This week, the European Commission presented the outline of the REPowerEU plan (in a free translation, “Recharge the European Union”), with the aim of zeroing Russian fossil fuel imports by the end of the decade.
The proposals, which will be deepened in the coming days, are a reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine – with the aim of bleeding Moscow economically, the European dependence on energy exported by the country ruled by Vladimir Putin was wide open.
Russia supplies 45% of the natural gas consumed by the 27 EU member states. The country is also the main supplier of crude oil and coal to the bloc, accounting for 27% and 46% of imports of these fuels, respectively.
“We have to become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas. We cannot depend on a supplier that explicitly threatens us. We must act now to mitigate the impact of rising energy prices, diversify our gas supply for next winter and accelerate the transition to clean energy”, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Source diversification
With energy prices already on the rise, the institution projects that REPowerEU will have measures to mitigate this impact, such as state aid to companies, especially those with high energy costs, and temporary price limits.
The communiqués released by the European Commission placed a lot of emphasis on the dependence on Russian natural gas, whose imports the EU believes it could reduce by two thirds by the end of the year.
The commission plans to present a legislative proposal by April to guarantee gas storage capacities in the EU by at least 90% by October 1 of each year. A statement highlighted that there are reservations at the moment, but “that it is crucial to ensure that storage is replenished before the next winter heating season. [de novembro a abril]”.
To progressively reduce Russian gas imports, the EU wants to diversify purchases of the fuel, through greater imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipelines from other suppliers, and increase production and imports of biomethane, hydrogen and other renewable energies.
In the effort to diversify gas supplies through other pipelines or LNG, the United States, Norway, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Egypt, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria, Turkey and Israel have been identified as crucial partners. According to the European Commission, the EU reached record LNG imports in January and February.
Other focuses will be increasing energy efficiency and eliminating bottlenecks in infrastructure.
Costs and deadlines
The doubts fall on the costs and if it is feasible for the deadlines stipulated by the European Commission to be met. Energy policy analyst Ben McWilliams told the BBC that the EU must find it easier to find alternative suppliers of oil than gas, “since there aren’t that many pipelines”.
“I think if we are in a reality where Russian oil and gas stops flowing to Europe, we will need rationing measures,” McWilliams mused. “Part of the debate now is whether we can tell families [europeias] to lower your thermostats by one degree, which can save a significant amount of gas.”
Analyst Simone Tagliapietra also told the BBC that, given the time they take to be developed and implemented, renewable energies “in the short term are not a solution”.
“So for the next winter, what can make a difference is the fuel switch, like the operation of coal-fired power plants, as Italy and Germany plan to do in an emergency,” he said.
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