In the REPowerEU Plan, the European Commission today revealed its newest and largest raft of measures both to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russia for meeting its energy needs and to accelerate its green transition to a cleaner energy system.
The bill is estimated at almost €300 billion by 2030, with €210 billion of that additional investment in the next 5 years. The European Commission is directing Member States to channel the €225 billion in loans available under the Recovery and Resilience Facilities, plus well over €50 billion from other sources, towards the energy diversification targets contained in the Plan. Over a quarter of the investment will go towards renewable power generation, where the Commission recognizes offshore wind as a significant opportunity.
Sweden and Denmark’s both boast some of the highest offshore wind resources in Europe which puts the Nordics in an enviable position to ride the wave of support for renewables now surging in the continent. Permitting, a perpetual thorn in the side of Swedish offshore developments, can benefit from the Commission’s recommendations for Member States to speed up permitting procedures while presuming renewable power plants as being by definition in the overriding public interest.
Massive investments are also slated for renewable hydrogen to build the 120 GW of electrolyzers to produce 10 million tonnes and the infrastructure to import a further 10 million by 2030. With Nordic power prices consistently among the lowest in Europe, ELS Analysis sees tremendous potential for the region to be one of the most cost-effective producers of the clean fuel, with industrial green hydrogen already making waves in Sweden.
Such a concerted effort towards an energy transition may have never before been seen in Europe, or even the world. With a plan to tackle the energy crisis now in place, industry participants can start looking for a path towards an opportunity.
