 | European
Conference for Renewable Energy: |
| Organised by the European Commission in collaboration with: | |
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety | |
| EREC (European Renewable Energy Council) and its member associations | |
| EUFORES (European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources) |
Interactive Chat
Note: As well as discussion about the areas covered by this conference, there were numerous questions about how to access information and solve problems as well as comments on specific slides. To avoid repetition and improve the clarity of these transcripts, general questions such as these have not been included.
| STATISTICS | |
|
Duration of Discussion: 25 hrs over 3 days Number of Active Participants (excluding ManagEnergy): 35 Countries of Participants: Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom Number of Lines of entered in the chat log: 1369 |
|
| PARTICIPANTS | |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <NL_NTR_Jechiam> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <NL_NTR_Michael> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <NL_wouter> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <NL_NTR_andy> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <NL_NTR_Bastiaan> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <NL_Cees> | ManagEnergy Virtual Event Service Provider, Netherlands |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | Katy Hall, ManagEnergy Webmaster |
| <SE_CW> | Christopher Waldén, ManagEnergy Service Provider |
| <DE_Spira> | Private Consulting Group for renewable energy, Germany |
| <blaat> | |
| <PT_Miguel> | Leiria, Portugal |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Steve Browning, United Kingdom |
| <DE_Peisker> | Germany |
| <irl_mur> | Ireland |
| <NADMAN> | Brazil |
| <CODEMA> | CODEMA, Ireland |
| <IT_stefano> | Italy |
| <newstream_richar> | |
| <FransMaas> | |
| <PT_Rui> | Portugal |
| <Nick> | |
| <Biogreenuel> | |
| <BA_pet> | |
| <vicosd> | Irene Stoeckl, VICOSD - Vienna International Community on Sustainable Development, Vienna, Austria |
| <pt_ken> | Lisbon, Portugal |
| <cuvi> | Aveiro, Portugal |
| <elisabeth> | Association of Canadian Community Colleges, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| <NL_hoek> | Netherlands |
| <jandej> | |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | IFZ, Graz, Austria |
| <SP_Psoria> | Intiam Ruai SL, Barcelona, Spain |
| <LT_Ekostrategija> | Lithuania |
| <HGX8K> | |
| <PL_ECBREC> | EC BREC - EC Baltic Renewable Energy Centre, Warsaw, Poland |
| <NL_Pelt> | Richard van Pelt, Greenchoice, Netherlands |
| <Peter> | |
| <PL_aop> | Poland |
| <NL-rode> | |
| <PL_Jan> | Poland |
| <ES-mp> | Margarita Puente, Escan Consulting, Spain |
| <DK_Niel> | Denmark |
| <ES_JVSIB> | John Sibole-Spain, Univirsity of the Balearic Islands, Spain |
| <NL-devos> | Netherlands |
| DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT - 19 January 2004 | |
| <cuvi> | Are [virtual] events like this expected to improve energy efficiency? |
| <vicosd> | Depends of how much energy your computer needs while following the event on the internet :-) |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | ManagEnergy hopes that Virtual Events will contribute to energy saving by enabling people to take part without transport costs. |
| <pt_ken> | It's the same as watching the news.....at least we get to know about what is happening around Europe and see what we can do locally. |
| <NL_NTR_Peter> | Exactly |
| <LT_Ekostrategija> | Are the on-line conferences popular? Can we call such broadcasting an "innovation" still? |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | First time participating in one, hence still excited. Even the coffee break chat is possible! |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | AT_IFZ_Spaeth: Glad to hear you like this facility :-) |
| <NL_Cees> | This is the first international government meeting I've attended like this. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | I must admit it works although I could use Faster broadband. Steve Browning, retired from Nat Grid UK after 20 years in Generation and Market modelling. |
| <pt_ken> | Just knowing that Germany has 2 million m2 solar panels and we in Portugal have 2 m2 (I joke) tell us where opportunities must be... |
| <NL_NTR_Peter> | You think solar is the way to go? |
| <pt_ken> | It's free and we don't have to go to war for it... |
| <elisabeth> | I am currently involved in renewable energy training and awareness building pilot projects in the college sector in Canada. I am currently working with a professional assocation that represents colleges across Canada. The renewable energy technologies are not developed in Canada. There is not much governement support. Canada has too many traditional resources however our country has just signed the Kyoto protocol... |
| <vicosd> | Where in Canada are you located, Elisabeth? |
| <elisabeth> | Our organization is located in Ottawa, Ontario: the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. |
| <pt_ken> | Can you get your neighbours to also join Kyoto, Elisabeth? |
| <elisabeth> | The USA? |
| <pt_ken> | Yes, and the Provinces. |
| <elisabeth> | Canada has a structure similar to the European Union. We have a federal government (central) and we have provincial governments. The Kyoto Protocol was signed by the federal government. The provinces are encouraged to participate. |
| <pt_ken> | Have many provinces signed up? |
| <vicosd> | Elisabeth, I have a friend in Vancouver who was working in Crete during the summer in hotel where I am trying the implement a RES project. She is now back home and told me about the Olympic Games taking place in Whistler, B.C. and the commitment of the Mayor regarding RES and this event. |
| <elisabeth> | vicosd: Yes the municipal governments also play an important role in the implementation of the renewable energy technologies. The provincial government of British Columbia has just launched a request for proposals to develop the first wind farm in the province. The barriers that are presently addressed in the conference are the same in Canada. |
| <jandej> | Have you please more information about small wind power station for underground water supply or forest protection? |
| <NL_Cees> | Are any of you using green energy? |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | <NL_Cees>: with little confidence, that the instrument 'green energy' will help much, but as a private consumer, of course I support it |
| <NL_Cees> | Help what much? |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | I mean it won't help very much to change the energy system. |
| <NL_Cees> | Of course there will be less CO2 put into our environment. All changes start small. |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | I agree, as I said, although there might be measures, that are more effective. |
| <NL_Cees> | What kind of measures? |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | Good legislation (feed in tariffs etc.) and a level playing field. |
| <NL_Cees> | What are "feed in tariffs"? or did you mean enact waste penalties? |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | Regulation of net access for RES-electricity plus economic incentives. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | To really make a difference you need to make wind power more predictable (storage and control) and have combined gen/storage/load control on small installations to smooth the residual load shape of the premises. That reduces demand and also improves Power system load factor which in turn improves main Generation efficiency. It is effectively applying Energy, or rather 'Electricity', efficiency. |
| <AT_IFZ_Spaeth> | The intelligent and most efficient combination of RES-sources regionally available ist the challenge, including as little storage and as much control as affordable, I believe. |
| <NL_Cees> | Load balancing is important, but how does it reduce demand? because there is more in reserve? |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Controlling renewable gen outputs just reduces energy production - load factors on renewables are already low. An AC Power System is always of course in perfect balance - the more uncertainly you have the more reserve you need and that causes inefficient operation. Hence storage to stabilise. |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | GB_SteveBrowning: Yes, this is always the argument against RES particularly the hard to store biofuels such as sorghum. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Hi Katy - I assume Biofuel Generation is more controllable in real time than say Wind or PV. However I see your point with fuel storage difficulties. I was considering Electrical or thermal storage to buffer fluctuations. |
| <SP_Psoria> | I'm using green energy in Spain |
| <NL_Cees> | Does the price differ from classic energy? |
| <SP_Psoria> | Yes, about 10% more of the tariff price because of the grid tax |
| <vicosd> | From where in spain are you from? And are you involved with any kind of institution, SP_Psoria? |
| <SP_Psoria> | I'm from Barcelona, I'm the manager of a very small solar energy training company called Intiam Ruai SL and I was the secretary of the Catalan professionals of RESenergy. |
| <vicosd> | Thanks, SP_Psoria. My name is Irene actually and I am from an NGO (VICOSD - Vienna International Community on Sustainable Development) situated in Vienna Austria which is involved in RES projects, awareness raising programs for young people mainly in developing countries. I would very much like to take the advantage of this online forum to link with others and discuss possibilities prior and during the inter-governmental W |
| <NL_Cees> | By the way, you can use the up and down arrow keys to browse your entered messages |
| <vicosd> | Sorry |
| <NL_Cees> | No problem. The server just takes the first x characters. You can scroll back and edit your message if you don't want to retype it. |
| <vicosd> | By the way. Is anybody involved in RES projects for islands - specifically islands in the Meditarrenean Sea? |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | Vicosd: There is information about RES projects for islands on the ManagEnergy website. |
| <vicosd> | Thanks. |
| <SP_Psoria> | <vicosd>: Hello Irene, we wrote a save energy guide for the Balear Islands and one of our colleagues worked in an electric car rental in a minor of the Balear Islands. |
| <vicosd> | Thanks. The point is that I am involved in an Ecotel project on Crete, Greece - "Implementations of RETs" and I am looking for similar projects to connect and exchange experiences. |
| <ME_KatyH> | Vicosd: Have you completed a ManagEnergy partner search form http://www.managenergy.net/partnerform.html |
| <vicosd> | Not yet. |
| DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT - 20 January 2004 | |
| <LT_Ekostrategija> | How do they determine "small hydro power plant"? |
| <NL_PeterMaas> | I think by the number of megawatts generated... |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | [Comment on the presentation at [Tue Jan 20 09:56:39 CET 2004]] My research shows the same result - our wind forecasts can be well out even at 5 hours ahead. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | [Tue Jan 20 10:11:25 CET 2004] At this time the audience can ask questions... |
| <HGX8K> | I have a feeling that possibilities of small and medium hydro might be discussed in more details taking into consideration the fact that wind power is abundant on the seashores but does not show the same abundancy inside the continent, especially in landlocked territories. At the same time there is plenty of hydropower available but - I don't understand why - it is handled with a certain precaution as if it associates certain environmental risk. |
| <LT_Ekostrategija> | Hydropower really associates with some environmental risk as usually it associates with flooding of some land. |
| <HGX8K> | If this is arable land I may understand, but this is not the whole picture at first and at the second decisions usually take into consideration the opportunity costs. |
| <LT_Ekostrategija> | [Tue Jan 20 11:46:16 CET 2004] Good presentation. However REC market is rather strange having in mind different obligations of EU member counties in 2001/77/EC |
| <PL_ECBREC> | I have a question to the panel to the representative of DTI. Having in mind that the average market price for ROC was about 4.7 p, what was the real cost of ROC for company which fulfilled its obligation. |
| <vicosd> | Somehow, I would like to ask Mr. Peter Niermeier where the free energy market is? Since there is hardly any energy source that is not subsidised. Or somebody else could answer me that question. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | We are trying to manage to do this. We need your name and organizatoin if possible. Please post you precise question to Mr Peter Niermeier here in the chat. |
| <vicosd> | Name: Irene Stoeckl Organisation: VICOSD - Vienna International Community on Sustainable Development |
| Question: Whether Mr. Peter Niermeier could identify the free energy market? As well as stress out the point whether there is even a free energy market (including traditional energy subsidies)? | |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | Yes, it was a very interesting question! |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | [Tue Jan 20 12:25:40 CET 2004] Your question is now asked |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | Thanks for giving us online-participants a voice. It was a good try, also the question was difficult to ask and it was (more) easy to answer a different question. |
| <vicosd> | Yeah, I thank you too. Although it is much easier to explain a question that is interesting enough to be understood by the person when typing in the chat. Still it was a try. It seems he did not understand my question. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Yes we are sorry for that - that is the disadvangtage of a chat. |
| <vicosd> | No problem. He might even have understood it better than what it originally seemed. |
| <A_IFZ_spaeth> | Still, once we know about the possibility of you posing online questions, we can formulate them maybe with additional explanations. |
| <vicosd> | Being able to ask online questions is pretty cool. Maybe we should first post the question on the chat and asked whether others online understand it before asking them to the panel. |
| <NL_Pelt> | Yes, it is nice to know we can ask questions. I think it is a great initiative and it is really helping me. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | [Tue Jan 20 12:48:49 CET 2004] Currently there is a break but Mr William Gillett is presenting |
| <NL_Pelt> | I just find out it is possible to copy slides, cool. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Yes just a right click on the image and save as. |
| <vicosd> | By the way. A-IFZ_Spaeth, where are you from (institution, ...) |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | IFZ - interuniverity research centre for technology, work and culture in Graz, see ifz.tugraz.at |
| <vicosd> | Great. I am here in Vienna. |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | Getting to know new collegues from next door - just like on a real conference! |
| <vicosd> | Are you participating at GFSE 4 in February in Vienna as well? |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | GFSE 4 ?? |
| <vicosd> | Global forum on sustainable energy (GFSE). You may find under www.gfse.at |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | Ah! probably. Thanks for the reminder. I'll come back on it. |
| <Peter> | I have an interest in Renewable Heating & Cooling. I have to go now. This sure must have been a very interesting conference. |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | Another suggetion for the online conference environment: as a native speaker in German, I prefere to bypass the translation into English. At the moment I have to change to the German channel and reload, which takes time, than back to English... Maybe you could provide a channel for people like me, following in English, but prefering the German contributions in original? |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Thank you for the remark. We will consider this. |
| <vicosd> | May I ask another question to the a speaker of the conference? |
| <operator> | Can you type the message - we will try to ask it properly. |
| <vicosd> | Ok. I will really try hard this time :-) |
| Question to Mr. Panacek regarding the slide of cost of electricity: Why is it not including the costs for solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) energy? And, if there are any figures, what are the costs for these two energy types in the Czech Republic? |
|
Organisation: Vienna International Community on Sustainable Development. |
|
| Name: Irene Stoeckl. Thanks. | |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | Very understandable, I woud say. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | [Tue Jan 20 15:46:28 CET 2004] we are asking you question right now... and he is giving an answer. You should see the question and answer in a few seconds. |
| Are you satisfied with you answer? | |
| <vicosd> | Well, I was more or less expecting such an answer. C'est la vie. In any case. thanks for taking the efforts and asking. I very much appreciate that. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | No problem. |
| <vicosd> | I have one more question but not to any of the panelists. Is there a participants list or something that can be obtained? |
| <DE_Spira> | Further on, will a participants list be available? |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Well we do not have such a list at present. We only know who are the panelists and moderators and speakers of this conference. |
| <vicosd> | But is there not a participant list being made after closing of registration for the conference? |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | This should be available from ManagEnergy after the event. |
| <vicosd> | [Tue Jan 20 17:03:53 CET 2004] Thanks to the speaker (Claude Turmes). That was exactly what I was trying to ask Mr. Peter Niermeier before and no wonder he was avoiding answering this question. |
| <pl_aop> | It was also my impression he understood but there is no answer to it because there is no level playing field. |
| <NL_Pelt> | I don't see what this last presentation has to do with Peter Niermeier avoiding your question earlier? |
| <vicosd> | He was not answering the question regarding free energy market and whether there even exists one. |
| <NL_Pelt> | Ah ok, I understand, but I don't think he was avoiding. I hope he isn't, because I think he is tackling a big issue. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | I think Claude Turmes is a really important in influencing people. He has strong statements. |
| <vicosd> | I was already listening to him at a different conference here in Austria in November 2002. |
| <A_IFZ_Spaeth> | Very true, unfortunately, there are not many more like Claude Turmes. |
| <NL_Pelt> | Which political party does he represent? |
| <A_IFZ_Spaeth> | The Greens. |
| <NL_Pelt> | [Tue Jan 20 17:29:55 CET 2004] Why are bank directors talking about level playing field? They just follow the money |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Everything in the world is about money. |
| <NL_Pelt> | Yes, but the level playing field is something the EC should regulate. It is first a polical decision, and second a financial one I think. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | I agree. |
| <NL_Pelt> | So after this speaker the broadcating stops? |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Yes, but maybe there will be questions from audience... please stay tuned. This This conference will end about 18:15. I think there will be a heavy dicussion between these panelists |
| <vicosd> | I am already looking forward |
| <NL_Pelt> | I think this broadcast (in combination with the sheets, speaker information and chat) is very cool. It feels like if you are in the conference room. My compliments ;-) |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Thank you. We appreciate it if our viewers are satisfied. |
| <NL_Pelt> | Could you ask a question to the forum: Isn't it true that changes in the level playing field will only happen if new green organisations (distributors, suppliers) will grow and get more customers so that they can really invest in sustainable energy. Existing companies wil no do this because they have to much money invested in fossile energy generation. Feed-in systems will only support existing companies. The consumer is the only one. |
| My name is Richard van Pelt, organisation: Greenchoice. Biggest new green energy supplier in the Netherlands | |
| Perhaps best asked to Claud Turmes. | |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | We are now trying to ask the question. |
| <NL_Pelt> | It is difficult to formulate in a chat, but the question would be: If so, how do they want to get the consumers involved? |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | So that is actually your question? |
| <NL_Pelt> | In combination with the statement |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Okay - I hope we can get into the discussion. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Comment From Steve Browning - Nat Grid UK - retired after 20 years in Generation, Demand and Market Modelling. |
| Richard & all: The main issue for renewable generation is 'reliability' and 'predictability'. | |
| Once you sort that out then the installations will appear more attractive to suppliers, will attract better power purchase agreements and look less risky to the banks. | |
| In the ultimate, a reliable self-sufficient system (gen/storage/load) can run islanded from the grid. This has been demonstrated on local community Power/Heat projects in the UK. | |
| <NL_Pelt> | I agree, but how to speed the transition? The consumer is the basis. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Carefully - we are making the biggest change to the delivery philosophy of the Electricity Industry (have as much as you like when you like for 8Euro/kWh) in its existence. |
| <vicosd> | I guess it is a combination of all major players involved. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | In the ultimate, you start to remove load from the grid and remove the need for it. Now, will the fossil fuel price rise thus making renewables more 'valuable'?? |
| <NL_Pelt> | It is generally accepted that in the long run the price will rise. Taxation (calculating the environmental cost) will help also. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | The moderator is not accepting any questions from the floor. Sorry for that. |
| <NL_Pelt> | No problem, thank you for trying. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | We were in front of the microphone but William Gillett did not t want any questions from floor. |
| <NL_Pelt> | A pity, but it's just like the real world :-). If I was in the conference room I would have been too late also. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Indeed. |
| <NL_Pelt> | Thanks for moderating, it was a great experience. |
| DISCUSSION TRANSCRIPT - 21 January 2004 | |
| <irl_mur> | Hi All, have I missed anything interesting? |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | Yeah... he is talking about the fact that half of the powerplants are being out of business within 25 years... |
| <irl_mur> | Anything on Anaerobic Digestion or woodchip heating etc? |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | hmm... not as far is I have seen... but it might have slipped my attention. |
| <PL_aop> | [Wed Jan 21 10:20:41 CET 2004] I do not agree with the guy from the audience that suppporting nuclear fusion and fission is supporting technologies which belong to the last century. These are very modern technologies which would be a solution to ecological problems - the only thing is that such technologies are expected to be avialable in 2050 so for 50 years R&D money will have to be spend on it and only next generation will profit. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | We are interested in your feedback about the virutal application, are there features you would like to comment on or have included in the future? |
| <DE_Spira> | The virtual applications and method of presentation are very useful and perfect. My computer-system accept all of that very well. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Is anyone else suffering occasional audio interruption/recovery?? |
| <irl_mur> | First time using such a facility and I am very impressed. It is a great use of my time in being able to attend a virtual conference in this manner and pick and choose my attendance with not even having to sit in an airport. Sugestions for the future, all chat room clients should have an opportunity to profile themselves so that other members can network if they recognise a common interest. |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | Thanks! The profiles idea is a very good one. We will take it in consideration for future development |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Indeed, the facility is very useful. As well as not needing to travel, I am more comfortable sitting here than in the conference hall!!! Agree the point about the profiles. |
| <NL-rode> | I have been watching from time to time and I want to give a big compliment to your crew for bringing a good thing to life for many people to see, the sound and images are excellent, keep up the good work. Also I am glad that the private conversations of the participants are muted now. |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | great... |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | As regards questions to the panel, would you be able to link to the screen projector in the conference centre?? |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | How do you mean? Having your question projected in the conference hall? We could look into this, but it would need careful moderation. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Thats the idea - might save you a lot of leaping around trying to get the moderator's attention??? |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | Yeah, but we have to make sure only to publish 'good' questions which are really relevant for the subject. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | You would probably have to copy them from chat to a different medium anyway for display - they can be checked at that stage. |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | Certainly, but who is going to decide which questions can be used? We are going to take this in consideration. We did it before by having a laptop on stage so one of the speakers could read the chat and we are researching ways to dynamically publish the questions to the beamers. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Should do the trick - the moderator or a member of the panel is certainly best placed to decide to relevance of questions. |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | Have you also looked at the archives of the previous Managenergy webcasts? |
| <irl_mur> | I missed most of the Greenpeace guy as my connection was a bit dodgy |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | Hmmm too bad. You should be able to see it in the archives afterwards... They will probably be available sometime next week. |
| <irl_mur> | I will chase them as there was a lot of interesting info over the course of the past few days. Anyway this session is out of my league, will log on later. Regards all. |
| <vicosd> | But what will be the outcome of this conference? A paper for the conference in Berlin in June? |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | They certainly said that they intended to feed into the Berlin Conf in June. |
| <vicosd> | So there will be common European position. |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | I think this is the intention. |
| <vicosd> | Well, I guess this is the intention of any PrepCom to work out a common position that will then be presented at the actual conference. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | [Wed Jan 21 11:58:28 CET 2004] At the end of this presentation there is a panel discussion if you want to ask questions you can type them in the chat. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Question - Should Europe promote development of innovative Electricity Market mechanisms which are less "renewables-averse" but at the same time can also deal with the unpredictable nature of renewable plant output? |
| Question 2 - Should there be an associated investigation into the impact of a transition to 'Grid Independence' by increasing numbers of Electricity users? | |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Do you need our brief profile for the questions??? |
| <PL_Jan> | Could you write your name and the organization you represent? |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | From Steve Browning - retired from National Grid UK Operations. I spent the last 20 years in Generation, Demand and Market modelling. |
| <PL_Jan> | OK, thank you, this is enough. |
| <NL_NTR_Jechiam> | Dear Steve, to who is the question addressed? |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Best to put my questions to the moderator to decide. |
| <NL_NTR_PeterMaas> | Could you please explain what you mean by, renewable-averse? |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Reword Question 1 - Should Europe promote development of innovative Electricity Market mechanisms which are more "renewables-friendly" but at the same time can also deal with the unpredictable nature of renewable plant output. |
| <vicosd> | Just one question to the chat. Did Mr. Fragio mention what the priority countries in Africa are for the EU? |
| <ES-mp> | I think no specific African countries. I am interested to ask Mr Fragio question: Which specific countries for COOPENER? |
| <PL_Jan> | Ok, we will ask the questions when the discussion with the audience starts. |
| <DK_Niel> | The COOPENER target countries in the 2003/4 call are in sub-Saharian Africa. |
| <vicosd> | Ok. Then I would like to ask Mr. Fragia what the specific African priority countries for renewable energy projects for the EU are? |
| Organization: Vienna International Community on Sustainable Development. Name: Irene Stoeckl | |
| <ES-mp> | DK-Niel Thank you I knew it (but may be some priorities are done?) |
| <PL_Jan> | Thank you, we will try our best. |
| <vicosd> | Thanks |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Thanks |
| <PL_Jan> | Let's hope the moderator will allow all questions. |
| <ES_JVSIB> | From John Sibole-Spain with the Univirsity of the Balearic Islands |
| <ES-mp> | Margarita Puente of Escan Consulting |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | [Wed Jan 21 12:14:39 CET 2004] Your questions are being asked. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Thanks very much and well done. |
| <vicosd> | Thank you. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | We are trying to ask your second question too. |
| <PL_Jan> | The questions were asked. The speakers seem to enjoy them. |
| <vicosd> | Well, in Germany there are villages that are buying back their grids. What a loss of money for the major players. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | My point was the move to electricity 'self-sufficiency' by individuals and communities will remove load from the grid system. |
| <vicosd> | So it is about people who get independent from the grid or communities that own their own grid? |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Can be either - once they disconnect (islanded) or run at 'near float' to the central grid system. We have one borough council who has its own community grid networks with CHP/PV/Fuel Cell/Heat Storage for Electricty, Heat and Cooling. They can nearly run independent of the Distributor's Grid system. |
| <vicosd> | Ok. I understood. No wonder they are enjoying themselves. But the more people get independent the less this people will be able to laugh about them. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | True - but what about the remaining customers on the central system - infrastructure charges per customer will rise as the number of customers falls. |
| <vicosd> | So when the remaining customers get aware of their other possibilities the faster they will drop out of the traditional system. |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | We have to mind the costs of 'grid independence' (storage etc..). I prefer strategy of good regulating of the grid management to such independence strategies. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Indeed, 'independent' systems will need to carry surplus capacity to secure supply - you could end up with a lot of disconnected private networks with excess surplus. It is better to encorage them to keep connected to pool the spare energy. |
| <vicosd> | Yes. But this grid independence is the great danger of RES for traditional energy producers. That is one reason why they are so actively fight RES. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | I posed the question because the one of the presentations on the first day was promoting the self sufficiency. |
| <vicosd> | I want to thank Ms. Palacio for supporting the nuclear energy industry by reopening all the nice old nuclear power plants in the Baltic Sea region. |
| <A-IFZ_Spaeth> | Good point. |
| <DE_Spira> | To operator: pls pass my thanks to the very good live-translation into German. Great service, just now!! |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | They are professionals. We will thank them. |
| <DE_Spira> | Sure all prof. translaters, but they do their service as well for us internet-participiants. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | We make sure you get the right translation when you switch to another language. |
| <NL-devos> | Will de Palacio have a speech, or isn't she attending at all? |
| <vicosd> | She sent a video greeting earlier. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | She is listed but she is not going to speak sorry. You can watch the video recordings of this event. |
| <NL-devos> | The video, did it contain anything more than a greeting? Anything like a target for 2020, or anything new about the organisation of the EU green energy market? |
| <vicosd> | 20% of RES until 2020. But I think Palacio herself did not specifically mention that. |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | You can download the transcript of Loyola de Palacio's speech: Renewable energy: an urgent need for Europe (13 Kb PDF) |
| <DE_Spira> | I leave the chat now. Thanks to operating-team for perfect ManagEnergy service. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Thank you, I hope you enjoyed the conference. |
| <vicosd> | [Wed Jan 21 13:37:58 CET 2004] Subsidies for fossil AND NUCLEAR energy sources. Somehow they are constantly forgetting that. |
| <PL_Jan> | Do you think subsidies for Nuclear energy is a good idea? |
| <vicosd> | No, but they are always talking as if they don't exist. That's my point. |
| <PL_Jan> | I see. I think they are afraid of using that word. |
| <vicosd> | Especially at this conference. And in the end, that is one of the major priorities of the EU - revitalization of the nuclear energy industry (EURATOM in EU Constitution etc.). |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Broadcast will end in a few minutes. |
| <vicosd> | Thanks to everybody - operators, participants etc. Hope to meet you again in one way or the other. |
| <UK_ME_KatyH> | Goodbye and thanks to everyone who took part. |
| <NL_NTR_operator> | Thank you for watching. |
| <GB_SteveBrowning> | Thanks to the facilitiators - including all the email advice. Bye all |
| <PL_Jan> | Good bye |