Accelerating the diversification of the EU’s gas supply, raising European targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency, promoting energy saving, setting up an EU strategy for solar energy, speeding up authorisation procedures for renewable energy projects, developing hydrogen and biomethane... These are some of the measures envisaged by the European Commission as part of its ‘REPowerEU’ plan, according to a provisional document obtained by EUROPE on Thursday 12 May.
Scheduled for 18 May, this initiative will take the form of a Communication complementing the draft plan presented on 8 March (see EUROPE 12906/4) as well as the measures proposed by the Commission on 23 March on joint gas purchases and minimum storage obligations (see EUROPE 12917/7).
With this plan, the Commission aims to move the EU away from total dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027 and to accelerate the energy transition.
The document thus presents a wide range of actions to be implemented, including changes to EU legislation.
Raising renewable and energy efficiency targets
As expected (see EUROPE 12949/2, 12936/2), the Commission intends to propose to the EU co-legislators to raise the targets set in the Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001) (RED II) and the Energy Efficiency Directive (2018/2002) (EED), both of which are currently under revision.
It now wants to aim for a 45% share of renewable energy in the EU’s energy mix by 2030 (compared to 40% in its initial revision proposal - see EUROPE 12762/8), thus responding to a request from MEPs (see EUROPE 12904/6).
The new target, based on impact and feasibility modelling, would bring the EU’s total renewable energy capacity to 1,236 GW by 2030, up from 511 GW today and 1,067 GW under the original proposal, the draft says.
To achieve this, the Commission plans to adopt a strategy for the deployment of solar energy capacity in the EU, aiming for more than 300 GW of installed solar photovoltaic energy by 2028, more than double the current level.
This is lower than the figures put forward in a draft version of the solar strategy, the final version of which is also due on 18 May (see EUROPE 12949/1).
In a letter to the Commission on 4 May, five Member States called for a European target of at least 1 TW of PV capacity by 2030 (see EUROPE 12946/18).
On energy efficiency, “modelling of the REPowerEU scenario shows that a reduction of 13% in energy consumption by 2030 (compared to the 2020 baseline effort - Editor’s Note), up from 9% in the previous Energy Efficiency Directive proposal (see EUROPE 12762/8), would be cost-effective and substantially contribute to achieving the REPowerEU target at Union level”, the draft document says.
This new target corresponds to a request from the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, while the S&D and the Greens/EFA advocate for an increase to 19 and 20% respectively (see EUROPE 12936/2).
The Commission also intends to propose an increase in the energy savings obligation (Article 8 of the EED). Member States would be required to reduce their final energy consumption by at least 2% per year between 2024 and 2030, compared to 0.8% currently and 1.5% in the original proposal.
Promoting energy savings
These proposed amendments to the EED are part of a wider plan, previously announced by the Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson (see EUROPE 12946/28), to promote energy savings in the EU.
Entitled ‘EU Save’, the plan will follow a two-pronged approach, says the draft: achieving energy savings in the short term through behavioural change, and accelerating and reinforcing structural change through energy efficiency measures in the medium and long term.
In particular, the Commission intends to support “information campaigns and other measures to foster behaviour that can contribute to reducing our energy imports from Russia”.
Like the French Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 12946/17), it wants to bring forward by 2 years (from 2027 to 2025) the deadline from which Member States would no longer be able to provide financial incentives for the installation of boilers fired by fossil fuels.
20 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen by 2030
According to the draft, the institution also aims for the EU to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen (via electrolysers powered by electricity from renewable energy sources) and import the same amount by 2030.
It estimates that about 123 GW of electrolysis capacity would be needed to achieve this level of production in the EU.
It is therefore “urgent” to put in place regulatory frameworks to allow the hydrogen economy to develop, the draft insists, while calling on the co-legislators to adopt the legislative package on hydrogen and “decarbonised gases” (see EUROPE 12854/11) as soon as possible.
For its part, the Commission is planning to submit for public consultation two delegated acts to clearly define the production of renewable hydrogen and to establish standards, in parallel with the ‘REPowerEU’ Communication.
The development of hydrogen in the EU will also be supported through new parts of the ‘Innovation Fund’ dedicated to the objectives of the REPowerEU, including through a new financial instrument setting up a European system of ‘Carbon Contracts for Difference’, the draft says.
The institution also aims to approve, by the summer, about a quarter of the more than 400 hydrogen-related projects pre-selected by Member States to become ‘Important Projects of Common European Interest’ (IPCEIs).
As regards hydrogen imports, the Commission is counting on three major import corridors: via the Mediterranean, the North Sea area and, as soon as conditions allow, with Ukraine.
A ‘Global European Hydrogen Facility’ will also be established, with the aim of encouraging renewable hydrogen production in the EU and in third countries by providing a platform to support renewable hydrogen initiatives and improving the “bankability” of projects.
35 billion m3 of biomethane
As regards biomethane, the draft includes the target announced on 8 March of producing 35 billion m³ of biomethane by 2030, which is double the current EU ambition.
This is, according to the Commission, a “cost-efficient path to deliver on our ambition to reduce imports of natural gas from Russia”.
An EU-wide emergency plan
Faced with the risk of disruption to EU gas supplies as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the draft urges Member States to update their contingency plans.
The Commission states that these updated plans should be complemented by the establishment of a “coordinated rationing and curtailment of demand based on EU wide principles during an EU-wide emergency”.
In its view, a reduction of gas demand in the least affected Member States to the benefit of the most affected Member States should be considered even if such rationing is not foreseen in the national emergency plan, based on the principle of solidarity.
REPower plans at national level
Considering that many measures will remain the responsibility of Member States, the Commission also intends to invite Member States to add chapters to their ‘Recovery and Resilience Plans’(RRPs) dedicated to the REPowerEU objectives.
These should take into account the new situation in terms of energy security, prices, supply chain and inflation, the draft says.
On the cost side, the draft contains indications of the estimated investment needs of certain measures (e.g. €36 billion to reach the biomethane target). However, some measures are not yet costed. The final version of the Communication should include more details on this aspect.
In addition to the solar strategy and the ‘EU Save’ initiative, it will be accompanied by a proposal for a directive to amend the RED II directive on the licensing of renewable energy projects (see EUROPE 12949/2) and a communication on the EU’s external energy policy (see EUROPE 12949/3).
See the draft document: https://aeur.eu/f/1le (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)