Belgium should adopt a national long-term energy strategy without delay, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today, stressing that such a plan was required to respond to the challenge of decarbonising the economy while ensuring security of supply and affordability of energy. Speaking at the launch of an IEA review of Belgium’s energy policies, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol encouraged Belgium’s federal and regional governments to work decisively together. “Our review rings alarm bells due to the lack of private-sector investment in the electricity sector,” Dr. Birol commented. “Government efforts to mobilise investment should include an electricity market design that ensures a viable business model for power generation. And to avoid a lack of generation capacity in the medium term, Belgium could consider operating their nuclear power plants as long as they are certified to be safe by the regulator.”
The new IEA report, Energy Policies of IEA Countries: Belgium 2016 Review, acknowledges Belgium’s recent progress in several areas of energy policy. Competition has increased in the electricity and natural gas markets. The use of fossil fuels has declined and the supply of renewable energy has grown. The country´s economy is becoming less energy-intensive, and its energy-related carbon emissions are declining. A major issue to be addressed, however, is the country’s nuclear phase-out policy. Nuclear energy accounts for around half of Belgium’s electricity generation, but the current policy is to close its nuclear power plants between 2022 and 2025. The report cautions that this would seriously challenge Belgium’s efforts to ensure electricity security and provide affordable low-carbon electricity. Allowing the plants to run as long as they are considered safe by the regulator would ease electricity security pressures, would reduce the costs of electricity generation in the medium term, would likely reduce the costs of the phase-out itself and would create time for investments in alternative generation options. “It is of the utmost importance that Belgium’s policy on nuclear power is consistent with its objectives regarding electricity security and climate change mitigation,” Dr. Birol stressed.
The report highlights the potential energy efficiency offers to help Belgium meet its energy policy goals. It welcomes the decision to implement nationwide road pricing for heavy-duty vehicles. The report also recommends further support to renovating the building stock and switching away from oil in space heating. In addition, it suggests abolishing direct and indirect subsidies on energy use and replacing them with more targeted measures on citizens and companies in need. Under any scenario, Belgium’s energy supply needs to be further diversified and energy demand further limited. Transport and buildings hold a large potential for efficiency and climate gains, and fiscal incentives and price signals could be used more frequently in order to reap them. The IEA Executive Director applauded Belgium for its excellent gas transport infrastructure and the high level of cross-border integration of its gas market. Referring to the eventual phase-out of imports of low-calorific gas from the Netherlands, he encouraged the government to give a higher priority to this matter, in case production of the Groningen gas field declines faster than currently expected. Dr. Birol also congratulated Belgium for holding large emergency stocks of oil.
http://www.iea.org
U.S. uranium mines produced 3.7 million pounds U3O8 in 2015, 24% less than in 2014. One underground mine produced uranium ore during 2015, one less than during 2014. Uranium ore from underground mines is stockpiled and shipped to a mill, to be milled into uranium concentrate (a yellow or brown powder). Additionally, seven in-situ-leach (ISL) mining operations produced solutions containing uranium in 2015, one less than in 2014, that was processed into uranium concentrate at ISL plants. Overall, there were eight mines that operated during part or all of 2015.
Total employment in the U.S. uranium production industry was 625 person-years in 2015, a decrease of 21% from the 2014 total and the lowest since 2004. Exploration employment was 58 person-years, a 33% decrease compared with 2014. Mining employment was 251 person-years, and increased 2% from 2014. Milling and processing employment was 200 person-years, a 32% decrease from 2014. Reclamation employment decreased 28% to 116 person-years from 2014 to 2015. Uranium production industry employment for 2015 was in 9 States: Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Stora Enso Wood Products Ltd and KPA Unicon have signed a contract of a biomass-fired hot water boiler plant delivery to Stora Enso sawmill in Honkalahti, Finland. The output of the new Unicon Biograte boiler plant will be 17.7 MWth. The new boiler plant will utilize bark and other wood residues from the Honkalahti sawmill as fuel, and it will produce hot water to the sawmill´s drying kilns. The new biomass boiler plant is scheduled to be in operation in August 2017. This is a turnkey delivery excluding civil and foundation works.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol urged investment in high-quality and innovative energy infrastructure when he delivered a keynote address on the first day of the G7 Energy Ministerial 2016 meeting in Kitakyushu, Japan. In his remarks on 1 May, Dr. Birol focused on the importance of energy investment for global growth and to meet climate objectives while ensuring secure and affordable energy supply. “Energy choices made today will have profound implications for many years to come,” he said. “We cannot afford to look only one or two years down the road. Your policy decisions will impact long-term economic performance, energy security and of course, our chances of successfully tackling climate change.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama were among the first to experience a ground-breaking new smart sensor from ABB during their visit to the Hanover Fair on Monday.
The Paris Climate Change Agreement opens for signature on 22 April 2016 during a high-level ceremony convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, marking an important international push on the way to the agreement’s timely entry into force. Over 130 countries have confirmed to United Nations headquarters that they will attend the signing ceremony, including some 60 world leaders, amongst them President Francois Hollande of France. The event will also be attended by the President of COP21, France’s Segolene Royal, and the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres.
2015 was a record year for both wind and solar due in large part to a continued decline in technology costs. Wind power grew 63 GW (17%) driven by declines in onshore turbine prices of up to 45% since 2010. Solar capacity increased 47 GW (26%) thanks to price drops of up to 80% for solar photovoltaic modules in the same time period. Hydropower capacity increased by 35 GW (3%), while both bioenergy and geothermal energy capacity increased 5% each (5 GW and 1 GW respectively). Overall, capacity has increased by roughly one-third over the last five years, with most of this growth coming from new installations of wind and solar energy. In terms of regional distribution, the fastest growth in renewable generation capacity came in developing countries.
The industrial zone of Novo Pračno will be the site of two cogeneration facilities of 5 MW each. Sisak’s municipal website said a contract granting the right for construction was signed with Monalp Biomass Sisak d.o.o., registered in Croatian capital Zagreb. The local council approved the proposition for the projects taking up a total of 43,000 square metres. The investor company was founded by Turkish-based Senay Turizm Ve Ticaret AŞ, based in Turkey, according to portal Sisak.info, which cited data from the official register. The firm plans biomass-fuelled power plants in Gospić and Donji Lapac and a geothermal facility in Slatina.
