Energie : papiers de recherche moissonnés (4/06/2019)

Cross subsidies across electricity network users from renewable self-consumption / Cédric Clastres, Jacques Percebois, Olivier Rebenaque, and Boris Solier, Utilities Policy, vol. 59, Aug. 2019 lien

The deployment of renewable energies relies upon incentive policies to make their use profitable for the owner. Increasing support for renewables results in rising public service obligation tariffs to fund these policies. Photovoltaic prosumption could help lower the cost of developing renewables but may induce cross-subsidies between prosumers and other users of the network to compensate for the benefits. We show that such cross-subsidies occur but are dependent on the self-consumption rate, which will remain low in the coming years. The regulator could fund these cross-subsidies by increasing the fixed component of the network tariff for prosumers only.

Challenges of Industrial Gas Demand in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia / Zuzana Princova. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, May 2019, 116 p. (OIES Paper: NG 145) lien

This paper focuses on natural gas demand in Central and Eastern Europe, and in particular uses three countries, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as case studies. The uniqueness of the region’s economies is in its dependency on industry which makes industry the most important natural gas consumer. Central European industry has been enjoying robust growth which will continue into the next decade, but future industrial development will be increasingly determined by EU environmental policy which will impose much stricter limits for previously exempt companies. This will impose a heavy financial burden on certain industries within the next decade. Future gas demand by the steel industry will be determined by a handful of steel mills and their prosperity and ability to compete in the more competitive world. Feedstock used by the chemicals industry will be threatened by increasing competition from the Far East and lately the USA, while modern paper mills are cutting out fossil fuels altogether. In contrast, the glass industry will continue to rely largely on natural gas as no other fuel can secure the required product quality. According to these findings, the author forecasts Central European industry will see incremental growth of up to 4.2bcm/y by 2030.

Renewable power generation costs in 2018 / Harold Anuta, Pablo Ralon and Michael Taylor. Abu Dhabi : Irena, May 2019, 88 p. lien

Renewable energy has become an increasingly competitive way to meet new power generation needs. This comprehensive cost study from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) highlights the latest trends for each of the main renewable power technologies. Released ahead of high-profile United Nations energy and climate discussions, Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2018 draws on cost and auction price data from projects around the world.

Les petits réacteurs modulaires dans le monde : perspectives géopolitiques, technologiques, industrielles et énergétiques / Charles Merlin. Paris : Ifri, mai 2019, 48 p. (Etudes de l’Ifri) lien

Les retards et surcoûts des projets occidentaux dans le nucléaire civil sont en train de conforter un duopole russo-chinois sur les exportations de réacteurs de troisième et quatrième génération. Dans ce contexte, des petits réacteurs modulaires (Small and Modular Reactors – SMR) connaissent un regain d’intérêt et sont développés par de nombreux acteurs, allant principalement des entreprises d’État russes et chinoises à une multitude de start-up nord-américaines…

Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System. Paris : IEA, mai 2019, 103 p. Rapport en libre accès

Nuclear power and hydropower form the backbone of low-carbon electricity generation. Together, they provide three-quarters of global low-carbon generation. Over the past 50 years, the use of nuclear power has reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by over 60 gigatonnes – nearly two years’ worth of global energy-related emissions. However, in advanced economies, nuclear power has begun to fade, with plants closing and little new investment made, just when the world requires more low-carbon electricity. This report, Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System, focuses on the role of nuclear power in advanced economies and the factors that put nuclear power at risk of future decline. It is shown that without action, nuclear power in advanced economies could fall by two-thirds by 2040. The implications of such a “Nuclear Fade Case” for costs, emissions and electricity security using two World Energy Outlook scenarios – the New Policies Scenario and the Sustainable Development Scenario are examined. Achieving the pace of CO2 emissions reductions in line with the Paris Agreement is already a huge challenge, as shown in the Sustainable Development Scenario. It requires large increases in efficiency and renewables investment, as well as an increase in nuclear power. This report identifies the even greater challenges of attempting to follow this path with much less nuclear power. It recommends several possible government actions that aim to: ensure existing nuclear power plants can operate as long as they are safe, support new nuclear construction and encourage new nuclear technologies to be developed.

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