The expert assessed the chances of the European Union to get away from hydrocarbons in the energy sector

MOSCOW, 30 Aug — PRIME. The European Union in the near future will not be able to completely abandon hydrocarbon raw materials at the expense of renewable energy sources (RES), for technological reasons, Sergey Sasim, director of the Center for Research in the Electric Power Industry at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, commented to RIA Novosti.

“In my opinion, it is impossible to achieve the EU’s rejection of hydrocarbon raw materials through green generation in the short term. Technological progress has not yet formed technologies that can effectively replace traditional types of generation. The rooted construction of various types of renewable sources requires the creation of reserve capacities of traditional generation, how renewable energy sources are too unstable and cannot ensure the reliability of energy supply at the level of modern European standards,” he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the European Commission is working to reform the EU electricity market. According to her, the EU is investing 300 billion euros in green energy as part of the rejection of Russian fossil energy resources.

According to the data of the Nord Pool exchange, the average wholesale price of electricity as of August 30 in a number of EU countries exceeded 600 euros, somewhere it again crossed the mark of 700 euros per megawatt-hour. We are talking, in particular, about the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Latvia. And on August 1, these figures in these countries were in the range of approximately 390-450 euros per megawatt-hour.

In the context of record growth in gas and electricity prices, political statements about the need to reform the electricity market are highly expected, the expert also notes. He recalls that the development of renewable energy in Europe is part of a change in energy policy. “And if earlier the climate agenda was the dominant rationale for multibillion-dollar investments in the development of renewable energy, today European politicians have significantly stepped up support for efforts to achieve energy independence,” Sasim said.

Forcing the so-called “energy transition” in such conditions creates a real threat of exceeding investments over the actual efficiency of green generation, the expert believes. “Already today, the share of investments in renewable energy in the European Union is about 30% of the total investment in the electric power industry, and the share of payments for renewable energy in the final price of industrial consumers reaches 26%. For comparison, in Russia, due to a diversified energy balance, this share in the price does not exceed 1 .5%,” the expert cites the data.