The European Commission will publish this Wednesday the details of its “Repower EU” plan to move the European Union away from Russian gas as soon as possible, diversifying suppliers, gaining in energy efficiency and increasing renewable generation and the production and import of “green” hydrogen.
The Community Executive will deepen the plan that it outlined at the beginning of March, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, for the EU to reduce its imports of Russian gas by two thirds in one year (about 100,000 million cubic meters or 100 bcm), with a view to giving up those purchases at the end of the decade.
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In retaliation against Moscow for the war, the EU has banned Russian coal imports from August and the Twenty-seven are negotiating a proposal to gradually ban oil imports that finance the Kremlin, which for now has found obstacles in countries with great dependence in that fuel or in its transportation, especially in Hungary.
As for gas, the EU buys 40% of what it consumes from Russia, and replacing it is more difficult than oil, which is why the European Commission is committed to accelerating the disconnection instead of seeking consensus to ban it.
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According to a draft consulted by Efe of the main document that the Community Executive will present, Quickly disconnecting from Russian gas will require 195 billion euros additional investments until 2027.
Brussels believes that it would be necessary to allocate this money mainly to deploy infrastructure to generate renewable energy and improve energy efficiency, but, in return, the Commission calculates that the EU could save 80,000 million euros a year in gas imports, 12,000 million in oil and 1,700 million in coal.
Sun, heat and hydrogen
Brussels’ goal, according to the draft, is to double installed solar energy capacity by 2030, to 300 gigawatts, and raise the renewable energy consumption target from 40% currently set to 45%.
The Commission also wants to encourage the European Union to produce 10 million tons of “green” hydrogen, generated with electrolysis from surplus renewable energy, and to import another 10 million.
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Brussels is expected to attach particular importance to developing the infrastructure needed to produce and transport that fuel, including cross-border interconnectors.
The Commission will also detail its plans to obtain more energy from biomass, both in terms of agricultural biomethane and taking advantage of biomass from forests to make firewood, provided that the supply is sustainable.
Besides, Brussels believes that EU countries can achieve a 5% reduction in gas consumption in the short term with measures such as installing heat pumps to replace gas air conditioning systems.
Europeans openly admit that they still cannot do without Russian energy sources entirely
In the medium term, it asks the co-legislators of the EU, the Council and the European Parliament to raise the ambition of the Commission’s proposal to improve the energy efficiency objective by 30%, presented in July last year without taking into account the geopolitical context current.
It is also expected that this Wednesday’s energy package will include a report on the design of the European electricity market following the conclusions of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, which recently called for “prudence” in case of having to intervene “in situations of extreme pressure”.
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Putin’s response to sanctions
For his part, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, described this Tuesday as “economic suicide” the policy of the countries of the European Union (EU) in energy matters, at a time when they are debating embargoes on Russian gas and oil. in response to the Russian military struggle in Ukraine.
“This economic auto-da-fe, this suicide, is an internal matter for European countries, we must act pragmatically and start from our own economic interests,” he stated during a telematic meeting dedicated to the oil industry in Russia, when analyzing the possibility of a European veto on Russian crude.
The Russian president stated that currently “based on political reasons, to satisfy their own ambitions and under pressure from the US sovereign, European countries impose more and more sanctions on the oil and gas markets”, something that leads to an increase in inflation.
“Europeans openly admit that they still cannot completely do without Russian energy sources,” he said, noting that in some European countries most of the oil consumed is Russian, so “they won’t be able to do this for a long time, do without our oil“.
Putin stressed that some European countries have set themselves this task “without taking into account the damage they have already caused to their own economy.”
“It gives us the impression that Western colleagues, politicians and economists, have simply forgotten the basic elementary economic laws or that they prefer to consciously ignore them to their own detriment,” he said. “Instead of acknowledging their mistakes, they look elsewhere for blame,” he added.
According to the Russian president, the decision to ban Russian energy sources will make Europe the region with the highest prices in the long run.
“The refusal to use Russian energy sources means that Europe, systemically and in the long term, will become the region with the highest energy prices in the world,” he said.
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Putin warned that “according to some experts, this could seriously and irreversibly undermine the competitiveness of a large part of European industry.”
With an eye on Russia, the president proposed to the Russian government and the leaders of the country’s main oil and gas companies to study additional measures to protect national interests.
“Taking into account what steps the West will take soon, we must draw conclusions in advance and act in advance, reverse the unthinkable and chaotic steps of some of our partners in our favor, in favor of our country,” he demanded. However, he warned that the West will not make mistakes forever, and called for a pragmatic attitude towards the current situation.
EFE
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