Europe’s Thinking Shifts on Supporting Renewables as Part of Green Recovery Package
The EU's trillion-euro coronavirus recovery package may not support big renewable energy projects in the same way as initially expected.
The EU is currently working through the details of a €1.85 trillion ($2.08 trillion) recovery package. Before the stimulus was signed, a leaked document by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy (DG Energy) ran through a serious of policy plans to marry the European Green Deal and the COVID-19 recovery effort.
Those plans included a possible 15-gigawatt EU-wide renewable tender designed to help make up for a shortfall in national tenders. Support for green hydrogen was also advanced as a potential item for inclusion.
But the plans have not survived a barrage of lobbying by vested interests and pushback from member states still married to a more traditional energy mix, according to multiple sources following the green recovery's development.
As things stand, Europe's stimulus package "has no green strings attached — none," said Patrick Graichen, executive director of the Agora Energiewende think tank, speaking last week about the green recovery.
At the same time, an alternative plan is emerging for renewables — more complex and harder to quantify in scale or duration, but with the potential to be up and running much sooner. It could be a tradeoff worth making. Read original full article
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