Page 4 - AfrElec Week 27 2022

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

Has green energy had its day?

Global efforts to combat climate change are case of replacing fossil gas with clean energy.”
COMMENTARY being endangered by the global coronavirus On the other hand, he stressed that deeper
(COVID-19) pandemic, the war in Ukraine and policy developments were needed to drive for-
the current energy crisis. ward to energy transition and to meet the EU’s
Unseasonal heatwaves, melting ice in the Arc- targets.
tic Sea and flooding across the world are symp- “The bottlenecks for meeting the target that
toms of the climate crisis that requires urgent the EU has, in other words the thing that we need
and wholehearted action by governments, cor- to be on the lookout for, include permitting and
porations and international community. supply chain issues, which are quite separate
The actions demanded by the COP26 con- from the Ukraine war; these are the key issues
ference and a range of international bodies led in order for the clean energy targets to become
by the UN to achieve green targets is being side- attainable.”
tracked as governments race to secure energy The IEA noted in its World Energy Investment
supplies. Report that even though it estimates an 8% rise
The EU raised its Green Deal and Fit for 55 in global energy investment in 2022 to $2.4 tril-
targets from 40% to 45% renewables by 2030 lion, driven overwhelmingly by a 12% rise in
in response to the war in Ukraine by launching clean energy spending, investment in coal is set
its REPowerEU programme. Brussels chose to grow by 10% in 2022.
to focus on energy savings, diversification of At the end of June, the G7 leaders called for
energy supplies and the accelerated roll-out of research into how a cap on the price of Russian
renewable energy in a bid to replace fossil fuel oil imports might work, involving allowing oil
imports from Russia. to be shipped on tankers if the oil is priced at an
But governments are also still buying Russian agreed maximum price.
fossil fuels as it will take months for the EU’s gas Myllyvirta told bne Intellinews that “a price
and oil sanctions to kick in. cap on oil purchases from Russia could curtail
The world risks taking its eye off the ball in the revenue for Russia before the EU oil imports ban
race for energy and putting in danger any chance kicks in.”
that the energy transition has of staying on track.
Renewable energy’s ability to provide the Germany
world with the power it needs is being severely As well as oil, coal is a key concern, with the IEA
tested by a combination of killer factors that noting that coal investment rose by 10% in 2021
threaten to annihilate the energy transition just and will climb by 10% again in 2022.
as climate change is beginning to threaten life as Germany has been the slowest country to sup-
we know it on Earth. port a gradual ban on gas, and it is considering
switching some of its shuttered coal-fired power
Fossil fuels plants back on. Its hand was forced after Gaz-
There was a three-fold increase in grid connec- prom cut deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 gas
tion worldwide from 2020 to 2021, with 21.1GW pipeline in June.
of new installations bringing global capacity to The German government on June 23 said that
56GW. Year-on-year growth of 58% means off- despite its decision to rely more on coal for elec-
shore wind now represents 7% of total global tricity generation until 2024, it would still meet
cumulative installations. its target date for a complete coal exit of 2030.
Two recent reports from the Centre for Clean Myllyvirta was critical of Berlin’s behaviour,
Air and Energy warned that Europe is still saying that, “Germany has dug a hole for itself
importing fossil fuels, spending €57bn on Russia in the past years. It has not been moving fast
fossil fuels in the first 100 days of the war, even enough in green energy and has closed down
as governments make policy announcements nuclear plants. It has not been paying attention
to accelerate transitions away from oil and gas to reducing its reliance on Russia gas, especially
towards renewables. in building and industry.”
Speaking to bne Intellinews, Lauri Myllyvirta, He also noted that replacing gas with coal
lead researcher at CREA and a writer of the would only work in the short term, and was une-
Shocked into Action report, warned Europe had conomic when compared to cheaper renewables.
been too slow to react to the war. “You will have potentially a shift within the
“The frustrating thing from the perspective fossil fuel consumption in the power sector
of Ukraine and the duty we have to support where you generate a bit more from coal and
Ukraine’s struggle is so much of this energy pol- bit less from gas. It seems that coal is giving the
icymaking and trade sanctions are playing out power industry a bit more flexibility to manage
over the course of several months in the case of their quandary.”
the oil and coal ban, and over several years in the Russia itself has also reacted by slashing

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