News
Category:
Europe
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The company said it was closing two plants - Albacete in Castilla-La Mancha and Tudela in Navarre - and restructuring a third at As Somozas, Galicia. The cuts affect 6% of the total workforce.
Also filed under [
General]
For decades visitors to the D-Day beaches on the northwest coast of France have looked out at the English Channel, taking in the journey made by Allied troops that marked a turning point in the Second World War.
The plan to build a huge offshore wind farm within sight of land has upset veterans and their families and has triggered protests from environmentalists ...Seventy-five wind turbines, each almost 190m high, would be built nine to 14km out to sea. Construction is to begin in 2015, a year after the 70th anniversary of the landings.
Also filed under [
Impact on Landscape|
Impact on Views]
Norwegian project hit by Scanwind turbine write-off
April 30, 2013 by Sara Knight in Windpower Monthly
April 30, 2013 by Sara Knight in Windpower Monthly
NTE, a Norwegian small regional energy company, has revealed severe problems with all 13 ScanWind turbines installed at its Hundhammerfjellet R&D onshore project.
A Norwegian source told WPM the issue is in connection with the yaw bearings. ...on 22 April said all of the turbines have been taken out of service until the facts have been clarified.
The success of the turnaround is not only to be evaluated after the volume of the installed solar and wind capacity but also if the energy supply remains safe and affordable, he added.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy|
Germany]
Most green electricity sources cannot compete with coal and natural gas on their own and require subsidies that are passed on to industry and consumers. The more power they generate, the higher those costs. Direct charges for renewables add about 18 percent to German household electric bills, with indirect costs putting on more.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
After the vote, the European Parliament's Environment Committee said that some members felt that "a rise in the carbon price would erode the competitiveness of European industry and be passed on in household energy bills."
Slack demand for electricity because of the recession and an abundance of permits helped push the price of emitting a ton of carbon below €5 ($6.60) earlier this year, from nearly €30 in 2008.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
EU Energy Chief Wants to Prioritize Affordability
April 10, 2013 by Jan Hromadko in Wall Street Journal
April 10, 2013 by Jan Hromadko in Wall Street Journal
"Today we are looking at climate protection in its entirety, taking into account that energy has to remain affordable for industries and private households," Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for energy, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Any new carbon or clean-energy targets should be more "modest and pragmatic" in light of the continent's economic woes, he said.
Also filed under [
Impact on Economy]
Will they site them on the beaches? D-Day for veterans' fight to stop Normandy wind farms
April 5, 2013 by John Lichfield in The Independent
April 5, 2013 by John Lichfield in The Independent
For nearly 70 years, visitors to the D-Day beaches have stared out to sea and recalled the moment when one of the largest fleets ever assembled emerged from the Channel mist on 6 June 1944.
Within a couple of years that view could be changed forever by an immense off-shore wind-farm.
Also filed under [
Impact on Landscape|
Impact on Views]
Coal makes a comeback in Europe as conventional gas dries up
April 3, 2013 by Arthur Max in EnergyWire
April 3, 2013 by Arthur Max in EnergyWire
Coal is cheap not only because U.S. supplies are sold at bargain prices but because the penalty for emitting too much carbon has become almost insignificant.
Europe's cap-and-trade program is meant to make it expensive for industry to pollute. In practice, the economic recession has led to an industrial slowdown, less emissions and an overabundance of permits for sale. Thus, the price of carbon has collapsed to less than €5 per ton.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Italy makes huge haul of mafia assets in green energy case
April 3, 2013 by Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Steve Scherer in Reuters
April 3, 2013 by Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Steve Scherer in Reuters
Italy made its biggest confiscation of mafia assets in history on Wednesday, including dozens of alternative energy companies worth a total of 1.3 billion euros, police said.
A court in Trapani on the island of Sicily ordered the definitive confiscation of assets first seized in 2010 from Vito Nicastri, a 57-year-old businessman, who was deemed a front man for the Sicilian mafia, known as Cosa Nostra.
Also filed under [
General]
Italian police on Wednesday said they had seized assets worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) from a Sicilian renewable energy developer in the biggest ever seizure of mafia-linked assets.
The assets, including 43 wind and solar energy companies, 98 properties and 66 bank accounts, belonged to Vito Nicastri, a 57-year-old businessman dubbed the "Lord of the Wind".
Also filed under [
General]
Losses of power distributors in Bulgaria due to EU renewable energy requirements
April 1, 2013 in Novinite
April 1, 2013 in Novinite
Haritonova's comments, came in response to the intentions of EVN to sue Bulgaria over the dispute with DKEVR over the obligations for purchasing electricity from renewable energy sources.
Stressing that it had accumulated losses of BGN 100 M in Bulgaria, EVN vowed on March 19 to file a lawsuit with the International Court of Arbitration to protect its investments, unless an agreement was achieved within 3-6 months.
Also filed under [
Impact on Economy]
EU sees risks to meeting 2020 renewable energy target
March 28, 2013 by Alessandro Torello in Wall Street Journal
March 28, 2013 by Alessandro Torello in Wall Street Journal
European countries must do more if they are to succeed in meeting their targets to increase the use of renewable energy by 2020, the European Union's executive body said Wednesday, warning that failure to meet the targets would have "major consequences." ...but many voices, including the EU, are starting to call for phasing out incentives, to leave the sector operating more freely according to market dynamics.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Bulgaria to suspend up to 40% of wind, solar power capacity
March 27, 2013 by Ladka Bauerova in Bloomberg News
March 27, 2013 by Ladka Bauerova in Bloomberg News
Bulgaria's grid is suffering from power overloads caused by a rapid increase in wind and solar capacity coupled with decreasing domestic consumption in the face of a weak economy. Protests against high electricity bills and poverty toppled the government of Boyko Borissov on Feb. 20.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Generous subsidies for renewable energy in Europe widespread. Europe's debt crisis has many nations focused on costs, not climate change. Rocketing prices, infrastructure challenges, budget cutbacks paring renewables push.
Also filed under [
Tax Breaks & Subsidies|
Energy Policy]
That the German government is facing a massive budget shortfall for projects aimed at transforming the country into a model of alternative energy and environmental friendliness is hardly new. The European cap-and-trade system has for months been sliding into inconsequence as prices for CO2 emissions have stubbornly remained below €5 ($6.47) per ton.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy|
Germany]
Finnish islands case could determine EU green power rules
March 17, 2013 by Barbara Lewis in Reuters
March 17, 2013 by Barbara Lewis in Reuters
The Aland archipelago is part of Finland, but its electric generation company Alands Vindkraft has a wind farm named Oskar and a grid connection to Sweden, not to Finland.
Sweden refused to award Oskar's green energy the subsidies it hands out as an incentive to domestic renewables claiming it would be unfair to Swedish customers if they were effectively paying to help Finland meet its renewable energy targets.
Also filed under [
Energy Policy]
Europe's plans for offshore wind power up to 2020 could be as much as 50 billion euros ($65.55 billion) short of funding, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said in a study released on Thursday.
Wind turbine neighbours have to endure noise
February 22, 2013 by Hans E.H. Jacobsen in Aftenbladet.no
February 22, 2013 by Hans E.H. Jacobsen in Aftenbladet.no
A number of residents nearest to the wind farm on Høg-Jæren are struggling with poor sleep, headaches, and other complaints.
They believe the cause is the constant swishing sound and turbine roar from the wind turbines put into operation in 2011.
Also filed under [
Impact on People|
Noise]
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