Europe’s major energy players launch clean power initiative
Thirteen leading players in Europe’s energy sector have launched an initiative aimed at eliminating subsidies for high-emission power technologies. The Make Power Clean group is made up of an unprecedented alliance of fossil-fuel and renewable energy companies including Shell, Siemens, Statoil, Total, Eni, Snam, Eurogas, Nordex and Acciona, Iberdrola, Gas Natural Fenosa, Solar Power Europe, WindEurope and the European Semiconductor Industry Association. With the aim of promoting flexibility in the EU electricity market and further preparing for the energy transition, the group is urging the European Commission and Parliament to stop giving state aid to high-emission power plants “given that cleaner supply alternatives are available now”. On the table is a Commission proposal to limit access to capacity mechanisms to plants emitting 550 g or less of CO2 per kWh, in support of which the group has written a letter. “Avoiding that State aid, in the form of capacity mechanisms, ends up incentivizing the most polluting and less flexible power plants is central” to promoting decarbonization in Europe, the letter said. Plants with higher CO2 emissions will still be able to operate in the market, the group noted, through paying for their emissions within the framework of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). The 550 g carbon criterion is in line with both Europe’s 2030 decarbonization goals and the European Investment Bank’s lending strategy, as well as supporting the effectiveness of the ETS, the group said, noting that ETS reform is “critical to deliver a meaningful carbon price signal to drive the switch towards lower carbon power generation”. The carbon criterion “ensures that capacity mechanisms do not contradict the low carbon incentives delivered by the ETS,” it said.The announcement comes on the heels of Friday’s launch of another new decarbonization group, the Electrification Alliance, which features members SolarPower Europe, WindEurope, Avere, Eurelectric, the European Copper Institute and the European Heat Pump Association. This group is calling for electricity to be recognized as “the key energy carrier” for Europe’s decarbonized future. Kristian Ruby, secretary-general of Eurelectric, said at POWER-GEN Europe on Monday that the alliance “will work together to advance the idea of the electrification of the economy, to provide policy recommendations, create new insights and push the idea that we can create benefits for the European economy by gradually electrifying in a smart, sustainable way.”
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“Make Power Clean” Initiative Aims To Promote Cleaner European Electricity Market
Thirteen industry leaders and associations from across Europe launched the new “Make Power Clean” initiative on Monday, which aims to promote a European electricity market designed to deliver cleaner electricity across the region. The Make Power Clean initiative is made up of thirteen big-name companies and organizations representing Europe — including Shell, Siemens, Statoil, Total, Eni, Snam, Eurogas, Nordex and Acciona, Iberdrola, Gas Natural Fenosa, Solar Power Europe, Wind Europe, and the European Semiconductor Industry Association. Together, the Make Power Clean initiative aims to lobby European policy makers to ensure that only those energy technologies considered “clean” are eligible to receive public support in the form of capacity mechanisms. The initiative believes that the European Union’s electricity market must become more flexible, secure, and sustainable, if Europe is to make it onto a track that leads to a successful transition to a low-carbon energy sector. As such, the initiative hopes to ensure that Member State aid does not incentivize the further growth of fossil fuel technologies. Specifically, therefore, the Make Power Clean initiative is calling on the European Council and the European Parliament “to endorse the 550g CO2/kWh carbon criterion, which is critical to the overall consistency and efficiency of EU climate and energy policy.” “Europe’s electricity market design needs to be fully consistent with the EU climate strategy,” the initiative wrote in a letter sent to European leaders (PDF). They continue, explaining that the European Commission’s plans for a 550g CO2/kWh carbon eligibility criterion “is a step in the right direction, which we encourage you to support.” Such a move is considered “transparent and in line with the European Investment Bank’s investment rules” and “is also technology neutral: plants with higher CO2 emissions will still be able to operate in the market, simply paying for their emissions in the frame of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS).”
cleantechnica.com