Dorian Frieden

Zero, one, or in between : evaluation of alternative national and entity-level accounting for bioenergy

Accounting for bioenergys carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as done under the Kyoto Protocol (KP) and European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme, fails to capture the full extent of these emissions. As a consequence, other approaches have been suggested. Both the EU and United States already use value‐chain approaches to determine emissions due to biofuels – an approach quite different from that of the KP. Further, both the EU and United States are engaged in consultation processes to determine how emissions connected with use of biomass for heat and power will be handled under regulatory systems. The United States is considering whether CO2 emissions from biomass should be handled like fossil fuels. In this context, this article reviews and evaluates the three basic bioenergy accounting options. CO2 emissions from bioenergy are not counted at the point of combustion. Instead emissions due to use of biomass are accounted for in the land‐use sector as carbon stock losses – a combustion factor (CoF) = 0 approach; CO2 emissions from bioenergy are accounted for in the energy sector – a CoF = 1 approach; and End users account for all or a specified subset of CO2 emissions, regardless of where geographically these emissions occur – 0 < CoF < 1.

Rescuing the concept of solar electricity transfer from North Africa to Europe

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light to the concept of solar electricity transfer from North Africa to Europe in the frame of Article 9 of the European Renewable Energy Sources (EU-RES) Directive 28/2009/EC, to explain why efforts have not been successful up to now and to provide recommendations on how to proceed. Design/methodology/approach The authors have compared the “Supergrid” concept that was pursued by some institutions in the past years with the original “TRANS-CSP” concept developed by the German Aerospace Centre in 2006. From this analysis, the authors could identify not only major barriers but also possible ways towards successful implementation. Findings The authors found that in contrast to the Supergrid approach, the original concept of exporting dispatchable solar power from concentrating solar thermal power stations with thermal energy storage (CSP-TES) via point-to-point high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission directly to European centres of demand could be a resilient business case for Europe–North Africa cooperation, as it provides added value in both regions. Research limitations/implications The analysis has been made in the frame of the BETTER project commissioned by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation in the frame of the program Intelligent Energy Europe. Practical implications One of the major implications found is that due to the time lost in the past years by following a distracted concept, the option of flexible solar power imports from North Africa to Europe is not any more feasible to become part of the 2020 supply scheme. Social implications To make them a viable option for post-2020 renewable energy systems for electricity development in Europe, a key recommendation of the project is to elaborate a detailed feasibility study about concrete CSP-HVDC links urgently. Originality/value The analysis presented here is the first to give concrete recommendations for the implementation of such infrastructure.

Incentives for the use of forest biomass: a comparative analysis of Kyoto Protocol accounting pre- and post-2012

This article focuses on differences between incentives of current and post-2012 Kyoto Protocol land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) accounting rules. Three changes to the LULUCF accounting rules were agreed to in Durban. These changes alter national-level incentives for retaining wood in forests, using wood for products or using it for energy. Post-2012, accounting for emissions from managed forests will be mandatory rather than voluntary, as is currently the case. Reference levels, rather than historical carbon stock levels, will be used to measure these emissions. Finally, increases and decreases in harvested wood products (HWP) pools will be reported. These changes provide national-level incentives to increase forest carbon stocks and to use nationally harvested wood for products. However, the rule that no emissions are counted at the point of combustion of biomass remains unaltered. This gives entities with greenhouse gas (GHG) obligations under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) an incentive to use wood for energy, counteracting the national-level incentives. Use of additionally harvested wood for energy may increase national emissions within commitment period time-frames because combustion of biomass, in most cases, results in higher carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy supplied than combustion of the fossil fuels it replaces. In contrast, retention of wood in forests or use of domestic wood for products, will, particularly under the post-2012 rules, tend to result in lower national-level emissions being accounted. However, neither retention of wood in forests nor increases in the HWP pool results in benefits to individual entities, as currently there is no EU scheme under which the entities involved face GHG obligations.

Sharing the gains from EU--Western Balkan renewable electricity cooperation

The EU directive on renewable energy sources enables EU Member States to import renewable electricity from non-EU countries and count these imports towards their renewable energy targets. This article investigates whether such cooperation can be beneficial for selected Western Balkan countries and help them to increase their domestic renewable electricity supply: could wind power exports to the EU from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia enable additional investments in domestic generation, without ‘selling out’ the exporter countries’ best generation sites? Or would exports rather conflict with the Western Balkans countries’ domestic efforts to reach their renewable energy targets and increase the domestic electricity supply? For this, a model was developed in Visual Basic to optimize, from the exporters’ perspective, the optimal export level to trigger investments but maximize the wind power supply for domestic use. The analysis takes into account the wind potential, support and price levels in the EU and Western Balkans, investor requirements and financing conditions in the investigated countries. The article shows that cooperation offers a way both for EU Member States and some Western Balkan countries to expand renewable electricity supply and reach their renewable energy targets in a cost-effective way. Partial exports of wind power would allow Serbia, Albania and the FYR of Macedonia to reach their 2020 wind targets. This would not be possible under their existing support schemes or electricity prices. The results indicate that Bosnia and Herzegovina lacks cost-efficient potentials and cannot achieve its wind target in the base case, with or without exports. Climate policy relevance The results show that wind power cooperation between the EU and Western Balkan countries may simultaneously increase the renewable electricity generation available for the domestic markets in the host countries and help EU Member States to achieve their renewable energy and decarbonization targets. Hence, wind power exports are a way for both the EU and the Western Balkans to provide more carbon-neutral electricity in a cost-effective manner and thus support the achievement of renewable energy and climate targets.

Accounting for Algae

Interest and research in the use of algae for energy is growing but an analysis of the different methods for the accounting for the carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions that result, is lacking. In this article, four accounting systems are evaluated for their completeness, simplicity, sectoral accuracy, and scale‐independence. Two options under the Kyoto Protocol (KP), a value‐chain (end‐user responsibility) approach, and Point of Uptake and Release (POUR) are evaluated.

Expanding RES cooperation with West Balkans: from importing electricity to exporting RES

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the current energy status in the West Balkan countries and the related perspectives for renewable energy sources (RES) cooperation mechanisms, within the framework of RES Directive 2009/28/European Commission (EC), through the elaboration of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Particular emphasis is laid on the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The SWOT analysis provides a clearer view of expanding RES in the West Balkans, as well as the level of utilization and potential of cooperation mechanisms and renewable energy in each country. Design/methodology/approach The adopted approach is mainly based on the context of a project co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, titled “Bringing Europe and Third countries closer together through renewable Energies (BETTER)” (project number: IEE/11/845/SI2.616378). The adopted approach incorporates the steps of desktop analysis, stakeholders’ mapping and engagement, key factors’ identification and analysis of results. Findings The barriers to expand RES in the region are significant. Currently, the region is electricity importer and by far not in the position to efficiently exploit the large RES potentials. It remains to be seen whether and to what extent cooperation mechanisms may be used in the Western Balkans and the EU by 2020. The unification of the fragmented electricity system and market-oriented reforms aim to join regional power markets and then to integrate with the European Union power market. There is a multitude of market barriers for RES, resulting in a high risk perception n by investors. Cooperation mechanisms could strengthen the regions’ policy frameworks and be a starting point to integrate the region’s energy systems and to overcome the fragmentation of the past two decades. Originality/value The potential of West Balkan countries to make use of the cooperation mechanisms provides opportunities for RES exporting between West Balkan and other European countries. An analysis of these opportunities for cooperation will allow drawing clearer conclusions on cooperation potentials and business cases for the region.