EU renewable energy policy: successes, challenges, and market reforms

Low carbon sources – primarily renewables and perhaps nuclear power - are almost invariably acknowledged to give more expensive power than power from fossil fuel sources – coal and gas. In a competitive electricity market, as is being attempted in the European Union, low carbon sources will not be chosen by power plant developers unless they are either insulated from the market or provided with some form of subsidy to make them competitive. Policy effort in the EU (e.g. the renewable energy Directive (2009/28/EC)) is aimed at supporting technologies and new capacity installations and production of renewable energy in three areas: (1) electricity or RES-E i.e. photovoltaics, wind, etc., (2) transport or RES-T i.e. biofuels, and (3) heating and cooling or RES-H&C i.e. biomass, solar-/geo-thermal, etc. (Winkel et al 2011). Amongst the three, EU renewable electricity sector has seen most state support and effective growth in terms of production and installed capacity in 1997-2012. It will thus be the main focus of this report. European Union competition law makes ‘state aids’ that distort markets illegal so for low-carbon sources to be promoted, there needs to be market mechanisms that do not distort markets or exemptions from this legislation. In this report, we look at mechanisms that have been used in the European Union to promote low-carbon sources, review the guidelines for state aid in the energy sector, and the challenges they pose to the EU renewable energy 2020 targets

Shared Services – Setting unrealistic expectations

This report was commissioned by PCS in February 2014 to inform campaigns against the outsourcing of services in the Ministry of Justice. It has been almost a decade since central government started to outsource shared services. This experience should be used to inform future decisions about shared service outsourcing. This report presents some of the evidence about the extent to which shared services can save on costs. This report is in six sections: 1. Overview of shared services and UK government policy; 2. Lack of savings; 3. Problems faced by individual departments; 4. Alternative approaches; 5. Local level; 6. Conclusion

TiSA – a free trade area within the WTO – impact on healthcare, water, energy and municipal services

This report was commissioned by PSI to raise awareness of PSI affiliates about the implications of Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) for healthcare, water, energy, and municipal sectors. The main research questions are: 1. Which corporate players are involved in TISA negotiations through their networking and lobbying arrangements, highlighting companies involved in the four sectors; 2. How will government (central, regional and local) actions to change and expand public services be influenced by TISA conditions in the four sectors; 3. What are the implications of TISA for the process of re-municipalisation taking place in energy and water and potentially in health/social care? Geographical scope The research will focus specifically on the implications of TISA for the following countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, South Korea, Turkey, the United States, and the European Union

Parameter estimation in rough Bessel model

In this paper, we construct consistent statistical estimators of the Hurst index, volatility coefficient, and drift parameter for Bessel processes driven by fractional Brownian motion with $H<1/2$. As an auxiliary result, we also prove the continuity of the fractional Bessel process. The results are illustrated with simulations

Democratic socialism or barbarism: a reply to Hans-Herbert Kögler

Reply - No Abstract available

The energy sector and socio-ecological transformation: Europe in the global context

Global climate change politics is moving ahead, while policy effectiveness lags behind. The overwhelmingly capitalogenic climate change (Moore 2015; Street 2016) necessitates a global ecosocialist transformation (Yurchenko 2020). In many ways, the EU is a champion of green politics and policy, although its decarbonisation framework has been criticised for being ill-conceived, ill-prescribed and insufficient, especially in the context of internationalised production and consumption of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. A radically socio-ecological transformation of ’global’ Europe, and the decarbonisation of the EU energy sector as a complex socio-ecological system are needed (SES; Ostrom 2012). Focusing on some 20 years of EU energy market reforms, I argue that decarbonisation aims are jeopardised without (1) public national, local and collective forms of ownership and financing of energy (generation and supply) as a common pool resource (CPR)/commons, and (2) a polycentric mode of governance (Ostrom 2010)

Chapter 21. Neoliberal capitalism and the erosion of sovereignty: lessons from Ukraine, parallels with Ireland

Book chapter. No Abstract available