L R AS Published on Monday 19 September 2022 - n° 416 - Categories:Europe

Renewable energy target raised to 45% by 2030

On 14 September, MEPs voted in favour of a 45% share of renewable energies in the energy mix by 2030. This target is under threat

by the absence of photovoltaic production in the EU, even though the Russian invasion and the measures taken by the Commission are prompting a fundamental reshaping of Europe's energy system. Russian gas, which used to account for half of Europe's gas supply, is forcing the development of renewable energy installations and an increase in the extraction of fossil fuels.

MEPs argue that only renewable energies are synonymous with true independence: each Member State will have to develop two or three cross-border projects, depending on the case.

Read also: European target of 45% renewable energy by 2030, but no-one is committing to results

The new legislation also defines "sub-targets" for different sectors such as transport, buildings and district heating/cooling. For the transport sector, the deployment of renewables should lead to a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the proposals, while industry should increase its use of renewables by 1.9% per year, and district heating networks by 2.3%.

https://www.pv-tech.org/renewables-only-means-of-true-independence-says-european-parliament-as-it-ups-deployment-targets/

PV Magazine of 15 September 2022

Editor's note There are certainly some measures that need to be reviewed, in particular the adjustment of the price per kilowatt to the cost of the last kWh produced, i.e. the most expensive. This seems normal. In fact, we're forgetting that for many years, this system enabled a number of electricity producers to sell their output on the open market at a profit. Two or three years ago, we were already talking about the fact that the owners of solar power stations in Spain were already benefiting from selling their production on the market and not in PPAs. So it was in their interests to sign very short contracts (one to three years) to start construction, and then sell their production on the market. This was public knowledge, but nothing was done. The Russian gas crisis forced us to react.

Curiously, the Commission's plan is designed to satisfy electricity users, but not to launch a programme to build factories to manufacture solar panels, and thus subsequently produce electricity. If we remain 90% dependent on China's good wishes for supplies, we will one day have the same rude awakening as with Russian gas.

The Commission's programme states that there will be €25 billion from the surplus profits of electricity and gas companies. At the same time, it announces €117 billion from excess profits on the free electricity market. The disproportion between the two figures is too enormous to be credible. What's more, the figure of 117 billion euros is being pulled out of a hat without the slightest explanation: who is going to contribute? what kind of activity? from what country? The photovoltaic and wind energy industries already know that the majority of contracts are fixed-price. Rystad Energy puts this proportion at 60%. That leaves just 40% that could be affected by this levy. It's not the methaniseurs and other small-scale energy producers ????? who could have to pay such an amount. It certainly exceeds their annual turnover.

The Commission cleverly claims that the 117 billion will be redistributed to consumers. What a gag! What will be the real amount raised by this measure, which seems particularly inflated? What will be left after the salaries of the police, customs officers and accountancy inspectors have been deducted? How will this sum be distributed between the various Member States? Will we favour the states that spend the most? Those who have contributed the most to this pot of money? Will it be allocated to the States in which the sums were collected? There are too many doubts for this Commission programme to be taken seriously. It smacks of demagoguery.

Subscribe to the newsletter "Le Fil de l'Actu"...

Most read articles in the last 10 days