5 spunti per approfondire (28/2023)

La rubrica settimanale con i consigli di lettura di RivistaEnergia.it, dall’Europa e dal mondo. Forse non le notizie più eclatanti, ma proprio per questo interessanti da approfondire. Settimana 28/2023

“The United Arab Emirates president of the UN climate summit took a step forward in setting a “mid-century” timeline for the phasing down of fossil fuels produced without the capture of emissions, in his agenda for COP28. The plan to capture greenhouse gas emissions, triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 and double energy efficiency to limit global warming was broadly welcomed, but did not satisfy the demands from countries and campaigners for the phasing out of new oil and gas production. Sultan al-Jaber put forward his vision for COP28, to be held in Dubai in December, at a meeting of G20 ministers in Brussels on Thursday, urging them to “be brutally honest about the gaps that need to be filled, the root causes and how we got to this place here today”

UAE sets ‘mid-century’ goal for fossil fuel phase-down in climate summit agenda
Articolo – Financial Times

“Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant cut output at three of its four reactors by a combined 240 MW due to the rising temperature of the Danube river, the plant’s operator said late on Thursday. It said the temperature of the Danube, whose water is used to cool the plant, reached 29.72 degrees Celsius on Thursday, forcing the cut in output from 1430 GMT. The operator did not specify when power could be restored to nominal levels.”

Hungary nuclear plant cuts output because of warm Danube waters
Articolo – Reuters

“During 2022, a key concern within the EU and the global gas market was how the market might cope with a complete shut-off of Russian gas pipeline exports to Europe if a ban was implemented on Gazprom sales. For most of the year, it appeared that the market was very stretched and that gas demand rationing in Europe might be needed if Russian gas disappeared completely or if a cold winter caused a spike in demand. In addition, the economic impact of higher gas prices, which peaked at over $90/mmbtu in August 2022 and averaged over $40/mmbtu for the year as a whole, also prompted the question as to whether European politicians and companies might be tempted to concede to some of Gazprom’s demands (for example on rouble payments) in order to increase imports and lower prices. The politics of the situation suggested that while the Ukraine war continued this would not be an acceptable outcome, but questions were being asked about how long the EU, or individual member states, would be prepared to take the economic pain. Six months into 2023, a completely different set of questions can now be asked: is Russian gas that important to the EU and wider Europe anymore? Would it matter if volumes went to zero sooner rather than later, either by Russian or EU design? Will Russian gas ever have a significant role in western markets again? This Energy Insight investigates these questions, looking at available infrastructure for Russian exports, the relevance of Gazprom’s long-term contracts with European customers, the importance of Russian LNG and also whether the removal of all pipeline exports from Russia, or their gradual recovery, would have much impact on European and global gas prices”

Do future Russian gas pipeline exports to Europe matter anymore?
Ricerca – The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

“In Geopolitics of the Energy Transition: Critical Materials, the focus pivots to a theme that embodies both the future and the past. Today, it is abundantly clear that the energy transition will require a dramatic increase in the supply of critical materials. Projections for rapidly growing materials demand create both opportunities and the spectre of geopolitical risks. Yet the rush for raw minerals and metals is not a new phenomenon; be it coal, gold or any other extractive commodity in human history, this is, in many ways, a familiar paradigm. Mining has all too often played out as a tale of extremes – simultaneously characterised by the newfound comforts and prosperities, and a legacy of poor labour records, displacements, polluted waterways and degraded land in the communities where mines operate. A renewables-based energy transition provides a chance to rewrite the script for extractive commodities and ensure their value chains are more inclusive, ethical and sustainable.”

Geopolitics of the Energy Transition: Critical Materials
Report – IRENA

“Coal-to-gas policies significantly boost yearly average natural gas consumption. A heterogeneity analysis shows townships, rural, and county are the focus of policy implementation. Investments in natural gas utilities and increased gas utilization are the main channels for increasing natural gas demand. While coal-to-gas policies cause natural gas shortages during the heating season, additional pipeline networks, liquefied natural gas receiving station and gas storage depots could improve the stability of supplies and reduce the impact of peak-to-trough differences. The article demonstrates for the first time that radical energy transition policies are one of the main causes of the energy crisis, providing a crucial foundation for national energy and environmental policies, and having some implications for the global energy transition process.”

Energy security dilemma and energy transition policy in the context of climate change: A perspective from China
Ricerca – Energy Policy

della stessa rubrica

5 spunti per approfondire (27/2023), 7 luglio
5 spunti per approfondire (26/2023), 30 giugno
5 spunti per approfondire (25/2023), 23 giugno