Euros). The Swedish Ministry of Environment announced this rebate scheme to encourage private drivers to buy fuel-efficient cars and cars that run on green fuels.

The Swedish government allocated 50 million SEK in 2007, 100 million SEK in 2008 and 100 million SEK in 2009. Green cars which are registered in the Swedish Road Register qualify for the bonus.

The Swedish Road Administration has formulated their definition of the term ‘green car’. According to the definition, a green car is:

• A conventional car running on petrol or diesel with carbon dioxide emissions that do not exceed 120 g/km;
• Alternative fuel cars that run on biofuels and cars with fuel consumption less than 0.92 litre petrol/10 km, 0.84 litre diesel/10 km, or 0.97 cubic metre gas/10 km;
• Electric cars with electric energy consumption that does not exceed 3.7 kilowatt hours/10 km.

More information:

Press Release of Swedish Ministry for the Environment

Webpage announces calls for tenders on energy and transport

The Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (DG TREN) of the European Commission has opened a new webpage on which Calls for tenders and Calls for expressions of interest will be announced. On this DG TREN section you will also find prior information notices and a list of contacting parties.

Dimas welcomes IPCC

2 April 2007 – Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has welcomed the IPCC Working group II at their assembly in Brussels. By the end of the week, the group is expected to publish its report on the impact of climate change.

The Environment Commissioner underlined the relationship between the IPCC’s findings and the EU policies on climate and energy. The EC regards 2 degrees climate change above pre-industrial temperatures as the maximum acceptable level. It follows from this that global emissions will have to fall by as much as 50% compared to 1990 levels by 2050.

Dimas said: “In the current climate discussions, countries are waiting for others to move first. Only EU leadership can break this impasse. Our commitment to act combined with the growing pressure for action coming from the IPCC and public opinion, can be the catalyst for change.”

Dimas departed from his scripted speech to criticise the United States for its lack of climate policy. Dimas said US emissions were 15% over their 1990 level. He urged Washington to cooperate in the international efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions after 2012.

He ended his speech by saying: “The fight against climate change is now rightly recognised as a strategic priority by the European Union and, increasingly, elsewhere.”

Further information:

Download speech by EC Dimas, Brussels, 2 April 2007

Ireland launches Climate Strategy to meet Kyoto targets

4 April 2007 – Ireland is determined to meet its Kyoto target (2008-2012), and the National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012 that was launched this week, has to ensure this. It is also intended to position Ireland for the challenges of the post-Kyoto period.

The measures in this Strategy will account for 80% of efforts to meet Ireland’s Kyoto Protocol Commitments. For the remaining 20%, Ireland will use flexible mechanisms such as CDM and JI.

In this Strategy, the Irish government has agreed a series of new measures for the public sector. The public sector will be required to measure, report and reduce emissions, and the government will set specific targets for this. Furthermore, the Irish government will introduce a voluntary carbon-offsetting scheme for all air travel associated with government business. And public bodies will be required to purchase only energy efficient light bulbs, which is part of an energy efficiency programme with a target of 33% energy savings across the public sector by 2020.

The National Climate Change Strategy builds on the commitment to sustainable development set out in “Towards 2016” and the “National Development Plan 2007-2013”. The Strategy is one of a number of government initiatives that will address energy and climate change issues. These include the White Paper on Energy (which was published two weeks ago), the Bio-Energy Action Plan and the forthcoming Sustainable Transport Action Plan.

More information:

Press Release Irish Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012

‘EU targets to reduce car emissions cost 23 billion Euros’

4 April 2007 – It will cost 24 – 54 Euros per tonne of reduced CO2, or up to 23 billion Euros in total to reach the EU targets of reducing car emissions to 120 grammes per kilometre by 2012. The European Commission published this result last week in an impact assessment.

The legislative plans to reduce car emissions were already published two months ago, but these plans led to an argument with the transport sector. That is why the draft text proposed by the European Commission needed to be changed dramatically.

The plans to oblige carmakers to engineer car engines which produce an average of 130 grammes emissions per kilometre, and additional measures to achieve an extra emissions reduction of 10 grammes per kilometre, have not been changed. But some sentences have disappeared, like the warning that the planned measures would lead to ‘decreased car exports and increased imports’. Also the prediction that fewer small cars and more big cars would be sold, can’t be found in the final version.

More information:

Impact assessment