On Wednesday, 18 May, the European Commission approved a plan to switch to renewable energy sources and abandon energy resources from russia.
The plan, called REPowerEU, was presented at a press conference in Brussels by European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans and European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, Deutsche Welle reports.
The plan focuses primarily on gas from russia, as it cannot be completely replaced by purchases from other suppliers.
REPowerEU predicts the final abandonment of russian gas “significantly earlier” than 2030. By the end of 2022, the European Commission considers it possible to reduce the purchase of “blue fuel” from russia by two-thirds, and oil and petroleum products - almost entirely, with the exception of a few Central European countries without access to the sea.
REPowerEU envisages measures in three areas: energy saving, diversification of supply sources, and accelerated development of renewable energy. The implementation of the plan will require up to 300 billion euros. About 10 billion euros will go to finance the missing parts of the gas, LNG and oil infrastructure. The rest is to accelerate and expand the transition to clean energy.
“We know that when Europe acts together, it has more influence. EU leaders have agreed to set up a platform for joint purchases of gas, LNG, and hydrogen. Within REPowerEU, we are proposing a joint procurement mechanism and working with supplier countries” - said the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
The EU also plans to increase the share of renewable energy to 45% by 2030 and reduce energy consumption by 13%.
According to von der Leyen, it is proposed to introduce obligations to install solar panels on the roofs of commercial and public buildings from 2025 and for new residential buildings from 2029.