Integrating Renewable Energy Resources Requires Some Careful Thought
We can learn a great deal from the European Investment Bank’s recent decision to pump $5 billion to renewables in the Eastern Hemisphere. Principally, greening up the energy landscape in Europe and Asia is a bit more complicated than dumping cash into solar and wind. Success here means understanding the ensemble of issues that make the integration of variable resources feasible, and that means contemplating things like energy efficiency (to lower the electrical load), storage and transmission (to convert intermittent resources into dispatchable power), smart grid (to optimize all grid elements), and natural gas (to address peak loads).
This is why I was surprised and dismayed to hear Elon Musk say that the U.S. can power itself on solar. Not only is this impractical in the extreme, but it’s not really even an aspiration. If we still have a civilization here in 75 years, and we finally eliminate all fossil fuels from our grid mix, it will most assuredly not happen with 100% solar.
Craig,
Announcements like these are mostly PR exercises. Banks, even the EIB invest in a wide range of projects a part of the ordinary course of business.
The devil is in the detail, not the headline.
Whether any projects ever actually meet all the conditions and receive any investment is another matter and will occur long after the headlines have been forgotten.
Investment in ‘smart meters’ isn’t really ‘green’. It’s arguable whether smart meters make any beneficial difference to consumers, except increase prices. Experience has revealed the benefits from a marginal increase in grid intelligence are negligible.
There is a huge difference between the real decision making process motivating investment banks, and public announcements such as this by the EIB.
The EIB is a little different since it’s shareholders are the taxpayers of the 28 member states of the EU (although 65% of the Bank’s capital is contributed equally by the big four economies , Germany, UK, France and Italy .
In theory the bank is a non-profit, policy driven lender with it’s prime mission being ” the advancement of European integration and social cohesion “.
In practice the EIB is a creature of politics, it’s policies and practices as complex as the dynamics of the EU itself, often corrupt and self-serving.
The EIB has an enormous advantage over other investment institutions since it’s often privy to secret government information and intelligence, while sheltered from losses by complex government and EU arrangements.
The EIB also controls the European Investment Fund (EIF) this smaller investment guarantee fund also has a record of very dubious and byzantine political machinations and involvements in both foreign and EU affairs.
Craig, some of what you read into announcements like these may contain elements of accuracy, but you should also treat these announcements with a healthy dose of cynicism.