LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) – Britain’s prospective Green Deal,
meant to drive upgrades in home energy efficiency, faces severe
challenges in cutting risks for investors and in allaying public
concerns about indebtedness and cowboy tradesmen.

The scheme aims to drive energy savings that would cut
national carbon emissions and protect households from future
rises in the price of energy.

LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) – Infrastructure investment plus
new emerging markets in Brazil and Mexico could counterbalance
falling renewable energy support in indebted Europe, which until
now has accounted for the majority of green subsidies.

Renewable energy faces public funding pressure, where
heavily indebted developed European countries are slashing
support to shield consumers from higher bills.

LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) – Limited reform of EU emissions
trading may not achieve much in CO2 cuts as the falling
competitiveness of cleaner technologies is driven more by
plunging coal than carbon prices.

The financial crisis has slashed carbon prices to record
lows by creating a glut of emissions permits.

LONDON (Reuters) – European Union backing for extra infrastructure finance may sound like a deliberate distraction from deadlock over much bigger euro bonds, but in fact it is a great idea – the trouble is the tiny sums involved and lack of detail.

The “project bonds” idea stems from a two-year-old, European Commission and European Investment Bank (EIB) plan to drive capital market investment in infrastructure.

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) – Britain has ended liberalised
power market pricing, in a broad strategy announcement that
poses questions over how qualified government ministers are to
choose between energy technologies and to set prices.

Wholesale power and carbon markets have failed to find a
clearing price for low-carbon power generation, recalling a
comment by British economist Nick Stern in 2006 that climate
change was the “greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever
seen”.

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) – The costs of nuclear power are
rising in developed countries, where fossil fuel and renewable
energy prices are stable or falling, suggesting present
proposals for a major programme of new investment are
ill-advised.

Overall, the picture is one of uncertainty about nuclear
costs, but a clear upward trajectory is evident in developed
countries, urging a re-think on construction plans in Britain,
the United States, France, Canada, Finland and Poland.

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) – A British government argument
that its planned support for new nuclear power stops short of a
subsidy, to satisfy EU regulators and a coalition pledge, only
adds to the sense of a policy in trouble.

The planned UK nuclear build programme would be the biggest
in the developed world, but is under threat after the exit of
two backers.

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) – Laying more cables to Europe will
be an important complement to new power plants as Britain
navigates the cheapest route to replace ageing generation assets
and makes difficult choices between gas, wind or nuclear power.

The usefulness of more cross-border interconnectors applies
equally to other European Union countries with high wholesale
power prices, notably Italy.

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) – Upstream solar companies are
finally cutting prices under pressure from their customers’
fight for survival, with profit margins showing more fat to trim
and potential relief to the struggling sector.

Margins are falling at top producers, but still have a long
way to go when compared with the downstream end, in a gradual
re-balancing across the value chain.

LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – European consumer electricity
bills will have to rise over the next decade.

Current wholesale prices are not sufficient to cover the
capital and operating costs of building new gas, nuclear or
renewable energy to replace the looming closure of a raft of
coal and nuclear power plants.