BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. Europe needs to cut its emissions fast, Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jørgensen said during the PCI Energy Days dedicated to the practical implementation of Projects of Common Interest and of Projects of Mutual Interest, Trend reports.
He noted that energy connections in Europe are neither efficient, sufficient, nor strong enough.
“At least 70% of interconnector capacity should be made available for cross-border trading, but most member states are unfortunately still far from this target. When it comes to building new infrastructure, EU cost-sharing mechanisms are not being fully utilized due to political, technical, and regulatory barriers. Current estimates are that by 2030, around half of the EU's new cross-border electricity capacity needs will not be addressed. Meanwhile, costs for managing grid congestion reached a peak of 5.2 billion euros in 2022. If things don't change, these costs could rise to 26 billion euros by 2030. These bottlenecks are not only hurting our economies, they are also holding back our clean future,” said the Commissioner.
Jørgensen noted that the EU is breaking records in renewable deployments with 89 gigawatts of new green energy expected in 2025, but Europe’s grids are not keeping the pace.
“According to stakeholders' estimates, over 500 gigawatts of wind energy is still waiting for grid connection assessments. By 2040, up to 310 terawatt hours of renewable energy could go to waste. This is nearly half of Europe's electricity consumption in 2023. In our current times, this is a situation we can simply not afford. Because there's a war on our border, in which energy is both a target and a weapon. Because we have over 47 million citizens in energy poverty, and our industries pay twice or maybe even three times as much for their energy than their competitors in the US. And because we are the fastest warming continent in the world, so we need to cut our energy emissions fast,” the Commissioner noted.
Jørgensen pointed out that as 27 individual countries, these challenges are of course too big to overcome.
“But as a union, we can meet them. We can solve them if we work together. Fragmentation is no longer an option. It is time to complete a true energy union. So, the winds of our north and the sun of our south can power houses, businesses, and communities across Europe with cleaner, more affordable, and more secure energy. To realize this vision, we need ambition and we need action. And this is what we intend to deliver. Over the years, PCI projects have made our gas diversification possible. They have increased resilience of our system by enabling reverse flow and helped the EU adjust to new geopolitical realities. This will be even more important as we are about to enshrine in legislation an EU-wide ban on Russian gas that will put a permanent end to our long-standing dependence on an unreliable supplier. PCIs contribute to our energy independence, to the creation of a genuine energy union,” he said.