Europe's dependence on natural gas imported from Russia has once again been in evidence with the invasion of Ukraine. Spain imports much less energy of Russia than the rest of the big European countries, but, in Together, Russia represents about 45% of the gas imports from the EU and about 40% of its total consumption.
Although Spain is in a privileged situation (Spain brought from Russia 10.4% of its imports of gas by 2020, according to Cores) and may even have a key role in the European energy strategy against gas Russian native. A difficult year is coming, with prices exorbitant in the energy sector.
Note: As data, imports of crude oil to Spain, Russia it is 1.8% per year, but Kazakhstan represents 8.2%.
A difficult year is coming, with exorbitant prices in the energy sector, but… What can we do to reduce dependence on natural gas from Russia? Although renewables; wind sector and each solar panel – obviously – they will be main actors, the challenge is much more complex!
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has just publish a report where 10 measures are established main ways to reduce gas imports Russian, mainly gas for heating and DHW, for the period of one year. We started…
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Some gas import contracts with Gazprom will expire at the end of 2022. These are equivalent to 12% of those that This company provides us, and the rest of the contracts will expire at end of this decade.
It offers a clear opportunity for the European Union to start to diversify and seek new gas supplies and contracts in other alternative markets, taking advantage of a large infrastructure in gas pipelines and LNG.
Following the previous thread, it indicates that production within from the EU and imports outside of Russia (including from Azerbaijan and Norway) could increase during the next year.
The EU has been preparing a strategic plan for years now for this purpose, as reported in this article of the Council European Union for Foreign Relations (ECFR). actually a future quite puzzling and complex.
In theory, the EU could increase LNG inputs in the short term, compared to average levels in 2021. However, However, all importers are in the same pool of supply, so (in the absence of climatic factors or other types that limit import demand in other regions) this would mean exceptionally adjusted and very high prices.
Also, the potential to expand the supply of biogas and biomethane is limited in the short term due to to the deadlines for the execution of new projects. But this low carbon sector offers important medium-term advantages for national gas production in the EU.
Gas storage plays a role fundamental when it comes to satisfying the oscillations seasonal changes in demand and to provide insurance against unexpected events, such as increases sudden surges in demand or a shortage of supply, which cause price increases.
A harmonized approach between EU countries, with minimum storage obligations for commercial operators in the single market for gas in the EU, along with strong capacity-based mechanisms based on the market, would guarantee the optimal use of all the capacity of storage available in the EU.
According to the International Energy Agency, they suggest that fill levels of at least the 90% of the operational storage capacity for on October 1, in order to provide a cushion for the next winter. The level of gas storage in Spain it was 73.06% in October 2021.
Regional coordination can be an important element of solidarity between EU Member States and reinforce the security of gas supply.
Although apparently for this 2022 the conditions weather will be favorable for energy production renewable. A greater political effort from the EU is needed to favor a forceful increase.
Although the last report published by the EEA last year, to a large extent, we met Europe's 20-20-20 targets in terms of climate change mitigation, deployment of renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. We are well on our way to climate neutrality mid-century, but now we'll need more.
Simplify procedures, establish clear deadlines, increase the administrative capacity can provide a more efficient deployment of the solar photovoltaic and wind sector.
According to the report, a subsidy program for short term covering 20% of the costs of installation, could double the rate of investment (compared to IEA forecast) at a cost of around 3,000 million euros.
Nuclear power is the largest source of low-emission electricity in the EU, but several reactors were disconnected to perform maintenance tasks maintenance and safety checks in 2021. The return of these reactors to safe operation by 2022, together with the start of commercial operations of the completed reactor in Finland, the EU nuclear power generation it will increase to 20 TWh in 2022.
However, a new round of reactor closures would undermine this recovery in production: it is expected that four nuclear reactors close at the end of 2022 and another one in 2023. A temporary delay of these closures, guaranteeing the safe operation of plants, could reduce the EU gas demand.
You can consult the previous map from the project European BIOPLAT in the following link. remember that we have an article about bioenergy and how it is the great forgotten of renewables.
The EU bioenergy plant park it was working in 2021, at 50% of its total capacity. These power plants could generate up to 50 TWh more than electricity in 2022 if incentives are established adequate and sustainable supply of bioenergy.
As a note, from the BIOFIT project (2019 – 2022) recently has published a report on bioenergy conversion with the main challenges for its implementation in Europe.
With the current design of the market, the high prices of gas in the EU have an impact on the high prices of the wholesale electricity. Conclusion, it further increases the electricity price.
The IEA calculates that spending by Member States of the EU to cushion the impact of the price crisis of energy on vulnerable consumers, as amounts to a commitment of 55,000 million euro.
Due to the current wholesale market, for power generators electricity and its parent companies, profits are expected to be very tall. They could suppose an excess profit of up to 200,000 billion euros in the EU for gas, coal, energy nuclear, hydroelectric and other renewables in 2022.
Temporarily, measures could be considered taxes to increase taxes on profits extraordinary from the electric companies. These tax revenue, should be redistributed to consumers of electricity to partially offset utility bills higher energy. Steps have already been taken to tax the Extraordinary profits in Italy and Romania in 2022.
Heat pumps offer a very efficient and cost-effective way to heat homes, compared to boilers that use gas or other fossil fuels.
If the planned deployment is accelerated, doubling the current rates of installation of heat pumps in the EU, it is would save 2,000 million cubic meterss additional gas in the first year, which would require a Total additional investment of 15,000 million euros.
In conjunction with existing policy frameworks, support specific to the investment can drive the increase of the heat pump installations. The ideal is to combine them with with the best ways to save energy at home and maximize energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency is a powerful instrument to ensure transitions to energy clean, but, it takes time to get important results… How to speed up the pace of progress? Focus on measures that can make a difference quickly.
This would save more than 1,000 million meters cubics of gas in a year and would also benefit employment, although it would require parallel efforts to improve the chains supply of materials and the development of the hand of work.
Many European citizens have already responded to the invasion Ukrainian Russian in various ways. The adjustment of the controls on gas heating, would be another way of temporary action that would save an amount considerable energy.
Currently, the average temperature in heating the buildings throughout the EU exceeds 22ºC. adjust the thermostat, would mean an immediate annual energy saving of about 10,000 million cubic meters for each degree of reduction, while reducing the bill energy.
Public awareness campaigns and other measures, such as information about consumption or business objectives, could encourage these changes in homes and buildings commercial. The regulations that regulate the temperatures of the heating in offices could also be an instrument effective politician.
A key political challenge for the EU in the coming years is to increase alternative forms of flexibility of the electrical system, especially the flexibility seasonal, but also the shift in demand and the peak reduction. At the moment, gas is the main source of flexibility, and, as such, the links between the security of gas and electricity will be deepened in the coming years, even when the overall demand for gas in the EU decrease.
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