this European Union continues to diversify its suppliers. Energy “lightning fast”. Gas supplies from sources outside of Russia have increased by 31 bcm since January this year, making it possible to compensate for supply cuts from Russian giant Gazprom. But the best way to remove Russian fossil fuels from the European energy mix and deal with “Russian blackmail” is: accelerate the transition to resources green energywarned Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, who announced that they are working on emergency response and reform of the electricity market To deal with the gas price crisis.
“Electricity hookers are now revealing the limits of our current electricity market design. It has been developed for different conditions and therefore the Commission is currently working on the emergency response and structural reform of the electricity market. We need a market model. electric that it really works and brings us back into balanceHe announced it during the Strategic Forum in Bled, held in Slovenia. Von der Leyen did not give details It did not make a statement on the measures they were working on, did not specify what the reform would consist of, and did not give a possible timeframe.
However, the EU’s Czech presidency hopes to receive a timely bid for the EU. emergency energy ministers meeting who called next September 9. “On September 9, I called the Energy Council to an extraordinary meeting in Brussels. We need to fix the energy market. The solution at EU level is the best we have,” said Czech Industry Minister Jozelf Sikel about one of the main challenges facing the 27 EU governments at this start of the new route: the crisis in gas and electricity prices.
The President of the European Commission does not explore possible measures or deadlines and calls for accelerating the transition to green energy sources.
The pressure has risen again There have been several countries supporting the idea of reforming in recent weeks. Others, such as Belgium, have once again called for the EU-wide implementation of the so-called ‘Iberian exception’, which allows Spain and Portugal to impose a temporary cap on the price of gas for electricity generation by the end of May. 2023 to lower the electricity bill. “The next 5-10 winters will be terrible if we do nothing.. Energy minister Tinne van der Straeten said on this Sunday that it is necessary to act radically at the European level and work on the blockade of the gas price.
In addition to continuing to diversify fossil fuel suppliers, Von der Leyen believes part of the solution lies in accelerating the transition to green energy sources. “Every kilowatt-hour of electricity Europe generates from solar, wind, hydropower and biomass or geothermal or green hydrogen makes us less dependent on Russian gas” and “the price of solar and wind power today is cheaper than polluting fossil fuels,” he said. to claim The role of solutions such as offshore wind farms.
raw materials
A structural change that must go beyond energy as the green and digital transition undertaken by the EU will increase substantially needs of other raw materials such as lithium for batteries, silicon for chips, or rare earth elements to produce magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines. There can be demand for all will double by 2030. For example, Europe’s stand-alone lithium battery demand will increase by 40% annually between 2020 and 2025.
“The good news is that this means that the European Green Deal is making progress. Not so good that a country dominates processing. Today, 10 of the 30 critical raw materials come mostly from China,” he warned, calling for an end to dependency in this area to avoid further blackmail in the future and to close alliances with other countries with the same values. “Look at Russia. The price to be paid for oil and gas is the loss of sovereignty and independence.. They want vassals, not partners. And it’s not just the Kremlin. Dozens of countries are on the verge of bankruptcy as they cannot pay their debts to China,” he warned of the risk facing the rules-based order.