Energy: Diversification of the energy sources. Global Energy Security and the EU implications

The European Commission wants to increase the EU’s offshore wind energy production capacity from the current 12 GW (GigaWatts) to at least 300 GW by 2050, it said on Thursday. https://www.eudebates.tv/debates/special-debates/future-of-europe/watch-state-of-the-union-live-ursula-von-der-leyen-gives-2020-address-soteu/

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The Commission presented its strategy for the future development of offshore renewable energy production, which Frans Timmermans, commissioner in charge of the Green Deal, has already called a “European success story.”

“Over the next years, we will aim to turn it into an even greater opportunity for clean energy, high quality jobs, international competitiveness, and sustainable growth,” Timmermans tweeted.

“This change in the pace of development raises many questions,” Timmermans admitted, though the commission estimates that the nearly 30-fold increase in Europe’s offshore wind power capacity will require “less than 3% of the EU’s maritime space.”

The wind energy would be added to 40 GW from other forms of ocean production, such as tidal power and floating solar power.

Encouraging a massive development of offshore energy production will require a revision of the guidelines on state aid for environmental protection and energy.

Investment needs (mainly private) are estimated at around €800 billion from today to 2050. Two-thirds of that sum would be for related network infrastructure.

The Commission plans to possibly clarify and adapt the current regulatory framework of the electricity market to facilitate projects involving several States.

“Europe is a world leader in offshore renewable energy and can become a powerhouse for its global development,” said Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson. “We must step up our game by harnessing all the potential of offshore wind,” she added.

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It was only 30 years ago that the first offshore wind farm was installed off the coast of Denmark – Vindeby I think it was called.

Most people believed at the time that it would remain sort of a demonstration project, but since then offshore wind has developed into a story of undisputed European technological and industrial leadership.

The offshore renewable energy sector is now outperforming the conventional energy sector in terms of value added and employment growth.

This Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy will support the further growth of this industry, and will spur further progress towards meeting our ambitious climate targets for 2030 and beyond.

We aim to ramp up Europe’s offshore wind capacity to 300 gigawatts by 2050 and reach 40 gigawatts of capacity for other forms of ocean energy, like tidal or floating solar.

This represents a significant change of pace from our current path, and we will have to overcome a number of obstacles.

The Strategy aims to answer several big questions:

Can we achieve an almost thirty-fold increase in the capacity of offshore energy in maritime waters that are already home to multiple activities?
Do we have enough space to install so much energy capacity in waters that we committed to protect?
Can we bring Member States together to build and benefit from these projects in shared waters and hopefully shared grids?
The answer to all these three questions is yes.

It will require careful planning, good cooperation, ample funding, but it is possible.

We estimate that reaching 300 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2050 will require less than 3% of the EU’s maritime space.

The development of offshore renewable energy is subject to EU environmental legislation and our integrated maritime policy. So this expansion can be compatible with the goals of our Biodiversity Strategy.

And as such, the strategy would deliver a win-win for the environment and the economy. We green our energy supply, support European industry and create jobs, protect biodiversity, reduce pollution, and ensure a healthy basis for thriving fishing communities.

We are aiming high, because there is both a clear urgency and a great potential to expanding our offshore renewable energy capacity.

It is crucial to set our strategic framework now. There are long lead times for the investment and research efforts that are required to deliver the renewable production capacity we need. We calculate that by 2050, we will need an investment of almost 800 billion euros.

To provide the right investment signals for private capital, we will need a well-regulated energy market in the EU. In addition, we will need to make targeted use of EU support to unlock the necessary private financial flows.

In this context, I want to specifically highlight the opportunity for Member States to use funds from Next Generation EU to invest in offshore renewable energy and of course, all the infrastructure that comes with it.

Well perhaps i could just say that we have said that we will be getting back to you with figures so there you’re really making you’re just supposing things there regarding russian gas but you know that the european commission publishes regular reports on this they’re available online you’re welcome to go and consult those

Although naturally then we’ll be getting back to you by bilaterally diversification efforts for energy are necessarily long-term efforts that’s for a simple reason namely that they depend on infrastructure with the significant investment attached and which have to be immortalized over several years and then there’s technological development as well as tim mentioned

The development of renewables foreign for example where the eu is making a considerable effort with its member states but that requires time for the development as well but if you take a country like ireland for example i know from my experience in the past when i worked in the field

Because at the end of the day i have some experience in this field as well somewhere like ireland regularly produces a very significant share of its electricity now on the basis of renewables exclusively and then of course it depends on the development of the economic structure in the country

Let’s not forget that so this isn’t something which can just happen if you click your fingers political will is absolutely essential and that does exist and that’s run through different commissions as you quite rightly say and that but this is something where we see results progressively there are two dimensions

One is energy dependence vis-a-vis the external world in general as opposed to local production that’s what tim just mentioned and there we’d have to look at the figures and the second dimension is that when we’re talking about external dependence well you have to look at the dependence on particular players and that’s a

Discussion which i’m quite sure we’ll be having again we will have a look at the figures and we’ll get back to you are there any other questions for tim on energy