Ambitions of the Energy Infrastructure Package

● by Günther Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Energy ● Speech held in Brussels at the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) conference on Infrastructure and Energy Efficiency on 25 January 2012 "Dear Lord Mogg, dear Peter Plug, Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all, I want to thank the Council of the European Energy Regulators for organizing this conference on 'Energy Infrastructure and Efficiency'. By choosing this topic, you have taken up two subjects which play a pivotal role in the EU energy policy. But as MEP Turmes will right afterwards cover energy efficiency, I will just focus on Energy infrastructure. We are currently facing a huge transformation process in the energy sector. The way energy is generated, transported and stored is fundamentally changing. And if we are serious about reaching our CO2 reduction goal of 80- 95% by 2050, it will require even more change. The share of renewables in power generation is expected to grow from 19.5% today to around 35% in 2020, which means nearly a doubling. More importantly the role of variable energy sources, such as wind and solar is increasing. Electricity grids therefore will have to cope with increasingly variable supplies. And due to growing electrification of our energy appliances, overall demand will not decrease, but increase – even if we get more efficient. Therefore especially in the electricity sector huge investments are needed to cope with these new conditions. New lines and new smart technologies are needed to guarantee a secure supply of energy and to keep up with our 2020 targets. Until 2020, for transmission networks in electricity on- and offshore an estimated 140 bn Euro in investments is required. Further, in order to ensure security of supply, diversify supplies and end isolation of certain Member States we need to build new gas pipelines. And if we want to continue using fossil fuels, we will need to deploy CCS-technologies including new transportation infrastructure for CO2. The need for new infrastructure is therefore evident. When it comes to their realisation it gets more difficult: New infrastructure and especially electricity lines often face strong public opposition. Permitting procedures sometimes take up to 10 to 30 years. Other projects are not realized as nobody wants to finance them either because those who bear the costs are not benefitting from them or simply because they are lacking commercial viability. That is why we have presented new legislative proposals on Energy Infrastructure in October last year. With the regulations on Guidelines for trans-European networks and on the establishment on a 'Connecting Europe Facility' the aim is to put in place the measures required to build the infrastructure of European common interest necessary in 2020 and beyond. What is the content of the proposal? The proposal identifies 12 priority infrastru…