Facing the urgent challenges of the financial crisis and security of energy supply after the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, the European Commission is pursuing the foundation of a consistent European energy policy.
The plan unveiled on January 28, 2009 by the Commission aims to invest € 3.5 billion in energy projects over at least the next two years. The overall purpose is to “aid economic recovery by granting Community financial assistance to projects in the field of energy.” In other words, the plan is thought to provide the necessary financial impetus which will not come from elsewhere in a context of financial crisis. This corresponds to the principles of action defined in the European Economic Recovery Plan (COM(2008)800) endorsed by the European Council in December 2008: “injection of purchasing power into the economy”, to boost demand and stimulate confidence; “direct short-term action to reinforce Europe's competitiveness in the long term”, focusing on "smart" investments, i.e. energy efficiency to create jobs and save energy; clean technologies to strengthen sectors like construction and automobiles; infrastructure and inter-connection to promote efficiency and innovation.
The Energy Recovery Plan identifies three priorities, which I summarise under the following titles:
The plan unveiled on January 28, 2009 by the Commission aims to invest € 3.5 billion in energy projects over at least the next two years. The overall purpose is to “aid economic recovery by granting Community financial assistance to projects in the field of energy.” In other words, the plan is thought to provide the necessary financial impetus which will not come from elsewhere in a context of financial crisis. This corresponds to the principles of action defined in the European Economic Recovery Plan (COM(2008)800) endorsed by the European Council in December 2008: “injection of purchasing power into the economy”, to boost demand and stimulate confidence; “direct short-term action to reinforce Europe's competitiveness in the long term”, focusing on "smart" investments, i.e. energy efficiency to create jobs and save energy; clean technologies to strengthen sectors like construction and automobiles; infrastructure and inter-connection to promote efficiency and innovation.
The Energy Recovery Plan identifies three priorities, which I summarise under the following titles:
- Reinforcing the infrastructures - Focus on key gas pipelines and storage facilities, and electricity interconnections, based on the Second Strategic Energy Review of November 2008. This includes 20 projects, and among them: the Baltic Interconnection, a Southern Gas Corridor, LNG, the Mediterranean, Central and South-East Europe, and the North Sea offshore grid.
- Developing indigenous resources – Focus on the next generation of offshore wind technology. “Wind is the world’s fastest growing renewable electric energy source.” “While onshore wind technology is close to maturity, the offshore applications still need further technological development based on large industrial scale demonstration projects.” The plan prioritises large-scale offshore new demonstration projects, in deep waters (up to 50m and 100km from shore), and of cross-border significance, be situated in deeper waters (up to 50m) and further from shore (up to 100km).
- Maximising EU coal, oil and gas resources and technologies – Focus on carbon capture and storage deployment, AND, not least, the commercialisation of CCS technologies (5 advanced projects).
One originality of the Plan is to combine the pre-identification of projects with a more traditional procedure of call for tenders for offshore wind. This is to secure the short-term completion of the projects. After the submission of competing bids, the Commission will select the best projects by comitology.
The funds to be allocated come from the “unspent money” from the EU budget, subject to approval by the Council and the European Parliament.
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