solar thermal power - Greenpeace

For those nations still in development, energy is even more
vital as they have to make up for, and keep pace with, the
mature energy infrastructure of the industrialised nations in an
increasingly globalised economy. Furthermore, it is widely
accepted in the developing world that these countries should
not just copy the historical energy patterns of the developed
world, but should consider building up a sustainable energy
infrastructure which avoida long term detriments.
Although history has shown that building up such an
infrastructure is most efficiently managed by the private
sector, governments do have a public responsibility to ensure
fair market rules, level playing fields for the market participants
and, most importantly, sustainability of living conditions for the
generations to come. Hence they face many challenges in
formulating current and future energy policies. They have to
respond to the need for security of energy supply, economic
growth, sustainable development, employment and
technological development and to combat the growing effects
of climate change. Renewable energy technologies are
considered to have a positive impact on all these parameters.
This study clearly demonstrates that solar thermal power
plants, up to now not widely known as an energy technology,
are one of the most promising renewable sources – capable
of meeting 5% of future global electricity demand by the year
2040. The developing world in particular, with its abundant
and evenly distributed solar resource, can contribute in a
cost-effective way to the bulk power supply of mega-cities,
where decentralised or fluctuating power supply would be
inadequate. This strategic power supply advantage has
already motivated development banks, such as the World
Bank, European Investment Bank and the German
Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau to support the implementation
of solar thermal power plants.
Without initial political and financial support, however, solar
thermal power remains at a competitive disadvantage, largely
because of inadequate price information in the world’s
electricity markets resulting from decades of massive financial
and structural support to traditional polluting fuels and power
plant technologies.
Solar thermal power plants have to compete in a well
established, very competitive energy market segment where
older nuclear and fossil fuel power stations produce electricity
at marginal cost because the interest payments and
depreciation on their investment costs have already been paid
by consumers and taxpayers. Political action is therefore
needed to overcome those distortions and create a level
playing field in which the economic and environmental
benefits of solar thermal power can be fully exploited.
2. Successful Market Creation Policy
Measures
A clear, visible market for solar thermal power must be defined
in order for a project developer to seriously consider getting
involved. Just as with any other investment, the lower the risk
to the investor, the lower the costs can be for supplying the
product. The most important measures for establishing new
solar power markets are therefore those where the market for
solar electricity is clearly embedded in national laws, providing
a stable and long term investment environment with relatively
low investor risks and sufficient returns.
As already outlined, a key benefit of a growing solar thermal
energy market is job creation. It is estimated that direct and
indirect employment in the industry worldwide, not including
the production of components and equipment, could rise to
about 100,000 jobs by 2020. In order to attract solar thermal
power plant suppliers to establish manufacturing facilities,
markets need to be strong, stable and reliable, with a clear
commitment to long term expansion.
• Legally Binding Targets for Renewable Electricity
in the EU and US
In recent years an increasing number of countries have
established targets for renewable energy as part of their
greenhouse gas reduction policies. These are either
expressed as specific quantities of installed capacity or as a
percentage of energy consumption.
Renewable energy targets are most effective if they are
based on a percentage of a nation’s total electricity
consumption. This creates an incentive to optimise
renewable technologies in the supply mix, and provides a
guide to where immediate policy changes are required in
order to achieve the anticipated targets. But targets have
little value if they are not accompanied by policies to
achieve a level playing field in electricity markets, to
eliminate market barriers and to create an economic
framework environment that will attract investment.
The most ambitious target has been set by the European
Union. In 2001 the European Council and the European
Parliament adopted a Renewable Energy Directive
establishing national targets for each member state.
Although these are not at present legally binding, the
Directive aims at doubling the share of renewable energy
sources in the primary energy mix from 6% to 12% by 2010,
equivalent to 22% of Europe’s total electricity consumption.
If this non-binding approach appears not to be working,
then the Directive allows the European Commission to
submit proposals to the European Parliament and Council
for mandatory renewable energy targets.
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