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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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TheRelationshipbetweenClimateChangePoliciesandEnergySecurity EuropeandBeyond 59 broadportfolioofrenewablesthatcanbeusedtoachieveGHGreductiontargets withadiversifiedfuelmix.InthecaseoftheEU mostoftheseresourcesare domesticallyavailable biomassand concentrating solarpowercan bean exception .Aswitchtorenewablesthusgenerallyreducesimportdependency. However whetherthisisasecurityofsupplybenefitdependsonwhetherimport dependenceisregardedasarisktoadequate reliableandaffordableelectricity. Globaloilandcoalmarketsarerelativelyopenandwellfunctioning andprices aswellastheirvolatility aremuchmoreofasecurityofsupplyconcernthan importdependencyperse.Intermsofgas however pricesarelargelyregulated orlinkedtooilprices andarethus muchlessableto balancesupplyand demand.Inaddition theEUisregionallylinkedtoonlyafewsuppliersviafixed infrastructure whichmakesphysicalunavailabilityofgasmoreofaconcern.If renewablescanincreasetheirshareattheexpenseofgasimports itcouldthus bearguedthattherearesomesecurityofsupplygains.However intermsof GHGemissionsreductions anincreaseofrenewablessubstitutingforelectricity productionfromcoalwouldbepreferable.Duetotheintermittenceofmany renewableenergytechnologies seebelow ), theyarenotwellsuitedtoserve peakdemand butinsteadlikelytodisplacetypicalbaseloadgenerationplants. TheIEA 2007 thusassumesthat coal gasand inthecaseofarenewable energypolicy nuclear aredisplacedproportionallytotheirroleinthefuel mix Moreimportantintermsofenergysecurityistheriskofintermittencefroman increasingshareofrenewablesintheenergy mix.Intermittenceinthecaseof renewablesreferstoundesiredoruncontrolledvariabilityofoutput Sinden2005 .At thesametime renewablesarecharacterised byreduceddispatchabilityor manoeuvrability whichreferstotheirabilitytoincreaseordecreaseoutput quicklyondemand KuntzandDawe2005 .Notallrenewablesareequally unreliable Large hydro bioenergy and geothermal resources and concentratingsolarpower CSP offercomparablelevelsoffirmcapacitiesto conventionalfossilfuelbasedplants IEA2007 .Biomass ontheonehand canbestoredandusedwhenrequiredandthusprovidesamoreorlessconstant electricitysupply.Solarphotovoltaicapplications wind smallhydropower plantsandfuture waveenergyresources onthe other hand are more intermittentandvariableinsupplyingelectricity IEA2007 .IncurrentEU electricitysystems intermittencyis notgenerally problem becausethe penetrationofintermittentrenewablesisstilllow although with strong variationsamongmemberstates .However theelectricitygridwilleventually needtoadapttohighersharesofintermittentelectricity althoughthereisno