EU Commissioner wants more work to make renewables competitive

BRUSSELS, Belgium, 2004-10-06 (Refocus Weekly)

Environmental preoccupations are having a real impact on energy decisions, but “far more needs to be done to make renewable energy technologies competitive,” says the vice-president of the European Commission responsible for energy.

Environmental factors such as reducing carbon emissions from energy, developing alternative energy supplies and trying to slow demand for polluting fuels are becoming more important, Loyola de Palacio told an Exxon Mobil workshop on ‘Europe’s energy outlook.’ Three priorities of European energy policy demonstrate that the Commission is responding to these changes by “redressing the energy supply away from fossil fuels towards cleaner alternative fuels, and reducing the impact of energy production and use on the environment.”

One of the factors responsible for the rising demand for fossil fuel is the “slow rate of take up” for renewables, she says. “We would all welcome a large contribution to energy supply from renewable energy sources,” but the share of renewables has remained “more or less stagnant” at 6% as overall demand increases on the continent.
“For several years, renewable energies have been given special treatment in the interests of the environment and diversification. In real terms, and their production is rising,” but she says that “far more needs to be done to make renewable energy technologies competitive, and we have to keep in mind that the renewable facilities, due to their lack of availability, must be back up by equivalent traditional facilities in order to guarantee the supply of energy when needed.”

There is a need to rebalance energy supply in Europe, with fossil fuels supplying 80% of energy and, despite efforts to move away from coal and oil, “the fact remains that demand for fossil fuel is growing.” Current trends indicate that fossil fuels will supply at least 82% of energy in 25 years as energy needs grow by one-fifth, “so in real terms, we will be using significantly more fossil fuels in 2030 than today.”

The major reason is the high use of oil in transportation, which absorbs one-third of Europe’s energy and is forecast to double by 2030. The second cause of rising demand is increased demand for electricity and “it remains the case that gas, and not renewables, is the favoured form for new generation,” she adds.

Switching to gas-fired generation from solid fuels is a positive move, but gas-powered stations are also being built to replace old nuclear capacity and she warns that emissions by 2020 will rise significantly as nuclear capacities decline.

“Consumers are better informed than before about the environmental implications of energy use,” and they are asking for cleaner and less-polluting energy forms but they are reluctant to give up private cars and “there is a limit to how much more they will pay for clean fuel,” she adds. “Our task as politicians is clear - energy supply must be secure and affordable, but we need to mitigate its impact on the environment.”

The key lies in increasing energy efficiency, and more than one-fifth of Europe’s energy could be saved with “simple, quick and cheap measures” that promote greater efficiency in energy use in buildings. A new Directive on cogeneration will encourage wider use of energy-efficient combined heat and power and she has proposed a new energy efficiency target that would require member states to save at least 1% more energy each year than the average over the last five years.

“The energy framework for the EU has changed since the appearance of the Green Paper on security of energy supply,” she explained. “Environmental concerns have acquired a new importance, and the emergence of a single energy market changes the ground-rules. But much remains to be done if we wish to achieve a secure energy supply, compatible with environmental, economic and social concerns.”

“We have it in our power to improve the balance between energy objectives and environmental goals,” and listed the promotion of renewables at the top of her list, followed by keeping the nuclear option open, improving energy efficiency, developing cleaner fuels and supporting new technologies.


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