Potocnik plots EU’s energy destiny

The European Commission will next week adopt plans to create an EU market for efficient and low-emission energy technologies.

The European Energy Strategic Technology Plan (ESTP), which will be launched on Tuesday (20 November), was one of the proposals promised in a green paper for a future EU energy strategy, published this March.

Janez Potocnik, the European science and research commissioner, said that the technology plan was needed to help Europe meet its energy and environm-ental targets.

"We are already dependent on external energy imports," he told European Voice in an interview. "Let’s not also become dependent on technology imports."

Potocnik said that avoiding dependency would involve considerable efforts from the member states, in terms of both people and money. He pointed out that, whereas Japan in 2004 spent 17% of its public research budget on energy research, EU governments only invested 2.8%. "If it’s a fact that in Europe we are under-investing, then we have to change that," said the commissioner.

The ESTP could make it easier for member states to meet targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, as well as renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, all agreed for 2020. It should also help the EU to set workable longer term targets for 2050.

The most promising energy technologies in the short term, said Potocnik, include carbon sequestration and efficient nuclear generation, as well as improvements in energy efficiency.

But he said it was important to keep an open mind for all possible future options. "Think of potential developments in nuclear fusion, hydro- power and other renewables," he said. "These are all promising solutions and who knows what else is out there? We have to be careful we don’t lock our minds into short- and mid-term solutions."

He added that the ESTP would not prescribe the best energy technologies for investment, nor would it contain any hard deadlines. "It’s difficult to predict how many years you need for a breakthrough."

ESTP will focus not only on research to find and improve new energy technologies, but also on getting the best products onto the market at a good price.

Potocnik said that investments now would save money in the future, by making renewable energy and energy-efficient products competitive. He said that many clean energy technologies were already available, but too expensive to put on the market.

"That’s a bare economic fact," said the commissioner. "We simply have to work and create the conditions in which [market access] will be possible."

Investing in energy technology now also gives Europe the chance to corner a potentially lucrative market, said Potocnik.

"Back in the 1980s we were locked to the logic of coal, oil and gas," he said. "It is now obvious this logic is breaking up."

He added: "The question is, who will be the strongest power in the future? The countries that still possess coal, oil and gas, or the countries that possess the knowledge of how to produce and save energy?"

Potocnik said that the EU was already leading the way in environmental policies and should now also lead by example when it comes to energy technologies.

He said that while he did not expect the EU to be the only country looking for a solution to global energy shortages and climate change through energy technologies, he hoped that it would be the best.

"I would not feel bad if all countries started to work on this," said Potocnik, "but we have to make sure Europe plays the role that Europe should play."

He said that the ESTP would also encourage the EU to work alongside developing countries. This could mean more joint research commitments, like that signed for biofuels with Brazil recently. And "it would be intelligent to work with China on carbon sequestration," said Potocnik.

Despite the proposal’s huge ambitions, the commissioner for science and research is confident it will win support across the EU.

"If you start by taking climate change seriously, as Europe does," he said, "then logic dictates the next step, and this is it."

The European Commission will next week adopt plans to create an EU market for efficient and low-emission energy technologies.