Weaning Europe off its addiction to oil and gas
by Graham Watson
20 September 2011
It is time for member states to kick the 'dirty habit' and focus on renewable energy supergrids
There is no doubt about it - Europeans are addicted to fossil fuels, much of them imported from outside our borders. And burning fossil fuels accounts for around 75 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating the destructive processes of global climate change. Something has to change.
Last week the European Commission published a policy paper on the European Union's energy strategy, beyond its borders, and a legislative proposal to improve the coordination of the 100 different agreements on gas, oil and electricity member states have with their neighbours and the wider world. The proposal is simply for EU countries to let each other know about their international energy deals and negotiations, and for the commission to be able to give advice on whether they conform to supranational law and the bloc's energy priorities. When key EU interests are involved, the commission could even negotiate pacts at a European level.
When considered together, Europe's energy and electricity market is huge and if we stand together - we have serious clout, both in terms of influencing the world's future energy direction and protecting ourselves from political crises and price volatility. Of course, when this was announced - the blue-in-the-face Eurosceptics in the UK, including my Conservative fellow MEP for the South West of England Giles Chichester, immediately started jumping up and down decrying the move as "meddling". Commissioner Oettinger was accused of "fiddling while the euro burns". I would accuse Chichester of "fiddling while the planet burns". But, the commission remains too hooked on fossil fuels and I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on the need to switch from imports of oil and gas to those of clean, green electricity.
The commission talks of the need for deeper ties with gas-transit countries Ukraine and Belarus, the "urgency" of building a southern European gas pipeline through Turkey and Bulgaria - to decrease our reliance on the Ukrainian route – and it is also keen on importing more oil from the Gulf States, Venezuela, Canada, Nigeria and even the Arctic. But this is not the answer to the EU's security of supply concerns. We need to kick this dirty habit. As chairman of a global network of legislators called the Climate Parliament, I am campaigning hard to promote - and get governments to invest in - what I believe to be the solution: continental-scale renewable energy supergrids.
The idea is simple. High voltage cables can now transmit electricity over long distances with minimal losses, making it possible to combine the power of remote renewable sources of electricity across Europe and the southern Mediterranean. We can link the wind power in Northern Europe and Morocco to solar power from the sunny Mediterranean, and biomass from Eastern Europe to the hydro in Norway and the Alps.
Renewable energy cannot meet our electricity demands if each country goes it alone. But on a continental scale, studies have shown that we have a 100 per cent reliable energy supply for everyone. When the wind stops blowing in Scotland, chances are the sun is shining in the Sahara. When the skies cloud over in Greece, the biomass incinerators in Poland, or the dams in Austria, can be fired up. And the Arab Spring is a real opportunity to push ahead with this vision. Following the demise of the Gaddafi and Ben Ali regimes in Libya and Tunisia, Europe should step in and build new relationships with the emerging governments in the two countries - based on the development of clean energy, not dodgy oil deals.
The commission is beginning to get this. Its report talks about the need to promote renewable energy in North Africa, electricity interconnections between the two sides of the Med and it will be launching a series of pilot projects this year and next. The big question is how to finance the building of this new European energy system. The amounts involved are not unreasonable. Just 1 per cent of the money that pension funds invest every year would cover the additional cost of producing the world's electricity from renewables, compared to the cost of coal and gas power stations. It is our job - governments' job - to create the right incentives, demonstrate the political commitment and make this happen.
Sir Graham Watson is a Liberal Democrat MEP for the South West of England and Gibraltar
There is no doubt about it - Europeans are addicted to fossil fuels, much of them imported from outside our borders. And burning fossil fuels accounts for around 75 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating the destructive processes of global climate change. Something has to change.
Last week the European Commission published a policy paper on the European Union's energy strategy, beyond its borders, and a legislative proposal to improve the coordination of the 100 different agreements on gas, oil and electricity member states have with their neighbours and the wider world. The proposal is simply for EU countries to let each other know about their international energy deals and negotiations, and for the commission to be able to give advice on whether they conform to supranational law and the bloc's energy priorities. When key EU interests are involved, the commission could even negotiate pacts at a European level.
When considered together, Europe's energy and electricity market is huge and if we stand together - we have serious clout, both in terms of influencing the world's future energy direction and protecting ourselves from political crises and price volatility. Of course, when this was announced - the blue-in-the-face Eurosceptics in the UK, including my Conservative fellow MEP for the South West of England Giles Chichester, immediately started jumping up and down decrying the move as "meddling". Commissioner Oettinger was accused of "fiddling while the euro burns". I would accuse Chichester of "fiddling while the planet burns". But, the commission remains too hooked on fossil fuels and I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on the need to switch from imports of oil and gas to those of clean, green electricity.
The commission talks of the need for deeper ties with gas-transit countries Ukraine and Belarus, the "urgency" of building a southern European gas pipeline through Turkey and Bulgaria - to decrease our reliance on the Ukrainian route – and it is also keen on importing more oil from the Gulf States, Venezuela, Canada, Nigeria and even the Arctic. But this is not the answer to the EU's security of supply concerns. We need to kick this dirty habit. As chairman of a global network of legislators called the Climate Parliament, I am campaigning hard to promote - and get governments to invest in - what I believe to be the solution: continental-scale renewable energy supergrids.
The idea is simple. High voltage cables can now transmit electricity over long distances with minimal losses, making it possible to combine the power of remote renewable sources of electricity across Europe and the southern Mediterranean. We can link the wind power in Northern Europe and Morocco to solar power from the sunny Mediterranean, and biomass from Eastern Europe to the hydro in Norway and the Alps.
Renewable energy cannot meet our electricity demands if each country goes it alone. But on a continental scale, studies have shown that we have a 100 per cent reliable energy supply for everyone. When the wind stops blowing in Scotland, chances are the sun is shining in the Sahara. When the skies cloud over in Greece, the biomass incinerators in Poland, or the dams in Austria, can be fired up. And the Arab Spring is a real opportunity to push ahead with this vision. Following the demise of the Gaddafi and Ben Ali regimes in Libya and Tunisia, Europe should step in and build new relationships with the emerging governments in the two countries - based on the development of clean energy, not dodgy oil deals.
The commission is beginning to get this. Its report talks about the need to promote renewable energy in North Africa, electricity interconnections between the two sides of the Med and it will be launching a series of pilot projects this year and next. The big question is how to finance the building of this new European energy system. The amounts involved are not unreasonable. Just 1 per cent of the money that pension funds invest every year would cover the additional cost of producing the world's electricity from renewables, compared to the cost of coal and gas power stations. It is our job - governments' job - to create the right incentives, demonstrate the political commitment and make this happen.
Sir Graham Watson is a Liberal Democrat MEP for the South West of England and Gibraltar
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