Europe Needs a Unified Load Management Plan

It is no secret that European countries have been pressed for energy over this last year. This has partly been due to the lack of energy from Russia because of the conflict in Ukraine, and partly due to energy policy changes. Mirage News reported on a study from ETH Zurich that shared the best was for European countries to share their resources to avoid power outages.

 

The report cautioned against any European country hoarding their resources, as doing so could cause other nations to suffer, particularly Eastern European nations. The report also noted that Europe got off easy last winter because it was not particularly harsh winter. But it seems likely that the fighting will continue into next winter, so a harsher winter could cause greater demands in heating.

 

The report called on greater agreements for sharing energy, stating that so far only a few bilateral agreements have come up.The report pointed out some low hanging fruit, such as a pipeline between Finland and Norway, since Norway is producer of natural gas and the two share a border.

 

The report detailed how the currently a lot of energy is coming by see from the rest of the world. Much of this energy arrives by sea to Western European nations, so these nations need to share their energy with the rest of Europe. Currently the infrastructure in Europe is not set up to have this kind of distribution, so Europe needs to act quickly. Given how far Southeastern nations are from Western Europe, it is particularly hard for these nations to receive the new shipments of oil.

 

The report argued that part of the solution would come through European leader incentivizing companies to build the necessary infrastructure. The report also called for continued diversification in energy sources, such as from renewable energy. Doing so could solve the short-term issue of replacing energy from Russia, along with the long-term challenge of climate change.

 

This is a very insightful report. It puts a lot of pressure on Western Europe to do as much as it can, given that Eastern Europe has been so willing to step up on issues regarding Ukraine, all of Europe needs to do their part. It is interesting that the report discusses renewable energy, seeing as Europe has already been aggressively pursuing it, and they have come up short on energy goals because of limitations in technology. Additionally, it would have been helpful if the report discussed what renewable energy is worth investing in, given that there are divided opinions on what renewable options to pursue.