Brussels, 15/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger will announce the results of the first stress tests on how the EU energy system would react to short-term disruption of supply. According to initial information released at the start of October, the tests show that the EU could cope quite comfortably with one month's disruption of supply and could manage with a little more difficulty if the interruption were to last more than a month.
The new EU energy security strategy, presented by the European Commission at the end of May, is built on immediate action to strengthen the EU's ability to overcome major disruption of supply in winter 2014-2015, in view of the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. The Commission proposed that tests be carried out to see how the EU energy system would cope with disruption of supply. The aim was to use the results of the tests to develop emergency plans and back-up mechanisms. These could include increasing gas stocks, reducing short-term energy demand, switching to alternative fuels for heating and for transport. They could also include emergency infrastructure, such as reverse flows, and pooling part of the security stocks.
In light of the Ukrainian crisis, on 26-27 June, the European Council gave its backing to the introduction of emergency measures to enhance EU resilience and short-term energy security.
At the informal Energy Council meeting on 6 October, Oettinger revealed the initial results of the stress tests to the ministers. Italian Under-Secretary of State for Economic Development and Energy Claudio De Vincenti told the press that the EU might have slightly greater difficulty if interruption lasted more than a month but that it could still cope. He stated that the EU could compensate for a short-term reduction in the supply of Russian gas by using its stocks of gas and LNG, and by diversifying its sources of supply.
The EU is heavily dependent on imported energy: it imports 53% of the energy it consumes, costing almost €400 billion per year. It imports 88% of its crude oil, 66% of its natural gas, 42% of its solid fossil fuels, such as coal, and 95% of its uranium.
These figures make clear just how vulnerable the EU is to external energy shocks. Several member states are heavily reliant on single suppliers, with six (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia) totally dependent on Russia for their natural gas. The three Baltic States also rely on a single external operator for the operation and balancing of their electricity network and for a significant share of their electricity supply.
After the gas shortages resulting from the Russia-Ukraine gas disputes of 2006 and 2009, the Ukraine crisis has once again thrown into sharp focus the seriousness of the EU's dependency. (EH)