“We need a complete overhaul of the current energy system”, said the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, on Wednesday 8 July in conjunction with the official presentation of the European Commission's strategy for the integration of European energy systems.
In his view, it is “not just about creating renewables”, but about “creating a new system” capable of including more renewable energy in the European Union’s energy mix.
Agreeing with him, Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson added: “We must rethink today’s model built around rigid, isolated value chains that run from an oil rig to a conventional car, or from a coal mine to a factory, wasting and polluting along the way”.
Aiming to establish closer links between multiple energy vectors, infrastructures, and consumption sectors in order to put the EU on the path towards an integrated and climate-neutral energy system, the strategy unveiled today is very similar to the draft version described in our previous reporting (see EUROPE 12520/5).
It thus rests on three pillars: (1) the development of a more circular energy system centred on the ‘energy efficiency first principle’; (2) the acceleration of the electrification of the energy system through the development of renewable energies; (3) the gradual replacement of natural gas by renewable and low-carbon fuels such as hydrogen, biofuels, and biogas in order to decarbonise sectors for which electrification is impossible or too costly.
The Commission thus foresees direct electrification of end-use sectors such as industry, building heating, and transport, and a power supply system based on “cleaner fuel” for heavy industries such as the chemical and steel sectors and heavy transport.
In addition, the strategy contains a section on adapting European energy markets to decarbonisation and the diversification of energy resources and another on the digitisation of the energy system.
Key measures.
Concerning the first pillar, the Commission plans to revise the Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E) Regulation by the end of the year in order to improve synergies between energy infrastructures.
It also wants to encourage the re-use of waste heat from industrial sites and data centres to heat buildings, in particular by strengthening the requirements for connection to district heating networks in the context of the forthcoming revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001) and the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27).
Beginning in 2021, it also plans to promote the use of agricultural residues to produce biogas and sustainable biofuels through the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Structural Funds, and the new LIFE programme.
In order to increase electricity generation from renewable energy sources, the Commission is specifically counting on its strategy for offshore renewable energy, which should be unveiled at the end of the year.
It also wants “to align the taxation of energy products and electricity with EU environment and climate policies, and to ensure harmonised taxation of both hydrogen storage and production, avoiding double taxation, through the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive [2003/96] ”.
Responding to a journalist’s question about how little mention is made of ‘onshore’ renewables in the strategy, a high-level Commission source said that as a first step, the institution wants to include more renewables in the EU energy market by implementing the directive on common rules for the internal market in electricity (2019/944).
The source added that the upcoming ‘Renovation Wave' initiative will also help to further integrate renewables into the EU’s building stock, mentioning the use of solar panels and heat pumps.
Finally, compared to the draft strategy, there are a few new details to be reported.
In particular, the Commission proposes revising CO2 emission standards for cars and vans by June 2021 to ensure a clear path towards emission-free mobility from 2025 onwards.
It will also launch a consumer information campaign on energy consumption rights under the Climate Pact.
On the same day, the European Commission unveiled its hydrogen strategy and officially launched the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance (see EUROPE 12523/1).
See the strategy for energy systems integration: https://bit.ly/2Do191R (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)