Regulation 2022/2577 - Framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 335/36

The Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the unprecedented reduction of natural gas supplies from the Russian Federation to Member States threaten the security of supply of the Union and its Member States. At the same time, the weaponisation of the gas supply and the Russian Federation’s manipulation of the markets through intentional disruptions of gas flows have led to skyrocketing energy prices in the Union, not only endangering the economy in the Union, but also seriously threatening security of supply. A fast deployment of renewable energy sources can help to mitigate the effects of the current energy crisis, by forming a defence against Russia’s actions. Renewable energy can significantly contribute to counter Russia’s weaponisation of energy by strengthening the Union’s security of supply, reducing volatility in the market and lowering energy prices.

In recent months, Russia’s actions have further aggravated the situation in the market, in particular by increasing the risk of a complete halt of Russian gas supplies to the Union in the near future, a situation which has affected the Union’s security of supply. That sharply increased the volatility of energy prices in the Union and increased gas and electricity prices to all-time highs during the summer leading to growing electricity retail prices which are expected to continue gradually trickling down to most consumer contracts, increasingly burdening households and businesses. The aggravated situation in the energy markets has substantially contributed to the general inflation in the euro area, slowing down economic growth across the Union. That risk will persist regardless of any temporary reduction of wholesale prices and will be even more pertinent next year, as recognised in the emergency proposal by the Commission accompanying the Communication from the Commission of 18 October 2022 on Energy Emergency - preparing, purchasing and protecting the EU together. European energy companies could face severe difficulties in filling gas storage facilities next year, as it is highly probable that less or even no pipeline gas will reach the Union from Russia given the current political situation. In addition, the target for 2023, set out in Regulation (EU) 2022/1032 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1), is to fill 90% of the Union’s gas storage capacities as opposed to 80% for this winter. Also, unpredictable events such as sabotage of pipelines and other risks of disruption to security of supply could create additional strain on gas markets. Additionally, the competitiveness outlook of European renewable energy technology industries has been weakened by recent policies in other world regions aimed at providing support and speeding up the scale up of entire renewable energy technology value chains.

In this context, and in order to tackle the exposure of European consumers and businesses to high and volatile prices which are causing economic and social hardship, to ease the required reduction in energy demand by replacing natural gas supplies with energy from renewable sources and to increase security of supply, the Union needs to take further immediate and temporary action to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy sources, in particular by means of targeted measures which are capable of accelerating the pace of deployment of renewables in the Union in the short term.

Those urgent...