Luxembourg, 23/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The priority of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU on energy policy, sustainable transition and green energy technologies, were central to the informal meeting of the European energy ministers, in Luxembourg on Wednesday 23 September.
An initial working session given over to new energy technologies followed up on a major two-day conference, held in the capital of the Grand Duchy on 21 and 22 September, on the 'strategic energy technology plan' (SET-plan) and launched discussions on support, at European level, for innovative low-carbon technologies.
Following on from its 2007 predecessor, the new SET-Plan, which lies on the crossroads of the Energy Union, a new strategic agenda for research and development in the transport sector and new European industrial strategy for growth and employment, and which was recently announced by the Commission, takes on a broader dimension to bring the transition to a lower-carbon energy system whilst reinforcing Europe's leadership role in promising niches of the energy industry in terms of growth, employment and export: offshore wind power, tidal energy, bio-energy, geo-thermal energy and thermal solar.
The new SET-Plan will focus on four cross-cutting areas: renewable energy, energy efficiency, getting customers involved in the energy system and more sustainable transport, plus two specific areas for the countries which have them: carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) and nuclear.
Unlike its previous version, which received no funding, the Commission wishes to support the new SET-Plan through €30 billion from the European framework programme for research, Horizon 2020, €38 million from the cohesion fund earmarked for a transition to a low-carbon economy, the new innovation fund, which will benefit from the sale of €400 million' worth of CO2 quotas, and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the financial arm of the Juncker investment plan worth €315 billion.
The Commission has laid down ten priority actions to support six areas of research and, in particular: the development of batteries, innovative technologies for energy efficiency in buildings and high energy-consuming industries, and digital solutions for electricity networks. The key actions in terms of priorities, funding, implementation and timetable have yet to be defined in greater detail, but the Commission intends to do this by the second half of 2016, in a communication on the EU's global leadership in technology and innovation, the Commissioner for Energy and the Climate, Miguel Arias Canete, confirmed on Wednesday.
To feed into the ministerial debates and convince the capitals that sustainable transition “is not an obstacle to growth, but a driver of it”, the Luxembourg economy minister, Etienne Schneider, invited world-famous entrepreneurs and innovators, who aim to innovate in the field of energy, to attend. They included the co-founder of the online payment service PayPal, the boss of the satellite launcher SpaceX, the top-of-the-range electronic car builder Tesla, the American Elon Musk, pilot and co-founder of a solar energy-powered aircraft, Solar Impulse, Bertrand Picard of Switzerland, and the developer of large-scale renewables projects, the managing director of Tidal Lagoon Power, Mark Shorrock of the United Kingdom. “These guests were able to share their experience with the ministers, as well as the obstacles they have met with in business”, a Luxembourg source explained to us.
At a second working session on the potential of the EFSI to stimulate investment in low-carbon energy technologies and infrastructures, the ministers were then able to hold discussions with the vice-president of the European Commission with responsibility for growth and employment, investment and competitiveness, Jyrki Katainen.
Taking the sustainable transition to Africa. The Luxembourg Presidency, which has made this one of its pet causes of its programme, also included a discussion on the agenda on synergies between development aid and energy. Schneider invited the former French ecology minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, who now manages a foundation for the electrification of Africa, and the director of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Adnan Z. Amin, to attend the working lunch. “Our discussions focused on Africa. Our speakers gave us to understand that there is enormous potential, enormous need and enormous risk on this continent. If we do not want everybody to flee the continent, we will have to do support progress. We have to give these countries easy access to energy. We have to do everything in our power to electrify the continent of Africa”, Schneider explained, referring to a 'win-win' situation, both for the African continent and for investors. “To make this a reality, we need to mix development aid policy and energy policy together”. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)