The expert assessed the possibilities of Europe to increase renewable energy generation

MOSCOW, August 31 – PRIME. Europe in the current foreign policy and economic conditions is not ready to increase the volume of generation based on renewable sources (RES), the EU would be wiser to return to the use of nuclear energy, said RIA Novosti acting. Rector of the Russian Chemical Technical University named after D. I. Mendeleev Ilya Vorotyntsev.

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said earlier that the European Commission is working on reforming 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.

“European officials like to sign and release new global programs for the transition to green energy with beautiful numbers when they are successfully achieved. But money does not fall from the sky, and the aforementioned 300 billion will be collected through increased tax burden,” he said.

The tax burden, in his opinion, may, for example, increase due to the growth of taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, which will lead to an increase in the cost of generating electricity from gas and coal. “All this will affect the life of every household in the European Union,” Vorotyntsev is sure.

The current global environment, complicated by natural disasters, broken supply chains, rising energy prices, and reduced purchasing power of the population, together cannot allow significant funds to be allocated to start a correct and efficient transition to renewable energy. “At the moment, definitely not,” the expert commented on Europe’s readiness to increase renewable energy generation.

Vorotyntsev believes that in the current situation, it would be much more logical for the EU countries to operate the “peaceful atom”, namely, to use the existing nuclear power plants and de-mothball the old ones. At the same time, he is sure that the EU’s complete rejection of Russian energy sources in the short term is unlikely, including due to the fact that electricity production in Europe, as well as the provision of industrial and domestic needs, is currently critically dependent on Russian exports.