Gas, Cingolani: “We will propose to the EU to fix a price cap”
To face the race for raw materials, Stefano Cingolani believes that a viable solution is to set a “price cap” for gas. And, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, the Minister of Ecological Transition announces: “On Monday we go with Draghi to talk about it with the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen. One of the themes is the money we give to the Russians for supplies” . In his opinion, “in times of emergency, a maximum price can be established that is fair so that the supplier does not leave: a price above which European operators cannot buy, because today the fear of interruption of flows from Russia is generating extra profits for Gazprom all to our detriment. ” But more generally, Cingolani believes that now more than ever it is needed “a national energy security plan in order not to find ourselves in today’s conditions. This war forces us to accelerate after years of distraction, ideology, hypocrisy, lies “.
The Minister recalls that “we extracted gas in 2000 almost 20 billion cubic meters, in 2020 just over three: I would have understood if in the meantime we had started a drastic derabonization but the consumption of gas has remained between 70 and 80 billion cubic meters per year. We bought it abroad, losing VAT income and paying for the transport “. For Cingolani, an idea would be to decouple renewables from methane:” Twenty years ago it made sense to heavily incentivize renewables which were very expensive at the time . To encourage this dynamic, it was also made sure that the price of the energy unit, the megawatt hour, was linked to the cheaper price of gas. the price must be linked to the astronomical price of gas today. But now it makes no sense to link the cost of renewables to today’s most expensive raw material “. In summary, according to Cingolani,” the national energy security plan must increase the number of suppliers. We have no problems getting to summer, but from then on we should accelerate the new storage for next winter “.
War in Ukraine, Cingolani: “So we can do without Russian gas”
To unhook from 25 billion cubic meters of gas annually supplied by Russia, reveals Cingolani, “let’s look at the countries of North Africa connected by pipeline with us, Algeria and Libya. After very strong negotiations, we have just obtained something over 10 billion additional cubic meters there, which can be injected before the middle of the year. We will also put our regasifiers at full capacity, taking liquid gas from the United States, Canada and North Africa, with an input of approximately 5 billion cubic meters this year. So 15 of the 25 billion Russians are already covered. “But that’s not enough:” We are accelerating like never before on renewables and we are studying new regasifiers, with floating structures: they can be put into operation in a year or two. From there another 10 billion meters will come and two from the Italian fields. The goal is to be effectively independent from Russia in 2 or 3 years “. As for coal-fired power plants,” they serve as a guarantee that, in the event of an emergency, there is no blackout. The country’s objectives and calendar for decarbonisation do not change. We will no longer burn gas and let coal-fired power plants go more for only a few months if some catastrophic event occurs “.
Read also:
War in Ukraine, Putin does not stop: Finland, Sweden and Moldova are targeted
Ukrainian war, cut on Putin: a Russian tycoon offers a million dollars
Ukraine, Salvini: “I work for an urgent stop to the war”
Oil rally, top since 2013. Gasoline goes up. Gas at an all-time high
Pandemic? The war has taken it away: but the failures of the government remain
Ukraine, what’s behind the Russian invasion. Affaritaliani on Radio Radio
Amplifon, 2021 results: consolidated revenues of € 1,948.1 million (+ 29.5%)
Edison for innovation: the entry into Condeo announced
Premier League, Roman Abramovich sells Chelsea
#War #Ukraine #Cingolani #Immediately #European #ceiling #price #gas