Page 9 - FSUOGM Week 07 2021

FSUOGM PERFORMANCE FSUOGM

EU eyes two-thirds green

gas mix by 2050

EUROPE THE European Commission wants to see renew- such operations get underway.
able and low-carbon gases account for two thirds If suppliers do not adapt, the EU will become
The EC is consulting on of the EU’s gaseous fuel mix by 2050, and wants increasingly more self-reliant in covering its gas-
changes to EU gas law to tweak legislation to support this goal, accord- eous fuel needs.
to phase out natural ing to documents published on February 11. The EC believes that current gas legislation
gas. The EC is consulting on changes to EU gas introduced in 2009 is unfit for encouraging the
law that would enable a “progressive phase-out” development of green gases, however, and wants
of unabated natural gas and its “gradual replace- to make changes. The consultation period will
ment” with biogas, bio-methane, renewable and run until March 10, and the EU executive wants
decarbonised hydrogen and synthetic methane. to put together a package of proposals for decar-
The remaining third of gaseous fuel will remain bonising gas and hydrogen markets by the end
natural gas but abated using carbon capture uti- of June.
lisation and storage (CCUS) technology. The Commission did not go into specifics of
Natural gas at present accounts for 95% of the changes, but it said it wanted to have legisla-
all gaseous fuels consumed in the EU. In turn, tion that incentivises the repurposing of exist-
gaseous fuels constitute 22% of total EU energy ing gas pipelines for renewable and low-carbon
consumption, 20% of EU power generation and gases. It also wants to adopt laws that ensure
39% of heat production, according to the EC. non-regulated monopolies do not prevent new
Gaseous fuels will occupy around the same share players from entering the hydrogen market. Fur-
of 20% in 2050, the Commission believes. thermore, it intends to settle the issue of whether
In particular, the EC stressed the importance gas transmission system operators can operate
of gas in providing baseload power supply, in a electrolysers, used to produce hydrogen from
system that increasingly relies on highly fluctu- water.
ating levels of renewable energy. The EC also wants to decentralise gas injec-
The rise of renewable and low-carbon gases tion, as current legislation means “the tradability
could result in a “crowding out” of imported nat- and access of renewable and low-carbon gases
ural gas, the EC noted, unless suppliers deliver to markets and the grid are not on a level play-
more green gases of their own. Russia, by far the ing field with fossil natural gas.” LNG terminals
bloc’s biggest gas supplier, is drawing up plans should also be able to handle renewable and
to steadily inject more hydrogen into its export low-carbon gases, giving them access in a trans-
pipelines, although it is likely to take years before parent way. ™

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