Policy & Regulatory Spain awards 255 MW of solar capacity in Canary Islands 15 Mar 2021 The Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Savings (IDAE) has selected 65 solar power projects in Canary islands with a total capacity of 255 MW under the SolCan aid program, which is co-financed by the European…
Policy & Regulatory Italy aims at cutting its GHG emissions by 60% in 2030 compared to 1990 12 Mar 2021 Italy intends to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by around 60% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels after using €80bn of EU funds for energy transition in the next five…
Policy & Regulatory Rosatom should build 24 new nuclear reactor units in Russia by 2045 11 Mar 2021 The Russian president has decided to increase the share of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix to 25% by 2045, which will require the construction by the state nuclear corporation Rosatom…
Policy & Regulatory Algeria plans to tender 1 GW of solar capacity in June 2021 10 Mar 2021 Algeria intends to launch a tender for 1,000 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in June 2021. The program will include ten wilayas (provinces) in southern Algeria with 100 MW for each. Turning to solar power…
Policy & Regulatory Canada unveils a new federal greenhouse gas offset system 9 Mar 2021 The federal government of Canada has released draft regulations on a new federal greenhouse gas (GHG) offset system, which would allow municipalities, farmers, indigenous communities, businesses, and others to earn offset credits for projects that reduce…
Policy & Regulatory China plans to increase its nuclear capacity by 40% over 2021-2025 8 Mar 2021 China has released its 14th Five-Year Plan covering the 2021-2025 period and announced its aim to increase its nuclear power capacity by 40% from 50 GW in 2020 to 70 GW in 2025. In addition,…
Volume 5 Issue 3, March 2021 Parasexual recombination in cancer cells Within a colony that originates from a single hybrid cell and is formed by spontaneous fusion of differentially labelled breast cancer cells, most cells maintain the expression of both parent-specific fluorescent markers. However, a subset of cells lost the…
Policy & Regulatory OPEC+ keeps oil production target for April 2021 broadly unchanged 5 Mar 2021 The OPEC+ has agreed to a continuation of the production levels of March 2021 – when the production cut reached 8.05 mb/d – in April 2021 for most member countries. However, Russia and Kazakhstan will…
Volume 11 Issue 3, March 2021 Phenological shifts across kingdoms In Russia, the first boletes (mushrooms) occur in early July each year, yet climate change impacts the timing of such events. In this issue, Tomas Roslin, Otso Ovaskainen and colleagues use an expansive dataset to investigate phenological shifts across taxa…
Policy & Regulatory The EU launches a investigation on Germany’s lignite phase-out plan 4 Mar 2021 The European Commission has launched an investigation on Germany’s lignite phase-out plan, to confirm if the compensation granted to the operators of lignite-fired power plants for phasing out earlier involved state aid and if…
Policy & Regulatory Thor offshore wind project (Denmark) cleared under EU state aid rules 3 Mar 2021 The European Commission has approved Denmark’s support for the Thor offshore wind project, which will be located in the Danish part of the North Sea, under EU state aid rules. Denmark had approved…
Policy & Regulatory Denmark could miss its 2030 climate target 2 Mar 2021 According to the Danish Council on Climate Change, Denmark’s current climate policies are insufficient to meet its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions targets. With the government’s current policy, the country would be on track to reduce CO2 emissions…
Policy & Regulatory Germany launches a 958 MW offshore wind tender 1 Mar 2021 The German Federal Network Agency has launched a tender for 958 MW of offshore wind capacity across three areas in the North and Baltic Seas. The regulator offers 658 MW in the German North Sea and 300 MW in…
Policy & Regulatory Brazil initiates privatisation process of power utility Eletrobras 26 Feb 2021 The Brazilian president has delivered a provisional measure to Congress, which allows the national development bank BNDES to start the privatisation process of the state-owned power utility Eletrobras. Brazil directly controls 42.57% of Eletrobras’s total capital….
Policy & Regulatory The United States and Canada target net-zero emissions by 2050 25 Feb 2021 The United States and Canada have agreed to work towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050, also reaffirming their shared commitment to cutting oil and gas methane emissions. The United States, which has just…
Actualidad científica: Del 1 al 25 de febrero, 2021 Microbiología Identifican cómo un hongo almacena recuerdos Marta Pulido Salgado Aunque no posee sistema nervioso central, Physarum polycephalum memoriza la localización de los nutrientes. Física cuántica Un paso clave hacia la Internet cuántica Davide Castelvecchi Un experimento logra conectar tres dispositivos…
Policy & Regulatory France awards 452 MW of solar PV capacity 24 Feb 2021 The French Energy Regulatory Commission has selected 69 PV projects representing a total capacity of 452 MW. In the first category, which comprises ground-mounted PV projects exceeding 5 MW in size, the CRE allocated 216 MW (less than…
Policy & Regulatory The United States officially re-enters the Paris agreement 23 Feb 2021 The United States has officially re-entered the Paris agreement on climate change, after having officially withdrawn in November 2020. The Paris agreement was signed by nearly 200 countries in December 2015, in an attempt to cut…
Table of Contents: February 2021 Article | 22 February 2021 Magmatic flare-up causes crustal thickening at the transition from subduction to continental collision Carlos E. Ganade, Pierre Lanari, Daniela Rubatto, Joerg Hermann, Roberto F. Weinberg et al. Communications Earth & Environment 2 , Article number: 41 | doi: 10.1038/s43247-021-00103-z Article |…
Policy & Regulatory France launches tender for 700 MW of solar PV capacity 22 Feb 2021 The French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has launched its 10th tender for the construction of 700 MW of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects exceeding 500 kW in size. The country aims at allocating 450 MW for ground-mounted PV projects…
Volume 6 Issue 2, February 2021 NET result Direct air capture (DAC) of CO2 is a promising negative emissions technology (NET) that could help to achieve climate targets. However, the energy and materials demands of DAC need to be better understood. Based on industrial data, Deutz and Bardow evaluate the…
Volume 11 Issue 2, February 2021 Global urban climate projections Climate projections for built landscapes are needed to project risks from climate change in urban settings. In this issue, Lei Zhou and colleagues use an urban climate model emulator with a multi-model archive to estimate that many cities will warm…
Companies EDF’s power generation dipped by 10% in 2020 to 502 TWh 19 Feb 2021 EDF has released its 2020 full-year results, posting a -3.4% decline in its turnover to €69bn and an 87% fall in its net results to €0.7bn. The group’s power generation declined by 10% to 502…
Policy & Regulatory Poland plans to deploy smart meters at 80% of end users by 2028 18 Feb 2021 The Sejm, Poland’s lower house, is currently examining an amendment to the Energy Law, which would force distribution system operators (DSOs) to roll out electricity smart meters at 80% of consumers by…
Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2021 Glaciers in the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges provide freshwater and hydropower to millions of people, but are also melting at unsustainably high rates. This Review discusses recent and projected changes in glacier melt and resulting implications for regional water-related hazards and water resources….
Companies South Africa’s Eskom should unbundle its transmission grid by end-2021 17 Feb 2021 South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom intends to complete the legal separation of its power transmission unit by the end of 2021. The generation and distribution should follow in 2022. As presented in November 2019, Eskom…
Policy & Regulatory Germany’s Bundestrat approves law to fast-track 30 transmission projects 16 Feb 2021 The Bundesrat, Germany’s upper house, has approved the Federal Requirements Plan Act, which will fast-track 35 power network expansion projects, including the 1.4 GW NeuConnect HVDC submarine power cable between Germany and England (United Kingdom), the 700 MW…
Policy & Regulatory South Africa will launch a tender for 2,600 MW of wind and solar capacity 15 Feb 2021 South Africa plans to issue a request for proposal for 2,600 MW from wind and solar projects as part of Bid Window 5 in the coming weeks. Another bid window is…
Volume 11 Issue 2, February 2021 Global urban climate projections Climate projections for built landscapes are needed to project risks from climate change in urban settings. In this issue, Lei Zhou and colleagues use an urban climate model emulator with a multi-model archive to estimate that many cities will warm…