With prices of solar panels dropping by as much as 30%, the mass-adoption of photovoltaics (PVs) would bring 20% of Europeans out of energy poverty With heating season in full swing, as many as 120 million citizens living in the European Union – or 20% of the bloc’s entire population – are still living in what energy experts refer to as ‘energy poverty’ – the most common indicator of energy poverty is households spending in excess of 10% of their budget on energy bills. One of the driving factors behind energy poverty and the rising cost of heating bills across Europe is the European Commission’s regulated energy costs, which were originally implemented after World War II to establish fixed energy prices. However, the regulations have led to the creation of a European energy monopoly in which the average price of heating and other utility bills range between EUR 500 per-year in the union’s poorest member states such as Slovakia, and EUR 2,300 p/a in wealthier countries such as Sweden.
Open Access Government 16th Nov 2018 read more »
A string of subsidy-free solar farms will move ahead within weeks, marking the first fresh private investments in renewable energy without government handouts. Private equity fund Horus Capital said its new solar development arm, Suncore Energy, will begin construction of three new solar farms totalling 45MW from next month. The first of the trio will move ahead in Worsted, near Gatwick, after clinching the last ever government feed-in tariff for solar power, but the pair that follow will be the first new projects to power the grid with subsidy-free renewable electricity.
Telegraph 18th Nov 2018 read more »