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The European Fee just lately revealed its State of the Vitality Union Report 2024. The Fee says that the report “describes how the EU has managed unprecedented challenges in the energy policy landscape during this Commission’s mandate, equipping the EU with a regulatory framework for pursuing the clean energy transition and laying the foundations for renewed economic growth and competitiveness.”
One of many notable challenges the EU is going through in the meanwhile, after all, is the continued Russia invasion of Ukraine. Having beforehand relied on an infinite quantity of fossil gasoline (aka pure gasoline) from Russia, the EU has needed to discover methods to exchange it. A part of that has been getting fossil gasoline from elsewhere (most notably, the US). Nonetheless, a part of that has concerned merely chopping demand for fossil gasoline. Total, it’s spectacular how a lot the Union has been in a position to try this, as evidenced within the following chart:
“The share of Russian gas in EU imports dropped from 45% in 2021 to 18% by June 2024, while imports from trusted partners like Norway and the US have increased,” the European Fee writes.
Naturally, a lot of the technique for lowering their habit to fossil gasoline is by constructing extra renewable vitality capability. Throughout the new report itself, the European Fee writes, “In particular, the scale up of renewable energy production was at the centre of the REPowerEU Plan’s objective to build a secure and decarbonised energy system in the EU. The latest data show excellent results with the increase of installed wind and solar capacity by 36% between 2021 and 2023, saving approximately 35 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas over 2 years. With 56 GW of new solar energy capacity installed in 2023, the EU has set yet another record, surpassing the additional 40 GW installed in 2022.”
Right here’s a chart visualizing cumulative put in capability of wind and solar energy on the finish of 2021, new capability added in 2022, and projected new capability additions in 2023 and 2024:
Not too shabby. Nonetheless, there’s all the time extra to do. “These figures represent important steps in the right direction, but further acceleration is needed to meet the REPowerEU targets under the EU Solar Energy Strategy and reach a total of at least 700 GW capacity by 2030, up from the estimated 263 GW installed at the end of 2023,” the Fee provides. “As for wind power, 16 GW of new capacity was installed in the EU in 2023, reaching a total 221 GW. While this shows good progress, the power sector needs to increase the pace of installation to meet the EU’s ambitious renewable energy targets, a challenge to which the Commission has responded with the adoption of the Wind Power Package, while striving for a balanced deployment in collaboration with local citizens to avoid that the energy transition is challenged because of concerns over landscapes, biodiversity, cultural heritage and lifestyles, especially in rural areas.”
Clearly, the European Union is bettering on renewables and putting in them at a quicker and quicker tempo. However essentially the most uplifting a part of all of that is maybe that they nonetheless see progress as too sluggish and are implementing extra packages and plans to hurry up the transition. Circling again to photo voltaic, the report provides, “Over the last years, the EU has taken several initiatives to strengthen the support to the European photovoltaic manufacturing sector by launching the European Solar PV Industry Alliance, adopting a Solar Charter, and setting up a public-private co-programmed partnership to support its coordinated R&I efforts.”
So, I feel we are able to stay up for continued, sturdy progress in Europe in coming years. For now, although, we are able to rejoice within the progress made up to now few years beneath distinctive circumstances.
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