France: Wind Energy Is a Solution in Energy Transition

France may be the world's most nuclear energy dependent country, but times are changing. When French President François Hollande took the reins of power in 2012 he pledged to reduce the country's nuclear dependency from 75 percent to 50 percent by 2025.



Today, France has a goal of reaching 19 GW of wind energy by 2020, up from its current level of 8.2 GW, according to the European Wind Energy Association's (EWEA) latest statistics. This will significantly raise the percentage of wind powered electricity in the country from the 3% wind covers today. And, according to a very recent survey, the French are behind this transition.

Some 64 percent of French people see wind energy as a solution, among others, in the context of the energy transition, says a CSA survey published in March 2014. Moreover, 80 percent of the 1010 respondents consider it necessary to invest in wind without waiting for the traditional power plants to reach the end of their lifecycle.

65 percent of those surveyed said that they would invest in renewable energy (wind and solar/photovoltaic) today if they had to personally invest in one energy source, while 15 percent chose nuclear, 7 percent chose gas and 1 percent chose coal. Meanwhile, 69 percent of French people would choose wind energy if they had to choose one energy type to be constructed in their region. 75 percent chose solar, 21 percent chose nuclear, 16 percent chose gas and 4 percent chose gas.

In short, the results show that the French are aware that an energy transition must take place, they are confident enough in renewables to invest if they could, and they know that the time to act is now. Next year is a key year for energy decision-makers in France since both the UN summit on climate change will take place in Paris, and, just two weeks before, EWEA will host is internationally-renowned annual event EWEA 2015 from 17-20 November in the same city. The event is set to be a platform for the wind energy industry to make its climate-friendly technology solutions known to global leaders at the UN summit.

France's opinions on wind power sit well with Europe-wide opinion polls on wind energy, as detailed by EWEA. EWEA believes that wind energy delivers a multitude of benefits to communities from sustainable jobs and economic revival, to fighting climate change and bolstering energy security. On a local level, renting out land for wind farms can provide income, and taxes from a wind energy business can be used by the local community to improve infrastructure and services — all of which contribute to the public's strong perception of wind power.

The results in France echo other public opinion surveys in the country: In 2011 an ADEME opinion poll found that 80 percent of French people back the installation of wind turbines. In 2013 an IPSOS survey found that wind power had a good image for 83 percent of the population. The same survey found that 80 percent of interviewees would welcome wind turbines in their region (départment) while 68 percent would welcome turbines in their local area (commune). And, according to France Energie Eolienne, public opinion becomes more favourable the closer the respondent lives to a wind farm.



Source: Renewable Energy World

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Robert Llewellyn is taking us to Wales for a Bed & Breakfast style vacation, with his blue LEAF ....

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Total distance travelled 418 miles
Total CO2 output. 0.0
Total fuel cost £0.00p"

Links:
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http://www.fhc.co.uk/dinorwig.htm
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Denmark to have more ambitious climate goals than all of Europe

Agreement in Denmark's parliament this week cleared the way for passage of climate targets that would outstrip the recent goals set by the European Union.

The bill would establish a legally binding requirement that Denmark cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990′s levels by 2020, and that the government return to the question every five years to set new 10-year targets. The legislation would also establish a Climate Council — modeled on a similar body in Britain — to advise the government on the best ways to continue reducing Denmark's reliance on fossil fuels.



The bill is backed by the Social Democrats, the Conservative People's Party, the Socialist People's Party, and the Red-Green Alliance.
Denmark's present and former governments have already committed the country to a goal of 100 percent renewable energy generation by 2050, and the new bill is seen as a concrete step to achieving that goal.

"This is a law to make Denmark low carbon society by 2050," Mattias Soderberg, a senior climate advisor at DanChurchAid, a humanitarian organization in Denmark, told Responding to Climate Change. "With this law Denmark is starting to outline how this process will be done."
A 40 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020 is on par with carbon emission cuts the National Research Council advised America to take on in 2010. It's also noticeably more ambitious than the target the European Parliament recently passed to cut emissions 40 percent cut below 1990 levels by 2030 for the European Union as a whole.

The broader EU target remains non-binding until its approved by the government's of the individual countries that make up the group. And debate remains on exactly how the target should be divvied up amongst the member states. So Denmark moving forward with more ambitious cuts at the individual level would put it ahead of the curve set by most of its peers on the Continent.
Denmark is also part of the Emissions Trading System (ETS), Europe's cap-and-trade system for cutting carbon emissions, which will likely serve as the main driver of both Denmark's reductions and the EU's as a whole. Unfortunately, the unexpected drop in economic activity due to the 2008 recession, as well as some inherent design flaws, have driven the price of carbon permits under the ETS to remarkable lows. That removed the incentive for firms in Europe to cut their carbon emissions, leaving the entire system stalled in limbo.

The ETS' problems have served as a learning experience for other, newer cap-and-trade systems like California's. And reforms are in the works in the EU to get the ETS back on its feet.
Meanwhile, Denmark has already been making substantial progress on the climate front.According to numbers Responding to Climate Change pulled from the Danish Energy Agency, renewable energy accounted for 43.1 percent of Denmark's domestic electricity supply in 2012, and for 25.8 percent of all energy consumption in the country that year. Renewables provided 23.1 percent of the electricity Denmark consumed in 2011.



Source: Renew Economy

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SMA to Part Ways with Windy Boy Inverters

 

SMA will withdraw from the small wind turbine industry at the end of 2013 at which time production of the Windy Boy inverter will cease. We spoke to Volker Wachenfeld, Executive Vice President in the Hybrid Energy Solutions division, about the reasons and what the new markets of the future will be.




Volker, what are the reasons for withdrawing from the small wind turbine industry?

Volker: Unfortunately, changes to the political landscape in important sales markets have caused the market for small wind turbines to collapse. The UK government, for example, has cut funding for wind power plants below 1.5 kW – the size typically used in domestic applications – so unfortunately, in some cases, it is simply no longer worthwhile for the customer. In Denmark, the subsidy model has been modified to the point where it is no longer worth it to operate small-scale wind turbines. There has been a clear downturn since 2010 and for this reason, we made the decision to pull out of this business area and to discontinue the Windy Boy, Windy Tripower and Windy Boy Protection Box protects.



Windy Boy – the inverter for small wind turbine systems – was one of SMA’s first products. Won’t it hurt a bit to say goodbye to it?

This has not been an easy decision. As an engineer, I am probably even more affected than others by the withdrawal from this area as it is very interesting in terms of system technology. It is really enjoyable to tailor wind turbine systems to the specific wind conditions of a location. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that these markets must also be lucrative for a company like ours, particularly when times are as tough as they are now for the solar industry. As a result, it makes sense for us to concentrate on important topics for the future. This also means that we have to be resolute in stepping back from business segments that are less promising.

How does this change impact projects that have already been planned with Windy Boy? Depending on the particular site, the approval processes and certification for wind energy systems can take a very long time.

For this reason, we informed our customers right away that we would be phasing out the products gradually throughout the year. This gives our customers the opportunity to stockpile an appropriate supply of inverters and corresponding system technology. And we will of course continue to offer related services.


So the customers have already been informed, how did they react?

Of course, customers were not exactly thrilled. After all, we were the only supplier in this fragile market to offer products from large-scale production of PV technology that were tailored to the requirements of small wind turbine systems. The quality we offered was undoubtedly above average for the market segment. On the other hand, we noticed that this market was becoming increasingly fragmented with more and more smaller manufacturers offering very specialized systems, all with their own special requirements that needed to be met by inverter manufacturers. Even if the market volume trend in the segment we are interested in had declined in recent years, a shift toward more diversified system suppliers was evident. This type of supplier is also capable of operating successfully in a smaller market, whereas some of the larger plant manufacturers have reduced their involvement. This environment particularly tends to favor highly specialized electronic start-ups, which are a great deal better at fulfilling the customers’ very specialized requirements than large-scale manufacturers like us.

You have addressed some important topics for the future. What is on SMA’s agenda?
One of the really hot topics at the moment is energy management. In order to manage the energy transition, we need intelligent solutions that help us exploit renewable energies preferably on-the-spot. For the market here in Germany, we are developing system solutions for increased self-consumption. The aim is for photovoltaic systems operators to be able to use as much as possible of the solar energy generated on their roof for their own consumption. This will help them save on costs associated with buying electricity. And, on an international level, we see tremendous potential in the area of industrial photovoltaic diesel hybrid systems. By this, we mean the use of photovoltaics to supplement existing diesel systems. This will allow operators of large-scale industrial systems to save diesel costs and reduce CO2 emissions.


So how do photovoltaics and diesel systems fit together?
Actually, they complement each other perfectly. With the aid of solar energy, the power output from diesel systems can be reduced. And by the way, this topic is not all that new at SMA. Most conventional PV systems for rural electrification have an integrated diesel generator that takes over the energy supply when there is little sunlight. In large-scale industrial plants this situation is reversed. Instead of the diesel system being used to supplement photovoltaic output, photovoltaics supplement the diesel. This field combines our core competencies in the areas of off-grid electrification and large-scale PV power plants. The combination of rising diesel prices and falling prices for PV system technology means that this development is already a commercially attractive alternative for industrial large-scale consumers in off-grid but sun-rich regions. SMA’s first system was installed at the end of 2012 in Thabazimbi, South Africa. Since then, we have been working on PV diesel hybrid projects all around the world – in South Africa, Australia and India. Two additional projects have already been sold. Out of approximately 500 gigawatts worldwide of installed power from diesel generators, there’s a potential of approximately 50 gigawatts that could benefit from being supplemented with photovoltaics.


Volker, thanks a lot for the interview.



Source: SMA Sunny. The SMA Corporate Blog