Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
On June 16, 2013, in Italy, for two hours in the early afternoon the price of electricity
hydropower satisfied 100 per cent of the Italian electricity demand. This had a knock-on
effect in neighbouring France, which, in recent decades, has exported a lot of power to
Italy. Most electricity in France is nuclear. However, nuclear power plants are inflexible
- running full-blast all the time - and cannot be ramped up or down in response to
sudden fluctuations in demand. Therefore, the day after the Italians experienced a surge in
This was a very dramatic, and short-lived, example of the effect renewables are already
having in several energy markets. According to Alessandro Marangoni, chief executive
officer of the independent energy consultancy Althesys, “this single event cannot be taken
as a reference for a careful management of the electricity market, which needs, now more
than ever, a new market design in light of a profound change in the structure of supply”
(QualEnergia
2013b
). A study by Althesys showed that the price in the Italian power
market spike no longer coincides with midday peak demand for electricity (see
Figure
Figure 7.8.
The Italian electricity market on June 16, 2013. Thanks to concomitant high
levels of solar radiation and wind, renewables satisfied the entire national electricity
demand, allowing market prices to fall to zero for a couple of hours.
Source:
GME (Italian
National Manager of Energy Markets).
7.6 The Crystal Ball: Future Scenarios for Energy Use
It is difficult to predict the future of renewable energy because so many different factors
are involved. However, we can be pretty sure of two things: over the next 20 years,
environmentalconcernswillbecomemorepressingandmostrenewableswillnotbeableto
competewithfossilfuelswithoutsubsidies.Forthosetworeasons,neithertheIEAbaseline
nor the most sustainable scenarios are likely to be realised in the near future. Fischedick
some points of convergence (see
Table 7.2
).
