(Published: 01 April 2011 | Updated: 05 April 2011)
"Les énergies renouvelables perspectives augmenter avec malaise nucléaires"
Public unease about nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster is prompting renewed scrutiny of renewable power options by governments across the world.
Background
The EU's Renewable Energy Directive set national targets for renewables in order to reach a 20% share in the EU's overall energy mix by 2020 (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'EU renewable energy policy').
To ensure that the goals are reached, the directive set "indicative trajectories" - intermediate targets - for each member state. Countries were obliged to draw up national renewable energy action plans by the end of June 2010, setting out measures on how they intend to keep up with their trajectories, but most member states missed the deadline.
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Interview:Scholar: 'China is entering global renewables market'Following temporary moratoriums on the nuclear industry imposed in Germany and Switzerland, Japan is planning a review of energy options such as solar power.
China may double its target for photovoltaic activity, while Taiwan is also considering axing nuclear output.
Investors are betting on an energy shake up, carrying world benchmark indexes to their highest in 14 months.
The global FTSE Cleantech index has spiked more than 8% since Japan's earthquake struck on 11 March.
The WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation index of alternative energy stocks has gained around 12%.
"If nuclear contributes less, then something has to make up the difference and that could very easily be renewables," said Paul Hanrahan, president of the AES Corporation in Singapore.
China, the world's biggest energy consumer, has already announced plans to raise the price of renewable energy over the next two years to encourage investments.
The country's renewable energy law obliges grid firms to buy all the renewable electricity produced in their region, even though it is more expensive than coal-fired power.
"Whatever their exact outcome, the Fukushima events are likely to shift the energy policy balance toward renewables," Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) said in a report on 28 March.
Robin Batchelor, a fund manager at BlackRock in charge of $8.2 billion in energy-related funds, said that Fukushima might have brought renewables into focus for fund managers.
In Europe though, the EU's Renewable Electricity Directive missed its 2010 target of a 21% share for renewable energy out of total electricity generated, and is now aiming for renewables to account for 20% of energy consumed by 2020.
Despite this, Thorbjoern Jensen, an oil market analyst, noted a green change in the continent's air.
"You will certainly see a bigger push on the part of all governments here in Europe to diversify their slate for power generation," he said.
In 2010, Europe was responsible for nearly half the value of global deals concluded in the renewables sector, with an overall value of just over $13 billion, according to PwC.
In 2010, the number of deals in green energy projects rose 66%, PwC said.
But a note of caution was sounded by Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chief executive of Schneider Electric, the 20bn renewable energy management company, who warned that Europe risked throwing its lead in the global green technology race.
"I'm not sure Europe is doing enough to stay abreast of global innovation in this sector," he told the Financial Times. "The ecosystem that is created in Europe is too much turned to the protection of the past and not enough to the conquest of the future."
In a separate Pew Environment Report released on 29 March, China was ranked the world's leading investor in clean energy, providing $54.4 billion of funds.
Among the EU nations, Germany came second in the world league table, Italy fourth, the rest of the EU-27 fifth, Spain eighth, France ninth, and the UK 13th.
(EurActiv with
Reuters.)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-environment/renewable-energy-pro spects-rise-nuclear-unease-news-503709
