By Ryan Huang | Posted: 06 September 2010 2020 hrs
SINGAPORE : The Energy Market Authority (EMA) said the debut of the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) could pave the way for a carbon trading market here.
But that's unlikely to be anytime soon, as there are still many factors holding it back.
EMA CEO Lawrence Wong said this to reporters ahead of the upcoming Singapore International Energy Week at end-October.
A network of charging stations for electric vehicles is in the pipeline, with a tender up for the building of the infrastructure. And the EMA will announce the winner of the tender soon.
This is just one of many key announcements being made in the lead up to Singapore International Energy Week from October 27 to November 4. .
Others include the winner of the multimillion-dollar pilot project for a smart grid that allows consumers to optimise power use, and winners of the Smart Energy Challenge, launched to identify innovative ideas.
EMA said attendance to the annual summit has been doubling each year and they expect over 10,000 participants this year.
Wong said: "There is also greater interest from the political side and we are getting energy ministers from the region - from Southeast Asian countries, China and from the Middle Eastern countries.
"They are interested to come because we have been able to succeed in growing the energy event. They see this as a platform which they can come together and discuss energy issues which are relevant to them and to the region."
And with increased interest in the energy space, EMA expects the trading of energy-related instruments to mature.
It sees potential for a carbon trading market, especially following the debut of the SMX and energy-related securities.
However, EMA said this is unlikely to happen near to mid-term as the market is not yet ready, as it largely depends on global trends and political conditions improving. - CNA /ls
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Government Will Announce Decision Not to Back Tidal Energy Project
Monday, September 06, 2010
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20100906/government-will-announce-decision-not-back-tidal-energy-project.htm
The Coalition Government has reportedly decided not to back the Severn barrage, the world's biggest tidal energy project.
According to The Guardian, the Government will announce this month its decision not to back the £15 billion to £20 billion tidal energy project, which would represent the UK's biggest single source of green energy, generating five per cent of the country's electricity. The newspaper said, instead, ministers are set to recommend further feasibility studies for one of four much smaller tidal projects.
http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20100906/government-will-announce-decision-not-back-tidal-energy-project.htm
The Coalition Government has reportedly decided not to back the Severn barrage, the world's biggest tidal energy project.
According to The Guardian, the Government will announce this month its decision not to back the £15 billion to £20 billion tidal energy project, which would represent the UK's biggest single source of green energy, generating five per cent of the country's electricity. The newspaper said, instead, ministers are set to recommend further feasibility studies for one of four much smaller tidal projects.
World's largest wave energy test site scheme launches
Engineers are running final checks after placing a pioneering wave energy scheme on the seabed off the Cornish coast.
The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA)'s Wave Hub marine energy project has been installed 16 kilometres offshore.
Wave Hub, is claim the makers, the world's largest test site for wave energy technology and includes a grid-connected socket on the seabed to which wave power devices can be connected and their performance evaluated.
The £42 million project was lowered to the seabed using a crane on board the cable laying ship Nordica and touched down at 15.12 last Friday (September 3).
Over the last two days the hub's four 300m 'tails' have been positioned on the seabed and later today the vessel Tideway Rollingstone will start to place the first of 80,000 tonnes of rock on top of the 25km cable connecting Wave Hub to the shore to hold it in place.
News of Wave Hub's successful installation was welcomed by UK climate change minister Greg Barker who congratulated the Wave Hub team on their achievement, saying: "The UK's massive marine energy resources have the potential to supply millions of homes with renewable power, giving us security of supply and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
"Wave Hub will fulfil a crucial role that complements our existing test facilities in the UK and will help companies bring forward the development of marine energy."
The RDA's Wave Hub general manager, Guy Lavender, said: "Seeing Wave Hub lowered into the water was the culmination of more than seven years' hard work by hundreds of people and the fact that it was designed and built in this country is testimony to the skills and experience that the UK already has in the fledgling marine renewables industry.
"Wave Hub will be on the seabed for the next 25 years, helping the world gain invaluable knowledge about how we tap the vast energy potential of our oceans in the pursuit of clean, abundant, renewable energy and cementing the UK's position at the forefront of this green power revolution."
Luke Walsh
The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA)'s Wave Hub marine energy project has been installed 16 kilometres offshore.
Wave Hub, is claim the makers, the world's largest test site for wave energy technology and includes a grid-connected socket on the seabed to which wave power devices can be connected and their performance evaluated.
The £42 million project was lowered to the seabed using a crane on board the cable laying ship Nordica and touched down at 15.12 last Friday (September 3).
Over the last two days the hub's four 300m 'tails' have been positioned on the seabed and later today the vessel Tideway Rollingstone will start to place the first of 80,000 tonnes of rock on top of the 25km cable connecting Wave Hub to the shore to hold it in place.
News of Wave Hub's successful installation was welcomed by UK climate change minister Greg Barker who congratulated the Wave Hub team on their achievement, saying: "The UK's massive marine energy resources have the potential to supply millions of homes with renewable power, giving us security of supply and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
"Wave Hub will fulfil a crucial role that complements our existing test facilities in the UK and will help companies bring forward the development of marine energy."
The RDA's Wave Hub general manager, Guy Lavender, said: "Seeing Wave Hub lowered into the water was the culmination of more than seven years' hard work by hundreds of people and the fact that it was designed and built in this country is testimony to the skills and experience that the UK already has in the fledgling marine renewables industry.
"Wave Hub will be on the seabed for the next 25 years, helping the world gain invaluable knowledge about how we tap the vast energy potential of our oceans in the pursuit of clean, abundant, renewable energy and cementing the UK's position at the forefront of this green power revolution."
Luke Walsh
Glimmer of hope for US renewables law
2 September 2010
There may be hope for enactment of a federal renewable electricity standard (RES) in the US this year after all.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) surprised many renewable energy advocates in July by excluding the RES in his narrow energy bill, because he did not see the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural efforts to block action in the Senate.
But after weeks of intense lobbying, Reid this week indicated he sees bipartisan support for a RES and is willing to consider including it in his bill, which he plans to discuss further this month as Congress returns for a three-week period before election campaigns.
Reid’s statement is a sure sign that energy legislation featuring an RES is “still very much in play” and can pass the Senate, said American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode.
The lobbying came from a diverse coalition of labour groups, utilities, trade associations and environmental activists. In a letter last month to Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the coalition said the US is falling behind China and the EU on clean energy investments. The effects of the federal government’s indecision on the US industry are already visible, the letter said, with wind installations decreasing 71% in the second quarter compared to last year.
“The need for an RES could not be more urgent,” the letter stated.
Independent observers believe there is a chance to enact a federal RES at the level featured in a bill sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and adopted by the Senate energy and natural resources (ENR) committee in June 2009. It would require 15% of US energy to be produced from renewable resources by 2021, but allow utilities to meet up to 4% of this requirement through energy efficiency initiatives.
A more ambitious target would require the inclusion of nuclear energy and carbon capture and sequestration projects as renewable resources, they said.
Gloria Gonzalez
There may be hope for enactment of a federal renewable electricity standard (RES) in the US this year after all.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) surprised many renewable energy advocates in July by excluding the RES in his narrow energy bill, because he did not see the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural efforts to block action in the Senate.
But after weeks of intense lobbying, Reid this week indicated he sees bipartisan support for a RES and is willing to consider including it in his bill, which he plans to discuss further this month as Congress returns for a three-week period before election campaigns.
Reid’s statement is a sure sign that energy legislation featuring an RES is “still very much in play” and can pass the Senate, said American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode.
The lobbying came from a diverse coalition of labour groups, utilities, trade associations and environmental activists. In a letter last month to Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the coalition said the US is falling behind China and the EU on clean energy investments. The effects of the federal government’s indecision on the US industry are already visible, the letter said, with wind installations decreasing 71% in the second quarter compared to last year.
“The need for an RES could not be more urgent,” the letter stated.
Independent observers believe there is a chance to enact a federal RES at the level featured in a bill sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and adopted by the Senate energy and natural resources (ENR) committee in June 2009. It would require 15% of US energy to be produced from renewable resources by 2021, but allow utilities to meet up to 4% of this requirement through energy efficiency initiatives.
A more ambitious target would require the inclusion of nuclear energy and carbon capture and sequestration projects as renewable resources, they said.
Gloria Gonzalez
A future for Severn Barrage?
2 September 2010
Speculation is building over the future of a massive proposal, which could see 5% of the UK’s electricity generated from a tidal barrage on the Severn Estuary.
Concern that the cash-strapped government will not back the project has kicked off in the press this week, after Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) minister Charles Hendry was asked about its future at an energy conference in Norway. The minister said the government has been “looking at the likely costs and these have been escalating over time”.
Five options for generating tidal power from the Severn Estuary are on the table, ranging in ambition from a £20.9 billion, 8.6GW Cardiff-Weston Barrage, which could supply 5% of the UK’s electricity demand, to the smaller-scale 625MW Beachley Barrage, which would cost around £2.3 billion. The UK government is due to publish a study on the financial feasibility of the Severn Barrage tidal power project in the autumn.
Stephanie Merry from the Renewable Energy Association, who sits on the project’s advisory panel, told Bloomberg she believes the government will shelve the proposals. “With the present economic climate, a new public project of this scale would be unlikely to receive support. I hope that I am wrong,” she said.
“I know people have been speculating, but this announcement will be made through Parliament first,” said a spokesman for DECC.
“We’ll be publishing the results of the feasibility study in the autumn,” he said. A more specific deadline for the release of the study is not yet available.
Peter Madigan, head of offshore renewables at industry association RenewableUK, also noted that this feasibility study is still due to report. “That’s the real marker for any movement” on the project’s future, he said. The feasibility study is looking at “a range of options of different sizes and considerations, and they will have very different costs associated with them”.
The estuary and river between England and Wales has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world – referring to the difference in height between high and low tide. Proposals to harness this resource to generate electricity have been repeatedly dashed, with one of the earliest dating back to 1931, before the Severn Bridge was built.
A consultation in 2008 revived the idea, and resulted in the current shortlist of five options. However, the shortlist received short shrift from environmental groups including Friends of the Earth and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, because of concerns about ecological damage to the estuary.
Jess McCabe
Speculation is building over the future of a massive proposal, which could see 5% of the UK’s electricity generated from a tidal barrage on the Severn Estuary.
Concern that the cash-strapped government will not back the project has kicked off in the press this week, after Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) minister Charles Hendry was asked about its future at an energy conference in Norway. The minister said the government has been “looking at the likely costs and these have been escalating over time”.
Five options for generating tidal power from the Severn Estuary are on the table, ranging in ambition from a £20.9 billion, 8.6GW Cardiff-Weston Barrage, which could supply 5% of the UK’s electricity demand, to the smaller-scale 625MW Beachley Barrage, which would cost around £2.3 billion. The UK government is due to publish a study on the financial feasibility of the Severn Barrage tidal power project in the autumn.
Stephanie Merry from the Renewable Energy Association, who sits on the project’s advisory panel, told Bloomberg she believes the government will shelve the proposals. “With the present economic climate, a new public project of this scale would be unlikely to receive support. I hope that I am wrong,” she said.
“I know people have been speculating, but this announcement will be made through Parliament first,” said a spokesman for DECC.
“We’ll be publishing the results of the feasibility study in the autumn,” he said. A more specific deadline for the release of the study is not yet available.
Peter Madigan, head of offshore renewables at industry association RenewableUK, also noted that this feasibility study is still due to report. “That’s the real marker for any movement” on the project’s future, he said. The feasibility study is looking at “a range of options of different sizes and considerations, and they will have very different costs associated with them”.
The estuary and river between England and Wales has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world – referring to the difference in height between high and low tide. Proposals to harness this resource to generate electricity have been repeatedly dashed, with one of the earliest dating back to 1931, before the Severn Bridge was built.
A consultation in 2008 revived the idea, and resulted in the current shortlist of five options. However, the shortlist received short shrift from environmental groups including Friends of the Earth and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, because of concerns about ecological damage to the estuary.
Jess McCabe
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