gas prices

Gerard Reid, co-founder of corporate finance advisory Alexa Capital, considers whether the EU is up to the task of dealing with the twin threats of the energy crisis and the pull of a revitalized US clean power industry.

Operating gas-fired power plants would be 10 times more expensive in the long-term than building new solar capacity in Europe, according to research from intelligence company Rystad. Their study uses the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for gas and coal-fired power generation at different price levels and compares it to the LCOE of solar PV and wind.

SolarPower Europe has issued a statement opposing any moves by the European Commission to impose a lower maximum electricity price on renewables than on fossil fuel energy. EU member state energy ministers will meet this week to thrash out emergency measures to protect bill payers.

Rystad Energy has joined BloombergNEF with a significant forecast for gray and blue hydrogen off the back of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the analysts, the impact of the war has sent prices of fossil fuel-tied forms of hydrogen production surging, leaving the gradual but consistent downward price trend of green hydrogen now looking remarkably competitive.

Last year’s figures marked the first time the market saw sustained, subsidy-free growth across residential, commercial and utility scale projects, according to trade body Solar Energy UK.

With solar readmitted to the process for subsidizing new renewable energy generation capacity, the government says it is “hitting the accelerator” on clean power as it aims for a fully decarbonized electricity system by 2035.

Commercial and industrial PV installer Starsight Energy says business is on the up thanks to rising wholesale energy costs in the country.

With the Italian government temporarily limiting the returns available from solar plants on the wholesale energy market, Swiss investor SUSI Partners says the underlying strength of the country’s PV industry remains.

Mario Draghi’s administration has replaced market-driven electricity prices for the rest of the year and replaced them with tariffs based on historical averages. With solar plant operators among those affected, the European trade body for PV is not amused.

In a short interview with pv magazine, Indra Overland, head of the Center for Energy Research at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, explains how keeping a cap on gas and electricity prices is crucial to avoid long-term political damage and a loss of support for decarbonization plans. While it is difficult to say what the overall impact on the world economy will be, high costs and instability are rarely beneficial for economic growth, he says.