Articles by
Craig Morris
Renewables International: German Policy proposals bad for energy coops
By
Craig Morris
German energy coop lobby group DGRV says that the current proposals for changes in energy policy would put an end to the Energiewende as we know it – as a grassroots movement from the 1970s.
GET: German Feed-in tariffs do not guarantee anything
By
Craig Morris
Feed-in tariffs only pay for power produced, which depends on the weather – and no one can guarantee that.
Renewables International: German Energy cooperatives up, up, and away
By
Craig Morris
German renewable energy organization AEE has updated its chart showing the number of energy co-ops in the country,, which continues to rise. The question is whether community ownership has any future under the new policy plans.
GET: Gainesville’s solar FITs discontinued
By
Craig Morris
Hanrahan says the city’s FIT success is clear: “Florida is in a minority of states with no renewable portfolio standard and no consistent incentives or policy supporting renewables. The FIT catapulted Gainesville to #8 in the nation in installed solar per capita. Gainesville also met Kyoto protocol standards at the end of 2013 and is now more than 24% renewable in its power supply. Many would herald these as victories under any policy framework. Renewable energy advocates certainly should.”
Renewables International: 3.2 GW of wind in 2013 in Germany
By
Craig Morris
German wind power organization Deutsche WindGuard has published its estimates for newly installed wind power capacity for the previous year, and the results are better than expected. 2013 turns out to have been the second best year for the installation of wind turbines in history.
Renewables International: 3.3 GW of PV in 2013 in Germany
By
Craig Morris
Germany's Network Agency has published PV installation figures for December 2013, showing that the country came in within its target corridor of 2.5-3.5 GW of newly installed solar capacity for the first time since the corridor was introduced. The solar sector nonetheless emphasizes the downside – the market shrank by more than 50 percent year-over-year.
Renewables International: EU rules against French FITs for wind
By
Craig Morris
In mid-December, the European Court of Justice ruled that French feed-in tariffs for wind power constitute state aid. The justification seems to revolve around a technicality, but the question is whether the ruling will affect feed-in tariffs throughout the EU – or whether the decision is truly only pertinent to French wind power.
Renewables International: German carbon emissions: Kyoto and 2030
By
Craig Morris
The German Environmental Agency announced official figures today, unfortunately for 2012, not 2013. They confirm that Germany exceeded its Kyoto target by a wide margin. Nonetheless, it remains unclear whether Germany will reach its future targets – though that does not explain the misleading chart produced by one US expert.
Renewables International: Carbon emissions from German power consumption to drop in 2014
By
Craig Morris
You heard it here first, because the forecast is mine – CO2 emissions from German power consumption are likely to decline this year for a number of reasons. But the coal phaseout is unlikely to begin before 2022.
Renewables International: Spanish preliminary report for power in 2013
By
Craig Morris
Just before Christmas, Spanish grid regulator REE published a PDF in English with quite a bit of interesting information. The bit of news that has gone viral is that wind power was the biggest source of electricity. But that's not all.
GET: Something to copy from Germany: transparency of energy data
By
Craig Morris
One marvels at how different the situation is in Germany, where both historic power production and forecasts are available from the Transparency EEX website (in English and German), and you can also check out prices from EPEX (in English, German, and French). There is no fee for basic access.
Renewables International: Socrates didn’t invent solar architecture–Review of John Perlin’s Let it Shine
By
Craig Morris
The knowledge from Faust’s book was translated into an active solar building program in the 1820s through the 1850s in Lower Bavaria, Hessen and Prussia. . . Faust’s ideas were implemented in Bavaria, where the first solar schools were built. Faust’s Sonnenstadt plan was an ideal solar city, and the frontispiece to his book became a reality as the inspiration for the rebuilding of La Chaux-de-Faunds, Switzerland in the 1850s. In 2009, the United Nations chose the city as a World Heritage Site.
