The worldwide natural gas market experienced a significant upheaval in 2022 when Russia drastically reduced pipeline deliveries to Europe. This created exceptional pressure on supply and led to a global energy crisis. However, Europe managed to surpass historical storage averages in their underground gas reserves due to a variety of targeted policy measures, a sharp decrease [...]
If the European Union has drawn a clear conclusion from the energy crisis derived from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it has been to accelerate the energy transition in order to reduce its dependence on energy sources from third countries, and not to repeat scenarios of high prices that have put domestic companies and consumers in check, and [...]
Introduction Growing concern for the environment and the need to reduce emissions of polluting gases has led to an increase in the demand for electric vehicles. These vehicles are a priority for governments and the transportation industry worldwide, as they can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union has set an ambitious target to reduce [...]
Energy despite being associated to human progress since its dawn, endorses a great intrinsic challenge, its management. In European markets, these management lays on two main actors: the market operator (MO) and the System Operator (SO). The market operator acts as a central procurement chamber where a marginalist price auction for each hour of the day [...]
In 1973, at the height of the oil crisis, most of France's electricity depended on foreign oil imports. The then prime minister, Pierre Messmer, launched the famous Messmer Plan, an ambitious program with the aim of having France generate all its electricity from nuclear power. Four decades later, nuclear energy covers 71% of France's electricity production. [...]
When power plants in Europe produce 1 MWh of renewable energy, a certificate is issued indicating how, where and when that unit of energy was produced. Companies can purchase these certificates, or Guarantees of Origin (GoOs), to claim that they buy clean energy and report on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019 we wrote [...]
The construction of the energy market in the European Union was first proposed in 1988, being considered as a basic piece in the articulation of a common energy policy and pursuing as its main objective to supply energy products at the lowest possible price with the same conditions of security of supply and quality of service. [...]
230%! This is how much the carbon prices, formally known as European Unio Allowances (EUAs for Dec21) have risen since the lockdown back in March of 2020, due the COVID-19 pandemic. Even ignoring that event, this market rose from 25 €/ton to 51 €/ton, more than doubling its value in less than one year. Figure [...]
Wednesday, May 12, 2021, the deadline for submitting allegations to the Draft Order that creates a capacity market in the Spanish electricity system is over. A long-awaited regulation by agents of the electrical system since the penetration of variable renewable energy, such as photovoltaic and wind, is continuously growing and will continue to do so. It [...]
The phasing out of combustion engine vehicles, whether petrol, diesel or hybrid, is a fact that will happen in the near future. It will depend on countries' commitments. In the case of the European Union, they are committed to transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low-carbon economy. In fact, the European Commission expects hydrogen to account [...]
