Data Management
When the next European Commission takes office in similarrevisionaryapproachtoitsrenewablepolicycannotbe
November it will have to decide (again) how to progress EU ruled out. Any government dithering or uncertainty will feed
energy policy. Will it, for example, retain the current intothemarketand,aswiththedemanduncertainty,political
legislation or, as previous new Commission’s have, seeking to uncertainty is a risk that has to be managed.
stamp its mark by amending or writing new legislation? And
willitseetheneedforamorecentrallyrun(andregulated)EU Technology Uncertainty
energy market? And before the new Commission takes office One of the benefits of the recession has been its near
the current Commission will likely seek to make progress on catalytic developmental impact on the ‘green economy’.
markettransparencyandcompetition.Itwillalsohavetotake Governments and policymakers are keen to ensure that the
decisions on Emission Performance rebuilteconomyissustainable,which
Standard legislation that will impact in turn introduces a new uncertainty
on new coal-fired plant, and as with – technology.
last year the Commission’s energy The element of uncertainty with
policy will continue to be directed by technology is not so much the
climate issues as the EU seeks to forge technology itself but its timescales of
a bipartisan relationship with the US implementation and future
on climate action and building the evolution. One of the phenomena of
green economy. technology is that, once developed, it
Closer to home, the UK government will inevitably breed new
will finally make a decision on E.ON’s technologies, and this is clearly
application for a new coal-fired plant evident in the energy market.
at Kingsnorth, Kent, with a decision Through the development of
now expected in the fourth quarter. renewable energy generation it
Approval, if granted, would provide became apparent that these smaller-
the green light for a number of other scale generation plants (compared to
planned carbon capture ready coal traditional fossil fuel plant) were not
plants,andwouldlessentheriskofthe best suited to a central grid, thus
ensuing energy gap. It would also accelerating thinking toward
send a signal that the new decentralised generation. Also
Department of Energy and Climate supporting a more decentralised
Change(DECC)stillfavoursamarket- generation network has been the
led approach to energy investment. development of micro-generation
But with DECC Secretary Ed technology as more homes and
Milliband recently commenting that offices seek to become more energy
large renewable infrastructure efficient. As these micro-generation
projects will need to be centrally- units will typically produce more
funded, and with fresh questions over energy than is required there is an
the economic viability of the London opportunity to sell back surplus
Array offshore wind project, there energy to the grid, thus reducing
may be mixed signals on whether the energy waste and enhancing energy
government still trusts the market on efficiency.
investment decisions. Outlininghisparty’splanstocreate
What is unknown is whether the government will be a low carbon economy in January, Conservative Party leader
panicked into revising its renewable policy if investment David Cameron identified the two key policy requirements as
economics worsen further. After all, since October 2008, the asystemoffeedintariffsandan‘electricityInternet’.Cameron
government has announced three major initiatives to arrest said a Conservative government would create a decentralised
the impact and reduce the length of the recession, with each energy revolution by paying people who produce energy from
new initiative addressing the failures if its predecessor, and a renewable sources, and on plans for an electricity internet
82 worldPower2009
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