The European Commissioner for Energy spoke at the plenary session of the Investors Dialogue on Energy, announcing a new plan dedicated to carbon capture and the launch of an industrial alliance for SMRs
Simson: “we want investors to have an idea of the direction to take”
The closer the EU 2030 targets are, the more investments are needed. Specifically, in this decade, the Union will have to invest more than 1,200 billion a year in decarbonising the energy and transport sectors. An effort of almost 75% more than that of the decade 2011-2020. Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, reminded the House of this. What is it? The multi-level platform brings together energy and financial experts from all EU countries to evaluate and update funding schemes and thus mobilise new resources in the context of the REPowerEU plan and the European Green Deal. To the reunion anniversary, reached the second edition, Simson has brought all the experience of the Executive and explicit the direction in which the next efforts in a matter of clean transition will be concentrated.
“Above all, we must accelerate renewable projects, increase flexibility and demand response, and promote greater cross-border cooperation on energy projects and infrastructure to make our energy production cleaner, more economical and safer“, commented the commissioner. One of the first steps in this direction is the new action plan for networks. “In addition, the Commission has also adopted an Action Plan on wind energy to defend a strategic sector and a source of innovation, high-quality jobs and growth opportunities”. The Package supports the development of the European manufacturing industry in the wind sector while addressing the difficulties related to the complexity of authorizations, auction planning and design, high inflation and shortage of skilled labor.
And speaking of a clean transition, Brussels throws its hands on two highly discussed technological areas, such as CO2 capture and nuclear energy, namely small modular reactors (SMR). “It is worth mentioning two other technologies with great potential for the transition […] for which we want investors to have a sense of direction to take,” said Simson.” About carbon capture, we now have solid building blocks for the industrial CO2 management strategy, which I will be presenting next month together with the 2040 climate objective plan. And about SMRs, we will soon launch an industrial alliance to help create a competitive European value chain and support its implementation in the next decade”.
