Energy plan aims to wean Europe off Russia
North Sea wind farms take pride of place in plans for a European energy 'supergrid' (Photo: European Community, 2005)
RENATA GOLDIROVA
14.11.2008 @ 02:10 CET
A day before the European Union heads into partnership talks with Russia, its major energy supplier to the east, Brussels has unveiled an strategy outlining how it hopes to wean the 27-country bloc from the fickle oil and gas dealer.
"We will not stand idly by while we sleep walk into Europe's energy dependence crisis," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said as he presented a detailed, multi-faceted scheme every bit as ambitious as the EU's very much related climate and energy package.
"We must shield European citizens from the risk that external suppliers cannot honour their commitments," he said, without mentioning Russia.
The EU's Energy Security and Solidarity Action Plan, issued on Thursday (13 November) by the European Commission, primarily proposes a diversification of energy sources towards central Asia, the Mideast and Norway.
The EU currently depends on foreign sources for almost 54 percent of its energy consumption, including 61 percent of its gas. According to the commission, this figure will climb to 84 percent by 2030.
Of this, a full 42 percent is currently imported from Russia, along with a third of its oil and a quarter of its coal.
President Barroso noted that it costs each European around €700 a year to pay for these imports.
The commission plan also calls for the construction of an "European supergrid" that will connect beefed-up energy infrastructure in the Baltics and the Mediterranean with a North Sea offshore grid and to wind farms built at sea, as well as to national energy grids in northwestern Europe.
Furthermore, the strategy demands a ratcheting up of energy efficiency in buildings, vehicles and consumer products, as well as an improvement in transparency about the oil and gas stocks that are available.
Additionally, Brussels wants the continent to make the best use of those energy resources it is able to produce for itself, particularly from renewable alternatives.
Supergrid
Under the plan, Europe would support the development of an offshore grid that connects the national electricity grids in northwestern Europe and can plug in to the "numerous planned" farms of windmills in the North Sea.
A Mediterranean "energy ring" should also be completed that links Europe with the
southern Mediterranean through electricity and gas interconnections and develops the region's "vast solar and wind energy potential."
The commission says in the action plan document that next year, it is to develop a "Baltic Interconnection Plan" covering gas, electricity and storage that will connect the Baltic region - currently connected to Russian but not European energy networks - with the rest of the EU.
Together, these projects would eventually set the foundation for a future European energy "supergrid".
Furthermore, due to the insecurity of supply from Russia, the commission argues that supplies of gas from the Caspian and Middle East via a "southern gas corridor" must be developed.
"This is one of the EU's highest energy security priorities," the plan reads.
The document goes on to say that commitments for the supply of gas and the construction of pipelines must be secured from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq and the other Mashriq countries (Kuwait, Syria, Jordan and the Lebanon).
In the longer term, "when political conditions permit," supplies from Uzbekistan and Iran could also represent a "significant supply source for the EU."
The strategy also describes Norway, which already supplies a quarter of EU gas imports and 16 percent of oil imports, as "essential for EU energy security," and calls for a maximising of resource extraction from the Norwegian continental shelf. While Norway is not a member of the EU, it is Europe's access point to the Arctic Ocean - home to a quarter of the world's undiscovered recoverable oil and gas reserves.
The document also says energy relationships with African countries "should be stepped up", particularly with Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Nigeria, and highlights the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline as an important additional energy route.
Emergency measures
The commission also wants to see greater transparency and a harmonisation of standards on security of oil and gas stocks, together with the development of EU-level and regional emergency measures in the case of shocks to supply.
More effective use of EU-produced, or ‘indigenous' energy resources is also required, according to the strategy. The document says that renewable energy such as wind, solar, hydro, biomass and wave energy are Europe's best bet for indigenous energy.
Lastly, for all the diversification of energy sources and development of alternative energy, Europe will not get very far without massive improvements in energy efficiency, the strategy warns.
President Barroso used the presentation of the new plan to give another boost to the EU's "20-20-20" climate package.
Under the plans, the 27-member union must boost clean energy, cut its energy consumption as well as reduce its greenhouse gas emissions - each by 20 percent by the end of the next decade.
"The 20-20-20 climate package will decrease our energy imports by 26 percent compared to business as usual scenario," Mr Barroso said, urging EU capitals to "agree to the package in December to make a start on energy security."
Let's all cut down our energy bill
Also within the action plan, the EU's executive body is set to put forward a series of legislative changes that it says would see households saving on their energy bills.
It wants to see all new buildings and existing buildings undergoing a major renovation to meet new efficiency standards that the commission says would produce energy savings of five to six percent of energy by 2020.
The figure equals the total current energy consumption of Belgium and Romania.
In addition, a number of consumer products such as light bulbs, appliances, and street and office lighting will soon have to meet stricter energy consumption standards and bear energy efficiency labelling in shops.
In a separate legislative move, the commission is proposing the grading of vehicle tyres on their fuel efficiency. Consumers can save up to ten percent on their petrol bills when choosing better tyres, the commission says.
