Europe is well on its way toward achieving its pledged target of having nearly 22% of its entire energy supply in renewable energy sources by the end of this decade said Palo Alto, Calif.-based Frost & Sullivan analyst Vijay Shankar Murthy in a recent Technical Insights paper. Accelerated research is the key.
"Instead of viewing renewables as a threat to revenue, oil companies are broadening their energy base to include renewable energy technologies such as solar power, wind, and hydrogen—currently the three main renewable energy sectors in Europe," Shankar Murthy said.
Accelerated research efforts also are in full swing to tap energy from relatively unexplored sectors such as wave, geothermal, and biomass energy sources, all of which, combined, could result in the likelihood of reducing Europe's dependence on oil imports from the Middle East and North Africa and enable member states' adherence to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Solar power
The use of nanomaterials in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells along with the results of other research efforts in the past few years has greatly increased the efficiency of solar cells. "Nanomaterials hold the key to the research efforts of the Energy Research Centre in the Netherlands toward developing solar cells that could yield energy efficiency as great as 21%," Shankar Murthy said.
The positive market demand for photovoltaic cells in Europe, in fact, has spurred Europe's largest manufacturer of photovoltaic cells to increase its production and expand the range of silicon wafers, solar cells, and modules it produces. RWE Schott Solar, Alzenau, Germany, is investing 40 million euros to expand capacity, with its partner companies, to some 100 Mw from 40 Mw by the first of 2005.
Wind vs. wave power
Continuing research in the wind power sector, a prominent renewable energy technology in Europe, has led to the development of the V90 next-generation wind turbine developed by Danish firm Vestas Wind Systems AS. "V90 promises to be high on both capacity and efficiency," Shankar Murthy said.
Similarly, the successful testing of TiDel, a wave energy device developed by Aberdeen-based SMD Hydrovision, has given the emerging wave energy sector a boost. Once commercialized, TiDel likely will compete head-on with wind energy devices for cost-effective electricity production. "Because the ocean is a huge source for renewable energy, TiDel is expected to intensify competition among participants in the renewable energy space," said Shankar Murthy.
Geothermal energy is another relatively unexplored renewable energy source that has been receiving greater attention lately. Sponsors of the Hot Dry Rock project, a research and development initiative at Soultz, France, are making concerted efforts to tap energy from aquifers present in the earth's crust.
Hydrogen initiatives
Fuel cell technologies are currently in vogue in Europe, although fuel cells that use hydrogen as a fuel are "less efficient in storing hydrogen," the analyst said, and do not live up to operating expectations in desired temperatures. In addition, the cost remains too high to replace gasoline as a transport fuel.
Nevertheless, research is continuing in this area, and the Clean Urban Transport for Europe project—a joint effort of Dutch public transport company GVB and Shell Hydrogen, both of Amsterdam—was recently launched to evaluate the day-to-day viability of operating fuel cell buses in varying conditions across nine European cities.
Shell Hydrogen, which has been developing its hydrogen and fuel cell businesses since 1999, has fuel cell demonstration projects in each of its major hydrogen markets: Japan (Tokyo), North America (Washington, DC) and Europe (Amsterdam, Luxembourg, and Reykjavik). Shell Hydrogen CEO Jeremy Bentham last month in Japan revealed the company's new concept of "Mininetworks"—100-vehicle fleets with 4-6 service stations and multiple vehicle manufacturers—as a guide to the initial development of a hydrogen market.
"With all these ongoing [alternative energy] projects, along with some organized financial backup by the EU, renewables will become a far more dominant force than it has been," concluded Shankar Murthy.
