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Is the European Union on track to meet its REPowerEU goals?
…REPowerEU plan’s aim is to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027, and the European Commission estimates that this will require significant expansion of renewable energy shares in the electricity, transport and heating sectors. Although the use of renewable energy does increase in all three of these sectors by 2027 in our main-case forecast, in none of them are levels consistent with the REPowerEU plan. While the share of renewables in electricity expands to almost 55% by 2027 in our main case, this is well below the 69% share the European Commission estimates is needed to…
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How to Avoid Gas Shortages in the European Union in 2023
A practical set of actions to close a potential supply-demand gap European and global natural gas markets are not yet out of the danger created by Russia’s cuts to pipeline deliveries of gas. If gas exports from Russia drop to zero and China’s LNG imports rebound to 2021 levels, there is a risk of a shortfall gas supplies in 2023. Measures already taken by EU governments on energy efficiency, renewables and heat pumps should help reduce the size of this potential natural gas supply-demand gap in 2023. A recovery in nuclear and hydropower output from their…
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Will new PV manufacturing policies in the United States, India and the European Union create global PV supply diversification?
Renewables 2022 This report forms a component of Chapter 4 of Renewables 2022 and addresses a key question in renewable energy markets. The high level of geographical concentration in the global PV supply chain has led the European Union, India and the United States to introduce policy incentives to support domestic PV production. This could result in an unprecedented expansion of PV manufacturing outside of China in the next five years. However, diversifying manufacturing will be possible only if production costs fall to ensure competitiveness with the lowest-cost producers (e.g. in China and ASEAN countries) in both the short and…
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Is renewable energy capacity in the European Union making windfall profits from high wholesale prices?
…difficult to estimate. In addition, several European countries have already introduced national-level windfall taxes for electricity generation and trading companies. The direct answer to whether renewable power plant owners are making windfall profits is highly complex. While renewable energy policies can provide insights on whether developers are allowed to receive higher revenues from the market, they can only partially answer the question on windfall profits because data are limited concerning non-policy factors, including long-term bilateral power purchase contracts, developers’ hedging strategies and exposure in the wholesale electricity market. To understand these non-policy factors, we examined the…
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Northwest European Hydrogen Monitor 2022
Northwest European Hydrogen Monitor Northwest Europe is at the forefront of renewable and low-emission hydrogen development. This region accounts for around half of Europe’s total hydrogen demand, and has a vast and untapped renewable energy potential in the North Sea. It also has a well-developed, interconnected gas network which could be partially repurposed to facilitate the transmission and distribution of renewable and low-emission hydrogen from production sites to demand centres.The development of renewable and low-emission hydrogen in Northwest Europe is expected to gradually scale up in the short- to medium-term to reach a…
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Coping with the Crisis: Increasing Resilience in Small Businesses in Europe through Energy Efficiency
Proposed Energy Saving Strategies Today’s global energy crisis has driven up the cost of fuels and electricity, creating shortages and hurting consumers, businesses and entire economies. Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are some of the most exposed economic players, lacking the margins, economies of scale, and support staff that allow larger companies to mitigate the impact of the crisis. At the same time, SMEs are the backbone of economies around the world, making their survival essential.To help smaller businesses overcome these perilous challenges and to sustain European economies, the European Commission and the International Energy Agency have teamed…
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A 10-Point Plan to Reduce the European Union’s Reliance on Russian Natural Gas
…reliance on Russian gas, while enhancing the near-term resilience of the EU gas network and minimising the hardships for vulnerable consumers.A suite of measures in our 10-Point Plan, spanning gas supplies, the electricity system and end-use sectors, could result in the EU’s annual call on Russian gas imports falling by more than 50 bcm within one year – a reduction of over one-third. These figures take into account the need for additional refilling of European gas storage facilities in 2022 after low Russian supplies helped drive these storage levels to unusually low levels. The 10-Point…
