Europe leads the way – or does it?

Without being disrespectful, many Europeans would probably consider themselves to be more sympathetic than their Australian counterparts to claims that human activity is having a major hand in climate change.

If this is actually the case, then you might expect that Europeans are likely to be more ‘adaptable’ to the inevitable side effects of moving to the low carbon economy.

However, if a recent article in the German magazine, Der Spiegel, is anything to go by, while many Germans welcome Chancellor Angela Merkel’s u-turn on nuclear policy, they appear less enthusiastic about the massive expansion of wind power being proposed as an alternative. According to Der Spiegel: “Germans may love their green energy, but that also have a growing proclivity towards not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) lawsuits and referenda.”

The concerns are twofold. First, unsightly turbines blotting the picturesque German countryside. Apparently, opposition to wind power is well organised and Der Spiegel says the website windkraftgegner.de (wind power opponents) lists more than 70 protest campaigns. Second, there are the massive power masts that will be needed to transport clean energy across Germany and Europe. The German Energy Agency estimates that 3,600 additional kilometers of the 80m high masts carrying 380kV power lines will be required.

The key test, however, says Der Spiegel, may well be for the German Greens. Not only are they vocal opponents of nuclear power, but they are also active among many of the groups opposing wind turbines and powerful new transmission lines!

Der Spiegel notes similar feelings in other European countries, for example the Netherlands: “The Dutch people’s traditional pride in their age-old windmills doesn’t seem to have carried over to modern wind turbines. Instead, opposition continues to grow, and the government’s goals for wind power are looking increasingly unrealistic.”

On a completely different note, the European Commission is currently evaluating a number of projects dealing with carbon capture and storage which are competing for funding.

The funding mechanism being used is an interesting one which could potentially be adopted here in Australia and is called NER300 because the money will come from the sale of 300 million emission allowances which form part of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). Under the European ETS, every member state has been allocated emissions allowances which are then split between private and public sectors. However, so as not to disadvantage new entrants once the scheme starts, 300 million of the allowances were set aside in a ‘New Entrants Reserve’. But as few new entrants have emerged, it was decided that these allowances will instead be sold on the market to raise funds to subsidise innovative projects involving renewable energy and carbon capture and storage.

The actual amount of money that will be available for the demonstration projects will, of course, depend on the market price at the time the allowances are sold by the European Investment Bank, which will also manage and disburse the proceeds. It is expected that all the NER300 allowances will be sold before the start of the third trading period of the EU ETS in January 2013 and that the sale will raise around euro4.5 billion, which will be matched by the same amount from EU member states and industry.

In effect, this makes NER 300 the world’s largest demonstration programme for low-carbon technologies on a commercial scale. But of course, if Australia is to follow suit, it must first have a price on carbon!

The implications of shifting to a low carbon economy, together with clean energy project funding mechanisms, will be covered in depth at the All-Energy Australia 2011 Exhibition & Conference to be staged at the Melbourne Conference & Exhibition Centre on the 12 + 13 October. If you would like to book into the exhibition at what is now Australia’s largest clean and renewable energy event, then please act now – space is rapidly running out.