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AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, October 19, 2005
(Refocus Weekly)
Countries in Europe should boost research on
wind, wave, solar and small hydro energy technologies, clean coal
and carbon sequestration, says EU energy commissioner Andris
Piebalgs.
The “increasingly urgent” high price for oil has led the EC to
adopt a five-point action plan to address the situation, and both
renewables and energy efficiency are key elements of this plan, he
told a sustainable energy forum in Amsterdam. These two options
“create employment in promising sectors in which Europe can take or
maintain the lead” and are also a significant contribution to
tackling climate change and reducing GHG emissions, while reducing
dependency on imported energy sources.
“Our first action must be to save energy to reduce demand,” and the
EC adopted a green paper on energy efficiency in June which
identifies the potential for Europe to save 20% of its existing
energy use in a cost-effective manner. Existing legislation, when
fully implemented, could generate 10% in energy saving, he adds.
“Europe also needs to increase its use of alternative forms of
energy” and “the most logical response to high oil prices is to
switch to using alternative, competitive and, more environmentally
friendly energy sources,” he says. There is enormous potential for
biomass in the EU which needs to be developed, and the Commission
will adopt a biomass action plan “very soon” that will include
biofuels for transport and biomass in electricity generation,
including co-generation.
The EU has set a target of 5.75% for national share of biofuels in
2010 and, in response to high oil prices, the EC will announce “more
ambitious policy orientations for biofuels” across the continent
early next year, and the proper implementation of the biofuels
directive will be crucial in this sense, he adds.
“We should also boost research on wind, wave and solar, small-hydro,
hydrogen (in particular with respect to transport) and on clean coal
and carbon sequestration,” and Piebalgs says he will argue for
“appropriate funding” in the 7th Framework Program (FP7). “Renewable
energies are one of my priorities” and the EC wants comments on the
financing of renewables before it adopts a Communication in coming
weeks.
“There is not only one magic value for analysing how the support
schemes are implemented,” and effectiveness in terms of energy
delivered, the cost of renewables, technology development, internal
market aspects and other factors must be considered, he explained.
“The recent Resolution of the European Parliament underlines this
diversity and shows the need for a proper analysis of the existing
situation in Europe.”
“It is obvious that direct support measures will remain essential in
the future to ensure sufficient penetration of green electricity in
the market and in order to meet our agreed targets,” he added.
Member countries must address administrative and grid barriers which
are hampering the development of renewables, while complex licensing
procedures and poor integration of renewables in the local planning
“persist around Europe.”
It is premature to propose a harmonized continental support scheme
for renewables across Europe, he explained. “While gaining
significant experience in the EU with renewable support schemes,
competing national schemes could be seen as healthy at least in a
transitional period. On the short and medium term, however, we need
to coordinate the existing systems on European level.”
“There seems to be a clear majority in favour of maintaining the
different support schemes alongside each other for the time being,”
and moving towards a harmonized support system would be too early
and in the interest of regulatory stability “which industry most
needs to develop renewables.” The continent start thinking about
issues that need to be addressed, especially as the share of green
power continues to grow.
“The maintenance of the stability of the networks and the
intermittent nature of some forms of renewable electricity merit
consideration,” and he suggests that it may be a good idea to start
a working group which would look closely at the matter with
transmission system operators and the wind industry.
“Another issue that needs to be looked at is what to do with a
significant share of renewable electricity that is fed into the
system at guaranteed prices on a competitive market,” he noted.
“This is not a pressing issue at this point in time, as the share of
renewables is still limited, but hopefully, this will become an
issue in the foreseeable future.”
The next years will be a watershed period for European and global
energy policy as a result of a changing market, and a number of
important decisions must be made about energy systems. Those
decisions should be made and action taken, where appropriate, “in a
coordinated and cohesive fashion” while increasing the efficiency of
energy systems.
Since the 1970s, improved energy efficiency has contributed more to
Europe’s energy balance than renewables or any other single energy
source, except oil, he explained. “With today’s energy prices, a
negawatt of energy savings costs about half of what it costs to
produce the same amount of energy.”
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