Renew Extra Weekly

In this uncompromisingly radical Pluto book entitled Energy Revolutions , with the graphic subtitle Profiteering versus democracy , Dr David Toke argues that the energy crisis is an inevitable result of an industry run by and for corporate profit. He says ‘energy policy was never meant to favour sustainability or energy security – for decades, it has been shaped by corporate interests while hampering renewable alternatives. Now we suffer the cascading consequences’. He says there is an urgent need to radically increase state intervention, including public ownership, and deploy ‘energy democracy’ for the public interest.              However, he is not against market competition as such- it can speed change and help reduce costs. Thus, in his account of the early days of renewables, he says that, as a result of the adoption of Feed In Tariffs in the late 2000’s in Germany and elsewhere, markets were created that ‘meant that the wind and solar industries grew quickly. The costs of rene

 In a Paris Agreement Compatible (PAC) scenario for Europe, initially developed in 2020 and now being upgraded , the Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and the European Environmental Bureau outline a pathway to 1 00% renewables in all sectors , which results in the phase-out of coal by 2030, fossil gas by 2035 and oil products by 2040. And the PAC scenario also has no remaining nuclear output in any EU country by 2040, except France, the worst case although, even there, its role ends soon after 2040.             As EEB’s new updated report on the nuclear phase out notes, in the PAC scenario, ‘105 GW of renewable electricity generation are added in the EU on an annual basis from 2023 onwards, assuming constant deployment rates. The additions come mainly from new and re-powered wind and solar PV capacity, with a supporting role for hydro, solar thermal, geothermal and bioenergy. Flexibility options, such as demand side response, storage technologies, optimised operation, extension of gr