Reunion Island, like most insular regions, is ruled by a carbon economy which is heavily dependent on oil, imported by sea. But in recent years, the energy transition has become the watchword of these non-interconnected areas. This results into an increasing implementation of renewable energy sources (RES) in these regions. In 2012, this island of the southwest Indian Ocean had a renewable electricity production
Solar forecasts for energy trading have become vital, in particular with the arrival of direct marketing in France, and the gradual withdrawal of feed-in tariffs across Europe. The number of solar installations connected to electrical grids keeps on increasing around the world. A recent report from the American group Mercom Capital forecasts nearly 65GW of global solar installations for 2016. A growing injection of
In France, the law on energy transition for a green growth will put in place a new support scheme for renewable energy sources (RES) from the 1st of January 2016: direct marketing. Historical energy providers in France such as EDF (Electricité de France) must respect the public service missions given by the legislator. The development of renewable energies is one of them. It is
Since the 1960’s, the French nuclear industry has provided a real price-competitiveness to electricity, which favoured companies and households. However, this domination of nuclear energy is challenged by emerging energies : we will see how the problematic of production cost is determining in after-crisis France where economic pragmatism outweighed environmental issues. The underlying question is actually the following: are renewable energies and solar energy especially
France, host to the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), took the lead regarding the measures to adopt in order to mitigate climate change and thus prevent and reduce our ecological footprint to spread further. Indeed, the French government set itself ambitious goals. “France must be exemplary”, according to the Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Ségolène Royal. In order to realize these
Reuniwatt places its skills in utilising satellite images in order to provide the most accurate solar irradiance forecasts. Its latest research in this field will be presented at the next EU PVSEC conference, the largest international Conference for Photovoltaic research, technologies and applications, which will take place in Hamburg, Germany, from 14-18 September. Assessing past PV productions Reuniwatt provides accurate irradiance data thanks to
In order to get the best out of solar energy, a good knowledge of the resource is essential. An accurate assessment of the solar resource is important for dimensioning solar plants – whether they are thermal, photovoltaic or concentration –. Reliable and trustworthy production forecasts during a plant’s operating phase are just as important. TSOs need them to properly handle the variable availability of the
Last January, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Segolène Royal, asked former European Deputy Corinne Lepage to deliver a report on « The New World Economy ». Freshly finished, the report is now on the Minister’s desk since June 15th. The 139-pages report was written with the help of a task force led by Corinne Lepage. The task force was composed of 28 representatives of
If you live in Abu Dhabi, Muscat or Ahmedabad, you might have seen a weird bird flying above you. Wider than a Boeing 747 but weighing only 1% of its weight, Solar Impulse is a 4-engine solar-powered plane on its way to fly around the globe. It has absolutely no other fuel than solar energy. Flying only thanks to solar energy would have seemed impossible
Good news! The International Energy Agency (IEA) just released a note stating that carbon dioxide emissions related to energy did not increase in 2014. There is usually a strong correlation between global economic growth and carbon emissions: as the economy is growing, people are using more energy to fuel this growth and more people get access to energy in emerging countries. Even when the
