Brussels, 11/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Speaking in Brussels on Friday 11 October, the chief executives of ten major European energy groups called for an end to public subsidies to some renewable energies (such as wind power) and urged that funding be provided for gas-fired power plants that are needed, they claim, to meet the surges in consumption particularly during the winter.
“We have to stop subsidising mature renewable energies, such as wind and solar”, said the chief executive of Italian group ENEL, Fulvio Conti, pointing out the overcapacity that already exists on the energy market in Europe. “We need a more balanced market in terms of capacity. We are calling for renewable energies to be integrated into the real market and for an end to subsidies”, said head of French group GDF-Suez, Gérard Mestrallet. Subsidies should focus on the “sectors of the future, such as carbon storage and capture”, he added. The ten groups are GDF-Suez of France, ENI and ENEL of Italy, E-ON and TWE of Germany, Vattenfall of Sweden, GasNatural Fenosa and Iberdola of Spain, GasTerra of the Netherlands and CEZ of the Czech Republic. Together they account for 50% of electricity generation in Europe and 30% of renewable energy capacity.
Meeting in Brussels, they warned of the risk of black-outs in Europe. Even recent gas-fired power stations are sufficiently viable but they are needed to meet the demand surges experienced mainly in winter, even though they only operate intermittently, they said.
In fact, a European source underlines, “behind the offensive against subsidies to renewables lies an implicit call for aid for gas and coal power stations when they are not in use”. The European Commission will present a communication at the end of October with the options for reforming support for renewables. “Initially, this support was to promote new technologies but today many member states want to reform the system. The Commission will submit options to bring about this reform and the states will decide”, said Marlene Holzner, the spokesperson for Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger. “The same goes for schist gas. It will be for the states to decide what sources of energy they want to use”, she stated.
The ten chief executives attacked the rises in electricity bills which, in four years, have risen by 17% for domestic consumers and by 21% for industrial users, and the overcapacity which has forced them to shut down 51 GW worth of power stations, equivalent to the electricity generation of Belgium, Portugal and the Czech Republic combined. (LC/transl.fl)